Renewing old relations
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands arrives in Jakarta for a ten- day visit today amid the exuberance of 50th anniversary celebrations. Needless to say, the Queen's visit at this particular time is bound to raise a few comments, particularly, it seems, in her own country. The celebrations, after all, are in remembrance of the country tearing itself from centuries of colonial rule by Holland.
Much has happened in Dutch-Indonesian relations in the past 50 years. When the Dutch returned to their erstwhile Southeast Asian colony at the end of World War II, they found it had already proclaimed itself free and was prepared to defend its newly-found independence by force.
Conservatism still reigned in Europe and much of Asia and Africa continued to live under the yoke of colonialism. In Holland, conservatives still believed in the motto Indie verloren, rampspoed geboren -- the loss of the Netherlands East Indies (as Indonesia was called) would certainly bring calamity to the Dutch motherland.
Between 1945 and 1949, bands of Indonesians armed with bamboo spears and obsolete weapons seized from the Japanese fought a bloody guerrilla war against well-equipped Dutch troops. By some estimates more than 100,000 Indonesians died during the war for independence. Some 6,000 died on the Dutch side. Atrocities were reported to have been committed by both sides.
Relations have had their ups and downs in the decades that followed, the latest case being a row over human rights abuses which led Indonesia to shun all Dutch aid in 1992. But just the thought of what passed in those fateful years of the late 1940s is enough to arouse strong sentiment in Holland -- so strong in fact that it appears to have been the reason why Queen Beatrix is visiting Indonesia on Aug. 21 and not Independence Day. For the Queen to honor Indonesia with her visit on Aug.17 would have meant the Netherlands acknowledging that Indonesia obtained its independence in 1945, instead of in 1949.
To add even more fuel to the controversy, recent reports disclosed in Holland have reawakened the memory of the willful killing by Dutch troops of more than 400 Indonesian villagers in Rawagedeh, West Java, during the war for independence. The question now seems to be: should the Queen apologize to the Indonesians for Dutch conduct during the period when she meets with President Soeharto?
Oddly, at least so it seems to Indonesians, this question is being asked in Holland, not in Indonesia.
As far as Indonesians are concerned, everything from that period has been forgiven, though perhaps not entirely forgotten. There may be some truth to the saying that we are a forgiving people.
To be fair, it must be noted that on the Dutch side, too, the dawning of a new spirit seems to have taken place. If official statements made recently are any measure, the old attitude of condescension which prevailed in at least some official quarters in Holland seems to be making way for the genuine intention to renew relations on a truly equal basis. If this is true, we see no reason why future Dutch-Indonesian relations cannot mature into a mutually beneficial bond of friendship and cooperation. We hope Queen Beatrix's visit will help move both countries in such a direction.