decolonisation of indonesia?
Answers
The Dutch King has apologised for violence committed by the Netherlands during Indonesia’s independence struggle. The crocodile tears of hypocritical elites do not make up for 300 years of brutal subjugation. The only real justice and road forward can come from the expropriation of Dutch capital: the common enemy of the Dutch and Indonesian workers.
On 10 March, during a state visit to Indonesia, Dutch King Willem-Alexander declared that he wanted to apologise, on behalf of the Netherlands, for the violence committed by the Dutch side during the Indonesian struggle for independence.
Dutch politicians, from the left to the right, were full of praise for this decision. After all, anything suggesting that “the Netherlands was wrong” and that we need to collectively recognise this, in order to “move beyond the past”, they consider wonderful. The Netherlands is now a formally equal trading partner with Indonesia. The profits that Dutch capital realises today are more important than 75-year-old issues. Furthermore, many of the “Indies-draftees” have since passed away, which makes the king’s gesture less controversial.
The only party-political protest against this decision came from Thierry Baudet, the leader of the far-right conservative Forum voor Democratie, who stated “Again and again ‘sorry’, again and again capitulation. As a descendent of proud Indo-Dutch people I am ashamed of the Dutch government, which fails to appreciate our history and ignores the crimes committed against our demographic.” In other words, a repetition of the old, conservative slogan “Indies lost, disaster born”, in which he seemed to address the Indo-Dutch (Indische Nederlanders) demographic. They consist of both Dutch and mixed Indo-European former residents of the 'East Indies' colony and their descendants. Outside of party politics, sounds of protest came from Indo-Dutch organisations like the FIN (Federation of Indo-Dutch).
What really happened during the period of decolonization and the so-called ‘police actions’ (i.e. the war effort to maintain the colonies)? How should we analyse this as Marxists? To answer this question, we need to consider the entire process of the Dutch colonisation of Indonesia.