An official at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has created a false public document to hide a clerical mistake. It was a systematic act as senior agency officials in supervisory positions approved the document falsification.

The wrongdoing happened when the agency issued a business improvement order to Kansai Electric Power Co. over a bribery scandal. The agency forgot to carry out an opinion hearing for the Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission, which needed to be conducted before the order was issued. The official in charge later realized the oversight, and falsified the date of the hearing in a document as if it had been carried out before the business improvement order, even though in reality it was done afterward.

Public documents serve as a record that explains activities of administrative bodies to the public. Bureaucrats keep accurate records of policy-making, and the people check whether administrative measures are taken in a fair and impartial manner based on those records. They are the base documents for the people of today and the future to evaluate administrative management and policy measures, and are the shared property of the people.

Following the Finance Ministry's document doctoring scandal over the heavily discounted sale of state-owned land to nationalist school operator Moritomo Gakuen, the National Personnel Authority has tightened the guideline for penalties related to public documents. It stipulates that in malicious cases, such as forgery, public servants can face disciplinary discharge.

Nevertheless, the economy ministry has handled the latest case with just a slap on the wrist. Of the seven workers subject to disciplinary actions, only one was hit with a punishment based on the National Public Service Act, and even then, they were only given a "warning" -- the least severe penalty under the law.

Economy minister Hiroshi Kajiyama has said that the contents of the document on the hearing were not rewritten, but that does not excuse the misconduct. Dates are important base information. Lying about the date on a public record cannot be overlooked.

We also have a hard time understanding the economy ministry's decision not to file a criminal complaint over the matter for alleged falsification of official documents, even though it's clear that it was done intentionally.

Finance Minister Taro Aso did not take political responsibility for the Moritomo Gakuen document tampering scandal. Even after the notes written by a ministry official who killed himself after being told to doctor the records regarding the murky land sale were released, the government has to date refused to reinvestigate the case.

The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has boasted of its efforts to prevent a recurrence, but scandals related to public documents have continued to surface. It has not learned lessons from its mistakes even after a case where a public servant was pushed to the point he ended his own life.

Public documents are a foundation of democracy which connects the people with administrative organs. If those in the administration continue to act in such a way that would destabilize that foundation, restoring public trust in the administration will be difficult.