The Moluccan dream that failed

Press, 1 June 1977, Page 8

The Moluccan dream that failed

Bv JOHN PALMER, fromj the “Guardian” The Hague [ “The South Moluccans! remind one, more than any-! thing else, of the Orange; loyalists — the Protestant; militants — in Northern Ire-; land.” The Dutch Govern-; ment expert on the country’s; Indonesian minorities admit-' ted the analogy was limited.! But it is strange that, alone' of all the Netherlands’ immi-; grant communities, the; ultra-loyalist South Moluccans have never integrated; into Dutch society. It is as if there was no I partition of Ireland in 19211 ,and many Ulster Protestants; [settled in Cornwall, refusing: to integrate into British [ society and living in the! hope of one day returning to; claim the six northern coun-[ ties promised them by sue-1, [cessive nineteenth-century' British Governments. There are fewer than; 40,000 South Moluccans in the Netherlands. But the action of the tiny minority of terrorists [■ in their midst is now l .! calling into question the tra-[ ditionally tolerant reflexes !

[of Dutch society. Violence; jdone to the hostages or any 'serious loss of life could [generate a backlash which : does not distinguish between [one type of Indonesian or , I another — or between immigrants in general. ; j Hitherto-muted voices ; calling for more "law ’n’ .'order” and an end to the [permissive society have [grown bolder following this ■[week's terrorist incidents. .(More ominous still, there ■are fears that a revived [Dutch neo-Nazi party, the q Volks Unie — which agitates for "Nederland Blank” l'(the Netherlands for the [whites) — may gain wider i support. ■ [ From the beginning; ;'of Dutch colonialisation| ;!of Indonesia the! i [South Moluccans were! [ prominent collabora1 ! tors with the occupying i power. They always had! [some social traditions which [ marked them off from other [lndonesian peoples, and[ I were early on converted to a; strict form of Dutch Calvi-[ nistic Protestantism — [ which only widened the gulf [with their mainly Islamic (fellow Indonesians. ■ They provided the backibone of the Dutch colonial

(army with their motto “Loyal through centuries,” but earned themselves an unenviable reputation for some of the worst atrocities committed by the Dutch army in its vain battle to defeat the Indonesian nationalist independence movement after the Second World War.

Little wonder then that many of them refused to remain in Indonesia after independence and — still believing in long-held Dutch promises of a separate South Moluccan state in an eventual Indonesian federation — followed the Dutch ■army home. Their disillusionment [began literally within sight I of the Dutch coast — in an [act of amazing meanness, land before they landed, the [then Dutch Government [stripped the Moluccans of [their army ranks and service [records to disqualify them [from entitlement to pensions and other social rights. In the years since 1950 they [have’ mostly lived in separate camps and distinctive communities and less than a third of them have taken out Dutch citizenship. Many continue to believe

in the ever-receding dream of an independent South Moluccan state established in the southern islands of the Indonesian archipelago. The South Moluccans’ adherence to a stern Calvinistic way of life, and their refusal’to inter-marry with the Dutch (a very common' feature with other Indonesian communities who have less in common with their hosts), only underlined the unreal nature of their political ambitions. “To the young, third generation of South Moluccans, their homeland might as well be on the moon. But they are embittered, not only by the inability of the Dutch to do anything about it, but also by the lack of real evidence of a genuine independence movement still operating at home in the South Moluccas," says Mr Jan Glastra-Van-Loon, a Liberal Democrat member of Parliament. But he admits that successive Dutch Governments have committed well-in-tentioned but serious mistakes, by seeking to integrate the South Moluccans and not recognising their

distinctive needs and desires to remain together.

The Dutch authorities now recognise that they need to be better informed about the South Moluccan community — particularly its youth. They recognise this may mean giving the community its own schools and social services. But given the hostility of the Indonesian Government and the apparent indifference on the part of most South Moluccans still in Indonesia, there is little they can do about the political demands of the emigre militants. ,

Some Dutch politicians recognise Holland’s responsibility for the present crisis by having in the past encouraged the South Moluccans’ Right-wing, militaristic, and separatist traditions. But they also have to be prepared for a possible backlash developing against all South Moluccans — even though the great majority disown terrorism — and even against the general immigrant community. On the events over the next few days may lie the key to the future of Dutch traditions of racial tolerance.