A government committee headed by Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura on Oct. 7 decided to submit to the Diet in 2012 a bill to mete out severe punishment to people who leak "special secrets" related to diplomacy, national security and public order. The committee says that the purpose of the bill is to facilitate cooperation with foreign countries in sharing information. But the bill threatens to restrict the people's right to know and harm the healthy development of democracy.
Mr. Fujimura told the body, which consists of Cabinet aides, to pay due respect to the people's right to know and the freedom to gather and spread news. He also made the following points: The scope of special secrets must be limited and delineated, a procedure should be clearly established to declassify special secrets once such designation has become unnecessary, and the punishment for violators should be minimum.
Despite his remarks, the bureaucracy has a strong tendency to hide information from the public. Citizens and the Diet should strictly watch the committee's process to prepare the bill. At least it should make public the process so that people and the Diet will know the bill's content well in advance of its submission to the Diet.