Disgrace

IPPHOS

Raymond Westerling with his APRA troops stirs up chaos in Bandung, 23 January 1950.

Rarely has a film sparked an emotional debate on a national scale before being widely screened. Now, this is happening in the Netherlands with the film De Oost (2020, Jim Taihuttu) or "Timur". The film was released on Amazon Prime (Netherlands-Germany-Belgium) last week. It was premiered only once, namely at the Dutch Film Festival in September 2020. De Oost depicts the ferocity of the KNIL army troops led by Raymond Westerling, who were assigned to "crush rebels and terrorists" in the Dutch East Indies, which had become the Republic of Indonesia. The protagonist in the film is Johan de Vries, a young Dutch volunteer recruited to help create a "peaceful Indonesia". However, his experience on the battlefield defies his belief in the policy of his own country.

Last year, the film was protested by a number of organizations in the Netherlands, including the Federation of Indian Dutch (FIN). Public debate has been raging in recent days. This month, there is a lawsuit in court and a demonstration in front of the courthouse. Last week, the court dropped the FIN lawsuit, presuming the filmmaker was innocent.

Also read:

^ A Million Flowers for “Tuin van Java”

^ Language and Indonesian Nationality

The FIN contends that the film has tarnished the good name of the KNIL fighters who used to fight to defend the country. The film was considered "anti-Dutch" propaganda. In an open letter, Palmyra Westerling, the daughter of Raymond Westerling, criticized De Oost for what she called falsifying history. Even more troubling to its critics, the production of the film was accompanied by teaching material for Dutch students about the colonialism of the Dutch East Indies.

If the film is screened in Indonesia, it will almost certainly not be widely protested. It supports nationalist propaganda that has been swallowed up by generations since elementary school. The story about how evil the Dutch colonialism was is also abundant in almost all Indonesian films on the theme of the revolution for independence.

The last decades have seen war veterans, scholars and Dutch journalists speak out.

In the Netherlands, De Oost scratches the nation\'s wounds. For comparison, imagine if there is an Indonesian film about the Santa Cruz incident in Dili (Nov. 12, 1991). Or, about the scorched earth operation following the East Timor Referendum (Aug. 30, 1999). The screening of Balibo (2009, Robert Connolly) made in other countries was even canceled after being scheduled for the Jakarta International Film Festival (2009). Regardless of its quality, De Oost was the first Dutch film to hit the national taboo. However, it is only one link in a long line of challenges under the same taboo. The last decades have seen war veterans, scholars and Dutch journalists speak out. At first, their voices were scarce and ignored. Later, the cry was broad and loud.

IPPHOS

Raymond Westerling (right), who fled Jakarta in February 1950, was detained and interrogated by the British when he arrived in Singapore.

Truth has never been monopolized by one party. The debate in the Netherlands will not be resolved immediately by a unanimous mutual agreement. Regardless of the outcome, open debate is in itself a commendable first step.

More than 100 years ago, Ernest Renan expressed his opinion that the extraordinary atrocities of the past were the most important factor in the formation of the nations of the world. All nations have inherited this disgrace. Most buried them alive as a taboo.

Germany has become one of the most successful countries in exposing a history of national disgrace. A handful of other countries (including South Africa, Australia and the United States) have formally apologized for past state atrocities. The apology of the King of the Netherlands when visiting Indonesia (2020) for colonial atrocities was part of a long, heated process in the Netherlands.

Marathon efforts by several generations are needed to heal the nation\'s wounds suffered by all those who used to be hostile to each other.

Efforts in several countries have been rejected by some because they are considered excessive. However, they are considered inadequate by other parties. Marathon efforts by several generations are needed to heal the nation\'s wounds suffered by all those who used to be hostile to each other.

The complexities of every major past conflict make it difficult to deal with it in the future. In news reports, history writing, political campaigns or fictional stories, these complexities are not completely apprehended. Not only because of the limited space or time for discussion, but also because there is no adequate language, textual, visual, audio or cinematic medium.

Things get worse if there is a state intention to exaggerate certain parts of the past that are beneficial and ignore parts considered harmful. Complex historical events are colorfully packaged into black/white, we/them, wrong/right contradictions. This is what frequently happens.

The 1946-1949 period was remembered in the Netherlands solely or primarily as a period of "terror" by the indigenous masses. Massacres, rapes, looting befell thousands of white-skinned civilians and brown-skinned people who were considered close to the Netherlands. Hundreds of thousands of Indo citizens fled their homeland and were displaced in many countries as refugees. Also Moluccans, including the ancestors of Jim Taihuttu (director of De Oost). That was the first national disgrace of Indonesia, not the last, after independence, and it is still a taboo today.

KOMPAS/KRIS MADA

Julius Tahija\'s photo on display at the Sopiahof Museum, The Hague. The Dutch recorded Julius as one of the KNIL soldiers who was persistent in fighting Japanese colonialism in the Dutch East Indies. Although finally Julius left the KNIL to join the TNI, the Dutch still recorded his role. Later, Julius left the TNI and eventually founded Bank Niaga and was once the leader of Caltex in Indonesia.

The Dutch response to "terror" in Indonesia was also "terror" on a larger scale described by De Oost. Tens of thousands of ordinary citizens in Indonesia died as victims of their military aggression. That is the great disgrace of the Netherlands in the eyes of the world. This is the last Dutch disgrace, not the only one, since the formation of the Dutch East Indies as a whole country with a fixed price. In the Netherlands, this national disgrace has been taboo for decades.

They are only taught as a nation that is the victim of the cruelty of other nations.

Every nation bears the disgrace of the atrocities committed by its ancestors. But, generally what is known is only the disgrace of other nations. It is not that they deny or forget. They do not know anything. They are only taught as a nation that is the victim of the cruelty of other nations.

Indonesian films with the theme of national independence generally show the heroism of the Indonesian people against the colonialists, and the cruelty of white people. Dutch films with the theme of national independence generally depict the heroism of the Dutch people against Nazi colonialism.

From Indonesia, the world has learned about the struggle against colonialism, with the slogan "independence is the right of every nation". From the Netherlands, now the world is awaiting (if any) the lesson of their struggle to admit the crimes of their own nation, and to teach their young people to make peace with the national disgrace that has been hidden by the state for decades.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Ariel Heryanto

ARIEL HERYANTO, Professor Emeritus from Monash University, Australia

(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo).