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Netherlands Apologizes for 1947 Indonesia Massacre
December 09, 2011

A mural depicting the 1947 massacre by Dutch military troops of Indonesians is displayed at the Rawagede memorial in West Java. (AFP Photo/File) A mural depicting the 1947 massacre by Dutch military troops of Indonesians is displayed at the Rawagede memorial in West Java. (AFP Photo/File)
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DrDez
8:36am Dec 11, 2011

TGIF

I am interested in your opinion on Indonesia's lack of apologies to the people it has left dead in the last half century - the islands we have colonised and the people who have killed top forge RI..


TGIF
11:06pm Dec 9, 2011

The Colonial past and its racist treatment (what else would it be, anyone could always argue differently) have a lasting effect on some countries affected by it.

In this particular event let's hope this will bring a closure for the widows and a survivor from this useless massacre in Rawagede, Java.

Once again, this apology could have been better presented by a higher government Dutch official.

KampungHighlander
6:03pm Dec 9, 2011

I am glad that the Dutch Government has finally apologised for the Rawagede Massacre even if it took a ruling by the court in the Hague.

Hopefully it will not take being hauled before an International Court for the Indonesian Government to finally recognize the massacre of 500,000 Indonesian Citizens in 1965-66.


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Rawagede. The Dutch government formally apologized on Friday to the families of victims of a 1947 massacre on Indonesia’s Java island, on the 64th anniversary of the executions by its colonial army.

Dutch troops swooped into a village in the town of Rawagede during Indonesia’s fight for independence and executed men and boys as their families and neighbors looked on.

Dutch officials say 150 people were killed, but a support group and the local community say the death toll was 431.

“In this context and on behalf of the Dutch government, I apologize for the tragedy that took place in Rawagede on the 9th of December, 1947,” the Netherlands ambassador to Indonesia Tjeerd de Zwaan said.

He then repeated the apology in the Indonesian language, to the applause of hundreds of people attending the ceremony, some of whom broke down in tears.

In a landmark ruling, a Hague-based civil court in September found the Dutch state responsible for the executions and ruled in favour of seven widows and a survivor of the massacre who brought the case to court.

The court rejected the Dutch argument that no claim could be lodged because of an expiry in the statute of limitations in Dutch law of five years, saying it was “unacceptable.”

This same argument is used by the Indonesian government to avoid trial over the torture and killings of an estimated 500,000 communists and their sympathizers in 1965-66 as the Suharto dictatorship emerged.

The ambassador said the massacre was a clear example of how Dutch-Indonesian relations could go “so wrong,” and assured the community that the apology had the broad support of the Dutch people.

“I hope that by reflecting together on what happened that day we will also be able to turn together to the future and all its opportunities for close productive cooperation between the two countries,” he said.

Agence France-Presse