Students press demand for apology from Dutch
JAKARTA (JP): As Queen Beatrix reveled in a tour of the Yogyakarta Palace, students here in the capital held another demonstration calling on the Dutch to apologize for the colonial past.
On the fifth day of her visit to Indonesia, Beatrix toured yesterday the grounds and museums of the royal palace of the Sultan of Yogyakarta, which contain many colonial artifacts.
Antara reported that, on seeing the many Dutch exhibits, Beatrix remarked: "This all demonstrates the closeness of the kingdoms in the past."
Beatrix is currently on an 11-day visit to Indonesia which will take her to no less than six provinces.
Earlier in the day, Beatrix went to the Prambanan temple and visited a family welfare center in Caturhardjo village.
She left Yogyakarta yesterday afternoon, traveling to Manado, North Sulawesi.
Meanwhile in Jakarta, about 50 students from the University of Indonesia staged a demonstration demanding that Queen Beatrix, on behalf of the Netherlands government, apologize to Indonesia for the Dutch colonization of Indonesia and recognize Indonesia's independence as dating from Aug. 17, 1945.
After being a Dutch colony for nearly 350 years, Indonesia declared independence in 1945. However the Netherlands did not formally concede Indonesia's sovereignty until 1949.
Yesterday's demonstration, held in front of the university's School of Social and Political Sciences in Depok, South Jakarta, was a continuation of Monday's protest, held near the Presidential Palace.
Ahmad Rivai, one of four students detained by police for several hours during Monday's protest, said at yesterday's demonstration he did not understand the government's reluctance to demand an apology for Dutch colonial oppression.
"It's very naive to forget and forgive the Netherlands only because they are helping us financially," he said
Rivai also criticized a statement by legislator Aminullah Ibrahim of the Armed Forces faction at the House of Representatives saying it was odd to demand a recognition of 1945 as the date of independence after receiving Dutch aid.
"Even if the Netherlands keeps giving us aid, it won't cover all the things they took from us," Rivai remarked.
The students also demanded the government repeal all colonial laws still in force in Indonesia, including the unpopular haatzai artikelen, which is being used to detain members of the underground Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).
Many colonial laws have been adopted and refined by the government as the basis of state law in Indonesia.
"We have to oppose any colonial practices including old laws that are colonizing our own people," said Sugianto, a student from the School of Letters who also was apprehended during Monday's protest.
Yesterday's demonstration ended with the reading of a petition signed by 50 students demanding cessation of colonial practices which contradict the spirit of the 1945 proclamation of independence. (23/mds)