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Banda is not dead, Banda is alive, despite past genocide
As long as “decolonization” is only used as an empty slogan to sugarcoat the actual erasure of the heart of our community on Ambon, Kei and all over the Nusantara archipelago, we cannot speak of change.
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Dark history: The Banda Islands are no unspoiled paradise. Beneath its tranquil waters, lies a story of tragedy and pathos. (JP/Mark Heyward) (JP/Mark Heyward)
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t a time when the world is crying out for justice we are still haunted by the shadow of a painful past: centuries of colonial violence and injustice. An illustrative example is the story of Banda and the genocide of 1621.
About this massacre, which was committed by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the truth remains untold. Still, after 400 years, the colonial lies are being reproduced, ironically by those who loudly scream to be against colonialism and racism.
I was born and raised in the Netherlands. From a young age I learned about the history, traditions of my ancestors which started from the sixth century, the history of Banda also known as Wandan/Wakan.
I am a descendant of the original Banda people who lived on the islands before the VOC came and destroyed everything. Most history books write that our community was almost entirely wiped out by the brutal actions of VOC governor-general Jan Pieterszoon Coen in 1621, and that only a few of us managed to escape. This is not true.
A large part of my ancestors left the islands on time and migrated to other places, among others to the Kei Islands where the heart of our community still lives until today.
Most people do not know that the actual name of Banda is Wandan/Wakan and that we exist as a diaspora. Our ancestors did not “flee” as most historians call it; they consciously left and migrated to safeguard the continuation of our blood line, religion, language and culture. In Islam this is called hijrah.
That we have been ignored and erased shows that colonialism is not only about physical violence. Colonialism is also about violating the truth in an attempt to control the narrative.
