Cash assistance turned down by families of crash victims

Cash assistance turned down by families of crash victims

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

Several family members of victims of the recent Mandala air
disaster have turned down Rp 300 million (US$30,000) in cash
assistance from PT Mandala Airlines, available from Monday,
refusing to sign agreements that they fear could affect their
capacity to sue U.S. aircraft maker Boeing Co.

As of Tuesday, at least six families had turned down the cash
payments being made available to each of the 119 victims, even
though they satisfied all the administrative requirements. The
six families objected to the agreement that had been drafted by
Mandala.

The families of the crash victims, who are grouped in
different associations, have appointed lawyers to file suits
against Boeing. A lawsuit was filed in a Chicago court this week
by the Nolan Law Group, representing the family of a Regional
Representatives Council member, the late Abdul Halim Harahap, who
died in the crash along with his wife.

The chairman of the Mandala Crash Victims Families
Association, Waspada Sinulingga, 28, said several clauses in the
agreement would restrict the rights of the families, such as the
clause stating that a victim's family would not sue anyone after
receiving the cash payout.

He said that the families of the victims would lose their
rights as a clause in the agreement states that all the family's
legal rights would be assigned to Mandala.

"In principle, the families are thankful for the offer of cash
payments, but if the agreement that we have to sign is legally
binding, we have to question it," Waspada told The Jakarta Post
on Tuesday.

His was among the families of crash victims who were still
reluctant to sign the agreement prepared by Mandala as it would
thwart the plan to sue Boeing.

"We're not being prejudiced, but it's possible that Boeing
will take advantage of the agreement signed by the families of the
victims to stop our plan to sue it," said Waspada, who lost his
wife in the tragic incident where a Mandala aircraft crashed on
Sept. 5 in a densely populated area near Polonia airport in
Medan.

When asked for confirmation, the head of the Mandala Airlines
representative office in Medan, Det Elvisra, said that it was
likely that Boeing would try to take advantage of the agreement.
However, he said that the agreement as drafted had no connection
with the plans by relatives of crash victims' to sue Boeing.

Det said the agreement was prepared in such a way as to ensure
that the relatives of the crash victims would not attempt to sue
Mandala Airlines later on.

"Mandala Airlines' responsibilities will be over once the cash
payments are made. We have fulfilled the company's obligations
related to the crash. We don't want relatives of the crash
victims to sue Mandala later on. We have drafted the agreement so
as to anticipate this," Det told the Post.

He said that the heirs and successors of the victims who had
rejected the cash payments would continue to be given the chance
to take the money.

"We call on all the families of the victims that earlier
turned down the money to take the cash payouts. We are still
waiting for them to do so," Det said.