Dutch Eurasian Indo people

[pieter]

Indo people


Indo-Europeans (today: Indies Dutch; Indische Nederlanders in Dutch) in the pre-war colonial era in the Duch East Indies (Indonesia today)

The Indo people or Indos are Eurasian people living in or connected with Indonesia. In its narrowest sense, the term refers to people in the former Dutch East Indies who held European legal status but who were of mixed descent, that are descendants of various indigenous peoples of Indonesia and Dutch settlers. In the broadest sense, an Indo is anyone of mixed European and Indonesian descent. Indos are associated with colonial culture of the former Dutch East Indies, a Dutch colony in Southeast Asia and a predecessor to modern Indonesia after its proclamation of independence shortly after World War II. The term was used to describe people acknowledged to be of mixed Dutch and Indonesian descent, or it was a term used in the Dutch East Indies to apply to Europeans who had partial Asian ancestry. The European ancestry of these people was predominantly Dutch, but also included Portuguese, British, French, Belgian, German, and others.

The term "Indo" is first recorded from 1898, an abbreviation of the Dutch term "indo-Europeaan". Other terms used at various times are Dutch Indonesians, Eurasians, Indo-Europeans, Indo-Dutch, and Dutch-Indos.



In the Netherlands c. 1,500,000 people have Indo ancestry. In Indonesia an estimated 3,000,000 people have Indo ancestry. In the USA about 100,000 people have Indo ancestry and in Australia there are an estimated 10,000 people with Indo ancestry.

[pieter]

The interesting story about the white colonial Indonesian side of Jane Seymour's Dutch mothers family

This is ofcourse a different story than the Eurasian Indo people in Indonesia. The ones who looked Javanese Indonesian (full bloods) could escape from the Japanese concentration camps.
But those Indo people who had European features, a lighter skin and were taller than the local Javanese people could end up in the Japanese concentration camps.

[pieter]

[pieter]

I love the way this Polish woman in a refined sophisticated sociological manner and with a lot of sense of humor explains the differences between the Indonesian and Polish cultures.



I don't understand her, but love her mix of Polish and Bahasa Indonesia (Malayan) speaking




P.S.- This Polish girl reminds me a lot of a girl in Zeeland I liked very much, Eva. The same looks, the same playfulness, the same kind of humor, the same kind of voice, the same kind of laugh and the same body language. That is part of why I like these video's. She is the Polish Eva.

[pieter]

Oh, I really love this. My father who was in Indonesia from 1947 to 1950 will recognize this. He loves Indonesian food, Javanese people and the Indonesian culture

Here you also see that Indonesia is a Muslim country due to the girls with head gears.

[pieter]

And this is real authentic Eurasian Indo (half blood) music in The Hague in the Netherlands


I probably wrote about it over here already, but the Indo group is one of the best integrated and assimilated groups in the Netherlands next the German, Belgian, French and English minorities who speak Dutch and look Dutch.
These people are a visible reminder of our colonial past, because they have a mix or merger culture of Dutch Native European colonial culture of the White Dutch colonial administrators, civil servants, police forces and the
the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army in the Dutch East Indies. Dutch Indo girls and Indo boys were always popular on Dutch primary schools, high schools, vocational universities and universities and in companies and the Dutch society. Dutch people love both the Eurasian Indo cuisine and the Indonesian Javanese, Sundanese, Sumatran, Balinese, Madurese, Malayan, Chinese Indonesian, and Moluccan (Ambonese) cuisines. When you go to an Indonesian restaurant most often the food there is food that is adapted to the Dutch taste with a lot of Indo (Eurasian) and white native Dutch Indonesian (colonial) and Javanese influences. The Javanese people are the largest group in Indonesia, so often Indonesian culture and food abroad is Javanese. Most often in the Netherlands you have Chinese-Indonesian restaurents where you can have typical Indo dishes like my favority Indo Rice table, Nasi Rames/Bami Rames, Nasi Gorgeng, the Indonesian large Lumpia and the delicious Indonesian Saté, with peanutbutter saté sause. In my highschool I was crazy about the very beautiful Indo and Surinamese girls Lucia and Patricia. There are thousands of mixed mariages of native Dutch people with Indo people and native Dutch people with Indonesian (Javanese, Balinese or Moluccan) partners (most often Dutch men with Indo or Indonesian wives, but also Indonesian men and Indo -Eurasian- men with native Dutch women). The Indo group is quite large in the Netherlands. You could compare it with the Eurasian group of Vietnamese-American Eurasian, Africanasian people, and Americans of mixed European and Chinese/Korean/Japanese background and people who have a mixed African-Amerrican and Asian background. In the Netherlands I am used to mixed marriages of people of various European backgrounds (my parents) and people of various ethic, racial and cultural backgrounds. Native Dutch people also married with secular Moroccan Berber, Turkish, Arab, Kurd, Iranian, Middle eastern Mizrachi jewish (Dutch native European Ashkenazi jews who married with Sephardic or Mizrachi people of North-African or Middle eastern descent). Ad to that the mixed marriages of Dutch people with adopted children with a South-American, Korean, Chinese, African and other backgrounds. These people are normal Dutch people who speak excellent Dutch, often have no links with migrant communities and are as a matter effect as Dutch as native European Duch people with two native Dutch parents, with 100% native Dutch families from both sides. Hundreds of years of colonialism, settlement abroad and travelling over the world has created a lot of mixed marriages and families.



