Japan’s prime minister has apologised for bullying a parliamentarian

June 4, 2015 And in Japan, a surprise apology came from Prime minister, Shinzo Abe before parliament resumed their session, for his bullying of an opposing lawmaker in a previous sitting. A day before his outburst, Abe was reported to have slammed heckling from opposition lawmakers who accused him of having long and redundant responses.

He had told them “Please stop obstructing the discussion. Didn’t you learn that at school?”

Although he apologized immediately for his outburst, the PM was slammed by some politicians from both ruling and opposing sides for the apology which they saw as half hearted.

Reluctantly, he came back with the real deal.

At the lower house committee on the peace and security legislation, the Prime Minister is quoted as saying “I apologize once again over my remark, and I will humbly deal with the situation from now on,”

Committee chairperson Yasukazu Hamada has urged Abe and other Cabinet ministers to avoid making unnecessary remarks, especially as the public is paying close attention to the discussions.