☆☆◎●EDITORIALS
also of the understanding that the controversy over the suspected use of Japanese fuel for
the war in Iraq had subsided.”
But it was also on May 9 that Fukuda fielded questions on this issue during a news conference. And on May 15, Ishiba was questioned
in the Diet about this. The Defense Ministry’s
claim that the controversy “had subsided” istotally at odds with what was actually happening. Misinformed as they were, Fukuda
and Ishiba kept asserting that Japanese fuelcould not have been used for the Iraq war.
If the volume was 800,000 gallons, the possibility that the fuel was diverted cannot be ignored. What we suspect happened is that theSDF covered up what was deemed to be an“inconvenient truth.” This leads to further
suspicions. The logbook of the refueling vessel in question was said to have been destroyed before the retention period expired.
The ministry explains the logbook was “putthrough the shredder by mistake,” but that
does not sound credible.
As for the Air Self-Defense Force activities
in Iraq, next to nothing has been disclosed.
Are all the activities within the law? According to the Defense Ministry’s report, someSDF officers withheld inconvenient information from civilian bureaucrats. The Diet andthe public were lied to by military officers.
That state of affairs clearly demonstrates alack of civilian oversight.
To reinforce civilian control, the ministry on
Monday hastily set up a committee tostrengthen civilian control of the SDF. The
committee must get to the bottom of the problem and come up with recommendations.
What has transpired is definitely not just aninternal ministry problem. It has also cometo light that former Vice Defense Minister
Takemasa Moriya apparently did favors forthe owner of a company with which the ministry had business dealings, in exchange forbeing treated to golf outings.
The government is reportedly eager tospeed up deliberations on a new bill for refueling operations, which come under the jurisdiction of the Defense Ministry. But with theministry under a thick cloud of suspicion, including its disregard of the principle of civilian control, the Diet’s top priority now should
be to fully investigate these suspicions.
—The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 23

Hepatitis C victims
Offer relief right away in this public health disaster.

I

t’s a stunning example of the government’s failure to act. Hundreds of people who were exposed to the hepatitis C
virus through tainted blood products
were never told about the risks—eventhough the health ministry was notifiedof the related facts at least five yearsago.
If these patients had been alerted immediately, they could have received proper treatment earlier and avoided developing more
serious conditions. Their personal tragedies
are all the more painful because these people were totally blameless. The Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare has acted in an incredibly irresponsible manner.
In 2002, the ministry received reports on
418 patients who had apparently been exposedto the hepatitis C virus after being treatedwith tainted fibrinogen, a blood product provided by former Mitsubishi Pharma Corp.
The ministry did nothing to warn these people.
Under the ministry’s order, the drugmaker, now called Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma
Corp., conducted an investigation into hepatitis C cases linked to fibrinogen and reported back on its findings.
Some of those affected may still be unawareof their risk of developing the disease, andthus are not seeking proper treatment. Some
doctors might have not even told their patients they were being treated with fibrinogen.
Hepatitis C is a serious illness that inflames
the liver and, if left untreated, can lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer. Early treatment is crucial to prevent hepatitis C from becoming life
threatening. All those at risk should be told
right away.
Reports to the ministry on medical problems usually don’t use patients’ real names.
But the documents submitted to the ministry
five years ago contained the real names of
two people, and the initials for 116 others who
received the tainted fibrinogen.
Reportedly, the drug company knew thenames and initials of nearly 370 patients, including those listed in the reports submitted
to the ministry.
But it seems that neither the ministry nor
the firm cared about those individual patients.
Especially baffling is the health ministry’s
response to the drugmaker’s reports. All it
did after receiving the reports was issue ageneral warning to the public urging anyone
who may have received fibrinogen to see a
doctor for a hepatitis C test.
In 2001, the ministry published a list of some
800 medical institutions that purchased different blood products tainted with hepatitis
viruses. It urged at-risk people to get medical checkups.
But it postponed action on the fibrinogenproblem. It didn’t publish the names of thenearly 7,000 medical institutions that had used
the product until three years later—December
2004. Its excuse was the large number of institutions involved.
Meanwhile, many of the 418 victims havesued the government and the drugmaker overtheir infection with hepatitis from fibrinogen.
But the government said two of the plaintiffs
had not been treated with the product.
Lawsuits against the government and drug
companies have been filed in five district
courts, including the Osaka District Court. In
five consecutive rulings, the drugmakers were
held responsible for the hepatitis infections,while the state was blamed in four.
A clear picture of this public health disaster has thus emerged. As the Osaka High
Court begins hearing the appeal, both theplaintiffs and the government are showing
willingness to reach out-of-court settlements.
In fact, it was the Osaka lawsuit that shone
a spotlight on the health ministry’s disastrous
negligence. Without it, the facts would haveremained buried. The ministry must conduct
a thorough investigation to find out how sucha serious mistake occurred. It also needs tooffer fundamental relief to the hepatitis patients right away.
—The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 23

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23

Japan needs to keep its military close to home

It seems clear civilian control has been eroded.

C

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

POINT OF VIEW/ Robert DujarricRefueling cover-up
ommenting on the reported coverup in May 2003 concerning the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s refueling
mission in the Indian Ocean, an irate
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told
the media on Monday: “What (theMSDF officers) did was unconscionable. It even raises suspicions about myrole in the matter.” Fukuda’s anger is understandable. But we actually feel more apprehensive than angry. The crucial question is
this: Where is the civilian control?
The shocking truth is that MSDF officers
were aware a data-entry mistake had been
made, but did not report it to the top brass. As
a result, Shigeru Ishiba, the chief of what wasthen the Defense Agency, and other Cabinet
officials, including Fukuda, who was chief
Cabinet secretary at the time, repeatedly gaveerroneous information when they were asked
to explain the situation.
The first inkling of the cover-up emerged
over suspicions that 800,000 gallons of fuel,supplied by the MSDF to U.S. Navy vessels in
the Indian Ocean, may have been diverted toa U.S. aircraft carrier in February 2003, amonth before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq
began. The flattop in question was later deployed in the Iraq war.
The government initially explained that thevolume of fuel supplied by the MSDF wasonly 200,000 gallons, and that this volume
was nowhere near enough to be diverted for
Iraq operations. But a Japanese citizens grouplater checked U.S. Navy documents under the
freedom of information act, and confirmedthat the volume was 800,000 gallons. The
government admitted last month that a “dataentry error” had been made. The official figure has since been corrected to 800,000
gallons.
According to the latest Defense Ministry
explanation, however, the MSDF’s department
chief and other officers became aware of theentry error on May 9, 2003, which was only
one day after Toru Ishikawa, then chairmanof the Joint Staff Council of the Self-Defense
Forces, told a news conference that the correct volume was 200,000 gallons. Yet, theseofficers did not report the error to the top
brass. As one individual explained, this was“because their section was not directly involved in the refueling mission, and they were

The Asahi Shimbun

Opinion

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Special to The Asahi Shimbun

The fate of Maritime Self-Defense
Force (MSDF) operations in the Indian Ocean remains uncertain. What isalready clear, however, is that observers have over-dramatized the refusal of Minshuto (Democratic Partyof Japan) leader Ichiro Ozawa to support the renewal of legislation authorizing Japanese refueling of alliednavies involved in the Afghan war andrelated naval activities.
In fact, the struggle over the fate of
the MSDF in the Indian Ocean is a“tempest in a teapot” with little impact on Japan’s security and the country’s contribution to the Japan-U.S.
partnership.
Japan plays a vital role in Northeast
Asian security. The SDF, Asia’s mostadvanced military, deter Japan’s potential enemies in conjunction with
their U.S. allies. Moreover, Japan allows the United States to station forcesin the country while providing themwith logistical and infrastructure support. Without the SDF and Americanbases, Japan would be weaker and theUnited States would cease to exist as
an Asian power.
But beyond Northeast Asia, Japan’s
military potential is extremely limited. Despite rising North Korean andChinese capabilities, and regional conflicts in Southwest Asia, Japan has cut
its Defense Ministry appropriations.
Since most of Japan’s military must

