Many old KNIL soldiers and their wives have their final resting place at the Vught General Cemetery. The municipality gave these graves a special status on Friday. They are maintained forever and the burial rights no longer have to be paid. Hanna Selanno-de Queljoe is happy that her father finally receives recognition. “We fought for it for so long.”
This Friday it is exactly 74 years ago that the first Moluccans arrived by ship from Indonesia in the port of Rotterdam. The Moluccan soldiers of the Royal Dutch-Indian Army (KNIL) fought from 1945 to 1949 during the Indonesian War of Independence for the Netherlands.
No return
After the decolonization of Indonesia in 1950, they were not allowed to return to the South Moluccas. They had named themselves as an independent republic. That is why the thousands of Moluccan KNIL soldiers were brought to the Netherlands with their families, under the promise of temporary care. But that promise was never fulfilled.
Hanna Selanno-de Queljoe explains why the tribute is so important:
Instead of returning to their home country, the Moluccan KNIL soldiers in the Netherlands were dismissed from military service, they did not receive their salary and retirement and were placed in isolated camps. One of the many camps in which the Moluccans ended up was part of the former concentration camp in Vught. This part was renamed Woonoord Lunetten.
In the stitch
The living conditions in many of these reception camps were not good, but the Moluccans made the best of it. Although there was visibility, a lasting future in the Netherlands or a return to the Moluccas. In addition, the Dutch government has done little for years to integrate or support the Moluccan community.
The lack of clarity about their status and the lack of recognition for their situation has ensured that many Moluccans are being abandoned by the Dutch government to this day.
Recognition
Recognition is still very important for the KNIL soldiers family. Many Moluccans see the granting of a monumental status to the graves of KNIL soldiers as a piece of satisfaction for the suffering they experienced. But that is not arranged nationally. Although many municipalities with a Moluccan neighborhood have now arranged this.
In Vught there has been five years for that, but from now on no longer has to be paid every ten years for burial rights. The graves of KNIL soldiers will no longer be cleared. “It is a beautiful and deserved tribute to the KNIL soldiers who are buried here and have fought for the Netherlands,” says Hanna Selanno-de Queljoe at her father’s grave.
Emotional
Dorothea Patty keeps track of the grave of her father and brother at the cemetery on Elisabethstraat in Vught. But for the tribute, she cleaned it extra well and removed all the weeds. “My father was a red beret at the KNIL, somewhere in the middle of Java.”
It makes her emotional that her father finally receives recognition. “This is a very important moment for our family.” Her grandfather, who was also a KNIL soldier, is buried in Leerdam, which the municipality has previously given recognition by giving Moluccan graves a monumental status.
The municipality of Vught is now also tacking. In addition, a memorial board at the cemetery was unveiled on Friday. Furthermore, the Moluccan community in Vught has received twenty thousand euros to have a memorial made and places around Lunetten residential resort.
