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span class="caption" style="width: 398px;">Congratulations: Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Tjeerd de Zwaan (left) shakes hands with Judicial Commission chief Eman Suparman (right) during the annual Queen’s Day celebration on Monday at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jakarta. JP/Wendra AjistyatamaHundreds of people enjoyed the festivities of the Dutch National Day, the Queen’s Day, in Jakarta on Monday.

The celebration, hosted by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jakarta at the Four Seasons Hotel’s ballroom, was also attended by Judicial Commission chief Eman Suparman, Coordinating People’s Welfare Minister Agung Laksono and Corruption Eradication Commission commissioner Adnan Pandu Praja.

“Queen’s Day is meant to be shared with our friends and colleagues abroad and I believe that it is nowhere more true than in Indonesia,” Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Tjeerd de Zwaan said in his opening speech. The annual Queen’s Day falls on April 30.

The Ambassador emphasized the value of close ties between his country and Indonesia and how it has become an inspiration.

“The reign of cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands — the scope, the level of our interaction — are challenging, more than anything, our resource for inspiration,” he said, “we celebrate partnership, cooperation
and mutual benefit. We recognize similarities and we respect diversity. Not least, we dare to speak our mind without upsetting one or the other. And that is [what] the trust and relationship with this country is all about.”

De Zwaan noted that the Queen’s Day is a moment of unity, as well as a tribute to the head of state, Queen Beatrix.

“Nowadays, the Queen is very much part of the celebration and visits one or two places in the Netherlands, with the family actively joining the festivities as they are doing at this very moment,” he said.