“Officially recognize Indonesia’s true independence date”
We, the undersigned – historians, journalists, politicians and citizens, committed to a fair and democratic world order, founded on the principles of respect, recognition and equality – call upon the Netherlands, to finally recognise Indonesia’s independence 81 years after the events ‘fully and without reservation’ .
Following King Willem-Alexander’s apology on 10 March 2020 for the ‘excesses of the violence’ during the Indonesian War of Independence between 1945 and 1949, and Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s statement on 14 June 2023 in which he declared that he recognized Indonesia’s independence on 17 February 1945 “fully and unreservedly”, many Dutch and Indonesian people have been left with the mistaken impression that this date now has been officially recognised.
In reality however, the Dutch government still has not taken the required steps required to recognize that independence legally, as to this very day, the Netherlands only recognizes this important date in fact, not in law, ‘de facto’, not ‘de jure’. This is not an academic detail. This refusal touches on the very essence of the true nature of the Dutch colonial past. Merely offering apologies for ‘excesses’ during the struggle for independence suggests that the colonial period would have been a good thing had it not been for all the violence.
The Netherlands must not only acknowledge and condemn the violence of colonialism; 81 years after the events, the Netherlands must finally acknowledge that colonialism as a system, in all its forms, was a criminal endeavour. The struggle for independence by the people of Indonesia from 1945 to 1949 was therefore not a Dutch domestic ‘police action’; it was a foreign invasion by a colonial power.
Heinous crimes were not only committed during this struggle for liberation, but throughout the entire history of Dutch colonial rule. These crimes were essential to maintain that colonial rule. People who protested against their exploitation were tortured and summarily executed.
The Netherlands applied the adage ‘divide et impera’ – divide and rule – by provoking ethnic rivalries and enlisting local collaborators. The fundamental colonial ideology behind all this was that non-Dutch people were inferior, a view upon humanity whose horrific culmination we see today in Gaza.
It is high time that the Netherlands acknowledged the true character of its history. Only this way can the Netherlands be an authoritative voice for international law, wherever in the world.
As a first step, we therefore demand, through this appeal, that the Dutch government legally recognize Indonesia’s independence on 17 August 1945 and take the necessary steps to legally formalize this recognition.
Mr. Jeffry Pondaag, KUKB-Chairperson
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