TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Why Lion Air must compensate victims immediately
Compensation is not merely about the number; it is also about time. Since the accident happened, the families left behind had to make ends meet — ranging from funeral expenses to personal matters such as education costs and debt payments. Therefore, the compensation should have been paid months ago to ease the suffering of those left behind.
Change Size
Compensation is not merely about the number; it is also about time. Since the accident happened, the families left behind had to make ends meet — ranging from funeral expenses to personal matters such as education costs and debt payments. Therefore, the compensation should have been paid months ago to ease the suffering of those left behind. (Antara/Galih Pradipta)
M
ore than a year has passed since the fatal Lion Air flight JT610 accident happened, in which all 189 passengers perished. Up until today, not all the victims’ heirs have received the proper compensation as mandated by prevailing regulations.
Passengers always possess the weakest bargaining position in every plane crash. It is impossible to expect the passengers to know how well an airline maintains its fleets and whether world-class manufacturers like Airbus and Boeing produce aircraft without any defects. Passengers can only rely on certifications and assessments made by the relevant authorities.
Passengers and airlines are not of equal positions. The law accommodates such inequality through the concept of absolute liability, a globally acknowledged term as shown in the 1929 Warsaw Convention and the 1999 Montreal Convention. In Indonesia, the concept is acknowledged through Transportation Ministerial Regulation (Permenhub) No. 77/2011, which applies to the fatal Lion Air flight JT610 accident.
The regulation says the relevant airline is liable for any accidents and is obliged to pay compensation worth a total of Rp 1.25 billion (over US$89,000) to each passenger in the event of a fatal accident. This stipulation provides two safety nets for the involved parties. First, this provision gives a chance for airlines to calculate the maximum compensation for every fatal accident that might happen — provided that they put safety first and that no negligence occurs.
The second safety net is made for the families’ victims. The sum of Rp 1.25 billion is supposed to ensure that the families left behind would still be able to live a decent life, especially if the victim was the breadwinner. There is a possibility the amount is not enough, especially for upper-class families, but the regulation only provides the bare-minimum protection.
The threshold of Rp 1.25 billion does not apply and will be replaced with unlimited liability if the airline is proven to be negligent.
The moment the chief executive officer of Boeing, Denis Muilenburg, publicly apologized and offered a sum of money to the families of the JT610 accident victims, Lion Air could breathe a little easier since the statement meant the United States aircraft manufacturer implicitly acknowledged its negligence to a certain degree.
