Indonesia won't seek apology from Beatrix

Indonesia won't seek apology from Beatrix

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will not use the upcoming visit of
Netherlands' Queen Beatrix to demand an apology for the 350 years
during which the Dutch colonized this country, an official said
yesterday.

Emil Salim, who heads the national committee for the
celebration of Indonesia's 50th anniversary of independence, said
the visit was not connected with the golden anniversary, although
it is scheduled to begin only four days after Independence Day,
which falls on Aug. 17.

"President Soeharto has told the committee that we are
inviting Queen Beatrix for a state visit, which is not connected
with the celebration of our 50th anniversary," Emil said while
closing a seminar reviewing the revolutionary period.

"We will not ask for an apology," he said at the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences, which hosted the seminar. "This is a state
visit on which the queen will be accorded full honors," he added.

The queen and her husband, Prince Claus, are scheduled to
begin their Indonesian visit on August 21.

Suggestions that she use the visit to apologize to the people
of Indonesia for the colonial past came from some people in the
Netherlands, rather than from Indonesia.

As preparations run full steam in The Hague to fill in the
details of her visit, a debate has been raging on whether or not
the queen should address the Dutch's human rights record during
the 350 years they ruled Indonesia, especially given the Dutch's
own strong feelings on human rights issues.

A Dutch media poll found that 38 percent of respondents
believed that the queen should apologize, the Republika daily
said yesterday.

J.P. Pronk, the Dutch minister of development cooperation,
caused outrage among Dutch veterans of the war of independence
when he suggested that the queen should visit Indonesia on
Independence Day.

The Netherlands officially recognized Indonesia's independence
in 1949 when the former agreed, after five years of bloody
fighting, to hand over sovereignty.

Indonesia proclaimed independence on Aug. 17, 1945,
immediately after the Japanese surrendered to the Allies.
Subsequently, it fought a fierce battle to repel the Dutch
attempt to reimpose colonial rule.

Queen Beatrix was originally invited to take part in
Indonesia's golden anniversary but, because of the controversy
the plan sparked in the Netherlands, Jakarta and The Hague agreed
that she should begin her visit after Aug. 17.

After 50 years of independence, Indonesia aimed to show that
all that had happened was "history" and that the country bore no
malice towards it former colonial ruler, said Emil, who served
for more than 15 years as cabinet minister.

"The government hopes that this is the attitude of the entire
nation," he added.

He said it was entirely up to the queen whether or not she
made an apology in her speech here. She would also be welcome to
attend any activity related to the independence celebrations,
despite the fact that the visit was not connected with the
events, he added.

"I also experienced abuse at the hands of the Kempeitai
(Japanese military police)...but we must look to the future, not
the past, in determine our relations with other countries," Emil
said. (anr)