Commemorating VOC

Commemorating VOC

The Dutch have commemorated the 400th year anniversary of the
Vereenigde Oost-Indies Company (VOC) or (Dutch) East Indies
Company, they had set up in the 17th century with pride and
fanfare in The Hague just a few weeks ago.

The Indonesian ambassador to The Netherlands, on the other
hand, boycotted the festivities. There is nothing wrong with
Dutch-Indonesian relations today only the Indonesian attitude
stems from hatred of what the VOC have done to the Indonesian
people in the past.

Indonesian school children may read in their history books
today that the VOC had been the fore-runner of Dutch colonial
power that had exploited Indonesia's wealth and brutally
suppressed the people of Indonesia for three and half centuries
denying the indigenous people the right to self-rule.

Indonesians came first in contact with western civilization
mostly through the Dutch colonial administration. They also had
learned a lot from their colonial masters in technological
matters like building bridges and railways, roads, dams and
airfields. Most Indonesians, however, were and still are of the
view that the VOC had deprived them of a welfare society and had
to be opposed at any cost.

In recent times various Dutch administrations fortunately have
initiated rescue programs for Indonesia's ailing economy and
relations between the two countries are close and cordial.

Dutch colonial thinking, indeed, has led the people of
Indonesia to be deprived of any democratic rights. But this small
country of 12 million people, mostly living under the sea-level,
may now serve as an example to Indonesia how democracy and
democratic government must be practiced. Furthermore, the Dutch
are known to be industrious and thrifty and professional in their
fields including in sports (chess, football, swimming) while they
have been pioneering in many human endeavors.

In commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Dutch colonial
monopoly trading organization the Dutch have the right to be
proud of their achievements. But they should write down in their
history books that the colonial practices of the VOC, which
almost turned Indonesians into slave laborers in many
plantations, is something to be ashamed of internationally and
humanly.

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta