Netherlands urget to honor Indonesian Independence Day
Netherlands urget to honor Indonesian Independence Day
AMSTERDAM (Agencies): Dutch Development Minister Jan Pronk
urged the Netherlands on Sunday to make a political gesture to
Indonesia and honor next year's 50th anniversary of the former
colony's independence, Reuters reported yesterday.
"I would hope that on the 17th of August next year, a date
which was not recognized by the Netherlands at the time, the
Dutch will say: it is right that people should celebrate their
independence on this day. That would be a political step," the
Dutch ANP news agency quoted Pronk as telling Dutch radio.
Indonesia, then called the Dutch East Indies, proclaimed its
independence on Aug. 17, 1945 only a few days after the surrender
of the Japanese to the Allies.
The move preempted the return of the Dutch to the
archipelago it had colonized for over three and half centuries.
The Hague refused to accept the independence and sent
120,000 conscripts to fight in the archipelago. It finally
relinquished control in 1949 after four years of bloody war with
the Indonesian resistance fighters.
The Dutch government is anxious to smooth recently tense
relations with Indonesia, but former conscripts argue that to
honor its 1945 independence declaration would be dismissing the
sacrifices they were forced to make.
Pronk's comments came as Johannes "Poncke" Princen, a Dutch
conscript who deserted in 1948 to join Indonesian freedom
fighters, celebrated Christmas in his former homeland on an
official visa for the first time.
The government's decision to grant Princen a visa caused an
uproar in the Netherlands, with parliament opposing it and war
veterans threatening to kill him.
Princen's visit showed the Dutch had not yet come to terms
with the "fundamental" question of their past colonial crimes,
Pronk added.
The Dutch minister is a controversial figure in Indonesia
for his often critical remarks about Jakarta's human rights
records which in 1992 led to Indonesia's decision to refuse any
further aid from its former colonial masters.
As part of its golden anniversary, the Indonesian government
has reportedly invited the Dutch Queen to attend the independence
ceremonies next August.