Not everyone will have noticed, but the National Commemoration in Amsterdam yesterday differed in one important point from that in all previous years. For the first time, the victims were mentioned, including Indonesian ones, who were killed or murdered during the colonial war that the Netherlands waged in Indonesia between 1945 and 1949.
Just like last year, the master of ceremonies said at the ceremony on Dam Square that all civilians and soldiers are commemorated “who have died or been murdered in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or anywhere in the world since the outbreak of the Second World War”. However, when the wreaths were laid, victims of the colonial war in Indonesia were now also explicitly mentioned.
“The following wreath is laid for all citizens in Asia who were killed or died during or immediately after the Second World War and the colonial war in Indonesia as a result of resistance, internment, war violence, exhaustion, hunger and forced labour,” said master of ceremonies Jos Coumans on behalf of the National Committee 4 and 5 May.
‘Belongs to commemorate all victims’
The majority of organizations in the Indies community today express their appreciation for the commemoration of this group of victims on 4 May. “I noticed that they referred to the colonial war. I also thought: hey, that’s new,” says editor-in-chief Vivian Boon of the monthly magazine Moesson for Indies Dutch. “The moment it is appointed, there is recognition for the fact that that war has happened,” said Boon.
“The Second World War did not come to an end for the Indies community on May 5, but on August 15, and after that there were many victims in the colonial war.”
Yvonne van Genugten of the Indies Remembrance Center is also positive. “It is part of commemorating all victims, and therefore also this one. It is a memorable moment.”
Rocky Tuhuteru of the Pelita welfare foundation for Indonesians thinks it is a “very positive development that the victims of the decolonization war are also commemorated”, but he also thinks that more attention should be paid to the millions of indigenous victims of the Japanese occupation. “It would be a great recognition if they too were mentioned, if only in one sentence. They are forgotten.”
The Dutch East Indies Federation says on its own website that it is against the adjustment. The organization does not agree that Indonesian victims of the colonial war are also commemorated. “With the change, the dead on the side of the then enemy, including Indonesian war criminals, are now also included in the commemoration.”
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