Isje Maas-Villanueva (76) from Den Bosch has a special past. She grew up as a princess in Indonesia, but had to flee to the Netherlands as a child. Now she tells the general public for the first time her special life story. About war, fear and about her grandson who is now also prince.
In 1948 Isje was born in Makassar, Indonesia, in the middle of the battle for independence of the Netherlands. Despite the violence, her family tried to live as normal as possible. “My mother was allowed to cycle home during her break from Dutch soldiers and Indonesian fighters to breastfeed. I owe my life to them,” says Isje.
When independence was a fact a year after the birth of Isje, life became more dangerous. People who had ties with the colonizer, such as her mother Francine, were viewed with distrust. “My mother was a princess from a noble family of the island of Siau. Her background was seen as a connection with the Dutch,” she says.
Her father Alfonso grew up in poverty and was in a camp as a prisoner of war. During the war he received a Dutch passport, which made the family extra vulnerable. “We had to hide under the bed with shelling. My father said that I had to be quiet. I still feel that tension.” Thanks to his language skills, he was able to talk to everyone and protect the family.
When the Indonesian freedom fighters started detecting everyone without an Indonesian background, it became too dangerous. “Every week there was a dead pet at the door: a dog, a chicken, a goat. Then came a note:” The next time it is your daughters’ turn. “
That was the moment the family decided to flee. In 1958 they arrived in the Netherlands, when I was ten years old. “My mother thought it was terrible to leave her country behind. She was behind Indonesia’s independence, but it was no longer safe for us.”
“My grandson may be the new king of Indonesia.”
Although ISJE now has Dutch nationality and is therefore no longer officially a princess, her noble story lives on through her grandson Jordi. He is a professional footballer and has a Spanish father and Dutch-Indonesian mother. “When he wanted to play football in Malaysia, he could not register as a Spaniard,” Isje explains. “He got Indonesian nationality through his mother. And with that the title Prins.”
Now that he is a prince, Isje has written down her family story for him so that he understands it better. “In Indonesia, kingship goes differently than in the Netherlands,” says 76-year-old former princess. “De Raja, that is a kind of local king, is not automatically followed by the oldest son. From a few suitable families, the people choose who will be the new Raja.”
Her grandson Jordi is a serious contender. “He could be the next Raja. I find that quite exciting, because as a nobility you have responsibility for a whole people. That is really tough.”
“It is difficult to understand what being royal in Indonesia means.”
Isje has always been open about her background. “People know that I am good and not from a camp. But I have never told much, because it is difficult to understand what is royal in Indonesia means.”
That is precisely why Isje is now publicly telling her story in the exhibition ‘We never forget’ in Den Bosch. In it, families from Brabant talk about their history in the Dutch East Indies, with the aim of involving more people and telling about Indian and Moluccan culture. “My parents were storytellers. So I too.”
The exhibition can be seen for free from June 26 Heritage ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
