Agreement on the Bill for Saving FFWPU Victims

To relieve the victims of excessive donation to a religious organization, the House of Representatives passed a bill to prevent Family Foundation for World Peace and Unification from sending its asset to overseas on Tuesday. While the bill was originally submitted by the leading coalition of Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, National Democratic Party joined them with a small amendment of the bill. The opposition parties, Constitutional Democratic Party and Japan Innovation Party voted yes to the bill, after some discussions for reviewing the bill. As its result, some victims viewed that the law would be insufficient to salvage the victims who seriously damaged by the organization.

The bill has been paid attention by the public as the government requested the court to issue an order for disbanding FFWPU in October. The organization gathered a huge amount of money donated by its followers, which caused extreme poverty of them or their families. The consensus of the parties is that there needs to be a law that assures the compensation to the victims before FFWPU transfer its asset to overseas.

 

LDP and Komeito has basically been reluctant to legislate a law which regulate the activities of a religious organization. LDP has been afraid that the discussion for the law may reveal long-time relationship with FFWPU. Komeito is not active to legislate any regulation against a religious organization, because it receives major support from a religious organization.

 

The two parties originally submitted a bill which demanded a religious organization to report on its disposal of its real estate, and offered covering the cost of the victims for maintaining lawsuits. But it did not have a clause for seizing asset of a religious organization. NDP later joined the bill.

 

CDP together with JIP submitted another bill which comprehensively clarified how to save the asset of FFWPU. As the minority, they had no hope to pass their own bill. So, they started discussion for amendment with LDP and its partners. LDP concluded to add a description to make a review after the bill would pass the Diet. An LDP lawmaker in charge of the bill, Masahiko Shibayama, promised that the law would be reconsidered within three years, if any problem appears.

 

Some family of victims, called the followers in the second generation, argued that the bill would be less effective because it lacked any unequivocal provision which would prohibit transferring assets to overseas. They recognized the reconsideration as an excuse of postponing necessary measures for three years.

 

Behind the frustration of the victims’ family, there was fundamental doubt against the government and LDP. It was revealed that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had met with a leader of an organization related to FFWPU. Kishida refuses explaining about the meeting, only saying that he cannot remember who had been there. Passing a bill with support of opposite parties has to be a success of the leading party. But the approval rate of Kishida Cabinet will not rise with LDP’s leadership on the bill for saving FFWPU victims.