ニュース 2015/02/23 Takaki slams PM for heckling, says it “calls into question his ability to govern” On the morning of February 23, DPJ Diet Affairs Committee Chair Yoshiaki Takaki commented on the DPJ’s ongoing response to heckling of a DPJ Diet member by Prime Minister Abe in a session of the House of Representative Committee on Budget. Takaki said of Abe’s outburst, “for the Prime Minister to make such interruptions from his own seat is intolerable.” He added, “In particular, his claims that the Japan Teachers’ Union is receiving government funds, and that [DPJ Diet members] received political donations from the Japan Education Center [an organization linked to the teachers’ union] are both totally divorced from reality. We must question the ability to govern of a Prime Minister who has no scruple in telling such falsehoods.” Takaki revealed that the DPJ had called for the Prime Minister to withdraw his remarks and apologize in that morning’s session of the Committee on Budget in the lower house. Takaki said that if the Prime Minister did not comply, this “would have a serious impact on future deliberations in the Diet”, stressing that the DPJ would continue to take a tough stance regarding the matter. That same morning, DPJ Secretary General Yukio Edano also commented on the Prime Minister’s inappropriate remarks, as well as to his response to a question by DPJ Diet member Seiji Maehara in a session of the Committee on Budget held on February 20. He slammed Abe’s behavior, saying, “For him to make remarks that totally differ from the truth, in such a barefaced manner, in the Diet in a session broadcast live to the nation, and then not to give a clear apology for his behavior, is conduct unworthy of a Prime Minister.”