This is in Dutch language, but I hope that the images speak for themselves

[pieter]

[pieter]

[Jaga]

Pieter,

thanks for a very interesting presentation. I was always curious about Dutch India and how did it influence the mainland in Netherlands. This is my first post after the visit in Czech Republic. It was really nice and I posted a lot of pictures in the facebook but mainly using my cellphone where I don't have my forum. I thought I would not have any internet in Poland but happily students left the internet running through the summer, so I can check even this email.

[pieter]

Many Eurasian Indo people in the Dutch East Indies were professional soldiers and officers in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL) and civil servants in the East Indies colonial administration of the Dutch Governors-General. During the Dutch East Indies era the Governor-General functioned as colonial chief executive, president of colonial government, as well as commander-in-chief of the colonial (KNIL) army. I heard several stories of Dutch Indo's who were raised in such Indo KNIL military family homes. Tough father, military discipline, Dutch culture over Indo culture in some cases, a fighting mentality. Never give up, never complain, do your duty, be loyal to the Netherlands, be loyal to your family, loyal to your colleagues and friends. Some Indo KNIL fathers and grandfathers had some internalised racism issues. (You don't see that in the video's) They empathised the European part of their Eurasian identity and downseized the Asian part and often looked down on that side. Some Indo's also looked down on Javanese Indonesian people, because they identified and allied themselves with the white native Dutch Colonial Europeans in Indonesia and in the Netherlands. Which is quite tragic and sad. The colonial racist policies of the colonial administration in the Dutch East Indies, where the native Dutch and the other Europeans in Indonesia (Germans, British, Irish, French, Swiss, Austrian and other white Europeans, yes also Americans and Canadians) were seen as the white European elite and treated as such. The Indo's were coloured people and therefor not equal to the Europeans. The alien East-Asians from China, Korea and Japan had a higher standard or status than the Indo Eurasians and the Javanese, Sundanese, Sumatran, Balinese, Maduronese, Moluccan, Aceh people, Borneo Dajak people and the Papouas of Papua part of Indonesia. Indo people werent allowed to be part of the Vaderlandse Club (the Fatherland Club), an organisation of White Colonial Native Dutch people in the Dutch East Indies, founded in 1929. The Vaderlandse Club urged for a powerful Dutch national life in the Dutch East Indies as counterbalance for the emerging Indonesian nationalism of the Javanese, Sumatran and other Indonesian peoples. The Indo's and the Moluccans (Ambonese people) supported the colonial Dutch administration and the the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL), because they knew that as minorities in an Indonesian republic which would be dominated by Javanese people, their time would be over. Indo's were part of the system of the Duch colonial administration in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). They served in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army as soldiers and officers, in the civil administration of the Dutch East Indies, in the education system, in health care (mostly as nurses or employees, because most doctors were white European colonials) and had financial-economical positions in firms and companies in the Dutch East Indies. Due to the fact that many of them had native Dutch family or in many cases one of their parents was native European. Therefor they were not equal but had some influence in the Dutch East Indies. The pure white colonial what we call "Indische Nederlanders" "Indian Dutch people", colonial White Dutch people with white colonial ancesters in Indonesia or family in the Netherlands had the best position in Indonesia just before the war and in the few years after the war in which the Dutch still rule Indonesia. The New Indonesia would be dominated by Nationalist Indonesians, mostly Javanese people, in that New Indonesia the Indo people in the administration, army and in the regular economy would be replaced by Javanese people of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (Indonesian: Tentara Nasional Indonesia), the army of the Nationalist Indonesian movement, which would soon start a revolution and armed struggle after the Second World War, after the Japanese were gone and the Dutch colonial administration and the KNIL came back. The downfall of the Duch East Indies administration and colonial rule proved to be disastrous for the Indo's and Moluccans. Thousands fled to the Netherlands before and after Indonesia became independent in 1950.


