Colonial policies

Colonial policies

It seems that Richardson has set out on a one-man crusade
against colonialism, as if J.P. Coen and Sir Stamford Raffles
were knocking on the door again.

According to Richardson (The Jakarta Post, Oct. 25) "the true
account of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia is suppressed in
Holland." I can assure the reader that the Dutch public over the
past 20 years has been bombarded with TV documentaries,
historical interviews and reviews, public discussions,
testimonies and soul-searchings, biographies and autobiographies
and what-have-you, all related to the subject. There is not the
slightest indication of any "cover-up" of any sort, the
suggestion of which is preposterous and even offensive. Holland
is not Japan, the Dutch are well aware of colonial history and so
am I. I doubt if Richardson is.

Richardson, who accuses "a few Dutch nationals (clearly
implicating this person) of going into spins, twists and
somersaults to assure their benevolence," is quite an acrobat
himself. In my letter of Oct. 13 I made factual observations of
what happened in the field of education in the Netherlands East
Indies between 1900 and 1950 (before 1900 there hardly was any)
and summed up a few of the most significant facts. However,
Richardson in his zealous ardor blithely interpreted what was
clearly meant as a practical assessment of relevant facts and
incidents as a moral justification of the said facts and
incidents, thereby "spinning," "twisting" and distorting the
essence and intention of the piece.

Colonialism is a phenomenon that over the centuries developed
on an enormous, world wide, structural scale. Like it or not, it
is an historical reality that must be accepted as such and should
be treated with the same historical approach as all other
episodes in history. It is my conviction that emotion usually
does not contribute to forming a clear picture. Raving and
ranting about its immorality (as perceived today, not then) does
not give us a better understanding of what really happened and
how, when and why. The reader will have noted that de Jong, who
as an Eurasian probably has had good reasons to complain about
racial relations under colonialism, takes a much more pragmatic
and relative view than Richardson, who looks "plus royaliste que
le Roi.

I also wish to advise Richardson that his derogatory use of
quotation marks in "top notch" HBS institutions is totally off
the mark and only enhances our doubts about Richardson's
familiarity with the subject. HBS Schools were really top notch
schools, which had high standard curricula (identical to those in
Holland), demanding not only a high degree of intelligence but
also a large dose of diligence and perseverance. Moreover, those
who became later Indonesian leaders had not only "a reasonably
high standard of education" but full-fledged Dutch University
degrees.

Before castigating other nations' colonial policies Richardson
would be well-advised to look in his own backyard first, as the
former British Empire itself was far from free of racial
injustice. It is to be hoped we can be spared further lecturing.

BERT DE KORT

Jakarta