Return to Linggarjati

On Saturday, November 11, 2006, Indonesia commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of the Netherlands’s recognition of Indonesia’s sovereignty as an independent state.  This official ceremony took place in the mountain village Linggarjati in West Java.  At the same time, a national seminar was held in Linggarjati focusing on the importance of mediation and dialogue in resolving international conflicts. The festive commemoration was organised by the district of Kuningan, and was attended by Dr. Nicolas van Dam, Holland’s ambassador to Indonesia. Dr. Hassan Wirajuda, Indonesia’s minister of foreign affairs, was the leading speaker. Choral singers, dance groups and musicians from Kuningan added grace and entertainment to the formal ceremony. More than six hundred guests, mostly Indonesian, were invited. Special guests from Holland were Willem van Os, his sister Joty ter Kulve-van Os and Peter ter Kulve.

“ Know thyself” is a classic wisdom of ancient Greece. Recently a canon of Dutch history offers us different windows on our past with the hope that we will gain more self-knowledge by means of the past. Here we are not alone. In Indonesia this idea of using the past to gain some knowledge of ourselves is also bearing fruit. So it is not surprising that Dutch colonial history and the decolonization of Indonesia are getting special attention in both countries. The speech of the Dutch foreign minister, Mr. Ben Bot, on August 17, 2005 in Jakarta, was an important first step in this respect. After sixty years, the Netherlands recognized August 17,1945 as the date of the founding of an independent Indonesia. The Dutch foreign minister expressed regret for what was, in retrospect, an “unnecessary painful and violent separation” of the two countries.

Between the above-mentioned proclamation of independence and the de facto conveyance of sovereignty on the December 27, 1949, a bitter episode took place. The Indonesian struggle for freedom, and the Dutch reaction resulted in war, caused innumerable loss of life on both sides, left many scars and resulted in long-lasting unfriendly relations between both countries. This was “unnecessary,” because opportunities had existed for a peaceful transition to the new situation.. “The missed opportunity” was the draft agreement of Linggarjati of November 1946.

The commemoration of this agreement took place near the house where the original negotiations had taken place. The Netherlands was represented by a delegation under the leadership of former Prime Minister Dr. W Schermerhorn and the former deputy governor-general, H. Van Mook. The Indonesian negotiators in 1946 had been, from the Dutch point of view, agitators and collaborators with the former Japanese occupying power. However, in 1918 the Netherlands had made a promise to the Indonesians that in the future there could be discussions about independence. Queen Wilhelmina repeated this promise in her speech of December 7, 1942.  In the interim, a process of worldwide decolonization had started.

According to the Atlantic Charter promulgated in 1942, every country was entitled to its own sovereignty.   Sukarno, Sutan Sjahrir and Mohammad Hatta, who had all completed their academic studies in Holland, were well aware of this fact. Before World War II, they had been kept in prison and later, sent into exile for years as a result of their struggle for freedom. For them, the Japanese occupation of Indonesia had put an end to the Dutch colonial government. The Dutch had great difficulty in accepting this point of view.

The house where the 1946 negotiations had taken place, made into a museum in 1985, had originally been built by Koos Van Os and Lizzy Dom as their family home.  Their children, Willem Van Os and Joty ter Kulve-Van Os, spent their childhood there. Starting in 1980, they began making efforts to preserve the house as an historical monument. To that end, they started, among other things, the foundation “ Friends of Linggarjati” in the Netherlands, and its counterpart “ FINED” in Indonesia.  They seem to have succeeded in their intentions, as the Indonesian government designated the house as a national monument.

The house in Linggarjati isn’t meant simply as a commemorative building. It is also a monument for the ideal of peaceful conflict settlement by means of mediation. So the most important place in the house is the room where, in 1946, under the watchful eye of Britain’s Lord Killearn, negations had taken place. Pictures of both delegations, with their secretaries and the press, give an impression of the atmosphere in which the negotiations took place. People with totally different backgrounds, from different cultures, with different religions and different social positions, gathered there, ready for dialogue and mediation. In an atmosphere of growing respect and appreciation for each other, the farewell to the colonial period and the transition to new equal relationships were prepared. There was an agreement that the Dutch East Indies would become a federal republic, in which Sukarno’s Republique would participate. This United States of Indonesia would remain connected with the Netherlands as a Union with the Queen of the Netherlands as head of the Union. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Schermerhorn, Van Mook, De Boer and Van Poll failed in creating sufficient support in the Dutch parliament for even parts of the agreement, let alone its totality. Thus Sutan Sjahrir, Mohammad Hatta and Sukarno, for their part, could not prevent Indonesian distrust, as the Dutch tried Indonesian patience too long.

But all this in no way diminishes the quality of the efforts of the negotiators.  Willem van Os and Joty ter Kulve-van Os are deeply convinced of the value of mediation.  Thus, their commitment to found a museum intended to pass on the spirit of Linggarjati to future generations. Their efforts were rewarded in Linggarjati this weekend. In his speech, Minister Wirajuda announced that he intends to keep “the house of negotiations” not only as a monument, but also to present it as an international symbol for the way of dialogue and mediation. The many differences of cultures in Indonesia necessitate mediation. The minister was confident of the Indonesian ability to follow the way of dialogue and mediation.

The Indonesian negotiators of the agreement of Linggarjati are honoured in Indonesia
today for their quality of mediation. The Netherlands also have reasons to rehabilitate their representatives in Linggarjati and to honour them as mediators, especially Professor Piet Sanders. And, posthumously,  Huub van Mook, Wim Schermerhorn, Van Poll and De Boer, and Ivo Samkalden.

Written by Monica Bouman