ニュース 2015/03/23 Edano expresses condolences on the death of Lee Kuan Yew On March 23, DPJ Secretary General Yukio Edano responded to reporters’ questions inside the Diet building. Edano expressed his “deepest condolences” on the death of former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, describing him as a “great leader of 20th century Asia” and stating, “While there are some differences in national characteristics, I feel Japan should learn carefully from the way in which former Prime Minister Lee contributed to the development of Singapore under the consistent mantra that the nation’s ‘only natural resources are its people.’” Edano also touched on comments made by Prime Minister Abe at the graduation ceremony of the National Defense Academy of Japan the previous day, in which the Prime Minister criticized opposition to his security policies, saying, “people have been repeating irresponsible remarks which merely serve to whip up public anxieties, but the 70 years of our post-war history prove just how preposterous these kind of criticisms are.” Edano said, “In the 70 years of debate over Japan’s national security, we have certainly ended up feeling on occasion ‘But your concerns didn’t turn into reality, did they.’ ” He added, “Those 70 years of debate have thoroughly reflected and represented the voices of a full spectrum of the Japanese public. The sector of opinion it seems most likely that Prime Minister has in mind has served as a brake to prevent us from going too far. It is under the influence of this tension and balance that we have succeeded in building peace during the 70 years since the war. In this sense, it looks like Prime Minister Abe needs a thorough history lesson. He needs to view not just the pre-war history which led to war between Japan and China and between Japan and the United States, but also the history of events since WWII in a more honest and humble way. If not I want to point out to him that Japan’s current peace and prosperity was not created by one sector of society only.”