Indonesia: Selling a Colonial War

Al Jazeera (2025)

Film Review

Prior to declaring independence, the islands of Indonesia (aka the Dutch East Indies) were a Dutch colony for over 300 years. After occupying Japanese troops withdrew on August 17, 1945 they immediately declared under their first president Sukarno. In 1942 when the Japanese invaded, Indonesians initially viewed the Japanese as fellow Asians come to liberate them. This attitude changed as they were crowded into brutal forced labor. At the same time the Japanese provided military training to two million Indonesian youth, which would prove useful in the country’s struggle for independence.

There was considerable intermarriage between Dutch residents and Indonesian natives, with their children enjoying the same elite status as whites. When these elites returned home from Japanese prison camps and raised the Dutch flag, these Japanese-trained militias viciously targeted Dutch, Indo-European and Chinese Indonesians.

Following instant recognition as an independent sovereign state, on July 21, 1947 the declared war against the new Indonesian government. At a time when the Dutch constitution banned sending conscript overseas, they portrayed the invasion as a humanitarian project to suppress civil unrest. Sukarno, falsely labeled as a communist, was arrested during the “police action.”

Under US, Australian and Indian pressure, the UN Security Council demanded the Dutch withdraw their troops and officially recognize Indonesian independence. The US was particularly angry that the Netherlands was spending the $500 million they received under the Marshall Plan on a war to block Indonesia independence.

On December 27, 1949, the Dutch withdrew their troops and transferred sovereignty to Indonesia. Between 1950 and 1970, 380,000 Dutch and Indo-Europeans left everything behind to emigrate to the Netherlands.

1952 saw the first of many investigations of war crimes (against civilians) Dutch troops committed in Indonesia between 1947 and 1949. It resulted in a 1954 report placing responsibility for the war crimes on “civil authorities,” which meant that no one was charged or tried for war crimes. Following its release, Indonesian villagers affected by Dutch genocidal activities made a demand for reparations.

1971 saw a law enacted ending the statute of limitations on Dutch war crimes, except for those committed in Indonesia.

In 2016 the Dutch media finally acknowledged the war crimes their government had committed in Indonesia between 1947-49. More recently the Dutch government has allocated $4 million for a proposed $30 million project to investigate these atrocities.