SBY: Not a Dutch Lion
Oct 5th, 2010, in Featured, News, by Patung
Flighty
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has abruptly canceled his visit to the Netherlands at the last moment, saying at Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base just before an aborted takeoff today to the Land of Tulips that he was insulted by the plans of a Dutch member of the separatist South Maluku Republic (RMS) movement to file criminal charges against him. He said:
I have decided to cancel this visit
The president had been scheduled to leave Jakarta by Air Force One at 13.30, remaining in the Netherlands until October 9th, but it was not to be.
SBY spoke of his fears:
There has even been a demand for my arrest
This was despite the fact that a spokesman of the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague, Firdaus Dahlan, had assured the president that the Dutch government did not recognise the RMS, and would ensure the security of President Yudhoyono during his visit.
John Wattilette
John Wattilette, the self-proclaimed president of the “Republic of South Maluku” (RMS) movement in exile, had made a demand for the arrest of SBY, in a teletext statement to the Dutch broadcasting network Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) on 2nd October. antara
Unfortunately the cancellation of the visit will mean SBY will not be showered with the awards and medals he had been due to receive in the Netherlands, now losing out on the coveted Order of The Dutch Lion, from the Dutch government, and the equally prestigious Willem Van Oranje medal, from Leiden University. antara
89 Comments on “SBY: Not a Dutch Lion”
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Oigal says:
future belongs to the Chinese and Asians.
In fact, that sentence has two mutually exclusive assumptions, unfortunately if its good for China it will not be good for Asia. It will be a pretty sad day for the rest of Asia in a region dominated by the Chinese. If you think the Europeans tend to exploit then hang onto your hats. Currently China has territory and resource disputes with all of its neighbours including Indonesia (excluding ..oh..wow..North Korea and Burma). Idiots praying for the rise of Chinese economic and political might, should be careful they don’t get what they wish for.
Do enlighten me tho, Ikut what is “Western Way of doing things” you refer to? Is it democracy? Freedom? Human Dignity and rights? I would have thought those were universal issues we should all strive for.
put whatever left of the rightful owner of the land in reserves and systematically marginalize them
I assume here it was just an oversight that you forgot to mention Indonesia’s Dayaks, Papuans and other minority ethnic groups not forgetting of course the various religious minorities, who are as you said systematically marginalised.
As for your logic deprived rant against the racists of other countries, I hold nothing in common with them but you really leave youself open to be made a fool by highlighting such individuals, a modicum of research within Indonesia will reveal any number of high ranking officials making simliar odious comments.
Lastly Ikut meet Ross, Ross meet Ikut..You guys should start your own blog or something..call it “brothers in we hate the world” or something
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madrotter says:
wilders got what? 1.7 million votes or so, out of a population of 16 million, hardly an overwhelming majority darling ikut
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Ikut Republik Indonesia Anti Nederland says:
Yada yada yada… bla bla bla… ye ye ye… as long as it’s the white european caucasian protestant race that dominates the planet, then it’s okay for you dear Oigal, isn’t it?
But woohoo… doomed the earth… how dare a non-white yellow race replace the white dominance?
Yeah right…
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Hi Madrotter,
Well, that roughly translates to 10% of the general public, or about 1 out of 10 Dutch voters.
It’s not insignificant I would say.
And then you always have the closeted voters or people who support Wilders’ ideas but may not necessarily vote for him or don’t even vote anybody at all.
1 out of 10 may in reality be 2 or even 3 out of 10.
Not insignificant.And 1.7 million people is still A LOT of people! even in just absolute numbers! There are only about 330,000 people in the whole country of Brunei Darussalam, just to give you a perspective!
1.7 millions could be a population of an entire country in many smaller countries in the world.
Considering Holland is such a small country, again, this is not insignificant!The fact that Wilders is even in talks to form the next Dutch government speaks volume of the “wind of change” in your country.
I think gone is the good ol’ tolerant and friendly Holland….
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Hans says:
It has been estimated that the number of national or ethnic, religious and
linguistic minority groups around the world is far
more than one and a half billion members. a quarter of the Earth
population. -
Ross says:
Don’t often agree with you-know-who, but yes, I’d be delighted to have Ikut come on over to Ross’s Right Angle. He may have a rough edge to his assertions, but not perpetually rude like some others I could mention.
We have more overseas readers now and he would for sure provide insights that they might otherwise not see. Additionally, Ikut would face arguments from conservatives, not ‘pura2’ libertarians.
