Tuesday, November 25, 2008

No Compensation for Indonesian Relatives after Dutch Mass Murder


The Netherlands will not pay compensation to relatives of those killed by the Dutch army in the mass murders in the Indonesian village of Rawagedeh in 1947. This is due to the statute of limitations. Ten relatives of the murdered had demanded such compensation.
www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/2631970/__Geen_geld_familie_Rawagedeh__.html

2 comments:

pasteurella said...

Very odd and a big blow in the face for these victims as well as for Dutch so called 'comfort girls' who still want compensation from the Japanese Government for facts even longer ago.
Earlier statements of Senator van Baal are outrageous. How dare he say that 'generally our boys did good work there and we have to stand behind them'.
Well, Hitler brought us childsupport, the freeways and the VW beetle but I would not say that during WWII the german soldiers 'generally did good work'.

JayV said...

Yes, I've been following this story. First heard about it on Radio Netherlands back in summer, 2007. Then on nrc/international and DutchNews.nl a few months ago.

My father lived in Soerabaja - in the Dutch East Indies - in the 1930's. He never really talked about his experiences there and only confessed when he was older that he was ashamed of the treatment of his fellow countrymen toward the native population. There should be a public outcry about this decision. I was hoping that compensation for the victims would be a needed admission by the Dutch to start coming to terms with their colonial past and inherent racism.