Cemeteries in Assen and Midden-Drenthe are given a monument in memory of the KNIL soldiers buried there. The arrival is a recognition for the military deployment of Moluccans in the service of the Netherlands. Moreover, the consciousness must create about Moluccan history.
The monuments are a wish of Stichting Molukse KNIL-Graven Assen and Midden-Drenthe. In this way they want to call the first generation of Moluccans a service, explains John Matahelumual of the foundation. “They are committed to the Dutch flag in the former Dutch East Indies.” Their children and people without a Moluccan background must also be able to agree with it. “It’s a shared story.”
It concerns almost 4,5000 KNIL soldiers who came to the Netherlands with their families in 1951. That happened on service order after they had fought in the Royal Dutch-Indian Army during the Indonesian War of Independence. Due to their loyalty to the Netherlands, they could no longer stay after Indonesian independence.
The Dutch government had promised the soldiers and their families that they could ever return to their own Moluccan state. But that promise was not fulfilled; The Moluccans stayed in Neerland. They spent the time in mostly miserable circumstances, such as in barracks at former Westerbork camp, which at the time was called Woonsoord Schattenberg.
“A cold welcome,” describes Matahelumual. “The housing was as thin as wooden plates between walls. There was little privacy.” In addition, the KNIL members were taken their military status. Matahelumual: “That comes in very deep.”
The monuments in the form of a column will be unveiled in September at the graves in Assen, Bovensmilde and Hooghalen. The column symbolizes the foundation that the first generation has laid down Moluccans. There will also be insignia for the graves; A sign that a former KNIL soldier is buried. The monuments also contains a QR code with referral to more information about Moluccan history.
The graves in Assen, Bovensmilde and Hooghalen have a special status, which states that relatives no longer have to pay burial rights for an indefinite period of time. They are consciously chosen places to place a monument, clarifies Matahelumual. “At a cemetery you are quiet, in mind with the people you think …”