Holland gears up for Gus Dur's visit<\/p>\n
By Aboeprijadi Santoso<\/p>\n
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid
\nwill be the first Indonesian head of state to be warmly welcomed
\nby the Dutch Queen and members of the government when he visits
\nThe Netherlands next week. He is expected to be greeted with
\nsympathy by a wide spectrum of the society.<\/p>\n
The Dutch official source, the Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst, has
\nannounced that Queen Beatrice will receive the President upon his
\narrival on Feb. 2 with a welcome ceremony at the Noordeinde
\nPalace in The Hague. Talks with Prime Minister Wim Kok will be
\nheld the next day, at the prestigious Treves Hall. The Queen and
\nPrince Claus will then invite the guests for a lunch with cabinet
\nmembers, business circles and academics.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian First Lady, Sinta Nuriyah, is expected to hold
\ndiscussions on social issues and women's affairs with Dutch non-
\ngovernmental organizations (NGOs), hosted by the Indonesian NGO,
\nAKUI (Humanitarian Action for Indonesia). President Wahid will
\nmeet the press and visit the parliament before leaving for
\nGermany in the late afternoon.<\/p>\n
\"It will definitely be a new start for Dutch-Indonesia
\nrelationship,\" says a long time Indonesia observer, N. Schulte-
\nNordholt. \"The fact that Gus Dur and his wife will stay at Huis
\nTen Bosch Palace (the residence of the Queen) is extraordinary.
\nIt indicates that Queen Beatrice personally wishes to very warmly
\nwelcome her guests,\" he explains.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman, or Gus Dur, is only the second Indonesian
\npresident ever to visit the Netherlands; President Soeharto's
\nstate visit in 1970 was the first. (The Soehartos also stayed at
\nHuis Ten Bosch Palace, but Queen Juliana's residence was
\nelsewhere -- indicating different consideration).<\/p>\n
Dutch media have speculated that the late President Sukarno
\nactually harbored a deep wish to see Holland, but it never
\nmaterialized. Meanwhile, there is a new, sobering attitude to
\nview Sukarno, who was resented by many of the older Dutch
\ngeneration, in a different perspective.<\/p>\n
For example, on the eve of Queen Beatrice's state visit to
\nIndonesia in 1995, Minister Jan Pronk had publicly expressed his
\nadmiration for Sukarno and proposed his government officially
\nrecognize Aug. 17, 1945 as Indonesia's Independence Day instead
\nof Dec. 27, 1949.<\/p>\n
One historian, L. Giebels, will soon publish a two part
\nbiography on Sukarno -- the first book on Sukarno ever written by
\na Dutch writer.<\/p>\n
More recently, young Dutch filmmakers have produced a film,
\nSukarno's Blues, which portrays President Sukarno and Queen
\nJuliana, the present Queen Mother, as two amicable friends, who
\nstood on equal terms, respected, and admired each other, when
\nthey secretly met in Amsterdam in 1949. The two watched a theater
\nperformance, that told the story of Indonesia's struggle for
\nfreedom. Although Sukarno has the prominent role, he is portrayed
\non the same par with Mohammad Hatta and Syahrir, who used to be
\nmore acceptable to the Dutch.<\/p>\n
The Sukarno-Juliana rendezvous, of course, never happened, but
\nthe film -- and the fiction -- illustrates the changing attitude
\nhere.<\/p>\n
Soeharto's image is a very different story. The security
\narrangement at Gus Dur's coming visit will likely be normal for a
\nvisiting head of state. This is in stark contrast to Gen.
\nSoeharto's state visit in Sept. 1970, which, this writer recalls,
\nturned parts of The Hague into war zones, and forced the
\nPresident to shorten his four day visit.<\/p>\n
That was during the period that Europe was engulfed by
\nprotests against the Vietnam war and military dictators.
