Japan PM's meddling in science panel a 'dangerous direction': scholars

23/10/2020 17:12

        Scholars excluded from Japan's top science advisory panel said the move was unconstitutional and a dangerous sign of how newly installed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will wield power. Suga broke precedent in rejecting membership to six scholars to the Science Council of Japan (SCJ), a body set up after World War Two to provide independent scientific input for policy-making.
        
        The spurned academics had previously criticised government policy, including 2015 laws to allow Japanese troops to fight overseas.
        
        Among the six were legal and constitutional scholars who said Suga's move was illegal and could prompt both parliamentary and criminal inquiries.
        
        One of them, Ritsumeikan University law professor Takaaki Matsumiya told reporters on Friday that Suga was acting "similar to a dictator."