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Forgive and move on, say widows of Westerling's victims
Following the official Dutch apology for a series of mass killings carried out by its colonial troops between 1945 and 1949, widows and relatives of those who were summarily executed in South Sulawesi say they can forgive and move on
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ollowing the official Dutch apology for a series of mass killings carried out by its colonial troops between 1945 and 1949, widows and relatives of those who were summarily executed in South Sulawesi say they can forgive and move on.
Andi Hartati, a 60-year-old local public figure and neighbor of seven of 10 victims' widows living in Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi, said that most of the widows had accepted the Dutch official apology.
'I have forgiven the Netherlands because Islam teaches me to forgive those who sincerely apologize for their mistakes. However, I also want the Dutch government to acknowledge our Independence Day on Aug. 17, 1945,' she quoted one of the widows, Andi Aisyah, as saying.
Nurtati, a daughter of another victim's widow Sitti Sulaeha, said that her mother did not expect much from the Dutch government other than an apology.
'My first husband was shot dead by Dutch troops during the Westerling tragedy, but I know that anger cannot bring my husband back. I have forgiven the Dutch troops,' she said her 85-year-old mother had told her.
Nurtati, who works as a civil servant in Makassar, admitted that she herself did not have any personal connection to the so-called Westerling tragedy as she was born long after the period when the mass killings occurred.
She said that she was her mother's fifth child by her second husband. The only son from her mother's first marriage was already dead.
'I personally welcome the Dutch government's actions in apologizing for what they have done in the past and I want to move forward,' said Nurtati, who is now 40-years-old.
Early last year, the Committee for Dutch Honor Debts (KUKB) and an Amsterdam-based lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld, filed a lawsuit against the state of the Netherlands on behalf of 10 victims' widows, including Aisyah and Sulaeha.
The case related to a series of mass killings in South Sulawesi between Dec. 1946 and Feb. 1947 during military operations by Dutch troops under the command of Captain Raymond Westerling while Indonesia was still under Dutch rule.
Most Dutch media outlets have reported that between 3,000 and 5,000 people perished in the massacres, but Zegveld said the death toll was probably nearer 40,000.
After a relentless struggle by the KUKB and Zegveld, the court eventually decided to grant the lawsuit and ordered the Dutch government to apologize for the massacres and pay ¤20,000 (US$26,560) as compensation to each of the widows.
Hartati confirmed that the seven widows who lived in Bulukumba had received the compensation and that how they spent the money would be up to them.
'We [Bulukumba people] believe that the money belongs to the widows by right. We will not interfere in how the money is spent,' she said.
Nurtati also confirmed that her mother had received the money a week before the Dutch government made its official apology last Thursday. 'I myself do not know what the money will be used for, but almost certainly, it will be used to fulfill my mother's daily needs and medication,' she said. (koi)
