Dutch colonialism<\/p>\n
Mr. de Kort, I remember you. You are the one who wrote that
\nthere were no airplanes involved in the battle of Surabaya. How
\nwrong you were!<\/p>\n
You are the person who, while we were celebrating our \"Heroes
\nDay,\" Nov. 10, 1993, was belittling our struggles and battles for
\nindependence and showed no respect for our people's sufferings
\nand sacrifices (of lives, feelings, goods, etc.). But we always
\nhave our honor and our will to fight for our rights as humans.<\/p>\n
Who are they (including Mr. Pronk) to tell us about Human
\nRights, while they themselves kept it from us, stole our freedom,
\nsuppressed us and stepped on our dignity?<\/p>\n
Mr. de Kort, we regard our country as A Whole, that is Bumi
\nIndonesia which belongs to Bangsa Indonesia. The Dutch came and
\ncolonized Indonesia; in the beginning under the pretension of
\n\"trade\"--pepper, cloves, nutmeg, coriander, cinnamon, vanilla,
\nsugar, coffee, tea, rubber, copra, chinine, tobacco (Deli tabak
\nfor the famous Dutch cigars), palm-oil, tin, oil, (Bataafse
\nPetroleum Maatschappij-BPM), iron, etc. etc. you name it, you
\nknow the rest.<\/p>\n
Indonesia at that time consisted of many wealthy Kingdoms,
\neach with their own high culture. No comparison at all with other
\nDutch colonies you mentioned, which did not produce anything at
\nthat time. (The Dutch even had to take workers from Java to
\nSuriname, because there were no people to do the work).<\/p>\n
You can twist your words any way you want, but the fact is and
\nremains the same: Holland became wealthy and important because of
\nits main and long-time rich colony: Indonesia! Nobody can deny
\nthis. So, don't try and change history!<\/p>\n
The Dutch indeed liked to cut us to pieces, since their motto
\nis Divide and Rule! The VOC was fully supported by the Dutch
\ngovernment, e.g. if you planted other crops (fruit trees and
\nvegetables to eat) than was ordered by the VOC (for export), then
\nthe Dutch Government would burn down your house and belongings
\nplus the plants you planted.<\/p>\n
The Indonesians who dared to drink coffee made of coffee beans
\nwould be hanged, even if they owned the tree. We were allowed to
\ndrink Kopi Daun (coffee made of fallen coffee leaves). My father-
\nin-law and his parents experienced this in Sumatra and until now
\nenjoy Kopi Daun. The coffee beans had to be handed over to the
\nVOC but the hangings, beheadings, burnings, tortures, etc. was
\ndone by the Dutch Government.<\/p>\n
As for Westerling: Don't wash your hands in onschuld. He might
\nhave had Turkish blood, but he was a Dutch citizen and served as
\na captain in the Dutch army (where did Westerling get his
\ncommands from? You know better!). His car bore the sign MTD
\n(Militaire Transport Dienst). He belonged to an elite\/exclusive
\ngroup in the army, who called themselves Angkatan Perang Ratu
\nAdil (APRA -- Army of the Queen of Justice -- at the time it was
\nQueen Wilhelmina). This group had Carte Blanche (they could do
\nwhatever they liked). Back in Holland he was promoted to Major
\n(for killing 40,000 Indonesians!).<\/p>\n
How can it be that you don't know Indonesia asked for
\nWesterling's extradition? Because it was in the newspapers, even
\nin Vienna (where I read it). Apparently this is the way you work;
\nassuring things which are not true; imposing your will upon
\nothers, hoping they don't know the truth; trying to put attention
\nonto other things to distract from the main issue (one of your
\nletters mentions Japan). Reading your many letters, it does not
\ntake an expert to come to that conclusion.<\/p>\n
Being the opposite of you, Indonesians are, in general,
\nphysically small but with big hearts, no hard feelings, but if
\nyou stir up or dig up oude koeien uit de sloot, you open old
\nwounds.<\/p>\n
Try, have a big heart and admit what was wrong. Don't we all
\nmake mistakes sometimes and learn from them? Let bygones be
\nbygones, because no one can undo what's been done. Let's look to
\nthe future, work together towards a better world.<\/p>\n
NANNY DJALI A.<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/dutch-colonialism-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }