What good will Machar’s apology produce?

By Zechariah Manyok Biar

August 12, 2011 — Dr. Riek Machar Teny’s apology to the people of greater Bor attracted different reactions from both Nuer Community and the Greater Bor Community. Some politicians like Gordon Buay thought it was a mistake for the Vice President of the Republic of South Sudan to “reduce himself to the level of Peter Gatdet.” People like Mr. Gatkuoth Nguth believed that Dr. Riek apologised to score a political point. Mr. Isaiah Abraham reasoned that what the Vice President had done was a bold move that should be imitated by others so that we amend the past. Some people from Bor Community argued that Dr. Machar should go and express his apology in places like Bor, Panyagor, and Duk.

These people have their own points to make. But the reality is that political apology is often regarded as symbolic. Politicians sometimes apologise for the atrocities committed by their dead generation against a particular community and it is still regarded as important. Political apology is not necessarily meant for the affected people to hear. It is meant for the world to hear how a particular group of people was unjustifiably affected by a political decision.

Political apology gives the message about the change from the past wrong behavior to the present one that might be just and reconciliatory. That is what Dr. Machar’s apology is meant for, I think.

Now, if the apology was meant for the scoring of political points, as Mr. Gatkuoth reasoned, then it would not achieve that goal because people from the Greater Bor have the ability to judge the motive through one’s behavior. Dr. Machar’s intention would be clear in the near future and it is not going to take even a day before we know it. But I am not saying that Dr. Machar should stop from expressing his political ambitions. He had been doing that before he apologised to us. He is still free to do so. But we are not going to support him simply because he has apologised to us. We still deserve our democratic right to judge whether one deserves or not deserve our political support. It is how one performs that counts in politics.

Let us not forget also that Dr. Machar is the Vice President of this country. He cannot be so desperate to get a political position as if he has none. I think he apologised because he believed it was the right thing to do. Dr. Machar apologised on moral ground. He is a leader and should not remain adamant and arrogant to the people he once wronged. He was bold enough not to play a blame game. That was why he took all the responsibility on what happened in 1991.

Of course he delayed to apologise. But that does not mean we would overlook the symbolism served by his political apology. We are happy that he personally did it. His apology is not going to be spoiled by people who do not understand it from Dr. Machar’s community. We believe that the few who understand it are enough for us to start mending social relationships between our two communities. Madam Nyandeng has already made a move by making it clear that she would now be eating in Dr. Machar’s house. Most of us will because Dr. Machar was sincere in his apology. His apology was not the “so-called” or put in quote as Isaiah Abraham did in his article.

The sincerity of Dr. Machar’s apology was demonstrated by the tears he shed before the people at the house of Dr. Garang. The tears he shed were not crocodile tears; they were real tears of disappointment on what happened in 1991 under his leadership. Dr. Machar’s sincerity in the shedding of tears let people like Madam Nyandeng shed their tears too.

What remains for us now as members of both Bor and Nuer Communities is to devise ways that we can start new social life between our communities. Bad things happen and people still overcome them.

I agree with Isaiah Abraham when he says in the conclusion of his article published by Sudan Tribune on August 12, 2011: “Yeah, brothers and sisters from Bor were on the receiving end of that rebellion and no right minded person could deny the destruction it has caused these people. But the by gone should be by gone, especially now that the big man has come out and say ‘he is sorry’.” That is the good that Dr. Machar’s apology will produce, I believe.

Zechariah Manyok Biar, BA. Edu., MACM, MSSW. He can be reached at [email protected]