20 October 2008

THE NETHERLANDS – Three out of seven Dutch MPs on a delegation to Indonesia have met family members of people massacred by Dutch soldiers in 1947.

The three MPs, who are part of an official government delegation to study developments in the former Dutch colony, are Socialist Party member Harry van Bommel, Harm-Evert Waalkens from the Labour Party and Joel Voordewind from the Christian Union.

Van Bommel tried to persuade the four other members of the delegation to take part in the visit, but they declined.

Last week, a newspaper report said the MPs did want to meet the family members of the massacre victims because they did not want to raise false hopes.

In September, 10 family members filed a lawsuit against the Netherlands for killing their loved ones. The survivors of the massacre in the village of Rawagedeh are demanding financial compensation and official recognition that the killing took place.

The Committee for Dutch Debts of Honour estimates that 431 villagers were killed when Dutch soldiers entered the village in search of a leader of the nationalist movement that was fighting for independence from the Netherlands.

[Radio Netherlands / Expatica]