Dutch king apologises for violence during Indonesian independence war
Dutch King Willem-Alexander apologised to Indonesia on Tuesday for “increased violence” during the ex - colony’s independence struggle on the 1940s.
The king made the remarks throughout a state visit to the united states with Queen Maxima after a ceremony with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in the administrative centre Jakarta.
Indonesia declared its independence on August 17, 1945 following a short wartime occupation by japan and several century as a Dutch colony.
“The past can't be erased, and will have to be recognized by each generation in turn,” the king said in a joint statement.
In the years following the independence proclamation “an agonizing separation followed that cost many lives... I would like to express my regret and apologise for excessive violence for the Dutch in those years,” he added.
“I really do so in the entire realisation that the soreness and sorrow of the families affected continue being felt today.”
In 2013, the Dutch authorities publicly apologised to Indonesia for mass killings by its army in the 1940s war of independence, in the first standard apology for all executions.
But the apology Tuesday was an initial by a Dutch monarch, according to two options, including a senior Indonesian authorities official.
The Dutch embassy in Jakarta declined to comment.
Previously, the Dutch federal government announced compensation to the widows of these who died in mass killings.
But certainly not all have obtained funds, according to the Committee for Dutch Honour Debts.
“Our country suffered a whole lot from Dutch crimes plus they have to purchase what they did,” said Jeffry Pondaag, the committee’s Netherlands-based chairman.
Likewise Tuesday, the Dutch royals said these were “deeply saddened” at news of a fatal boat crash that killed seven Indonesian federal government employees and injured 20 others, including two Dutch embassy personnel.
The accident occurred as officials secured a location in Indonesia’s portion of Borneo island where in fact the royal couple were to go to this week. - AFP
