PERSONAL - 25 april National Holiday of the South Moluccas

I had always the intention not to write about my personal opinions, situations or political statements. Today it's different for me. Today it's April 25, the date that the Moluccan people stand still in the Netherlands with the fact that their parents , grandparents, aunts and uncles were transhipped from the Moluccas by the Dutch government to stay in the Netherlands for three months and then returned to the Moluccas .

Where is the Moluccas ?

The Moluccan a Melanesian - Austronesian population that is indigenous part of the island set the Moluccas, which are part of Indonesia since 1950 . After the termination of the Dutch government of Dutch East Indies, many South Moluccan who had been a professional soldier in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) brought the government to the Netherlands. Some of them live together in Moluccan neighborhoods.

The Moluccas archipelago (South , West, East and North) is a part of Indonesia since 1950. My father was born on the island of Saparua, in the village Ullath 

The reconstructed ancestral home of our family in Ullath

KNIL soldier

My father fought in the Royal Dutch Indian Army as a soldier fighting for the Dutch flag. Because of the fighting he therefore received a bullet in his body but happily he survive it. He has seen and experienced things that results in nightmare at older ages. He didn't had psychic guidance above many other KNIL soldiers and never in his life told the Dutch governement said "sorry we let you down and we have let you pay for your journey. I'm sorry you never got recognition what have you done for the Netherlands" My father deceased in 1995 without recognition and without acknowledgment .

The then Dutch government promised an own free state The Republic of the South Moluccas .... .... PROVIDED....the Moluccan must help the Netherlands . Why are they playing with people and promised thousand things, used them and after that give them a kick?

He was 18 or 20 years old when he came to a decision, he had to choose between the Dutch or Indonesian flag (read: passport). My father wanted neither one of these two (he was rather stateless than be part of these two countries). He chose for the promise they made, go for three months to the Netherlands as it was promised by the Dutch government. He didn't want to stay in the Netherlands, he wanted to go back to Indonesia where his mother, two sisters and brother were still alive. His father was beheaded in the war against Japan by the Japanese which my father as a 18 year old boy and the eldest son of the family became the head of family. He had to bring money and/or food insertion so that the family could survive the rough times during the war. In the Netherlands, he was with one sister and one brother and two uncles who where the brothers from my grandmother and my grandfather.

The woman in the middle is my grandmother with 2 of her daughters and 1 uncle in the village Ullath during the war between Indonesia and Japan

Why do I recall April 25?

• For my father who fought for the Dutch flag
• For my father who is not afraid of violence and gun
• For my father who had nightmare from the war and never accompanies this. Sweaty wake up and relive the war.
• For my father, who suddenly discharged as soldier from the army KNIL during his voyage to the Netherlands, and that he had to pay his trip by himself. All the army status he had to delivering on the ship.
• To my father who did not quite with the Netherlands and the Dutch people... unfortunately.
• To my father who lost his father very young, because the Japanese have decapitated him. Where the grave of my grandfather I do not know.
• To my father who finds that the Netherlands have plundered treasures, herbs, animals, etc. etc. from the Moluccas (and other Dutch colonies) and that they afterwards always proudly spoke about they "hero status". How shaming is this
• For the 1st generation Moluccans who suffered here in the Netherlands and who have never received recognition for their heroic deeds and for their commitment to the Netherlands. Treated very badly and on arrival were dropped in the old concentration camp where Jews gassed or have lived. I was born and raised in one of the concentration camps.

I recall April 25 because 65 years ago the Moluccans were transferred to the Netherlands. 

• We were and are not refugees
• we were and are not foreigners
• we were and are no stupid browns benefiting from Netherlands precisely because we integrate us well in the Netherlands.

What do Dutch people know about Moluccan people?

Moluccans are generally associated with the train hijackings in the 70s but I have noticed that most Dutch do not even know the history of the Moluccan ! They do not know WHY we're here, HOW we got here , WHAT did the Dutch in Indonesia and the Moluccas and most importantly WHERE is the Moluccas ...

My message to the world and espescially to the Dutch people " Netherlands, know...read....rewrite your history, the story of the Moluccan doesn't shows in your history books"

Greetings Paula