9 December 2011 Last updated at 05:58 GMT
The Dutch government has apologised for a massacre committed
by its soldiers in Indonesia in 1947, as the country fought for independence.
Dutch ambassador Tjeerd de Zwaan spoke at a ceremony in
Balongsari village, formerly known as Rawagede, where at least 150 people were
killed.
He said the massacre was a tragedy and apologised in English
and Indonesian.
Earlier this year, a court in the Netherlands ordered the
government to pay compensation over the killings.
The case was brought by relatives of those who were killed.
Reports said the Netherlands would pay 20,000 euros to the
relatives, but lawyers say the exact figure is still being negotiated.
The BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Balongsari says the ruling is
expected to lead to more claims from Indonesians who were mistreated during the
Netherlands' colonial rule.
Mr de Zwaan said he hoped the formal apology would allow the
families of the victims of the tragedy to close an exceedingly difficult
chapter of their lives.
"On behalf of the Dutch government, I apologise for the
tragedy that took place in Rawagede on the 9th of December, 1947," he
said.
When he repeated the apology in Indonesian, some relatives
of the victims broke down in tears.
The Netherlands had previously expressed regret over the
killings, but never formally apologised.
Most of current-day Indonesia was ruled by the Netherlands
from the 19th Century until World War II, when the Japanese army forced out the
Dutch.
When the Dutch attempted to reassert control after the
defeat of the Japanese, they met fierce resistance.
The Netherlands finally recognised Indonesia's independence
in 1949.
1 comment:
dear mr Hutagalung,
I'm Meindert van der Kaaij, journalist at the Dutch newspaper Trouw and I would like to get in contact with you about the murders at Galung Lombok.
please send a mail to mvanderkaaij@trouw.nl
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