be available to handle possible contingencies involving Korea or China,
Japan’s resources do not provide the
SDF with much “surplus” to project
power beyond the region. It is noticeable that even as he backed America over Afghanistan and Iraq, former
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi refused to spend more on defense.
Nor is there any indication thatJapanese voters want more money to
go to the SDF. Therefore, there is no
reason to believe that in the foreseeable future Japan will invest the resources necessary to be more than a(very) marginal player in security issues beyond Northeast Asia.
In addition, Japan remains committed to sending its servicemen andwomen where they will not be inharm’s way. This further diminishes
its contribution, since those who fighthave more input on policy that those
who remain in safe areas. This policy led to the humiliating situation forJapan’s military, whose dedication andbravery is widely recognized, where
their government ordered them toseek foreign protection (from Australia and the Netherlands) when they
were dispatched to Iraq.
Though Ozawa’s original idea of
joining the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan
raised the possibility of the SDF participating in a war, there is actually
very little chance that Japan’s Cabinet—LDP or Minshuto—will send

forces to fight, except if the nation is
directly threatened.
This analysis
does not imply thatJapan is a midget
in international affairs. In Northeast
Asian security, it isAmerica’s key partner. In the realm of Robert Dujarriceconomics and finance, it is one of
the world’s most important participants. It is inconceivable, for example, to imagine global discussions on
currency movements taking place
without Japan being at the head table.
Nor is Tokyo avoiding a more active role in military activities overseas
necessarily bad for its interests andthose of the United States. Japan faces
serious security challenges in its neighborhood that require its attention.
This situation makes the calls forJapan to be the “Britain of Asia” illogical. Besides the fact that Germany,
not the United Kingdom, has been thelinchpin of American power in Europe, western European states face a
different threat environment.
Thanks to the demise of the Soviet Union, they confront neither a major power nor a North Korea-type
menace. While the Balkans requires
their attention, European NATOmembers can afford to deploy a large
proportion of their air and naval

forces, and some of their groundforces, to out-of-area theaters. Northeast Asia is far less benign, and thus
Japan needs to focus its military on
its own region. Hoping that Japan
will solve this dilemma by a massive
rise in funds allocated to defense is
not realistic.
Consequently, those who wish todevelop the U.S.-Japan alliance beyond Northeast Asia should think ofother roles for Japan rather than hope
it will become a major participant in
U.S.-led wars far from Japanese shores.
Alternative roles for Japan can include
government and NGO programs incountries in need of reconstruction
assistance.
The SDF also have important disaster relief and humanitarian assistance capabilities that can be usedoutside of Japan. Japanese activities
need not focus exclusively on Southwest Asia.
There are many areas of the world,such as the former Yugoslavia andAfrica, were both Japan and the United States have an interest in regional
security, where non-military Japaneseparticipation could easily be increased
for the benefit of Japan’s international standing and of its relations with
America.
The author is director of the Instituteof Contemporary Japanese Studies at
Temple University Japan Campus inTokyo.

POINT OF VIEW/ Vinod Thomas

Magnificent symbol of Asia nearing extinction
The mesmerizing tiger has inspired
poets, induced corporations and nations to adopt it as their emblem, andbeen used to sell everything from gasoline to sporting goods and children’sbooks.
But this animal’s universal appeal
has not secured its fate in the wild.
Now on the brink of extinction, theonly way to save the tiger is throughdramatic action by China and India,
and their neighboring countries, which
include Thailand.
The foremost reason for the tiger’s
plight is relentless poaching to satisfy
demand in Oriental medicine in China
and East Asia. Another reason is thatits habitat in India and South Asia havefallen by some two-thirds, with intensecompetition for land, water and forests,
and the endless encroachment of villages onto protected land.
In its natural place at the helm of
the animal kingdom, the tiger is an indicator of the health of biodiversity
and environmental sustainability. If thetiger and other precious examples of
biodiversity are lost forever, we must
discount some of the impressive economic gains reflected in the 9-10 percent growth rates of India and China,
or the high growth of the rest of Asia.

