KPM Fined For Taking Troops To Ambon Island

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 December 1950, Page 4

KPM Fined For Taking Troops To Ambon Island

AMSTERDAM, December 28 (Rec 1.20 p.m.).—The Royal Dutch Steampacket Company (K.P.M.) was today fined 250,000 guilders (£25,000) for taking Indonesian. troops to Ambon Island last month while the Indonesian and South Moluccan troops were still fighting. Ambon Island, •now occupied by Indonesian troops, was the last stronghold of the selfproclaimed Republic of South Moluccas.

The court found that the fighting between Indonesian and South Moluccan troops was still going on at the time. The K.P.M. counsel asserted last week that the fighting was ended and the ship’s passengers were “occupation forces” to relieve the troops that had been in action. The Amsterdam District Court ruled on November 2 that every ship of the company that continued to carry troops for the Indonesian Republic to South Moluccas would be fined 250,000 guilders. K.P.M’s appeal against the order of November 2 is still to be heard. The court ruled today that the fine will be deposited with the Dutch Bank where it would be held for payment to the party which finally , wins the legal battle on the transport of troops. In The Hague, the Dutch Government has appealed against The Hague court verdict on the repatriation of former Ambonese members of the Dutch army in Indonesia. The court ruled last week that the Dutch could not send the Ambonese anywhere in Indonesia, occupied by Indonesian troops, without their own consent. • The Government would be fined £lOO,OOO for any violation. About 4000 former Ambonese troops and 9000 relatives, now in Dutch camps in Java, were to have been returned to Ambon Island this month.