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| June 21, 2011 |
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| State Above Private Person |
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We saw three major events consecutively in the recent weeks on the controversy of the national flag Hinomaru and the anthem Kimigayo. The two are judgments of the Supreme Court and the third is an ordinance of Osaka Prefecture. The authorities oblige school teachers to stand up before the Hinomaru and sing Kimigayo in the ceremonies. The three decisions blatantly deny the constitutional right for freedom of thought and credo. The court rulings and the prefectural order base on an ideology to place the State upper than dignity of an individual. It will lead to fascism.
FASCISM IS AN ULTIMATE GOAL
The Supreme Court issued rulings on May 30 and June 6 at the Petty Bench.
This is a case contended over the announcement of the Board of Education of Tokyo Metropolitan Government issued on October 23, 2003, sent to all the municipal schools with the initiative of Governor Ishihara: it was 'to order school teachers and staff to stand up in front of the national flag Hinomaru and sing the anthem Kimigayo during the school ceremonies. If they do not follow the rule, penalty will be imposed'. The Supreme Court rejected an appeal on May 30 and another 13 on June 6. It claimed the order to be constitutional. Justice was dismissed.
Human Right Clauses Scrapped - Violation of Constitution
The plaintiff teachers, as individuals, have their own values on the history and education as well as on their own life. They refused to respect the Board's order on the ground that 'the Hinomaru-Kimigayo constituted the key moral incentive to bolster Japan's militarism before and during the World War II and therefore it cannot be accepted'. The teachers assure that administrative enforcement should not be applied to centers of education.
Concerning the Announcement October 23, numerous legal battles are fought in the court. The recent judgment of the Supreme Court is a third relevant one that the highest court made, including that issued in 2007 on the case of Piano Accompaniment for Kimigayo, in which a music teacher disobeyed the order of school principal. Neither of these decisions is fair, in which the highest judicial body gives up its role as a watcher of Constitution, undermineing the human right clauses. The New Socialist Party of Japan expresses its indignation and regret against the Supreme Court.
As for Judge Miyagawa Koji, previously an attorney before taking present office, he pointed out that the Announcement overruns the reasonable limit, arguing with the majority opinion that the Tokyo government order is constitutional. His comment must be appreciated.
Judge Miyagawa told: the order denies the school teachers' view on the history that the Hinomaru-Kimigayo had served to boost militarism before the WWII and imposes penalty on the actions of disobedience. It attempts to enforce school employees to accept unilateral values on the modern history of Japan. The judge ruled down the lower court decision to order to review the case, demanding that alternative means other than an administrative order should be sought.
We Cannot Overlook Situation
The ordinance of Osaka Prefecture to enforce teachers and school staff to stand up in front of the Hinomaru flag and sing the Kimigayo anthem during the ceremonies of public schools in the prefecture was approved by the two-day debate in the local assembly. It is the first enforcement of local law in the country. The bill was presented to the assembly by members who belong to the Osaka-Ishin-no-Kai, or the Osaka Restoration Association, headed by Osaka Governor Hashimoto Toru, and discussed on June 2 in the committee and on June 3 in the plenary session.
The local law also sets forth to hoist the Hinomaru flag on the daily basis at other public facilities in the prefecture.
The plenary session of June 3 became entangled, in addition to the anthem issue, in debating the two bills raised by the Ishin-no-Kai members. One is to revise the rule to cut off the number of assembly members from 109 to 88, and the other is to set up a body to reexamine administration of a big municipality for a purpose of reorganizing Osaka City and Prefecture.
Governor Hashimoto insists it is a social rule to stand up and sing the anthem, explaining that is irrelevant of freedom of one's thought and conscience. He is intended to have another terrible ordinance approved in the session of coming September: to expel a disobedient person for disciplinary dismissal if he/she violates the order three times. Reportedly, he will make names of disobedient teachers open to the public.
History gives us a lesson: what will come next if we overlook the trend to compel individuals to submit to the will of the State.
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