But Ikut, lay off Beatrix. Monarchy as an institution is open to argument, but insults to royals is not RRA-congenial.And to hans, I have started composing a brief RRA review of Maluku’s modern history, but have to trim it to readable size. Sunday arvo should be ready. Any input from those more knowledgeable than I is always welcome.
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So I take it, issues posed are too much for you..I missed your responce on the Dayaks and other minorities in Indonesia Ikut and what exactly is this “Western Way” that you are talking about? Any chance of reply sans the mindless abuse? Is it just illogical hatred or a lack of substance driving such behaviour?
There are only about 330,000 people in the whole country of Brunei Darussalam, just to give you a perspective!
Indeed I am all for perspective, what is the Immigration Policy of Brunei and their policies on minority groups by the way? The only thing I could find was this
Immigration offenses are punishable by caning. Workers who overstay their visas can face jail sentences, fines, and caning.
By the way isn’t a bit silly to use Brunei as a counter point to the way some people voted in Holland. My understanding is Brunei citizens have not been allowed to vote since 1962 (the one and only time). The only person who counts is Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, is the head of state with full executive authority, including emergency powers since 1962.
Oh and by the way Brunei is currently in dispute with …yup..China over who owns the right to steal from the Spratly Islands 🙂
Have nice day 🙂
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Oh dear Rossy…Do you mean me? 🙂 A pura pura libertarian I am so flattered. Still trolling for views tho I see, must be quiet over in the dank corners of the web.
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Aprianti says:
Sorry to interfere, Oigal, but why should you talk about the immigration policy of Brunai while Ikut only talks about “number”. Tho I agree that the domination of China will do Indonesia no good. Take AFTA for example, or LNG contracts with China. So it’s not all about race or racist.
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Just making the point that a condition of democracy is a whole range of views can and will be heard. Some views most people may find repugant never the less to complain that 10% of the population in holland is racist or intolerant (which is disputable anyway in the wider aspect of why people vote for what) by comparing it to a nation where the people have no voice is just not clever.
The arbitary use of non related “numbers” just points to a lack of substantial rebuttal.
If someone wants to use that kind of analogy the obvious reply is 1.6Million dutchies is one tenth of the people living on under $2.00 day in Indonesia, 160 million are lack Iron and over the past five years the country has continued to experience a steady decline in the nutritional status of children under five years of age. All this in the Richest Country in SE Asia and he is worried about what the Dutch are doing (or not doing?).Of course, this anal Nationalism complete with manufactured outrage has proved a very handy tool to turn eyes away from what is happening inside the country..Witness the “Crush Malaysia” “Evil Singapore” “Australia stealing Papua” just this week its Holland.
It is boring in its inane sameness but gob smacking that the press and general populace buy this same line of crud time and again. -
Murphy says:
Regardless of their diplomatic immunity, an arrest order from the court is still an embarrassment for a visiting head of state. If the court does order an arrest, I can imagine those RMS loonies stand outside the palace (or equivalent state palace in Netherlands) putting big banner stating the court verdict. I’m sure it will make a nice CNN headline news.
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rustyprince says:
In the last year I’ve had increased reservations about SBY. What with his acolytes floating the idea of a third term, $90,000 spend on his personal wardrobe in the last fiscal year – never knew batik shirts were that expensive but he has to look good for those photocalls with Prince Charlie -the lukewarm support of Sri Mulyani and the refusal to act Presidential in the face of an orchestrated onslaught on religious minorities in the Jakarta hinterland. So I feel with SBY and this pique with the Dutch that we are getting the narcissism of Suharto, but alas the substance may be lacking.
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Multibrand says:
The RMS’s claims was rejected by the district court in The Hague, so they plan to file an appeal with the higher court.
And SBY will resume his trip after there is a final court verdict rejecting same claims.
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Odinius says:
Murphy said:
Regardless of their diplomatic immunity, an arrest order from the court is still an embarrassment for a visiting head of state. If the court does order an arrest, I can imagine those RMS loonies stand outside the palace (or equivalent state palace in Netherlands) putting big banner stating the court verdict. I’m sure it will make a nice CNN headline news.
But the thing is, there’s about a 0.00% chance of that happening.
