Dutch colonialism
Dutch colonialism
Mr. de Kort, I remember you. You are the one who wrote that
there were no airplanes involved in the battle of Surabaya. How
wrong you were!
You are the person who, while we were celebrating our "Heroes
Day," Nov. 10, 1993, was belittling our struggles and battles for
independence and showed no respect for our people's sufferings
and sacrifices (of lives, feelings, goods, etc.). But we always
have our honor and our will to fight for our rights as humans.
Who are they (including Mr. Pronk) to tell us about Human
Rights, while they themselves kept it from us, stole our freedom,
suppressed us and stepped on our dignity?
Mr. de Kort, we regard our country as A Whole, that is Bumi
Indonesia which belongs to Bangsa Indonesia. The Dutch came and
colonized Indonesia; in the beginning under the pretension of
"trade"--pepper, cloves, nutmeg, coriander, cinnamon, vanilla,
sugar, coffee, tea, rubber, copra, chinine, tobacco (Deli tabak
for the famous Dutch cigars), palm-oil, tin, oil, (Bataafse
Petroleum Maatschappij-BPM), iron, etc. etc. you name it, you
know the rest.
Indonesia at that time consisted of many wealthy Kingdoms,
each with their own high culture. No comparison at all with other
Dutch colonies you mentioned, which did not produce anything at
that time. (The Dutch even had to take workers from Java to
Suriname, because there were no people to do the work).
You can twist your words any way you want, but the fact is and
remains the same: Holland became wealthy and important because of
its main and long-time rich colony: Indonesia! Nobody can deny
this. So, don't try and change history!
The Dutch indeed liked to cut us to pieces, since their motto
is Divide and Rule! The VOC was fully supported by the Dutch
government, e.g. if you planted other crops (fruit trees and
vegetables to eat) than was ordered by the VOC (for export), then
the Dutch Government would burn down your house and belongings
plus the plants you planted.
The Indonesians who dared to drink coffee made of coffee beans
would be hanged, even if they owned the tree. We were allowed to
drink Kopi Daun (coffee made of fallen coffee leaves). My father-
in-law and his parents experienced this in Sumatra and until now
enjoy Kopi Daun. The coffee beans had to be handed over to the
VOC but the hangings, beheadings, burnings, tortures, etc. was
done by the Dutch Government.
As for Westerling: Don't wash your hands in onschuld. He might
have had Turkish blood, but he was a Dutch citizen and served as
a captain in the Dutch army (where did Westerling get his
commands from? You know better!). His car bore the sign MTD
(Militaire Transport Dienst). He belonged to an elite/exclusive
group in the army, who called themselves Angkatan Perang Ratu
Adil (APRA -- Army of the Queen of Justice -- at the time it was
Queen Wilhelmina). This group had Carte Blanche (they could do
whatever they liked). Back in Holland he was promoted to Major
(for killing 40,000 Indonesians!).
How can it be that you don't know Indonesia asked for
Westerling's extradition? Because it was in the newspapers, even
in Vienna (where I read it). Apparently this is the way you work;
assuring things which are not true; imposing your will upon
others, hoping they don't know the truth; trying to put attention
onto other things to distract from the main issue (one of your
letters mentions Japan). Reading your many letters, it does not
take an expert to come to that conclusion.
Being the opposite of you, Indonesians are, in general,
physically small but with big hearts, no hard feelings, but if
you stir up or dig up oude koeien uit de sloot, you open old
wounds.
Try, have a big heart and admit what was wrong. Don't we all
make mistakes sometimes and learn from them? Let bygones be
bygones, because no one can undo what's been done. Let's look to
the future, work together towards a better world.
NANNY DJALI A.
Jakarta