THE HAGUE, Netherlands–Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, claimed victory for his conservative VVD party in the Netherland’s national elections on September 12, 2012. Although Rutte himself was born in Den Haag in 1967 and not an Indo, what makes him especially interesting are his family ties to the former Dutch East Indies.His father, who was Dutch, was a director of a trading company in the former Dutch East Indies when WWII broke out. He was captured by the Japanese. While he was kept as a prisoner-of-war by the Japanese, his wife died where he left her, in the Dutch East Indies. Mark was deeply affected by his father’s experience as quoted in the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad of 29 May 2010.
“My parents have had to start all over again several times in their lives. My father was in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. He had lost his wife and when he came back he only had the clothes on his back. He then married my mother, the sister of his first wife. He and my mother went back to live in Indonesia (then the Dutch East Indies) and built a new life, until Sukarno threw everyone out in 1958. Back in the Netherlands, they again had to start their lives from scratch. My father went to work here at a DAF car dealership. My parents were always very down to earth about what they had. They instilled in their children the message that it was important to work, to remain humble and be there for each other. That is what they passed down to me.”
What a great testimonial to his parents, who like many of our Indo parents, turned adversity into strength.
Does his family’s story sound familiar? Don’t we have a similar story repeated in our own family histories?
Because of Mark Rutte’s empathy for Indos, at the close of the 2012 – 15 Augustus Herdenking Ceremony in The Hague, Priscilla Kluge McMullen, on behalf of The Indo Project, presented him with an Indo Pride button which he graciously accepted with a big smile.
It is our hope that we will see him wearing it one day with pride.We congratulate him and his party on their victory and wish him much wisdom and success in the formation of a new government that will benefit all in the Netherlands including the people with roots in the former Dutch East Indies.
~~ Priscilla Kluge-McMullen
De Rechtspraak-Centrale Raad van Beroep, Postbus 16002–3500 DA UTRECHT, The Netherlands. Dec. 13, 2012
Reference: 10/2612 Wubo & 10/2623 Wuz. Attention: R.Boom-Griffier and A. Beuker-Tilstra &R. Kooper & G.I.M.J Stevens attorneys as members of CRvB. Gentlemen,
I have received you letter of December 16, 2011 with the decision made by the Centrale Raad van Beroep rejecting my claim. In connection herewith I had requested that you copy of the complete dossier that has served as the basis by wiich you have arrived at your determonation, i.e. judgement. The cost associated with this is hereby refunded. Enclosed herewith is my check for $55.00 representing those costs and reflects a tiny part of the BLOOD MONEY that the CRvB as well as the Pension Board under Mrs. H.Dresden, Chairperson and Mr. I.Wolfert Secretary, have extracted from the undersigned. There will be retribution for this hideous act to deny my rightful compensation for my pain and agony I suffered from, during the Japanese Wartime Occupation years followed by the Bersiap period due from the Dutch Government under Wuz and Wubo Acts. Have no doubt that it will come from Higher Authority and shall and will affect you in ways that profoundly touches you, because the day of reckoning and rifgtful justice that affects your life strikes you home in ways that evil people like yourself deserve.
What your immoral and corrupt assessment symbolizes is the state of mind of people whose sole function is to protect the Dutchy Treasury by interpreting in the most narrowest form of the restricted applicable law written by Lawmakers with limited knowledge and experience, like yourselves what had transpired from March 1942 to September 1946. The arrogance displayed by you is beyond comprehension because it represents the Dutch Polder Boys Syndrome that is so repugnant that punishment by Higher Authority is inevitable.
Thank You
Johan E. Celosse
Thanks for your interesting comments….I hope you both have signed the petition at http://petities.nl/petitie/de-indische-kwestie
die man heeft nog niets gedaan!, heb hem de vaag algesteld,neemt hij het bloed aan zijn handen over van zijn voorgangers! en zoals hij daar over praat ,doet mij dat denken aan een NSB traditie!
pm rutte heeft niets gedaan voor talrijke indiese mensen.kijk maar naar de petitie die op het ogenblik circuleert om achterstallige salarissen en andere oorlogsschades vergoed te krijgen.zijn politiek is het complete tegengestelde van een humaan sociaal beleid.hij verdient deze pin totaal niet.