Jay Raynerâs amusing 2005 novel, The Apologist, tells the fictional story of Marc Basset who is so good at apologizing that he is appointed the UNâs chief apologist
ay Rayner's amusing 2005 novel, The Apologist, tells the fictional story of Marc Basset who is so good at apologizing that he is appointed the UN's chief apologist. But the façade of hypocrisy unravels as Basset must ultimately apologize for his apologizing.
Apologies are as common a vernacular in daily life as expressions of gratitude. But while 'thank yous' are usually a more genuine heartfelt expression, 'apologies' are laced with nuance and double meaning without necessarily being contrite.
Every girl in history has questioned the sincerity of a boyfriend's apology with a thought of words that do not match the deed.
Bring in the specter of diplomacy, politics and law; then, apologies become a complex double entendre of negotiated meanings where regret may not concede the offense, let alone remorse.
At the extreme end, there are individuals like Islam Defenders Front (FPI) spokesman Munarman, whose definition of decency is to fling water at panelists during a televised debate.
But we shouldn't be surprised at the conduct of someone who speaks for thugs and has been convicted for inciting violence.
Even Germany apologized for Nazi era crimes. So, if the FPI spokesman refused to apologize for his abhorrent behavior ' distant and recent ' then should we be blamed for thinking in terms of facist behavior?
Such insolence is not the monopoly of facists and fanatics. At times, the greater the democracy, the greater the conceitedness, even at the expense of life and destruction.
The United States purports high moral standards for its own people, but apparently not others whom they consider a threat. It expressed regret when its navy shot down an Iranian commercial airliner, killing 290 people in 1988, and accidently bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999. But no formal apology was forthcoming.
Sometimes, such statements need to be coerced.
Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu apologized for a raid on a Turkish ship in 2010 that killed nine, only after some arm twisting from US President Barack Obama.
In 2001, a US reconnaissance plane collided with a Chinese jetfighter. The fighter crashed and the US plane made an emergency landing on Hainan Island. After holding the American crew for 11 days, Beijing was able to extract a letter in which president George W. Bush and secretary of state Colin Powell expressed 'sincere regret'.
France apologized a year after its agents sank the Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, docked in New Zealand in 1985, following a political deal brokered by the UN.
So, why did President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono apologize to Singapore and Malaysia for the recent haze? His initiative was received with as much shock at home as it was deference in the two neighboring capitals.
There are several reasons why a state would make an apology, apart from it being a binding judgment as in the Rainbow Warrior case or being coerced like Netanyahu.
It is improbable that Yudhoyono faced the same exigency as either France or Israel last week.
Apologies help restore international reputation, as with Washington's outward contrition about the Abu Ghraib prison abuses.
It can also be part of a low-cost tool to avoid conflagration by defusing troublesome incidents, hence a way of avoiding legal consequences while promoting the perception that the state should not be perceived as a threat to its neighbors.
On the surface, it was certainly a 'gracious' act on the part of Yudhoyono, as described by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Yet, history has also taught us that leaders must be wise even more than they are gracious.
The apology, said Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI) secretary Benny Susetyo, 'is a symbol of a government that cannot resolve its own problems'.
Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin probably put it best when he questioned why the President did not convey an equal apology to the people of Riau who suffered more than anyone in Singapore or Malaysia.
It becomes even more striking when we recount that the incumbent has been one of the most hesitant to issue 'apologies' to his own people compared to his predecessors.
BJ Habibie apologized to victims of Aceh's Military Operation Zone (DOM) and those of the May 1998 tragedy, while Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid apologized for the violence in Papua.
Megawati Soekarnoputri set up two human rights tribunals: one to address the violence in East Timor (Timor Leste) in 1999 and the other to address the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre.
Given these considerations, we can only advise our Singaporean and Malaysian friends to take the apology as more rhetorical and ritualistic than genuine, as is the case with many other of the President's statements.
Even Yudhoyono's own Cabinet was either coy or dismissive of his apology.
Coordinating People's Welfare Minister Agung Laksono described the apology as merely a personal one, while Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa tried not to answer reporters' questions by saying what the President had said was 'clear'.
It is a bit like the Japanese. Despite their repeated 'apologies' about World War II, there remains more than a hint of doubt over their sincerity given the continued glorification of the war effort in history books and the Yasukuni Shrine.
Sincerity begins at home.
Both Canada and the United States apologized for the internment of its Japanese citizens during World War II. The late pope, John Paul II, issued an apology in 2000 for historic wrongs committed by the Catholic church.
Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States all apologized to their indigenous populations. Even president Bill Clinton signed in 1993 a resolution apologizing for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Perhaps Yudhoyono may not have time to ponder the lessons of The Apologist, but he can still digest Bernie Taupin's lyrics in Elton's John's classic 'Sorry seems to be the hardest word': 'It's a sad, sad situation/And it's getting more and more absurd!'
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