Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito does not seem to understand the reason whistleblowers are legally protected.
After receiving the investigative report of a third-party committee examining allegations against him including power harassment, Saito finally admitted for the first time to committing acts of harassment and apologized.
Yet, when it came to the prefectural government outing the whistleblower and subjecting them to disciplinary measures, the governor stubbornly declared it had been "appropriate." He rejected the committee's finding of a violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act, dismissing it as merely a difference in "views." Moreover, Saito stood by his previous characterization of the document detailing the harassment as "highly slanderous."
This rigid response cannot be described as wholeheartedly accepting the committee's recommendations on how a government leader should behave.
The panel had been expected to objectively analyze internal organizational issues from an external perspective and propose necessary corrective actions. Saito himself decided to establish the committee, promising repeatedly to "respond to its findings." Rejecting those findings openly and persistently is an inflexible attitude that will hardly restore public trust or prevent similar scandals in the future.
In the first place, whistleblowers are protected precisely because their role is crucial in preserving organizational integrity. Appropriate responses to reports of wrongful or illegal...
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