Netherlands’ Prime Minister (PM) Mark Rutte issued an apology to Indonesia on Thursday after a major historical review found that the former colonial power had carried out systematic, excessive, and unethical violence during Indonesia’s 1945-49 war for independence.
“We have to accept the shameful facts. I make my deep apologies to the people of Indonesia today on behalf of the Dutch government, for the systematic and widespread extreme violence by the Dutch side in those years and the consistent looking away by previous cabinets,” Rutte said during a news conference after the findings were published.
Rutte noted that the blame could not be attributed to individual soldiers but to the system at the time. “The prevailing culture was one of looking away, shirking and a misplaced colonial sense of superiority. That is a painful realisation, even after so many years,” he remarked.
The government-funded research project, undertaken over four and a half years, noted that the military’s acts of violence during the war were supported by an approving society and uncritical media rooted in a “colonial mentality,” as well as a government that condoned it.
During this time, the Dutch army was “frequently and structurally” guilty of “extrajudicial executions, ill-treatment and torture, detention under inhumane conditions, arson of houses and villages, and often arbitrary mass arrests and internments,” it noted. The study also found that rape was not normally condoned, but was lightly punished, if at all.
“We have to accept the shameful facts.”
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 18, 2022
The Netherlands’ PM Mark Rutte apologises to Indonesia after a study found the Dutch army used 'systematic and extreme violence' to regain control of its former colony https://t.co/5RpJevjcYh pic.twitter.com/nIpaXQUtwT
A summary of the findings said: “It is evident that at every level, the Dutch unquestioningly applied different standards to … colonial ‘subjects’.”
While the study majorly focused on the Netherlands’ actions, it also stated that Indonesian forces also used “intense” violence through guerrilla wars, which killed thousands of people at the beginning of the conflict, mostly targeting Eurasians, Moluccans, and other minority groups. Overall, an estimated 100,000 Indonesians were killed, in comparison to the Netherlands’ 5,300. After 350 years of colonial rule, Indonesia gained independence in 1945.
The apology by the Netherlands is not unprecedented. On a visit to the former colony in March 2020, King Willem-Alexander apologised for his country’s past violence. Similarly, in 2013, the Dutch ambassador to Indonesia issued an apology for his country’s summary executions.
While the Dutch government and monarchy have attempted to acknowledge its past, the findings were met with criticism by the Netherlands Veterans Institute, which said that the report does not pay adequate attention to the crimes committed by the Indonesian freedom fighters.
A representative of the institute said that the findings of the latest study evoked “a feeling of discomfort and concern”. “Veterans who served in the former Dutch East Indies are collectively placed in the suspect’s dock thanks to unsubstantiated conclusions,” the institute’s director, Paul Hoefsloot, said in a written statement.