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State Sponsored Terrorism against the defenceless Moluccan people. Indonesian Crime in the Moluccas. Info abt Moluccan, I find this, but it´s not easy to find info abt the state contra moluccan .
http://www.michr.net/these-are-the-moluccan-islands-facts–opinions.html -
Patience, hans, I’m working on it. There’s a lot of info but it needs to be dug for. Unless someone here beats me to it, Sunday is the deadline on Ross’s Right Angle!
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Sunday is the deadline on Ross’s Right Angle!
Ok Ross, it’s interesting,
I did met people yesterday, Friday, people born in the Moluccan now with Swedish citizenship, they say they do not recognize themselves anymore when they coming home and visit parents and relatives. changes have been great the last ten years.trouble getting info is that, pride is in between the fear, the normal and changes in what do u get, who do you trust and who do u serve And more importantly: why?
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I’ve made many visits to Maluku and never heard any of the Christian population, many of whom indicated they had family in The Netherlands, ever make a disparaging remark about Indonesia or voice nostalgia for the colonial era.
However, many did indicate that they felt abandoned by the Jakarta elite during the 1999-2004 inter communal strife.
The only seccessionists I’ve ever met were a group of radical Medan students in 1996, who felt Suharto and the Javanese were robbing all the resources of North Sumatra and wanted out. I believe a radical student fringe still lurks in Medan -
However, many did indicate that they felt abandoned by the Jakarta elite
That pretty much applies to 90% of the population and all of the provinces. Little to do with seccession these days rather people beaten down by the systematic plundering of the nation by an elite and unethical coven of Robber Barons. The consequences of which are yet to be really felt.
The Loony Cons ranting about the Islamist threat in Indonesia do miss the greatest threat to Indonesia. The essentially secular Robber Barons pose the greatest threat by far, the fringe Islamist loons are just the general and ongoing tools of trade.
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as always on point oigal! really if this goes on i see worse things happening than what happened in ’98 and i’m saying that as somebody who was in the midst of the ’98 riots in jakarta, my taxi windows smashed in only getting out in one piece because of the quick thinking of the driver, walking through burning jakarta at night, groups of soldiers shouting at me, saying i was crazy to be walking by myself through the incredible stuff happening all around me… think i’m being too pessimistic and over-dramatic? just go talk to the people on the streets, the anger, the sense of being betrayed again, the hopelessness of it all, the desperation, the incredible arrogance of those robber-barons and their lackeys….
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@ All, off the topic, but to contact Patung/David these days, what’s his name in the PM list ? (Afraid a PM I have to send might land in another ‘David’s’ inbox).
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I did talk to a Kiwi journo who told me that there was tremendous dissatisfaction there, among the Christians, but how far that might go in terms of separatism, I can’t say.
But in order to keep my promise to Hans, I have been delving into the historical background, and there’s so much that I had no idea about, I need to break it into chapters.
The first part concerns the late 1940s run-up to RMS. I note that a blogger in Malaysia has been charged with sedition for questioning Government policy there, so how nice that we live in a haven of democracy!
I’ll post what I have so far on Ross’s Right Angle, around 4pm today, once I’ve done my bit in the garden to get browner.
Viewing figures are so high that I reckon I can afford one post on what is actually a very complex, and to many people, apart from Moluccans, quite an esoteric issue. -
looking forward to reading it ross! i’ve got a lot of molukan friends in holland and will be there soon, will be interesting to share thoughts with them….
achmad! how’s the banjo playing?????
in holland the people from maluku mostly live together in one area, there’s a whole bunch of these areas and i lived for quiet a few years next to one area like that (in a place called krimpen a/d ijssel) when i was a kid. i remember very well the time some folks from the rms high-jacked a train, the indonesian embassy in the hague and a school full of little kidsl, tanks in the streets where i lived, shootings at the back of our house.we kids kinda liked it ’cause school closed for a little while. things are now much better for them then they were back then in the early 70’s, many of them were caught up in the dope game, lots of violence. not that strange if you know how traumatized a lot of their parents were…. in holland the hells angles are the only ones that are allowed to wear motor gang emblems on their backs (allowed by the angles themselves) the only other motorcycle gang that is allowed to do that is the maluku gang satu darah….
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Lairedion says:
Ross,
Perhaps too late but did you also consider the following:
– The Dutch presence in the Spice Islands.
– The rather successful conversion program among the non-Muslim natives. The GPM (Gereja Protestan Maluku) has its roots in Dutch style Calvinism.
– The “tight” relationship evolving between the Dutch and Protestant Moluccans because of these.
