Final resting places are many and varied

Final resting places are many and varied

Duncan Graham, Contributor/Surabaya

We can only hope that a later race of people who have no need for
battle remember how it used to be -- and tell their children.
(Netherlands War Graves Foundation)

The scene is so peaceful it is difficult to know how it used
to be. The gardens are lovingly manicured.

The frangipanis are in bloom and sprinkle their blossom in the
little breeze that helps soften Surabaya's sultry heat. Large
lilies stir easily in the ponds. Only the headstones are
stationary.

Thousands of white crosses sprout from the level lawns. Many
with round, carved ends indicate that beneath lie a woman's
bones. Some crucifixes are tiny. Here lies a child, there lie
many. Not all have names, just the single word "Onbekend" --
tombs of unknown victims. Some contain many remains --
"Verzamelgraf Ngawi".

Plain Buddhist headstones are scattered among the crosses.
The Muslim dead, former infantrymen, lie in an adjacent plot
under plain headboards.

Although all the years of the Japanese occupation and the war
of Independence are represented in this cemetery, the last three
months of 1945 are the most common dates recorded.

For this was the chaotic period 60 years ago when the Allies
sought to liberate prisoners of the defeated Japanese, and the
Revolutionaries fought to prevent the Dutch returning.

The British backed the Dutch and bombarded the city from the
air and sea. Indian troops battled freedom fighters. The Battle
of Surabaya was under way and all sides suffered terribly.

There are no flags flying from the poles above the 5,000 dead
in Surabaya's Kembang Kuning cemetery, though the majority who
rest here were once Dutch. The old political and nationalistic
hatreds, whose harvest lies under the green sward, have long
turned to dust along with their victims.

Surabaya has many Heroes' Cemeteries where more than 6,000
young Nationalists lie. Few know the Dutch also share the sadness
of those terrible times and that there are people who still
remember and wish to pay their respects.

When the Japanese invaded in 1941 the Royal Dutch East-Indian
Army (KNIL) had a fighting force of 120,000. Most of the officers
were European. The rank and file were from Java, Ambon and
Manado.

Victors and vanquished

In the brief fighting that followed, about 3,000 soldiers on
the Dutch side were killed. About 900 sailors perished in the
Battle of the Java Sea. The Japanese took 37,000 KNIL soldiers
prisoner but released most of the local troops.

The Dutch men were put to work on military projects and around
3,000 died, many on the notorious railway between Burma and
Thailand. Women and children were housed in camps where many
died from malnutrition, disease and brutality.

In the fighting for independence that followed the Japanese
defeat at least 1,000 Dutch soldiers were killed.

Fast forward to the present. On most days an individual, a
family, a group of friends arrive from Europe to fulfill their
commitment to the past at one of the seven Dutch war cemeteries
on Java.

Ancol (near Jakarta) has the graves of hundreds of men and
women executed by the Japanese; in Menteng Pulo (Jakarta) are
buried the remains of those who did not survive the camps, and
the ashes of 700 Dutch prisoners who died in Japan.

The Pandu cemetery in Bandung is near the Leuwigajah graveyard
at Cimahi. Dutch soldiers who died in Sumatra were reburied
here. At Semarang in Central Java are the Kalibanteng and Candi
war cemeteries -- the latter for the military, the former for
prisoners of war.

All are maintained by the Netherlands War Graves Foundation
"to ensure that the victims and this piece of history will always
be remembered." The work is carried out by Indonesians -- the
victors tending the graves of the vanquished.

Surabaya historian Eddy Samson often helps Dutch people who
make the pilgrimage to East Java to pay homage to an ancestor.
Samson and 10 friends have formed "Team 11" to preserve the
cultural history of the East Java capital. They also repair
smashed stonework and shattered headstones.

"Although the graves in the war cemetery are well marked and
good records kept, that's not the case with the resting places of
those who died during peacetime," he said.

"In the old cemetery at Peneleh (central Surabaya), which was
closed in 1900, many graves have been desecrated. The marble has
been chipped off for sale and the tombs have been robbed for any
valuables that may have been buried with the corpse.

"Although the land is still owned by the Dutch it's not
maintained. It's not so bad in the new cemetery, although
vandalism has occurred. But finding your way around is
difficult."

Outside the fence that protects the war graves, foreign
visitors are intimidated by gangs of men who demand money for
whisking a few imagined leaves away from the burial plot. It's
not a smart idea to go there unaccompanied. The general cemetery
is also a popular place to find prostitutes.

Inside the war graves area and among the neat white markers,
order prevails. Access is controlled and "tips" are banned.

"Only in the war cemetery are the graves safe, and those who
died can rest in peace," said Samson.

(For more information contact the Dutch organization YPKIB in
Surabaya at ypkib@yahoo.com )