Tag: amsterdam

The Indo Community declared a “Symbolic war” on The State of The Netherlands.

 

On Sunday, March 8, the “Day of the Revolt” took place on Dam Square in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on which the Indo Community symbolically declared war on the Dutch State. The manifestation drew attention to the lack of legal restoration for the thousands of war victims from the former Dutch East Indies.

 

The date refers to 8 March 1942, the day on which the Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL) surrendered to the Japanese occupiers. During the Japanese occupation of the colony, thousands of Dutch and Indo soldiers and civilians were killed and died of hunger, exhaustion and abuse. After the Japanese capitulation and subsequently the violent Bersiap period and colonial war, there was hardly any restoration of rights for the war victims.

 

For example, the Dutch State invariably claimed that the payment obligation of the salaries of KNIL soldiers and civil servants over 3.5 years of Japanese occupation (the so-called backpay) has been transferred to the Indonesian Government. Making payment impossible. Archival research proves that this transfer never took place, the debt obligation remains with the Dutch State to this day.

 

In addition, the lack of legal restoration concerns never paid bank and savings balances, insurance policies and foreign compensation. Marga Klompé, Minister of Social Work, admitted during a private maintenance in 1958 that “The Indo people are sacrificed for greater interests”. The current value of the series of financial files is at least € 36.5 billion. This was during the Roundtable Conference of 30

September 2019 presented to Parliament Members by investigative journalist Griselda Molemans.

 

Initiators Peggy Stein and Anton te Meij of the Indo Platform 2.0 / Meldpunt Indische Kwestie/Indo Issue emphasize that this so-called Indo Issue has now dragged on for 75 years. ”Thirty post-war cabinets have largely ignored the outstanding debt to the Indo Community. Every once in a while some money has been sprinkled to calm the minds, but the first generation of war victims have been treated in a downright outrageous way. ”

 

“We stand up for them now. To finally give our grandparents and parents a voice. They themselves were unable to do this because, after arriving in the Netherlands, they were saddled with a large debt for their temporary stay in contract houses and silenced. It is impossible to celebrate 75 years of freedom if you do not recognize and settle the outstanding moral and legal debt to these war victims. ”

 

The Day of the Uprising took place between 12.30H and 18.00H on Dam Square in Amsterdam. Speakers included Marion Bloem (writer and documentary maker), Frans Leidelmeijer (Art Collector), Sylvia Pessireron (Chairman of the Task Force Indo Legal Restoration), Michael Passage (Founder SOuthern CALifornia INDO), Griselda Molemans (Investigative Journalist) and some children and grandchildren of war victims.

 

The closing performance was provided by the Moluccan band Massada. The band members hereby emphasize that their own KNIL fathers, loyal to the Dutch flag, struggled in vain for years to get their backpay paid out.