The
cannonade of Candi-Karanganyar
Nederlandse
samenvatting volgt hieronder.
On
19 October 2017, it was 70 years ago that the "Cannonade of Candi-Karanganyar"
took place. The first time I read about it was when I found the website of Ravie Ananda in a search for "Keboemen" in September 2015.
On
this website Ravie Ananda describes the history of the Mexolie-factory where both our fathers had worked in the
1930's and the 1970's. He also writes
about the history of the war in Keboemen and about the cannonade on Candi-Karanganyar,
that took place on October 19, 1947.
The website of
Ravie Ananda, in which he describes the cannonade on 19 October 1947.
It appeared that the dutch journalist Max van der Werff (NCRV-TV) and
the indonesian historian Ady Setyawan had visited Ravie Ananda already in 2013
and had reported about this cannonade, in which 786 people were killed, on the
dutch television. I could not find any additional information about this
incident. Also, in the thesis of Rémy Limpach, which I obtained in January
2016, the cannonade on Karanganyar was not mentioned (Post #29- okt. 2016). Helped
by Dr. Bart Luttikhuis (KITLV), I started to retrieve information about the
cannonade from the Dutch National Archive: it appeared that most details of
Ravie Ananda's description were confirmed by dutch battle reports (Post #30, 17
December 2016 and Post #31, 2017).
After making a call in the veteran magazine "Checkpoint", I
was contacted by Map de Lange, a veteran of the second "Police
Action" of 1948. Together with Rémy Limpach and Azarja Harmanny, we
watched at the NIMH the documentary "Tabee Toean"(1995) by Thom
Verheul (see Post #31, 11 May 2017). The movie shows four dutch veterans visiting
their locations of combat actions on Java. One of them, the artillerist Henry
Pezy (3-6RVA), tells how they fired from a road at Gombong about 3000 granades with
12 cannons. "I am still curious about what has become of the people in
Karanganyar", he remarks when visiting the market of Candi.
Visit to the
veteran Map de Lange, who has an impressive documentation about the Dutch
colonial war (May 1, 2017).
After studying the battle reports and other documents obtained from
the National Archive, Map de Lange makes the observation that the Army
Commander Spoor only became aware of the cannonade 10 days later. The question
who ordered the bombardment will perhaps be answered by historians involved in
the newly started research project on the decolonization war. However, as argued
below, this study has a more important purpose!
"Vergangenheitsbewältigung"
(public debate on a problematic period)
In his article ("Geschiedenis Magazine", nr. 4, June 2017),
Rémy Limpach is wondering how
countries like France, England and Germany have coped with their colonial past.
His examples include the French in Algeria (-1962) and the English in Kenya
(Mau-mau, 1952-1960). The Germans seem to have successfully overcome the
Holocaust and helped by the Allied Occupation Forces, they received the image
of "Weltmeister der
Vergangenheitsbewältigung". But unfortunately, their dealing with the
1904-genocide committed in Namibia is still under way.
Benjamin
Ferencz: "If people are made into beasts" and "Governements must
stand trial to explain their behavior for a judge". During his visit (19 May
2017) to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.
But what about the Dutch in the period 1945-1950? Almost everything is
known and documented. But the lost war has so far been hushed-up efficiently.
The crimes described are shocking. But can they surprise us? According to
Benjamin Ferencz, Neurenberg's former prosecutor, the war makes murderers of
decent people. In an interview he talks about the brutes of the so-called "Einzatsgruppen"
who killed about one million people behind the front in Eastern Europe:
Although each of those men have hundreds of deaths on their
conscience, Ferencz does not believe that they were bad by nature. "It's a big mistake to think so. I
wondered how a man like Otto Ohlendorf (Commander of one of the
Einzatsgruppen), highly educated and
father of five children, could have been able to do that. My conclusion is that
war makes killers of otherwise decent people. These men were patriots who
believed they served the interests of their country. "
Limpach notes that the negotiations between the Netherlands and the
Indonesian Republic in the period 1945-1950 were in fact a farce. How was that
possible? Did the government officials in the Netherlands and in the colony not
have the least incentive to reach a political solution? Did these government
officials just go for war?
