Denying past deeds

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