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.