Dutch War Crimes

Just some quotes from the International Edition of NRC-Handelsblad 25.11.08:

In an incident during the five years of guerrilla warfare before Indonesia won its independence, Dutch soldiers executed a group of around 431 men and boys in the West Java village of Rawagede on December 9, 1947.

……

In a civil case started against the Dutch state in September, a survivor and nine widows of those killed in Rawagede demanded an official apology and damages but the Dutch attorney general has rejected the claim.

In a letter to their lawyers on Monday, the attorney general said the claim has been rejected because: “the state does not have information about the individual circumstances and the fate of widows and other family members of the clients”. Instead the state has offered to discuss the situation with the claimants.

Executions regretted

The Indonesians’ lawyer is “moderately positive” with this offer and will wait until talks have taken place before deciding whether to continue with legal action.

……

The attorney general told the survivor of the massacre and family members of those killed that the state “very much” regretted the executions.

Update:

Today, 26.11.08,  there was an editorial on the matter with which I sympathize. These are the concluding paragraphs:

There is no statute of limitations on war crimes. The international community, including the Netherlands, have made a point of abolishing it over the last decades.

It does not matter that the military campaigns in Indonesia was not officially a war, in reality this is exactly what it was. And the fact that Indonesia itself, struggling to come to terms with its own violent post-colonial history, has chosen not to make a big issue out of Rawagede, is not an argument either.

Money can not undo past wrongs. But paying compensation would be a just settlement that would at least deliver moral justice to both victims and perpetrators on both sides of the war. There is no statute of limitations on history“.

I love the Minister of Defence

eimert-middelkoop

Sometimes, though these are very rare occasions, there is good news in the papers. This for instance was in the International edition of the NRC: “Dutch defence minister Eimert van Middelkoop says he is “very happy” he found a legal way to dodge his military service“.  Generally speaking I don’t share Mr Middelkoop’s policies, but suddenly he is real sympathetic to me.

He, like I did, had to serve in times we had conscription in this country. I sincerely congratulate him on this accomplishment to avoid that fate- he managed to do what I would have done if I had been as shrewd and clever as he obviously was. Military service meant young men lost two years of their lives . Two years, which in his and my times usually meant one was idly waiting for the Sowjet Union’s attack-  though it was actually never really imminent.  We were kept busy with duties without any purpose. Learning skills a decent society should not practice. Acquiring inferior morals and attitudes which for some of us proved hard to kick afterwards.

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Indonesia – which way to prosperity?

chairul

They are unrepenting. Always trying to find new accomplices. Never stopping to impose their economic morals.

Last Friday The Jakarta Post reported the OECD had said: “RI needs more liberalization”. That looks like a warning. But according to the Amsterdam based NRC this club of thirty rich, developed countries had offered a “Special relationship for Indonesia”. Which can be considered to be an incentive for staying on the right track.

oecd

It was the first time an economic assessment dedicated to Indonesia has been presented by the organization. According to its secretary-general, Angel Gurria, it’s the first step on the country’s way to full membership. Despite quite a number of shortcomings, the survey strikes an optimistic note: Indonesia may well achieve the growth rates of China in the long run.

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Indonesian Woman Artists

The Book

It’s size is 30 x 25 cm, 280 pages and it was published by ISRY, Galeri Nasional, August last year. iwa 1It’s content is strikingly apt and beautiful: short biographies on 34 female artists, a general but quite complete review of the artists’ track records and a lot of well chosen photo’s by Oetomo and Devi. A beautiful tribute to Indonesian women artists – to be more precise: to 33 Indonesian woman and one Dutch woman. It had quite a lot of publicity in Indonesia but if you want to buy the book (Rp 600000, the equivalent of almost € 45.-) if you live in Europe, you have to put in some effort: Amazon does not provide it and the nearest bookshop that has it in stock happens to be in Singapore. But last week Lien (thank you Lien, you’re my heroine) returned from her stay in Jakarta with a copy and here it is.

The Art

Indonesian visual arts, Indonesian visual artists, are “hot”. According to an article in the Dutch daily NRC (April the 5th) modern Indonesian art is all of a sudden very much in demand at auctions by Sotheby’s, Singapore ( Putu Sutawijaya sold a painting for about USD 60.000) and at Christie’s, Honkong, where that amount of money has been topped recently. And in Indonesia itself a new generation of extremely rich upstarts has become collectors of art; last year an old painting by Hendra Gunawan for instance has been sold for approximately USD 500000.

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Ayat Ayat Cinta versus Alles Is Liefde

Jakarta is a very modern, urban city. Amsterdam is a very modern urban city. Jakarta citizens and Amsterdam citizens both are 100% human – the same virtues, the same vices. We all live in a global village, a distance of 12.000 km doesn’t make much difference. Or is there? Take for instance “Alles is Liefde” and compare it to “Ayat Ayat Cinta”.

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