One month passed after the Hong Kong government set a deadline for Philippines to make "progress" on the compensation talks with victims of the incident. General population of Hong Kong believe that there should be a presidential apology from the Philippine President, Benigno Aquino III. However, the Philippine President kept saying that there should not be an official presidential apology. A Hong Kong blogger, Evan Fowler, has shared the similar view on no-presidential-apology in a Hong Kong internet news. It worth to see the reasons made Evan believe that.
In the article, he said:
What should be a personal and private matter has become political and public, and Hong Kong has revealed a very ugly side.
No one denies that what happened is a tragedy, and that the Philippine security forces acted with an embarrassing degree of unprofessionalism. The officer responsible has been fired, and an inquest has been made into what is in the Philippines a national embarrassment. However, is it reasonable for Hong Kong to issue such demands?
An official Presidential apology is not as straight forward as it sounds. It is not really about sincerity, but about admitting national guilt. But is this a national crime? By apologizing, the President would open the doors for the Philippines to be sued. Whilst I can not speak for the families of the dead, is it not really a personal issue rather than a state issue? Would suing the Philippines help bring closure to personal grief?
He also mentioned :
When I asked a democratic legislator the day after the vote why he had supported the motion, I was told that the party had received too many letters of support from members not to, and that whilst he too was personally disgusted by to have supported it, as this seemed to be the wishes of his constituency, and as a elected politician, he was obliged to represent this support.
Full article:
Background information:
- Hong Kong threatens sanctions on Philippines over 2010 hostage tragedy
http://reut.rs/1fg3tkD via @reuters
- Hong Kong Gives Philippines Deadline on Hostage-Victim Talks
http://bloom.bg/19weX23 via @BloombergNews
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