Interview: Okinawan people should continue fight for change: lawmaker

"The Japanese and American governments regard Okinawa as their 'military colony' and the Okinawan people should continue their fight to change the status quo," said Kantoku Teruya, a member of the lower house of the Japanese parliament from Okinawa during an exclusive interview with Xinhua recently.

A 20-year-old woman was raped and strangled by a former U.S. marine in April. The Okinawan police issued a further arrest warrant on June 9 on the already detained base worker who stands accused of raping the deceased in a grassy area beside the road in Uruma in central Okinawa before stabbing her to death and dumping her body in a forested area.

Regarding this, the Social Democratic Party lawmaker felt strong indignation against the base worker as the girl was so young. "It's unbearable that criminal cases involving U.S. military men repeatedly happened in Okinawa. The Japanese and American governments promised many times that they would introduce effective measures to eradicate crimes, but this issue remains unresolved," Teruya said, adding that he believes the root the problem is the disproportionate number of bases being hosted on the tiny island.

Okinawa hosts some 75 percent of U.S. bases in Japan, yet the tiny sub-tropical island accounts for less than 1 percent of the county's total land mass. Local citizens have become increasingly irate at their base-hosting burdens and the central government's ongoing pandering to the U.S.'s requests, amid rising instances of crime, noise and pollution connected to the bases.

According to the latest statistics, since the reversion of Okinawa from the United States in 1972 to the end of May this year, the prefecture saw 5,910 crimes in total with 575 of them being viciously committed by members and civilian workers of the U.S. forces and their relatives.

Teruya pointed out as the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) gives U.S. troops immunity from Japanese prosecution, the American soldiers have nothing to fear, believing that they'll get away from any crime they commit once they are inside the bases.

"I doubt whether Japan could be called a democratic nation with such an unequal and unfair treaty."

Under the current agreement, U.S. forcespersonnel can be granted a great deal of legal autonomy and while the Japanese court system has jurisdiction for most crimes committed by U.S. service members, if the accused was "acting in official duty," or if the victim was another American, the U.S. justice system is used, not Japan's, despite the location.

Following the murder of the young lady, the Japanese government confronted the American government with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe raising a formal protest over the tragic death to U.S. President Barack Obama during the G7 Ise-Shima Summit last month. Teruya regarded it as a bad show in which the Japanese government had awful acting skills. "The protest didn't ask for the revision of the SOFA and was a mere formality without any concrete move. Such kind of acting is beneath contempt and couldn't fool the Okinawan people."

Teruya said that for generations, successive Japanese governments have been subordinate to the United States and treated Okinawa with discrimination. "The two governments view Okinawa as their 'military colony,' putting military on the rights of Okinawan people and ignoring the base burdens of the island."

In Teruya's eyes, the only way out is to let the voices of the Okinawan people heard in the international community no matter how long it takes.

The Abe administration tries to move the Futenma military base located in the crowded residential area of Ginowan to a less populated area in Henoko despite the objections of the Okinawan people. Teruya said the reason the relocation plan hasn't been successful is the continued protest of the local people here.

"The Okinawan people want all U.S. bases kicked off the island and will keep fighting to achieve the final win," Teruya said. Endit