World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Netherlands : Moluccans

Profile

There are around 42,000 to 50,000 Moluccans in the Netherlands, mostly from central Molucca. They mostly live in rural areas. The main language of the Moluccan community is Malay, which was used as a lingua franca in Molucca, and has been used to create unity in the Netherlands. There is a Dutch derivative, Malaju Sini, spoken mainly by second and third generation Moluccans. There are also speakers of 25 of the 131 bahasa tanah indigenous languages of Molucca. Fourteen of the 25 indigenous languages have died out in Molucca itself. There are no speakers in the Netherlands or Molucca of some bahasa tanah, for example Saparua and Nusalaut, but the Saparua are one of the largest branches of the Dutch Moluccan community. Moluccans also speak Dutch. The main religion is Protestant Christian. There are also Muslims. The Moluccans are politicized and want Molucca to be independent of Indonesia. Some Moluccans have taken Dutch nationality.

Historical context

After the Second World War Indonesia fought the Netherlands for its independence, which it won in 1949. The peace treaty provided for a federation of Indonesian states, but the Indonesian government changed this to a unitary state and Moluccan nationalists declared the Republik Maluku Selatan (RMS) to be an independent state in 1950. Indonesian forces invaded the islands and a bloody civil war began. Moluccan soldiers, who had fought with the Dutch and were garrisoned in Java and Sumatra, were evacuated with their families on a temporary basis to the Netherlands in 1950. The Dutch government undertook to negotiate Molucca's independence from Indonesia, and once this was achieved, the Moluccans would return there. The 12,500 Moluccan soldiers and their families were placed in former Nazi concentration camps at Westerbork, Vught and elsewhere in the Dutch countryside The soldiers were discharged from the army but initially forbidden to work. Peaceful protests gained them little or no support from the Dutch.

In 1966 after the execution of the first Moluccan President by the Indonesians, a Dutch-based politician J.A. Manusama became the first president in exile of the RMS. Second-generation Moluccans became more radicalized. During the 1970 Moluccan occupation of the Indonesian Ambassador's residence by Moluccan extremists, a Dutch policeman was killed. In 1975 a train was hijacked and three civilians were killed, The Moluccan community was as shocked as the Dutch public, who were mostly unaware of the Moluccans and their plight. President Manusama condemned the action and the hijackers turned themselves in. But there was no progress for the Moluccan community. Another train was hijacked and school children taken hostage in 1977, resulting in the deaths of six extremists, and a provincial government building in Assen was occupied briefly in 1978. The Dutch government finally decided to address the community's problems. The government abandoned its commitment to negotiate Moluccan independence from Indonesia, and offered new housing, better education and job opportunities

The government's improved education and employment programmes were applied to other minorities.

In 1986 under the terms of a Mutual Statement by the Moluccan community leader Reverend Metiarij and Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers, the Dutch government gave Moluccan army veterans an annual allowance, provided funds for a Moluccan historical museum, which would act as a cultural hub, and set up a job scheme for 1,000 young Moluccans. The Statement gave the Moluccan community recognition of its role as a permanent feature of Dutch society.

Current issues

There is a resurgent interest among the second and third generations of Moluccans in the indigenous languages. These were kept hidden by their elders for reasons of unity, and some of the languages have been lost as a result. However, members of the Saparua community compiled a dictionary for their language in 1998. Moluccans have organized language classes in several bahasa tanah and there is a trend for poets and performance artists to combine words from different languages with everyday speech in Malay. There is strong interest in universities around the world in the bahasa tanah, and academic research projects have underpinned the relaunching of these languages.

The Moluccan Historic Museum in Utrecht forms the cultural hub. It has an educational unit, Pusat Edukasi Maluku / Landelijk Steunpunt Educatie Molukkers, which prepares curriculum materials for educational programmes throughout the Netherlands. The Museum produces several radio programmes, including Suara Maluku (the Voice of Maluku) and the news journal Marinjo, and publishes a wide range of books and papers. Suara Maluku and Marinjo are broadcast nationally. There are local Moluccan radio programmes in Amsterdam and Wierden.

The Foundation for Keeping Moluccan Civil and Political Rights keeps a watch on events in Molucca.

Moluccans were disadvantaged in employment and discrimination against them remains. The violence of the 1970s is now contrasted in the general media to Muslim terrorist acts since 11 September 2001.