Let the senseless wars stop

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
My View - The Sun Daily
August 2, 2016

THE mayor of Hiroshima, Kazumi Matsui, made a courtesy visit to Kuala Lumpur last week to spread the message against nuclear arms ahead of the 71st anniversary of the city's atomic bombing on Aug 6 at precisely 8.15am. He gave a keynote lecture entitled "From Hiroshima to Our World Without Nuclear Weapons: Beyond Human Atrocities" at Universiti Malaya. He also joined a panel discussion, which I was privileged to be part of following the keynote lecture.

He recounted the tragedy of the day that took tens of thousands of lives instantly. This was followed by another bombing on Nagasaki three days later on Aug 9 causing the same tragic outcome. Therefore, he said, "It is important to have policymakers from all over the world come to Hiroshima, understand the reality of the atomic bombing, share in our wishes for peace and then solidify their determination to stand for nuclear abolition." During the 1945 Hiroshima explosion, its mayor then, Senkichi Awaya, was killed.

On May 27, President Barack Obama made a visit to Hiroshima, becoming the first sitting US president to do so. He called for a "world without nuclear weapons" during his remarks at the city's Peace Memorial Park, short of issuing an apology for what carnage the US-made bomb did. However, he did admit how "71 years ago on a bright, cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed".

"A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city, and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself," he said. In addition, he urged that the world make moral progress alongside its remarkable scientific advancements.

"The scientific revolution that led to the splitting of an atom requires a moral revolution as well," Obama said.

This is indeed a timely reminder as moral progress is often lagging behind scientific and economic progress, throwing the world into an "unethical" catastrophe that it is experiencing today. Not least the senseless wars that have been raging since the turn of the new century with the involvement of big powers. Although they were not an atomic or nuclear attack as such, the misery and agony they reaped are no less painful and barbaric.

In attendance was the Japanese ambassador to Malaysia, Dr Makio Miyagawa, who stressed the importance of talking to people about the devastating effects of weapons. Japan is the only country in the world that experienced such atrocities and the devastating effects that nuclear weapons lead to. Future generations must be spared from the life-threatening effects that we are trying to avoid in the first place.

Despite this, recent changes in Japan's defence policy inclining towards being a "more active player" is raising concern.

The country's new security laws, adopted last September and entered into force on March 29, have been met with much opposition in Japan.

Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which outlaws war as a means of settling disputes, remains in place and a constitutional revision has been avoided, yet the new security laws have broken new ground in terms of the article's interpretation as alleged by some quarters.

Indeed, the Japanese government's interpretation of Article 9 is said to be formulated when the country rejected the prospect of intervening in Vietnam in support of US troops. Apparently, this is about to change when "the new laws reverse this interpretation".

But polls suggest a majority of Japanese are against it. It has been reported that the Japanese prime minister will push for a constitutional revision after the Upper House elections next year.

This is a choice that the Japanese people themselves must seriously consider, in creating the reality of a peaceful world, without procrastination.

Thus far the US-drafted post-war Japanese constitution imposed significant constraints on the country's military, known as Self-Defence Forces, with Japanese troops restricted to defending themselves and the country. We hope that good sense will prevail for the sake of the hibakushas at the very least.

The writer is a second generation hibakusha. His father was a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing in 1945. He was 1.5km from the epicentre