The editorial "Security policy set the wrong way" in the Sept. 19 edition is absolutely right to question Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's approach to governance. There is a reason the Constitution is very difficult to change, and yet that poses no concern to Abe or his supporters (who are dwindling day by day). This change is not a "reinterpretation," but rather a total transformation of Article 9.
But the people of Japan should have a larger concern beyond Article 9. When a nation's leader gets to decide which parts of the Constitution he will abide by and which ones he will ignore, that leader has effectively placed himself above the law.
Even those who support changing Article 9 should consider what a dangerous precedent Abe's move makes. If the prime minister can so easily change the Constitution — against the will of the people, against the advice of legal scholars and without going through the proper amendment procedure — who's to say he can't do it again?
What if Abe or a future prime minister decides that a separate article needs "reinterpretation?" Say prohibition of slavery (Article 18), or freedom of speech (Article 21), or freedom of religion (Article 20).
When you give a man like Shinzo Abe the power to "reinterpret" the Constitution according to his whims, you set foot down a dangerously steep and slippery slope.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.