Temujin
Banned
AMSTERDAM (THE NETHERLANDS), 04 August 2005 - Of all the anniversaries marking the end of World War II, one of the most difficult for the Netherlands is the ragged conclusion of the war in Indonesia, the former Dutch colony that declared itself a sovereign nation 60 years ago this month. For the first time, the Dutch government is sending a Cabinet-level official, Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, to Jakarta to join the Aug. 17 Independence Day celebrations - a deliberate yet grudging move meant to paper over a longstanding historical dispute.
The Dutch have maintained that the former Dutch East Indies remained under its colonial umbrella until 1949, when Holland yielded sovereignty following years of negotiations and "police actions" against what they called revolutionaries. Even now, the Cabinet decision last week to send Bot was couched in reservations, falling short of formally recognizing President Sukarno's 1945 independence declaration and refusing to fault Dutch forces.
"The government values Indonesian independence day as a historical fact, not a judgment or condemnation of the police actions," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Judith Maas. The statement reflected what one expert called "an internal trauma" in coming to terms with the violent separation from Indonesia after 350 years of colonial rule.
Accepting 1945 as the date of independence "means the military conflict was an international conflict, and no longer an internal affair," said Henk Schulte Northolt, of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies in Leiden.That could be read as admission that "we were wrong, in some ways, in this whole war," he said.
It's about time!
alltough that judith Maas is a ***** for saying they won't condem their "politionele acties"