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'Bersiap' exposes Dutch, Indonesian historical divide
A guest curator's opinion article was supposed to promote a Rijksmuseum exhibition called "Revolusi! Indonesia Independent", but it elicited a strong public emotional response from the Dutch instead.
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Dutch King Willem-Alexander (second right) and Queen Maxima (right) return after laying a wreath during their visit to the Heroes Cemetery in Jakarta on March 10, 2020. ( AFP/BAY ISMOYO)
A
n Indonesian historian and two officials from a Dutch museum have been reported to the Dutch police over conflicting historical perspectives, which have forced the two nations to confront the violent end of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia.
Historical grudges are a mainstay in the Dutch-Indonesian relationship, due in part to the Netherlands’ ongoing refusal to recognize Indonesia’s 1945 declaration of independence, which underpins legal efforts to demand accountability for descendants of victims of war crimes, especially in the period immediately after independence.
On Jan. 21, the Committee of Dutch Honor Debts (KUKB), a group advocating compensation for Dutch war crimes, reported the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, its director Taco Dibbits and curator Harms Stevens to the police for their insistence on using the racially charged term “bersiap” in an upcoming exhibition highlighting Indonesia’s post-colonial history.
KUKB chairman Jeffry Pondaag stated that the term was “not only racist, it is also a form of historical falsification”, and that the group had reported the event organizers to the police after they rejected a decision to remove the word from the exhibition, a point that Indonesian guest curator Bonnie Triyana raised in an opinion piece earlier that month.
Read also: Dutch legal system dampens efforts to heal from wartime atrocities
Emotional response
Bonnie’s article, published in Dutch media outlet NRC on Jan. 10, was supposed to promote a Rijksmuseum exhibition called “Revolusi! Indonesia Independent”, which offers an “international perspective” on the history of the Indonesian post-independence movement in 1945-1950. The exhibition is expected to run from Feb. 11 through June 5.
