“I made a podcast with the Drenthe archive about my life. It’s called ‘With a smile, with a tear’. The laugh related to my childhood in Schattenberg. But every time I came home, I saw the sadness in my parents’ eyes. Then I heard them talking. ‘When are we going back?’, they said. They were promised that they would go back to the Moluccas after six months. That just lasted and lasted. They were completely unhappy here and very sad. I did. received.”
“It was talked about a lot at home. We used to often come to Schattenberg and other camps where Moluccans lived. Then stories were told. Happy stories, but also sad stories. About the lousy conditions, about the treatment by the Netherlands. So you can say that it was instilled in me from a young age.”
“It means a lot to me. When I talk to my generation about that recognition, they all have the feeling: finally. Last year, for example, monuments were placed with municipal support in, I think, fifteen different places. But that is without support from the government, there has been too little attention from there. As far as I am concerned, it will be a recognition plus: now they have to make it happen.”
“I am very happy that the apologies are being made, especially for the older generations who can find some kind of peace in it. I and other Moluccans from the younger generations think it is a bit too late. Unfortunately, the first generation is almost no longer among us. An apology is a bonus, but what next? Is the Dutch government ready to take responsibility for its own history? Because it is not only a Moluccan history, but especially a Dutch one.
“Take, for example, very simply, the salaries of the soldiers, their overdue wages. Why were they not paid at the time? That’s how it should be, isn’t it? The government has not done that to this day. And do justice to what was done to the Moluccan KNIL soldiers. That history is so essential. A shared history. Please have it included in the school textbooks. I give guest lectures at schools and I notice a great need among those students to know what has been done to all of us.
“Recovery and telling the story in textbooks is a bonus. But the question I ask myself is: do we necessarily need that to move on and look to the future as a community? When I look around me, I see that it is valuable for the older generations, but that the younger generation can also move on without excuses.”
“There will soon be a National Program for the Moluccas. I believe that the Moluccan community should prepare very well for the discussions that will then be held. Then you will have the opportunity to make your voice heard.”
“We are 75 years later and I remain an RMS member (Republic of the Southern Moluccas ed.), but how do you interpret that in this day and age? If you see that Indonesia is keeping the door tightly closed, then I think it is my right to continue to support the RMS. So I am in favor of our own state. However, it is primarily about the well-being of the Moluccan people there. So I would say: enter into dialogue to improve the well-being of the people. That’s what I think essential.”
“The independence that has been declared is the reason we are here. But what I personally think is important is that we pay attention to the problems that still exist in the Moluccas. It is one of the poorest provinces. The country is being plundered, there are political prisoners. A lot of help is still needed. It would be nice if an apology included the fact that the Dutch government is also looking into this.”