By Kwan Weng Kin, Japan Correspondent

Japan's top political leaders, both of whom happen to be trained in engineering, have vowed to ensure that the country will not lag behind others in science and technology due to lack of funds.

Last week, in a bid to cut wasteful government spending, a budget review panel came very close to imperilling Japan's global lead in science and technology in the long term, when it recommended cutting a 26.8 billion yen (S$430 million) budget requested by government-linked research laboratory Riken for the development of supercomputer technology.

The panel is made up of lawmakers and experts from the private sector specifically engaged to conduct the reviews.

With government debt swollen by years of public works and other expenditures, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama wants to slash at least 3 trillion yen from 95 trillion yen in budget requests for the fiscal year starting in April.

A potential crisis was averted after both Mr Hatoyama and Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan pledged to ensure that cost-performance factors alone would not decide if spending on scientific development is justified.

Mr Hatoyama has a PhD in engineering while Mr Kan is an engineering graduate.

Said Mr Kan on TV over the weekend: 'Budget reviews are not an assessment of policy. Ultimately, these things will have to be decided by politicians.'

Both Mr Hatoyama and Mr Kan sit on the Government Revitalisation Unit that will have the final say on budget cuts. However, they did not succeed in pacifying the nation's top scientists, among them several Nobel laureates.

On Wednesday, Professor Ryoji Noyori, who heads Riken and was one of three scientists who shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2001, criticised the panel's attempt to freeze government funds for supercomputer development.

'China and the United States are staking their prestige on developing supercomputers. If we freeze our budget for even a moment, we will be left behind in no time,' he told a policy meeting at the science and education ministry.

'Science and technology is our country's lifeline. Even if funds produce no results in the short term, they should be considered an investment for the future.'

He was joined by several other Nobel Prize winners in issuing a statement to protest against the planned budget cuts.

Mr Hatoyama told reporters later that he would like to meet the Nobel Prize winners soon to hear their views: 'R&D is very important intellectual property for the future. But we have to see if all bud-gets are absolutely necessary.'

Since its work began last week, the panel has made a number of controversial decisions, including recommending for 'radical review' a rocket programme to launch medium-sized satellites.

During the review of Riken's supercomputer project, one budget review panel member asked if it was necessary to strive to be No. 1 and whether Japan could buy a supercomputer from abroad instead of developing its own.

In response, Prof Noyori said on Wednesday: 'Where science and technology is concerned, it is not enough just being of world standard. We need to be of a standard that is higher than others.'

In 2002, Japan possessed the world's fastest supercomputer, but was outstripped two years later by the US. Its fastest supercomputer now stands 31st in the world rankings, behind even China's.

Supercomputers are used for performing tasks requiring intensive calculations, such as those encountered in basic scientific research or forecasting weather patterns.

Supercomputer simulations are also used widely in many industries, such as in the development of new medicines and automobile technologies.

Although many government ministries and organisations are likely to face bud-get cuts next year, one recent opinion poll showed nearly 90 per cent of the public supports the budget reviews.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.