The Drents Archief opens the archive of the Moluccan interest group Badan Persatuan for researchers and other interested parties. The archive contains documents that sketch a picture of the early period of the Moluccan community in the Netherlands and the struggle for independence of the Republic of the South Moluccas.
The Moluccan interest group Badan Persatuan was founded in 1966, and for a long time represented a large part of the Moluccan community.
“Especially from the initial period that the Moluccan community arrived in the Netherlands and started fighting for independence, there is a lot of material available,” says Erwin de Leeuw, archive editor at the Drents Archief. “For example, the provisional constitution of the RMS (Republik Maluku Selataned.). There is also a lot of correspondence between people from all over the world to get sympathy for the situation and struggle of the Moluccans. Certainly also from the RMS. “
Remarkable correspondence belongs to the doctor JP Nikijuluw. “He was present as a representative for the RMS in New York. There are reports and letters that have been sent back and forth, for example to a human rights organization in Paris.” “Among other things, the Rietkerk benefit emerged, for the KNIL soldiers who came to the Netherlands. The documents can be found how they made an effort for it.”
The Badan Persatuan archive is accessible to researchers, but also to other interested parties. “It is a fantastic source of information for researchers. From the Moluccan side it shows their history well in the Netherlands and what their commitment and vision has been in the struggle for independence. It shows the emancipation of Moluccans in the Netherlands, through the efforts of Badan Persatuan.”
In total, the Badan Persutuan Archive covers eighteen meter of documents from the period from 1911 to 2004. That time framework has to do with that one of the documents dating from 1911. “These are documentation pieces that are not really dealing with Badan Persutuan. Those pieces have been received somehow, meeting documents for example.”
The archive is completely bilingual. “That is unique. All pieces are available in Dutch and Malays. It is the first bilingual inventory we have.” The archive can be visited from next week.