RIGHTS-JAPAN: New Weapon to Dig Out State-held Information

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Jun 12 1999 (IPS) - It is not about to make Japanese government officials any more willing to be loose lipped, but a new law may yet render official documents a bit more accessible to the public.

Indeed, while activists say the Freedom of Information Law is are from perfect, they acknowledge that it is the public’s strongest weapon yet against the Japanese bureaucracy’s lack of transparency.

“There is no doubt that the new law will be a landmark in Japan, which has functioned up to now on a system based not on the citizen but on collusive ties between politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats,” says Professor Masahiro Uzuki of Dokkyo Unive rsity, commenting on the act that was passed just last month.

Uzuki is only one among the thousands of Japanese who have been lobbying for a law that would enable individuals to obtain information, based on the public’s right to know.

In the past two decades, this demand for access to government- held data has become louder following several revelations in the media that revealed how some state agencies had withheld key information from the public — and put many people at risk.

In 1983, for instance, Health and Welfare Ministry officials Knew that it was possible to contract HIV from using unheated blood products, but chose to keep silent.

Even when more and more Japanese haemophiliacs began to test positive for the virus that causes AIDS, the officials denied any knowledge about the linkage between the trend and the tainted blood products they had approved for use.

It took an outraged public — and several years later — for the government to acknowledge in 1996 professional negligence and disclose information that health and welfare officials had tried to keep secret.

By then, some 2,000 haemophiliacs had already contracted HIV, largely through transfusions using unheated blood products.

“That kind of thing can now be avoided with the new law that will allow people to ask for clear information on the medications they are instructed to take by doctors,” says Uzaki.

“I also predict, that the law will boost the work of many non- governmental organisations and grassroots groups fighting for information on food products and environmental issues in order to protect their health,” he adds.

Other activists agree. Already, environmentalists say that with the new law, they expect a rise in the public demand for disclosure regarding accidents in the country’s nuclear power plants. They add that once the law is enforced, they hope to be more successful in forcing a slowdown in the government’s support for nuclear power.

Still fresh in their minds is a 1995 incident during which officials of a nuclear power company tried to hide videotaped footage on an accident at the Monju nuclear reactor, as well as attempted to falsify reports.

But the officials were found out, and the fiasco added fuel to public opposition to the development of nuclear power.

Japan lags behind industrialised nations — and even some developing countries in Asia — in having a freedom of information law. South Korea beat Japan in having such legislation, having passed a similar law three years ago.

Observers say it took Japan this long to have a freedom of information act because of fierce resistance from bureaucrats and a general lack of awareness and interest from a post-war public that focused most of its energies on economic achievement.

But then came the Lockheed scandal, where top politicians were linked to bribes from a US aircraft company. Likewise, pollution caused by rapid industrial development increased the public clamour for more transparency from the government all the more.

As early as 1982, in fact, some local prefectures began to pass ordinances that allowed disclosure of township documents.

Theoretically, the Freedom of Information Law will allow the same at national level once it goes in effect in 2001. Yet for all the welcome activists are giving to the new law, the general concession is that its various weak points put it at risk of being ultimately ineffective.

One of its basic flaws, says lawyer Mie Asaoka who works with citizens’ rights groups, is that while it says the government is accountable to the people, “the law still gives too much discretionary power to ministries and agencies in deciding whether to release documents”.

Another major bone of contention activists have with the law is that it does not apply to public corporations. Instead, its bureaucratic proponents have stipulated that a separate law be enacted in two years to cover these institutions.

Activists say there must be more access to information regarding the operation of public corporations so that the people will know how their tax money is being spent. The amount involved is huge, with these companies having a combined annual budget of 35 to 40 trillion yen (289.25 to 330 billion dollars).

Meanwhile, some citizens’ groups like Action for Public Access are busy teaching people how the law can help them dig out the information they want from state agencies.

Action for Public Access is now conducting workshops focusing on fresh stipulations that allow the public to file complaints whenever the government refuses to disclose information. The caveat is that the complaints are to be addressed to a new nine- member committee under the Prime Minister’s Office.

But as Uzaki points out: “The new law is supposed to be reviewed in four years’ time after it goes into effect. We should be accustomed to the law by then and use the opportunity to point out areas where reforms must be enacted.”