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