Japan's prime minister rapped the justice minister yesterday over his assertion this week that a friend of his had an acquaintance who was a member of the Al-Qaida terrorist group.
Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said on Monday that the unidentified terrorist had entered Japan many times with disguises and false passports, proving the country needed to fingerprint and photograph arriving foreigners.
"Those comments came at the wrong place, and weren't appropriate in content," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said. "But he has clarified his comments, and I think he now has the public's understanding."
"His initial statement was most regrettable," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said. "It was highly likely to be misunderstood, giving the mistaken impression that Japan's justice minister knew a terrorist."
Hatoyama said yesterday he had apologized to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda for causing him trouble. He reiterated the indirect link to the Al-Qaida member but added that the man was only an "acquaintance of an acquaintance".
Gaffes by Cabinet ministers added to financial scandals to undermine public confidence in the Cabinet of Fukuda's predecessor, Shinzo Abe, who suffered a crushing upper house election defeat in July and stepped down in September.
"I thought it was careless, so before the Cabinet meeting I urged him to be careful," Machimura added.
Hatoyama first said that a friend of his friend was an Al-Qaida member who had come to Japan several times, showing the need for the new system for fingerprinting foreigners.
He also said the man, whom he had never met, had been involved in a bombing on the Indonesian island of Bali, and that he had been warned to stay away from the island for safety reasons.
Hatoyama later offered some explanation - saying that he had not known in advance about the 2002 Bali bombing, which killed about 200 people, and that he had alerted immigration authorities when he heard about the supposed Al-Qaida member.
"There may be a problem with the definition of 'friend' but it was certainly an acquaintance of an acquaintance," he said. "This is why I was saying we should take proper measures."
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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