\nDemonstrations were held to remind the public of the persecution
\nof the left in Indonesia in the mid-1960s.<\/p>\n
Indeed, of the three former Indonesian presidents, Soeharto
\nleft the worst image of Indonesia in Europe.<\/p>\n
President B.J.Habibie's rule was too short to ever visit
\nEurope as a head of state. While Soeharto is associated with
\nmassacres and the reopening of Indonesia for Dutch economic
\ninterests, and Habibie is remembered as a funny President with a
\nstrange appearance, Gus Dur's image and connection with Holland,
\nis very different.<\/p>\n
Like Sukarno and Habibie, Gus Dur knows the geography and the
\nlanguage, but unlike all his three predecessors, he has a first
\nhand knowledge of life at the grass roots level in Holland and
\nhas extensive contacts there.<\/p>\n
While Soeharto's New Order was being criticized in Europe in
\nthe 1970s, Gus Dur, a student from Baghdad, often visited
\nHolland. He stayed illegally in The Hague and worked seasonally
\nat Rotterdam harbor and at tulip plants near Waalwijk.<\/p>\n
With friends, he founded PPME (Muslim Youth Association in
\nEurope), which now has become the biggest Indonesian Muslim
\norganization in Europe. His contacts with Maluku people dated
\nfrom those days.<\/p>\n
Since the 1980s, Gus Dur, as Nahdatul Ulama leader, expanded
\nhis networks in Europe among international human rights
\nactivists, politicians and scientists. His witty political
\nanalyses on the situation at home and his easy going demeanor
\nmade him a welcome guest among activists in Holland.<\/p>\n
\"I bet, and I hope, Gus Dur will be the next President,\" said
\nMartha Meijer, the former chairwoman of Amnesty International a
\nfew months ago.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur, in other words, built his Holland networks from the
\nbottom upward.<\/p>\n
The Dutch government, while keeping its profile low during
\nHabibie's period, was ready to meet Gus Dur even before he was
\nelected President. Early September, he was respectfully received
\nby Vice Premier A. Jorritsma, but failed to meet with Foreign
\nMinister J. van Aartsen and Minister for Development Cooperation,
\nE. Herfkens.<\/p>\n
Dutch media accused the department staff of not knowing what
\nto do with a visiting Muslim cleric. \"Next time, I will come here
\nas President,\" Gus Dur whispered to his Dutch friends.<\/p>\n
Ironically, it was E. Herfkens, having been provoked by media
\ncriticism, who initiated a new relationship with Indonesia. Her
\ndelighted response after meeting with President Wahid's new
\ngovernment in November, signaled a revival of aid to Indonesia.
\nThis program was halted abruptly in 1992 when President Soeharto
\nresponded angrily to Jan Pronk's (Herfkens' predecessor) protest
\nagainst the Dili massacre.<\/p>\n
Economic relations will be discussed more extensively when the
\nDutch Minister for Economic Affairs A. Jorritsma visits Jakarta
\nnext month.<\/p>\n
In his enthusiasm, Foreign Minister van Aartsen has proposed
\nthe European Union prepare a program to actively support
\nIndonesia's democracy. Opposition parties, however, have added
\nthat they would like to see the arms embargo to Indonesia
\nrevived.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur, whose remark \"Holland is my second home\" has been
\nwidely published here, will need to expand on his idea of
\nproposing his friend, former Dutch Prime Minister, R. Lubbers, to
\nhelp solve the Maluku conflict.<\/p>\n
Sources say that the Dutch statesman is not expected to
\nreconcile the warring groups, but to advise on Indonesian affairs
\nand to help reconstruct Maluku in the long term.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur's position toward the Dutch-Maluku people (including
\nsome \"RMS\" i.e. South Maluku separatist leaders) helping their
\nhomeland, is highly appreciated here. While it is only a matter
\nof humanitarian aid, it has helped them become more aware of the
\ndifficult problems in their homeland. This appreciation has led
\nthem to prefer autonomy rather than dreaming of independence.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur's image as a liberal and tolerant Muslim leader of the
\nlargest Muslim organization in the world, the Nahdlatul Ulama, is
\nof great importance here. The fact that the Dutch Queen and the
\ngovernment are eager to welcome Indonesia's new democracy and its
\nfirst democratically elected President, makes Gus Dur's visit
\nsymbolically significant.<\/p>\n
President Wahid's state visit will, in any case, mark a new
\nchapter in the sometimes uneasy relationship between Indonesia
\nand its former colonial master.<\/p>\n
The writer is a journalist, based in Amsterdam, The
\nNetherlands.<\/p>",
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