Orange Ball attracts new members for De Nederlandse Club
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Dutch-speaking newcomers should not be too worried now when they want to settle in the country, especially Jakarta. De Nederlandse Club will be there ready to help.
The club, established five years ago by a number of Dutch people living here, indeed aims to help Dutch-speaking people, especially newcomers, to interact with each other.
"This is the way to meet people," Joost de Raad, the president of De Nederlandse Club, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
De Raad said he benefited from the help of the club to settle down when he arrived here in 2003. He found the club by browsing the Internet.
As most of its members are Dutch families, the club organizes a number of family-related events. They include sports activities like ice skating and tennis tournaments, a monthly coffee morning event for ladies, wine tasting, Easter and Christmas parties.
There are also some events to raise donations to fund charity projects involving children and seniors in Greater Jakarta.
One such event is the Orange Ball, which is often the highlight of the Club's events each year. De Raad said that the event has traditionally attracted more members.
"At the Orange Ball, everybody dresses up, the venues are comfortable, we chat, eat, drink and enjoy music from Dutch artists. It usually ends around 2 a.m.," he said.
The Orange Ball is an annual event for the Dutch to celebrate the anniversary of the Queen on April 30th. Everywhere in the Netherlands, people dance, drink, eat and enjoy music on that date.
Orange has become the national color of the Netherlands, whose royal family is known as the Orange Family.
In addition to the various events, the Club also provides the latest information concerning the Dutch community here through its website, www.dnc.or.id, or its magazine, which is published five or six times a year.
"The information ranges from that involving the events to that from the (Dutch) Embassy," said De Raad, who assumed his chairmanship post last August.
Security advice from the embassy has drawn much attention lately, especially after the J.W. Marriot Hotel bombing in August 2003 that killed Dutchman Hans Winkelmolen, president of PT Rabobank Duta Indonesia, a subsidiary of the Dutch co-operative bank Rabobank.
After the incident, De Raad said that many Dutch people had preferred to stay home rather come to the club.
"It has started to get back to normal now," said De Raad, adding that many are now undeterred by bombs or threats and it does not prevent them from mingling with other people.