The dutch journalist John Jansen van Galen does not agree with the
above: according to him the dutch governement pursued a Union between Indonesia
and the Netherlands on a voluntary and equal basis and never wanted to conserve
its colony...... It seems to me that the historians should be able to describe
the facts here. If Limpach's description is right the debt claim lies not only
in the Dutch armed forces but also in its leadership, the public administrations,
both in the colony and in the Hague.
Decolonization,
violence and war in Indonesia, 1945-1950
On September 14, 2017 the kick-off for the program
"Decolonization, violence and war in Indonesia" took place in
Amsterdam. The three institutes, KITLV, NIOD and NIMH, will receive a financial
support of 4 million euros for this research.
From the
"stream" of the kick-off meeting on 14 September 2017: A sometimes
uncomfortable conversation between Wouter Veraart, Rémy Limpach, Esther Captain
and Marjolein van Pagee.
Critical questions were asked by Annelot Hoek and especially by Marjolein
van Pagee (1). It seemed as if Marjolein van Pagee missed something in the
framing of the research proposals. Was it the involvement or identification
with the opponent, one of the most uncomfortable things to achieve? She pointed
out that we are going to Indonesia, but we are not listening to the
Indonesians. "Talk with them", she exclaimed
Azarja Harmanny went to Kebumen (August 2017) to talk with Ravie Ananda. Here they are
standing in front of the monument at Candi.
There is something behind the anger of Marjolein van Pagee. Is it the
same anger as felt, for instance, by Afro-Suriname people in the Netherlands,
when the government expressed her sincere regret about slavery and slave trade
in the past? Such recognition is worthless if not supported by the white community.
I think that Marjolein van Pagee tries to make us aware that this
study about decolonization, violence and war in Indonesia should not only be
about its historical facts. It should also tell the Dutch community about the
Indonesian people who had suffered, although standing on the winning side. We
know so much about the life of Dutch people in the colony, almost on a daily
basis like in the case of my parents (e.g. see french Blog Posthume). But what do we know
about the (grand)parents of, for instance, Ravie Ananda, who suffered not only
the war, but had been living in an "apartheid" society, as emphasized
by Prof. Wouter Veraart in the panel discussion during the kick-off meeting of
September 14?
This study of the 1945-1950-war in Indonesia should give us additional
facts but also help us to identify with the Indonesians. Only when a larger
part of the Dutch community recognizes and accepts the historical injustices
committed there, the governement will be able to perform a "policy of
regret" (2). Only then will this investigation of the decolonization have proven
its necessity and value.
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(1) Marjolein van Pagee,
is freelance researcher and journalist. She founded Histori Bersama in
September 2016. The activity of the foundation is to translate recent
publications from Dutch and Indonesian media that refer to the colonial past
and the Indonesian decolonization war (1945-1949).
(2) Ewout Tenhagen; scriptie onder
begeleiding van dr. Remco Raben,
Universiteit Utrecht; "Duiding van een donker verleden", 10 juli
2017:
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Nederlandse samenvatting
In dit blog, geschreven 70 jaar na de "Cannonade op Candi",
beschrijf ik hoe dit onderwerp is ontstaan. Daarna ga ik in op een artikel van
Rémy Limpach, waarin hij voor diverse landen nagaat hoe zij hun dekolonisatie
verwerkt hebben. Ik verwijs daarbij naar het bezoek (in mei 2017) van
oud-Neurenberg-aanklager Benjamin Ferencz aan het Internationaal Strafhof (ICC)
in Den Haag, Hij pleit ervoor dat uiteindelijk ook een regering voor begane
wandaden terecht moet staan.
Tijdens de kick-off op 14 september jl. van het door de regering
gesubsidieerde onderzoek naar de dekolonisatieoorlog 1945-1950, werd er ongemakkelijke
kritiek geuit door o.a. Marjolein van Pagee. Bij haar en anderen is een
boosheid te bespeuren die me doet denken aan de Zwarte-Piet discussie. Net
zoals de spijtbetuiging van onze regering voor de slavernij geen waarde heeft
als zij niet ook breed gedragen wordt door de blanke gemeenschap, zo ook is een
spijtbetuiging voor het structurele geweld toegepast in Nederlands-Indië
onvoldoende als de Nederlandse gemeenschap dit onrecht niet erkent. Pas als wij
ons in Nederland beter kunnen vereenzelvigen met het lot van de Indonesiërs
gedurende de periode 1945-1950, zal het dekolonisatie-onderzoek haar noodzaak en
waarde bewezen hebben.
