During a debate in the Dutch Lower House (on 12 November 2020) Member of Parliament Sjoerd Sjoerdsma (D66) asked attention for the new regulation that the Dutch government set up for Indonesian children of victims of the Dutch aggression (1945-1949.)
He urged the Minister of Foreign Affairs Stef Blok to remove the ‘reasonable time period’ from the new regulation. Indeed, due to this expiration period many Indonesian children who submitted their claim to court years ago, are excluded from this regulation up front. Only three out of hundreds of cases meet the requirements. It is af if the Dutch State is ‘punishing’ those who sued them.
Yet, children of victims who never sued the Dutch government before, indeed have the chance to successfully submit an application.
However Sjoerdsma is wrong when he claims that the amount of damages does not matter for Indonesian relatives. In fact, several Indonesian children rejected the offer for damages. They consider the amount of 5.000 Euros that the Dutch government is willing to pay as “disproportionally low”.
Read the English translation of the news coverage by BBC Indonesia here: https://historibersama.com/refusing-dutch-offer-for-damages-bbc-indonesia/