– The large number of Moluccans in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army.Here in Holland the RMS idea has somewhat faded because of the riots which erupted in 1999 in Maluku. The focus shifted to rebuilding and restoring historical relationships between Moluccan communities which always transcended religious differences (pela). The minority Kei/Tanimbar Moluccans never were interested in RMS as they were ethnically and religiously (Roman Catholic) different and hold a grudge against Protestant Ambonese from Ambon, Haruku, Saparua and Ceram. Wattilete (of mixed Dutch-Moluccan descent) himself declared independence is no longer sought after after he became RMS president. He wants the local population to speak out on this matter and the RMS will conform themselves to any result. He also is considering a push for autonomy within the state of Indonesia like Aceh and Papua.
It’s strange he played the game so hard with SBY as he has stated many times he wants to have a dialogue with Indonesia. But perhaps he speculated on SBY being a lame coward and wouldn’t dare to depart for Holland. Gotta say it worked out perfectly although Moluccan youths found it necessary to seek confrontation with the police during a protest in The Hague yesterday. This won’t help their cause as the Dutch are fed up with street thugs of various ethnics.
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Interestingly I was informed by a neutral source that the Christian Ambon governor’s machinations/provocations prolonged the trouble in Ambon.
In Ternate, there is a huge and very beautiful Mosque that has been lying unfinished/unused for years. Locals inform me that the Jakarta govt allocated a huge sum of money for the construction, but that much of the money ended up in the pockets of the local elite. So now a standoff ensues between the Ternate Jakarta Oligarchy.
Incidentally, this Islamic political elite in Ternate are the same gang who used religion/jihad to take power from the Sultan of Ternate and drive the 20% Christian population – allies of the Sultan, himself a Muslim – off the island and all the ensuing misery that ingnited over on Halmahera, which in turn provoked Amien Rais to call for Jihad at that infamous mass rally at Monas.
Where’s Metro/Kompass/TV One to shame these pious charlatans or SBY to start acting Presidential and transform his nation? -
james says:
I predicted that the trip would be cancelled a couple of weeks ago on my blog: http://www.aboutindo.com/2010/09/25/thoughtless-slur-on-dutch-voters-by-indo-ambassador/.
It wasn’t fear of being arrested that caused the cancellation, but yet another thoughtless comment which Mr Habibie made at the time he was criticising the Dutch public. -
Good article in the Globe:
Dateline Jakarta: Indonesian President Missed the Big Picture Yet Again in Canceling His Visit to Netherlands -
SBY also postpones his trip to Wasior Papua. Dunno, “postponing/canceling a trip” seems to be his middle name lately. Must be such a hassle for his personal travel agent. 🙂
Comment on “SBY: Not a Dutch Lion”.
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Hi Arie,
“racist bigot intolerant narrow-minded arrogant people and their fat ugly b*tch Queen”.
–> Does the name Pim Fortuijn and more recently Geert Wilders ring a bell for your arrogant and oh so superior caucasian ears? And the so many Dutch followers of these two clown figures, speaks volume of how racist and intolerant many Dutch indeed are, though closeted some may be.
You’re right though, I’ve never met Beatrix personally, not that I fancy to, anyway. But let’s face it, she is ugly, old and fat. And from my conversations with many Dutch people, she’s not particularly well liked among the people, unlike her mother who was more “normal” and down-to-earth. May she rest in peace. I love Juliana.
Hi Ross,
“Has it occurred to him that what he perceives as problematic attitudes among the Dutch have arisen because immigrants of ‘a certain religion’ don’t want to integrate and become Dutch, preferring to maintain primitive habits.”
Has it occurred to you that some immigrants don’t want to integrate and become Amerindian, and instead massacring them and put whatever left of the rightful owner of the land in reserves and systematically marginalize them?
(you can replace “Amerindian” with “Australian aboriginals”, “Innuits”, “Maoris”, etc. all indigenous peoples in lands that have been stolen by white Europeans throughout history)
“well, you don’t. But why bother signing up to international agrrements”
Why do you infer that “international agreements” by default must be in line with western way of doing things?
The way China goes and grows now (they just bought Greek bonds last week to save that poor European country. Why can’t Brussels do that, you wonder), I’m sure you will tone down your western arrogance and pretty sure you or your descendants will sooner or later have to learn Chinese.
Civilizations come and go. Indeed, it was the white European and American in recent past. Now they are slowly but surely in decline, and the future belongs to the Chinese and Asians.
Just watch it.