TODAY’S PAPER-HEADLINE | Dutch mea culpa rings hollow in Indonesia

December 23, 2022December 23, 2022 Contributor 2 Comments TODAY'S PAPER-HEADLINE | Dutch mea culpa rings hollow in Indonesia

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte addresses a speech on the Netherlands’ involvement in slavery, in the National Archives in The Hague, on Dec. 19, 2022. Rutte on Dec. 19, 2022, officially apologized for 250 years of the Netherlands’ involvement in slavery, calling it a crime against humanity.(AFP/ANP/Robin van Lonkhuijsen) / Yvette Tanamal and Ary Hermawan (The Jakarta Post)

Jakarta ● Fri, December 23 2022

Indonesia has responded tepidly to a speech made by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologizing for 250 years of slavery in the country’s former colonies, saying the country needs to do more than simply offer a mea culpa for its role.

In a 20-minute speech on Monday, Rutte apologized to the country’s former colonies, particularly seven Caribbean states: Suriname, Curaçao, St Maarten, Aruba, Bonaire, Saba and St Eustatius. Calling the Dutch slave trade an unimaginable “criminal system […] so inhuman and unjust”, Rutte announced a fund for social initiatives in Curaçao, St Maarten, Aruba and Suriname.

Indonesia, a former Dutch colony where slavery was practiced, was not explicitly mentioned, except for the acknowledgement that “between 660,000 and over 1 million people […] were traded within the areas under the authority of the Dutch East India Company [VOC]”.