Several tiger subspecies—the Bali,
Javan and Caspian cats—have completely disappeared in the last few
decades, while others in South China
and Indochina (of Thailand) are on
the brink. The latest census confirmsthat the number of Bengal tigers in India have plummeted by more than 50
percent in the last five years to fewer
than 1,500, which experts say could be
the tipping point for extinction.
What is worse, there are now plans
to legalize the sale of tiger parts fromtiger farms in East Asia. Lobbyists
pushing to legalize the tiger trade argue that flooding the market with
farmed animals will reduce the price oftiger goods and thus the profits frompoaching. A cited analogy is that people don’t hunt wild turkeys for Christmas because supermarkets overflow
with farmed supplies.
But tigers are different. Opening evenlimited trade will only increase hunting of tigers in the wild. The reason
is that poaching in India (by poisoning or with steel traps) costs less than$100 (11,470 yen) per tiger (plus transport and other costs), while maintaining one in captivity in East Asia costs
some $3,000. This cost difference
makes it improbable that wild-tiger

parts will be priced out of the market.
Evidence in ivory markets also suggests that legalizing trade could rekindle demand from new buyers, raising
the prices of tiger products (as withivory). In response, farm investors saythat certification of farmed tiger parts
could reduce the laundering of blackmarket tiger parts.
But the high cost of certification
would further increase the price of legal tiger products, making it even more
tempting to go after those in the wild.
So there really is no alternative toconfronting poaching. The World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies
has declared that tiger parts are notnecessary in traditional medicines—
alternatives are available and effective.
That provides solid ground for East
Asian countries to mount campaigns
against the tiger trade for medicinal
purposes and for China to strongly
maintain the domestic 1993 ban.
Equally, India and others need toconserve tiger habitats. Crucial are sufficient protection staff with motivation
and adequate remuneration for facing
the battle against poachers. They alsoneed modern conservation methods.
Models of conservation need to bemodernized, bringing in commercial

operators working alongside or under
official wildlife agencies.
Forest-based communities also musthave a stake in protecting the tiger. A
part of the gains from eco-tourism
could be directed to such forest communities. There could be free cameras
and prizes for community dwellers
who track and photograph tigers. In
the reserves of Periyar in southern India, there has been success in working with former poachers now turned
into tourist guides.
Finally, these efforts will require sizable financing. Corporations featuring
the symbol of the tiger, such as Exxon
Mobil (they have a Save the Tiger
fund) or Asia Pacific Breweries with
its Tiger beer could support the cause.
The drive could also get a boost if
celebrities would lend their prestige—
imagine a campaign fronted by theThai-American golfer Tiger Woods.
The tiger is an integral part of Asia’sculture. Unless urgent action is taken,
that magnificent symbol of these countries’ heritage will be lost forever.
The Bangkok Post

The author is director-general of theWorld Bank’s Independent Evaluation
Group. The views expressed are his own.

