TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsWhy the Dutch have to recognize Indonesian independence from Aug. 17, 1945
The Dutch army had not just incidentally, but structurally applied extreme violence against Indonesians during the Indonesian war of independence between 1945 and 1950.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Pigeons fly during the flag-hoisting ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Independence Day on Aug. 17 at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta. (Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana)
A
ug. 17 marked the 80th anniversary of Indonesia gaining independence from the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the Netherlands still recognizes Dec. 27, 1949, as the date Indonesia became independent.
Two years ago, on June 14, 2023, then-prime minister Mark Rutte boasted that the Netherlands would "fully and without any reservation" recognize Aug. 17, 1945, as the date of Indonesian independence. This was in response to a critical question during a debate in the Dutch House of Representatives on the conclusions of a Dutch government-sponsored joint research project titled “Independence, decolonization, violence and war in Indonesia, 1945-1950”.
Immediately after the debate, a spokesperson on behalf of the prime minister nuanced this statement by alleging that it would have no legal consequences.
In retrospect, it turned out that it was only acknowledged that Sukarno had declared independence on Aug. 17, 1945, and that therefore Indonesia maintains this date as its independence date. It did not constitute any recognition by the Netherlands that Indonesia actually became independent by that date, it was just wordplay in order to dodge a question.
On April 29, during the festivities celebrating Dutch King's Day in Jakarta, Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Marc Gerritsen presented an old coin from the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to Culture Minister Fadli Zon with glee, as if it were a special favor. Apparently, the antique coin was intended to commemorate the good old days when the Netherlands could still exploit Indonesia unhindered as a resource colony.
Fadli returned the favor kindly by presenting a precious antique kris, an Indonesian symbol of authority and dignity. For a moment, old colonial relations seemed to be reenacted.
However about a month and a half later, on June 11, a different story was told than the one told during Kings Day: President Prabowo Subianto bemoaned during a speech that the Netherlands had managed to plunder approximately US$31 trillion from its Asian resource colony during its more than 300-year rule over what is now called Indonesia.
