“My father would have been very happy, this touches me deep,” says Panoes Salampessy with restrained emotion. The father of Panoes is one of the fifty Moluccan KNIL soldiers from Breda who will be honored on Saturday in the Museum Bronbeek Museum in Arnhem. The tribute with a medal is an important recognition for the Moluccan military. For their children it is a sign of justice for the injustice that their parents are affected.
After a lot of wanderings, Dommingoes Salampessy and his family end up in the De Driesprong Moluccan district in Breda in 1963. He is one of the 3500 Moluccan KNIL soldiers who were forced in 1951 to leave ‘temporarily’ with their families to the Netherlands. Once on the boat they were confronted with an unprecedented and unexpected heartlessness that would traumatize them for the rest of their lives: with immediate dismissal from the army.
“They had fought fiercely and were simply cheated, it was a smell for thanks.”
“It felt like a dagger stitch in their backs for my father and the others. Was this the reward for their unconditional loyalty to the Dutch? They had fought fiercely and were simply cheating, it was a smell for thanks,” says Panoes about his father.
The corporal and weapon instructor and his wife and two sons were housed in the former Vught concentration camp. A short time later, the family moved to the Molukkenkamp in Westkapelle, the place where Panoes was born. No word was spoken about the KNIL period in the former Dutch East Indies.
“They had to balance between life and death as soldiers. They didn’t want to burden us with that. It was simply too painful. Or maybe it was also shame because they had to leave everything behind.”
“We regularly got hits that showed that there was still a certain pent -up anger.”
Moluccan KNIL soldiers on the outside showed nothing about frustration and anger. This was often a different story indoors. “My father was righteous, but strict. We regularly got hits that showed that there was still a certain pent -up anger.”
“Unfortunately, as a second generation, we unconsciously took over in the education of our children. I could not talk about feelings and I was not open to other opinions. The emphasis was always on the learning performance of the children. That was not good afterwards,” says Panoes.
Proletarian shopping
For father Dommingoes, the many years of humiliation of the Moluccan community became too much. In 1956 the government decided that the Moluccans should take care of themselves. The soup kitchen in the camp in Westkapelle was closed and the residents no longer received pocket money. The Moluccans were dumbfounded because the government had promised to take care of them to their return to the Moluccas.
Despite the fact that the residents were in the right by the judge, the authorities stood firm. In the following months the hunger hit the camp. The men felt forced to go shopping in the village proletarian. “Send the bill to Juliana,” the retailers were told.
It was answered with hard police violence. Agents stormed the camp and shot shots. Nine Moluccans were injured, one of which is serious. The father of Panoes was arrested and imprisoned for a few months in Doetinchem.
The proud KNIL soldier Dommingoes Salampessy dies in 1965 at the age of 44 from the effects of an industrial accident. Panoes is then only twelve years old.
“Too bad he can’t experience it himself, but better too late than never.”
He never received appreciation for his commitment to the KNIL during his life. On Saturday afternoon, Panoes will receive the honorary sign for order and peace on behalf of his father. The award was established by Queen Wilhelmina and is intended for soldiers who have been employed in the Dutch East Indies.
“He is now officially recognized as a military war veteran. It is the only thing he always longed for. Too bad he can no longer experience it himself,” says Pamoes. “But better too late than never.”
Why the Moluccans ended up in the Netherlands
After Indonesian independence in 1949, the KNIL (Royal Dutch-Indian Army) was lifted. Many Moluccan soldiers refused to join the Indonesian army and supported the independence (25 April 1950) of the Republik Maluku Selatan (RMS). The Netherlands did not allow them to return to the Moluccas. In 1951, more than 3500 Moluccan soldiers and their families were transferred to the Netherlands, where they were unexpectedly demilitarized. What was presented as a temporary residence turned out to be permanent. The first generation first hoped to return to their homeland, but that faith slowly decreased. The next generation of Moluccans used violence (hijackings, demonstrations) to enforce return for their parents, but that also did not work. Now the path of diplomacy has been used.