Sorry Not Hard To Say But Sincerity Difficult To Gauge

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From Clement Stanley
How do you measure the sincerity and depth of the word “sorry” when it is uttered by one who is either under pressure to do so or is genuinely guilty of offending somebody?
Whatever the case, there seems to be a trend these days among corporate entities and public figures such as politicians to apologise, usually followed by a promise that they would not reoffend.
There exists no barometer to measure the sincerity of an apology and it is left to the offended party to either believe or just to take it with a pinch of salt.
When a corporate entity like a publicly listed company makes a mistake, you can lend some credibility to the apology because in many instances, the mistake was made by an employee which went unnoticed until somebody took exception to the blunder.
Then the corporation has no choice but to render a public apology because the buck stops with its top management. The same principle applies to an NGO that is run by volunteers at times. So such apologies can and should be acceptable in good faith.
But when a criminal comes before a judge and apologises, you can never be sure if the apology is genuine or it is merely being used to seek a lighter sentence. The perpetrator could well be back in court before you know it. A leopard is not known to change its spots.
So when Perak PAS chief Razman Zakaria apologised to Hannah Yeoh of the DAP for stating that she is the daughter of the late Yeoh Tiong Lay, the founder of YTL Corporation, was it genuine or an exercise in damage control?
After all, he made the remark in the presence of some 5,000 PAS supporters at an event. Surely, Razman must have done some research on Hannah or looked at the YTL family tree. Razman cannot claim a “slip of the tongue” under these circumstances.
Therefore one can question the intent. If it was deliberately done to embarrass Hannah and to plant the seeds of hatred against her, how sincere can the apology be? Razman did the same thing to federal minister Nga Kor Ming, also of the DAP, when China’s national flags were flown at an event in Teluk Intan.
Razman claimed that Nga was there to launch the religious event. When Nga provided proof of being absent from the event, Razman was quick to apologise. The damage, however, had been done by then. So if this is a tactic employed by Razman to incite hatred and play up racial sentiments, how sincere can his apology be?
When Hamzah Zainudin apologised to the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah government for calling them “palui” (stupid), was it not to run down the administration led by chief minister Hajiji Nor? Again, how genuine was this “sorry”?
Johor MCA has tendered an apology for criticising the government on Facebook for the decision to give a discount for toll charges during Chinese New Year to those traveling home, comparing it to the budget set aside for Jakim, the Islamic development department.
MCA blamed this on a retired administrator who had lifted it off from another post shared by a third party. If not for Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh demanding an apology from MCA, the matter may never have surfaced, since it was published in the Chinese media only.
Shouldn’t the apology have been made by the MCA before it became public knowledge? Was the apology therefore sincere when it could have been prevented in the first place?
It would be extremely difficult for anyone to second guess just how sincere an apology is. You might have an inkling but that is all.
I have a “sorry” of my own to add. I am sorry I believed in the promised reforms in the run up to the 15th general election.
Whether this is a sincere apology or not, is a different matter. - FMT
Clement Stanley is an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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