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