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Opposition to return to Diet after 6-day boycott over education bill
TOKYO, Nov. 21 Kyodo
Japan's opposition lawmakers are set to return to discussions at the ongoing Diet session on Wednesday after a six-day boycott over the ruling camp's approval in their absence of a bill for the first revision of Japan's basic education law, lawmakers said Tuesday.
The four opposition parties led by the main Democratic Party of Japan agreed Tuesday with the ruling camp to get back to the table on condition they be given time to grill the government over the recent revelation it was manipulating so-called town meetings held to hear public opinions. |
As a result, an interpellation session of the House of Councillors special committee on the basic education law will be held Wednesday morning in the presence of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and both ruling and opposition party lawmakers.
Along with the government, the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party hope to see the key education bill pass through the legislature during its current session, with a view to a possible extension of the session beyond its Dec. 15 deadline.
Angered by last Wednesday's vote to pass the bill through the House of Representatives Special Committee on the Basic Law on Education in their absence, the opposition parties have since boycotted all Diet deliberations except for sessions with invited witnesses.
Deliberations on the bill have stalled since it cleared the lower chamber Thursday and the upper house began taking it up Friday in the presence only of the ruling camp.
Featuring the goal of instilling patriotism, the contentious bill is designed to revise the Fundamental Law of Education, which was introduced in 1947 to realize through education the ideas of Japan's pacifist Constitution.
The government-sponsored bill was carried over from the previous Diet session that ended in June, but the opposition camp has said the proposed law amendment deserved more lower-house deliberations.
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