The Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard “Ben” Bot visited Jakarta on August 16, 2005. On August 17, 2005, together with Dutch Ambassador Nikolaos van Dam, he attended the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Indonesia’s independence at the Merdeka Palace.
In a speech delivered on August 16, 2005 at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Ben Bot stated: “This is the first time since Indonesia declared its independence that a member of the Dutch government will attend the celebrations. Through my presence the Dutch government expresses its political and moral acceptance of the Proklamasi, the date the Republic of Indonesia declared its independence.”
This means that after 60 years of independence, and after being sued by the KUKB, the Dutch government still insists that it only acknowledge the proclamation of Indonesia’s independence on August 17, 1945 on a de facto basis.
In an interview on a private television station in Jakarta on August 17, 2005, when asked why he only mentioned political and moral acceptance, Ben Bot answered that recognition can only be given once, namely at the end of 1949. The Dutch government maintained that, on a de jure basis, Indonesia’s independence was valid from December 27, 1945 during the transfer of sovereignty at the Dam Palace, Amsterdam, not on August 17, 1945 which is only seen as a historical fact; hence, the de facto recognition.
Despite the absence of de jure recognition, in 2009 Bert Koenders, Minister for Development Cooperation, disbursed 850,000 euro (Rp13.8 billion) for development in Rawagede village, through the Indonesian Home Ministry. In 2009, the KUKB branch in the Netherlands assisted the widows and survivors of the massacre in Rawagede to file a lawsuit against the Dutch government. On September 14, 2011, a civil court in the Netherlands handed down a verdict that the Dutch government was guilty of the massacre in the village. The Dutch government has provided compensation for eight widows and one survivor. Each received a sum of 20,000 Euros (Rp325 million). In total, the Dutch government has disbursed more than a million euros for the village. This is relatively insignificant compared to the 1.1 billion Euros in compensation paid by the German government to victims of the genocide during its colonization of Namibia. To put it in perspective, German occupation of Namibia only lasted 30 years, from 1885-1915, while the Dutch colonized Indonesia for some 350 years, from 1816-1941.
The Dutch Dilemma
The Dutch government is aware of the consequences if it grants de jure recognition for the August 17, 1945 Independence Proclamation. First, what it claimed to be “Police Actions” turned out to be a full-blown military aggression against an independent and sovereign state, the Republic of Indonesia. As a result, it would be very easy for Indonesia to demand war reparations from the Dutch government as the aggressor.
In this respect, the mass killing of civilians in a systematic manner, the burning of villages, to the rape of Indonesian women_which for decades the Dutch government has called “excessive acts of violence”_constitute genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, gross human rights violations and crimes of aggression. These actions would change the status of the Dutch veterans to war criminals. As of this writing, there are around 5,000 living Dutch war veterans. Thus, it is understandable that they and their families and supporters vehemently opposed de jure recognition for Indonesia’s independence on August 17, 1945.
The Dutch government has so far taken their side, and of course it is also reluctant to pay war reparations. The Dutch government is also reluctant to discuss colonization and slavery during its colonization of Southeast Asia. In December 2022, the Dutch PM Mark Rutte officially apologized to seven countries in South America, including Suriname, for its 250 years of slavery. But Mark Rutte did not mention Indonesia. In fact, the Dutch also carried out a slave trade in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) for more than 250 years. To date, the Dutch government has never acknowledged its actions.
On the other hand, by refusing the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia, the Dutch government has violated diplomatic ethics. If two countries are to establish diplomatic relations, they should mutually recognize each other’s sovereignty. The Dutch’s fear of acknowledging Indonesia’s independence on August 17, 1945, has resulted in fraught relations. The Dutch government’s stance show that it still considers the Republic of Indonesia to be an unequal partner.
There are only two options to reset bilateral ties and equal them out. First, the Dutch government must grant de jure recognition for Indonesia’s August 17, 1945 independence, and settle all its colonial debts. Second, the Indonesian government terminates this “awkward” diplomatic relationship. When the two countries do not recognize each other diplomatically, they become equal.
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We are waiting for the response of President Joko Widodo, whether he would comply with the wish of PM Rutte and accept the written statement from the Dutch government granting de facto recognition of Indonesia’s independence on August 17, 1945. What Ben Bot conveyed on August 16, 2005 was only a verbal statement. In 2010, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was promised, during his visit to the Netherlands, that he would be given a written statement from the Dutch government. In October 2010, President Yudhoyono’s spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah said because the Dutch government did not recognize the sovereignty of the Indonesian state, the visits by President Suharto, President Abdurrachman Wahid and President Megawati Sukarnoputri to the Netherlands did not constitute state visits, and likewise President Joko Widodo’s visit in April 2016.
KUKB, during its several visits to the Netherlands, has conveyed to various parties, including members of the Dutch Parliament, that as victims of colonialism, slavery and military aggression, KUKB offered the Dutch people a concept of reconciliation with dignity, meaning reconciliation between two equal countries. If the Dutch government persists in its current stance, there will always be lawsuits and demands against it. This longstanding drama will not end. Thus, it is better to have a dramatic ending instead of an endless drama. (Batara Richard Hutagalung)