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The Dutch's Halfhearted Apology

Translator

Editor

4 September 2013 20:42 WIB

The National Heroes' Cemetery in Kalibata, South Jakarta. ANTARA/Saptono.

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Netherlands may plan to apologize for its brutal slaughters against Indonesians during the nation’s war for freedom. Their remorse should be lauded. However, the issue is not just about humanity, but also politics. To date, the Dutch government has yet to apologize for all of the sufferings of Indonesians during their colonization of the country and recognize the Declaration of Independence on August 17 1945.

The Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia, who is slated to make the apology on September 12, plans to invite 10 widows whose late husbands were among those killed in the bloodbath by Dutch soldiers, who were spearheaded by Captain Raymon Pierre Paul Westerling in 1946-1947. These widows will receive a compensation of €20,000 or Rp300 million per person.

This move is considerably overdue as many of the victims’ families have already passed. Many believe Westerling’s troops killed tens of thousands of people during the slaughter. The Dutch government also seems to respond to these problems individually rather than seek a comprehensive solution to all the human rights violations it committed during the war. Two years ago, the Dutch government also released an official apology for the Rawa Gede incident in Karawang, West Java, in 1947, and provided compensation for the victims’ families.

Given the way the Dutch government is dealing with these problems, it will take quite a while before it can completely resolve them all as similar incidents were rampant during the war. According to records of human rights activists, the Dutch committed no less than 76 war crimes that could drag them down to court. One of which is the massacre at the Kembang Market in Solo during its military aggressive.

Another fundamental issue is the Netherlands insists its colonial government committed the massacres against its own people. This is evident in the verdict of a Den Haag court on the Rawa Gede case. This means they continue to recognize Indonesia’s independence in 1949, i.e. after the Round Table Conference, rather than in 1945.

It is unfortunate that the Dutch government remains firm in this political stance as it will affect its perspectives in various incidents occurring in1945-1949. They still consider the fierce resistance of insurgents mushrooming in a slew of regions during the period as rebellious uprisings instead of battles by Indonesians to defend their independence. Thus, it is no surprise the Dutch government views the Westerling slaughter as a crime of a government against its people as opposed to war crime.

The Dutch government should not have made a halfhearted attempt if it seeks to alter its standpoint on Indonesia. It is no doubt that we honor all the leaders and soldiers who died in the war for freedom as heroes. It is strange that the Dutch government perceive them as disrupters of peace.

Without any change in its political views, the Dutch government’s apology will lack meaning. The apologies for the Rawa Gede and Westerling massacres will indeed touch the hearts of the victims’ families, but not the nation as a whole. (*)



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