Evil colonialism

Evil colonialism

In reply to Bart van Assen's letter of March 28 2000 regarding
my two letters on Dutch colonialism in Indonesia, I am even more
certain now that the Dutch always deny their colonial past and
are even now very proud of occupying Indonesia for more than 300
years. Apparently, Bart van Assen only favors the glory of the
Dutch colonial history in Indonesia -- just like the Neo-Nazis,
who are very proud of Nazi Germany, which was able to occupy
large territories in Europe, amounting to three times the size of
Germany, in less than three years.

A book by Ir. Sukarno titled "Dibawah Bendera Revolusi (Under
the Flag of Revolution) to me is very clear in describing how
evil the Dutch were in imposing colonialism in the Dutch Indies,
later called Indonesia; as is a book by Mochtar Lubis called Het
land onder de regenboog (The land under the rainbow) which told
of Indonesia's history where he referred the colonial powers as
barbarians. Or, if Bart prefers explaining history island by
island, how about the book De schatten van Lombok (The treasurers
of Lombok) by Edward Vanvugt, in which the book speaks for itself
concerning the gruesome war on Lombok island, where the Dutch
colonialists' greediness was pursued.

Obviously, Bart van Assen dislikes my Indonesian history
knowledge as the Dutch always think, like their ancestors, that
the islanders/natives knew nothing. Indeed, instead of making
efforts to look deeper into the history to explain why the Dutch
occupied, colonized and practiced colonialism-imperialism here,
Bart conveniently seeks comfort for his ancestors by cowardly
blaming the "local potentates who were willing adversaries" for
the Dutch own evil mind.

With his colonialist vision, which to me is regrettable, I
would not be surprised if Bart van Assen did not blame the Nazi
Germans for occupying the Netherlands during World War II but
instead he will not only blaming the Nationaal-Socialistisch
Beweging or the Dutch pro Nazi party but surely his fellow
nationals as well for willingly helping the Nazi Germans to reach
the Nazi ultimate goal for occupying Europe and the world.

Neocolonialism and neo-imperialism, as we were often reminded
by our first Indonesian president, Ir. Sukarno, will certainly
come sooner rather than later.

It is all too obvious to me!

CHICHI MARTI

Bekasi, West Java