On colonialism I

On colonialism I

We now, at least, have an admission of colonial malpractice
from Mr. de Kort (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 5, 1994).

However, it is less than reassuring that, for murdering 40,000
Indonesians, Kapitein Westerling received a severe rap over the
knuckles from the Dutch public and was duly granted his freedom.
The reason why Westerling was not tried for crimes against
humanity (or as Mr. de Kort has put it, "never charged with
misconduct and court martialled") is perhaps because, for all the
soul-searching Mr. de Kort claims went on in the Dutch media,
much of the truth about Dutch colonialism in Indonesia is still
left suppressed. This is also the considered view of the eminent
political scientist and philosopher, Professor Noam Chomsky of
the Massachussets Institute of Technology and author of such
books as Deterring Democracy and Necessary Illusion: Thought
Control in Democratic Societies.

The dates Mr. de Kort has given for the official incorporation
of various parts of Indonesia into the Dutch East Indies in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, bear little
relationship to the dates when Dutch forts, settlements,
factories and trade monopolies (the ingredients of colonialism)
were first established, up to centuries before, even in far flung
places like Banda Islands (e.g. the Dutch had built forts on the
island of Neira by 1610).

A little less of the dry, old, bare bones of history and a
little more flesh, Mr. de Kort, would be appreciated.

FRANK RICHARDSON

Jakarta