Denying past deeds

Referring to the letter from Aboeprijadi Santoso in The Jakarta Post of April 10, 2000, I would like to comment as follows: Since he made a comparison between Indonesia's occupation of East Timor and the the occupation of Indonesia by the Dutch during the period from 1945 to 1949, I certainly could also compare the Dutch colonialism with the Nazis.

Regrettably, my letter to the Post on April 3, 2000 was not published. In that letter I wrote that Dutch colonialism was almost identical to the ways of the Nazis, as both were based on evil mind and greed.

Aboeprijadi Santoso did not look at this carefully as Indonesia's occupation of East Timor is still under investigation, which to me is the right thing to do in order to bring justice to everyone involved so as not to become a "burden" to both sides. Unlike the Dutch war against Indonesia from 1945 to 1949, the Dutch have been trying to cover up their own war criminals who committed atrocities. Surely Aboeprijadi is aware that the notorious Westerling died as a free man, not to mention others like him whom the Dutch refuse to acknowledge (since he is also mentioned the book de Excessen Nota).

I am very proud of President Abdurrahman Wahid, who was brave when he apologized to the people of East Timor. Obviously, Aboeprijadi overlooks the fact that, as far as Dutch colonialism is concerned, the Dutch up to the present still deny their past deeds toward Indonesia as there is no official word of apology from them.

As I mentioned in my previous letter, the Dutch not only occupied, but colonized and practiced colonialism in this country. I suggest that Aboeprijadi refer to an English dictionary (or Dutch if he prefers), because to me he tends to mix up the words "occupation", "colonization" and "colonialism".

CHICHI MARTI

Bekasi, West Java