Hundreds of Moluccans today commemorated the end of the train hijacking at De Punt in Assen and Bovensmilde, exactly 45 years ago. The hostage situation at a school in Bovensmilde also ended. At the commemoration, the Moluccan community and representatives of the Moluccan independence movement RMS commemorated the death of six of the train hijackers.
The train hijacking started on May 23, 1977, when eight armed Moluccans near De Punt stopped the train from Assen to Groningen and 54 passengers were taken hostage. Twenty days later, Dutch marines put an end to the hijacking. During the liberation action, six hijackers and two hostages were killed.
The Moluccan community commemorates the hijackers as freedom fighters who stood up for the Moluccan cause. They blame the Dutch government for having transported the first generation of Moluccans to the Netherlands under false pretenses in the 1950s. In addition, according to the RMS, the Netherlands did not stand up enough for the independence of the South Moluccas from Indonesia, even though it would have been promised.
A procession of dozens of cars and motorcycles moved this afternoon from Bovensmilde to De Boskamp cemetery in Assen, where the six train hijackers are buried. At their monument, RMS president John Wattilete spoke about heroes who have paid the highest price for standing up for the Moluccan homeland.