M

ay 7, Online

Ten relatives of Indonesian men allegedly killed by Dutch troops in their country’s bloody struggle for independence are demanding compensation and an apology from the Netherlands.

A lawyer for the Indonesians says their relatives were summarily executed by Dutch forces in a series of massacres in villages in South Sulawesi in 1947.

Lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld says more than 3,000 Indonesians were killed in three months during a Dutch crackdown intended to “cleanse” the province of pro-independence insurgents.

Monday’s demand comes months after Zegveld successfully sued the Dutch state in a similar case — a massacre on Indonesia’s main island of Java, also during the independence war.

The foreign ministry said it was studying the claim.

Your comments:

Liesbeth Zegveld doesn’t understand the Indonesian way of thinking and acting. She brags about having achieved ¤23,500 for each remaining widow in Rawagede.

In the end, that money has been taken from the widows and they ended up with US$750 each.

The rest has been distributed among neighbors and other people who faintly thought that they should also receive some “compensation”. Compensation for what?

Isn’t it time that after 67 or more years, cases like this should be considered expired?

Jorith Arbier