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Fierce protest by supporting religious groups to Soka Gakkai apology
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is caught in a quandary over religious organizations. The reason: The ruling party, having published an apology in its organ, Jiyu Shimpo, in the wake of a Soka Gakkai protest, now faces intense opposition from religious groups such as Rissho Kosei Kai, which have traditionally backed the LDP.
The current row was taken up in an LDP meeting on April 28. Critics of the party leadrship, led by former construction minister Shizuka Kamei, questioned the timing of the apology and expressed their concern over its impact on the LDP's long-time supporters in the upcoming Upper House election. Said one: "The LDP won't gain votes by compromising with the Soka Gakkai. It'll only undermine our relationship with other groups."
LDP secretary general Koichi Kato sought to defuse the criticism by saying, "Having consulted legal experts, we judged that (should the Soka Gakkai sue for libel) we would not stand a chance at winning in court." Still, by adding that "it is important for the party to consider ways to maintain ties with Shinto Heiwa and Komei," Mr. Kato left little doubt that the apology was also offered out of a desire to work closer with the two parliamentary spin-offs of the former Komei Party by mending ties with their primary constituency, the Soka Gakkai.
The ruling party's dilemma began when it received a letter of protest from the Soka Gakkai on April 13. Following its ouster from power in 1993, the LDP began publishing a series contributed by a freelance journalist on the New Frontier Party and Soka Gakkai. The subsequent Soka Gakkai protest held that the serial "contained much that must be termed of a greviously libelous nature," and therefore demanded an apology and retraction. The LDP, under the name of its public relations chief Kaoru Yosano, complied with the condition in the April 21 issue of Jiyu Shimpo.
In turn, the move sparked a fierce outcry from the April Association, a group comprised of cultural figures and religious organizations such as Rissho Kosei Kai, Reiyukai and Busshogonen-kai, who both oppose the Soka Gakkai and support the LDP. The association not only insists that the retraction be retracted, but claims it will "thoroughly reconsider electoral support" for those LDP parliamentarians seeking closer relations with the Soka Gakkai.
Yomiuri Shimbun, April 29, 1998
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