Originally published on February 15, 2020.
This article introduces a Sankei Shō column and discusses Kiyomi Tsujimoto’s remarks in the House of Representatives Budget Committee, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s heckle that her question was “meaningless,” and the Constitutional Democratic Party’s backlash.
It argues that one-sidedly insulting a prime minister chosen through the legitimate procedures of parliamentary democracy is itself an insult to parliament, and that the government should respond firmly to false accusations and verbal abuse.

February 15, 2020
I do not think it is a virtue for the government simply to swallow everything said against it and make no rebuttal.
Firmly fighting back against mistaken accusations and verbal abuse may instead help revitalize the chamber of speech.
The following is from today’s Sankei Shō.
It is an argument that is correct in the truest sense.
Is it not Kiyomi Tsujimoto, acting secretary-general of the Constitutional Democratic Party, who should be apologizing?
It makes no sense that the House of Representatives Budget Committee on February 13 was allowed to collapse on the pretext that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had heckled Ms. Tsujimoto at the committee meeting on February 12.
Perhaps it is because this columnist is contrary by nature, but when the major opposition parties criticize this heckle in such an overbearing manner, it feels as though the attack and defense have been completely reversed.
“Do you know the saying that a fish rots from the head?”
Ms. Tsujimoto began this way at the Budget Committee, and then unilaterally asserted to Prime Minister Abe that he was “bad for children’s education” and that “there is no choice but to change the head,” before ending her questioning.
Prime Minister Abe’s remark in response, “That was a meaningless question,” has been treated as a problem, but it was exactly that—a meaningless question itself.
The Constitutional Democratic Party immediately reacted fiercely, saying, “It is an insult to the entire legislature and parliament” (Yukio Edano, party leader), and “It is conduct unworthy of a parliamentarian” (Jun Azumi, Diet affairs chief), but this too is difficult to understand.
Surely it is far more insulting to parliament to verbally denounce as a rotten object a person who became prime minister through the legitimate procedures of parliamentary democracy.
Mr. Azumi had posted inside the Diet various newspaper articles reporting on Diet questioning, added comments such as “trash, zero points” and “out of the question,” and laughed at them.
Does he take pride in his own conduct as appropriate for a parliamentarian?
Regarding Prime Minister Abe’s heckle, there are also voices within the ruling parties admonishing him for being immature.
This newspaper’s “Shuchō” editorial on February 14 also urged him to carry himself with greater composure, but this depends on the time and circumstances.
A lawmaker who, at the very end of questioning, blocks any answer and launches a terrible slander should be properly scolded, even for that person’s own sake.
I do not think it is a virtue for the government simply to swallow everything said against it and make no rebuttal.
Firmly fighting back against mistaken accusations and verbal abuse may instead help revitalize the chamber of speech.