POINT OF VIEW/ George Junus Aditjondro

Authorities must return displaced Javanese to Aceh
The Helsinki peace agreement madeon Aug. 15, 2005, between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) left some “homework” for elected Aceh Governor Irwandy Yusuf and his North Sumatra
counterpart Rudolf Pardede.
This homework involved deciding
the fate of thousands of Javanese transmigrants stranded in North Sumatra
and Riau in the late 1990s and early
2000s after fleeing violent attacks byarmed groups.
Unfortunately, Governor Pardede
perhaps forgets his province harbors
thousands of Javanese refugee families
from Aceh living in very poor conditions.
Aceh Governor Irwandy, a former
GAM leader, also may not realize theJavanese transmigrants were evictedby units of armed men, who they believed were GAM combatants.
Irwandy presumably also doesn’t realize under the Helsinki agreement, theJavanese transmigrants are entitled to“an allocation of suitable farming land,
employment or, in the case of incapacity to work, adequate social security from the authorities of Aceh”.
And how do these internally displaced persons live in North Sumatra,
and what is in store for them in the
future?
I recently visited a community of 72
families of Javanese refugees from Aceh
who had settled in the Sibatuloting
mountain range. They sought safety
there coming from different parts of
Aceh. Now only 10 of these families
remain in the Jati Mulia hamlet of
Bosar Nauli Village. Their entire hamlet was destroyed allegedly by bulldozers and excavators from pulp
producer Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) in
the neighboring district of Toba
Samosir.
The incident occurred while 29 of
the refugees and 24 other Bosar Nauli
villagers, accused of being “forest plun-derers” by local authorities, were imprisoned in Pematang Siantar, the district capital. This was after they were
officially settled in the village by thesame authorities, who had gave themIDs and had collected land and property taxes from them for seven years.
But no local politicians complained
against TPL’s land acquisition, eventhough the residents were helpless Javanese transmigrants who had previously fled powerful and armed groups.
The Sibatuloting case is merely the
tip of the iceberg. Nobody seems tocare about the tens of thousands of Javanese transmigrants who were moved
to Aceh by the national administration
during the armed conflict between
GAM and the Indonesian military.
Neither the government agencies ofNorth Sumatra or Aceh, or Jakarta forthat matter, seem to care about thesepeople, most of whom have not beenable to return to their homes in Aceh.
So, it is high time for Governor Ir-

wandy to visit and discuss this matterwith Governor Pardede. Irwandy mustalso bring this case to the attention of
the central government.
If the Indonesian government andformer Aceh rebel group GAM are tohonor the Helsinki agreement theyneed to enable the Javanese transmigrants to return to their former homes
in Aceh.
Similarly, if the Finnish government
wants to maintain its reputation aspeace broker in armed conflicts worldwide it must talk to Indonesia and help
these poor folks who were expelled toremote areas in North Sumatra to return to their sweet Aceh home.
The Jakarta Post

The author, a guest lecturer at theSanata Dharma University postgraduate
program in Religious and Cultural Studies, is currently researching the political
economy of post-Helsinki reconstructionin Aceh.

VOX POPULI, VOX DEITime for Moriya to show ‘a sense of mission’
Fall is a dewy season. When we
start walking, we try not to get ourshoes wet. But once they get damp,
we tend not to care and become bold.
The old Japanese saying “People
should avoid even a dew before they
get wet” is a warning that once weerr, even when we repeat mistakes,
we tend not to feel guilty.
Did former Vice Defense Minister
Takemasa Moriya continually resort
to immoral conduct as many civil servants have done in the past? It became clear that Moriya was golf
buddies with an executive of a trading company that had dealings withthe ministry. He is said to haveplayed golf on more than 100 occasions with the man, who, it turns out,
had vested interests. Such conduct isbeyond common decency.
It also became clear that Moriya
had the executive do favors for his
family. In exchange, Moriya is suspected of helping the executive raise
funds for his company. Treated as a“big shot vice minister” to be reckoned with, Moriya lorded over theministry for many years.
Could it be that he became conceited with his power? The way heoverstepped professional ethics is be-yond reason.
The Self-Defense Forces were dispatched to Iraq when Moriya wasvice minister. The Defense Agency
was also upgraded to a ministry.
At the time, addressing those inuniform, Moriya demanded that “eachone of the 240,000 SDF members
possess a strong sense of mission tocarry out their responsibility in theirown divisions.”
The way he contradicted his words
with action reminds me of a WorldWar II lieutenant general. Serving as
the commander of a unit on thesouthern front, he raised a saber,shouting “I will not let you die by
yourselves” and ordered his men to
carry out suicide aircraft attacks.
However, once attacks by U.S. forceswere imminent, he fled, leaving his
men behind.
Some SDF members must feel betrayed by Moriya. Moves to summon
him to testify in the Diet are also advancing. Moriya is urged to show asense of mission to account for his
actions. If he does nothing but wait
idly for his clothes, damp from dew,
to dry, he would contradict his own
instructions.
—The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 23