A government-sponsored bill to protect personal information, which critics fear would threaten freedom of the press, is more likely aimed at protecting bureaucrats rather than individual members of the public, according to a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker who has openly criticized the legislation.
"Scandals by bureaucrats have often been revealed by whistle-blowers within their ministries who leaked internal documents (to the media)," Yoshihide Sakaue told The Japan Times. "That is what bureaucrats want to prevent."
On April 26, Sakaue, a 54-year-old Lower House member from Hyogo Prefecture, resigned from the Lower House Cabinet Committee when senior members of the LDP appeared to be denying him a chance to speak up in the committee because of his stated opposition to the controversial bill.