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)