Should Singapore Airlines and its three pilots come out at this point and apologize to the families of the victims of the crash of flight SQ006?
Disagreement between family members and the airline is apparently brewing into a major storm. A closer examination reveals that the controversy may be, at least partially, attributed to cultural and legal differences between the Eastern and Western worlds.
One way to amicably resolve the controversy is to have the airline and the three pilots apologize for their "moral responsibility," before a conclusion on legal responsibility is reached.
Chinese people generally shy away from public displays of emotion, be it negative or positive. Love is rarely expressed verbally or through gestures such as kissing and hugging. The same goes for negative feelings as well. Confrontation is to be avoided as much as possible.
One exception from the above principle is when a loved one dies or is injured. We see scenes on TV of enraged and heart-broken families beating, kicking, spitting and cursing at murderers, while the latter bow their heads or get on their knees begging for forgiveness.
It is as if people who ordinarily repress or bottle up their emotions have all of a sudden found a vent for an avalanche of feelings. The practice has virtually become an everyday part of our culture and society. We often, therefore, observe the police,passively allowing such a "ceremony" to carry on.
Without touching upon what such practices accomplish, the plain fact is that they rarely, if ever, happen in Western culture. This may in part explain why the three pilots have not yet come out to apologize.
While Westerners are ordinarily more expressive of their feelings (both positive and negative), they rely on formal legal means to resolve real controversy. Their mentality seems to be that, "If I have legally wronged you, then I'll pay the legal consequence, be it imprisonment, payment of fines or compensation." This kind of attitude would be interpreted by many Chinese as cold-blooded and lacking sincerity.
Probing further, we will discover that this attitude difference may be attributed to diverging focuses on responsibility in these two cultures. Chinese focus very much on "moral responsibility" in addition to legal responsibility, while Westerners, generally speaking, focus more on "legal responsibility."
Singapore Airlines and its three pilots may feel that since they are willing to take full legal responsibility, should there be adjudged to be any to take, what is there to apologize for and how can anyone accuse them of evading their responsibility? Perhaps they do not realize that what the victims' families are asking for right now, without so much as saying it, is an apology for "moral responsibility."
The distinction between moral and legal responsibility may be obvious, if we think about it, but the distinction easily becomes blurred in emotional situations. While legal responsibility requires legal obligations, investigation, proof and a verdict, much less is required for moral responsibility.
Certainly, many would argue that even if the pilots and the airline are not legally responsible for the plane crash, they have at least moral responsibility.
Another root of the controversy may be the different burdens of proof under Taiwan and Singapore's legal systems.
As a former British colony, Singapore's legal system follows the Anglo-American legal system under which the concept "innocent until proven guilty" is deep-rooted and it is up to the prosecution to provide evidence to prove the crime.
Almost every attorney trained in Anglo-American law would advise his or her client to remain silent before a legal verdict is announced. An apology made before a verdict is announced may become incriminating evidence for the prosecution to present to the court.
Legal experts advising Singapore Airlines are expected to have strongly advised against a public apology of any nature by the airline and its pilots.
Taiwan on the other hands has a continental legal system under which once a person is charged, his or her name can be cleared upon the production of evidence of innocence.
This legal difference creates an environment in which people are more inclined to assume that a person is legally liable or guilty before a verdict is even announced. This explains why in many circumstances the media and the public at large seem to have tried and convicted suspects before a legal verdict is entered.
Should the pilots apologize right now? I would like to believe that neither side is trying to give each other a hard time or being insincere. They are bound to hold different positions as a result of the above-described legal and cultural differences.
One way to resolve the difference is to have the airline and the pilots apologize for "moral responsibility" right now. This way, the airline and pilots would not have to worry about the implications for their criminal liability, while at the same time they would pacify somewhat the victims' families, which is essential for a settlement of the upcoming civil suit.
Amy Wu is a member of the state bars of California and New York.
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