Governor-General's palace in Batavia in c. 1880–1900

Volksraad (Dutch East Indies)

A People's Council (Volksraad) for the Dutch East Indies was provided for by law in 1916, but its establishment was procrastinated until the actual installation of the Council in 1918. It was a hesitant and slow attempt at democratisation of the Dutch East Indies. The power of the Volksraad was limited as it only had advisory powers. Although part of the council was elected only a small proportion of the population had voting rights.


Opening of the Volksraad by gouvernor general Van Limburg Stirum on 18 may 1918 op Java, Batavia 18 May 1918.The house of Limburg Stirum (or Limburg-Styrum), which adopted its name in the 12th century from the sovereign county of Limburg an der Lenne in what is now Germany, is one of the oldest families in Europe. It is the eldest and only surviving branch of the House of Berg, which was among the most powerful dynasties in the region of the lower Rhine during the Middle Ages. Some historians link them to an even older dynasty, the Ezzonen, going back to the 9th century.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Limburg-Stirum

The Volksraad had sixty members: 30 members from various indigenous groups, 25 European, and 5 from Chinese, Arab and other Foreign Orientals. The Volksraad was reconstituted every four years. The members of the Council were partly chosen, partly appointed by the colonial administration.

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army


Royal Netherlands East Indies Army coat of arms

The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, Dutch pronunciation: [knɪl]) was the military force maintained by the Netherlands in its colony of the Netherlands East Indies (also known as the Dutch East Indies), in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The KNIL's air arm was the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force. Elements of the Royal Netherlands Navy were also stationed in the Netherlands East Indies.

History 1814–1942

The KNIL was formed by royal decree on 14 september 1814. It was not part of the Royal Netherlands Army, but a separate military arm specifically formed for service in the Netherlands East Indies. Its establishment coincided with the Dutch drive to expand colonial rule from the 17th century area of control to the far larger territories constituting the Dutch East Indies seventy years later.

The KNIL was involved in many campaigns against indigenous groups in the area including the Padri War (1821–1845), the Java War (1825–1830), crushing the final resistance of Bali inhabitants to colonial rule in 1849, and the prolonged Aceh War (1873–1904). In 1894, Lombok and Karangasem were annexed in response to reports of the local Balinese aristocracy oppressing the native Sasak people. Bali was finally taken under full control with the Dutch intervention in Bali (1906) and the final Dutch intervention in Bali (1908).

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the KNIL resumed the conquest of the Indonesian archipelago. After 1904 the Netherlands East Indies were considered pacified, with no large-scale armed opposition to Dutch rule until World War II, and the KNIL served a mainly defensive role protecting the Dutch East Indies from the possibility of foreign invasion.

Once the archipelago was considered pacified the KNIL was mainly involved with military policing tasks. To ensure a sizeable European military segment in the KNIL and reduce costly recruitment in Europe, the colonial government introduced obligatory military service for all resident male conscripts in the European legal class in 1917. In 1922 a supplemental legal enactment introduced the creation of Home Guard (Dutch: Landstorm) for European conscripts older than 32.


No large-scale armed threat to Dutch rule existed until World War II.

World War II


KNIL troops marching through Melbourne, Australia, on 14 June 1943.

Dutch forces in the Netherlands East Indies were severely weakened by the defeat and occupation of the Netherlands itself, by Nazi Germany, in 1940. The KNIL was cut off from external Dutch assistance, except by Royal Netherlands Navy units. The KNIL, hastily and inadequately, attempted to transform into a modern military force able to protect the Dutch East Indies from foreign invasion. By December 1941, Dutch forces in Indonesia numbered around 85,000 personnel: regular troops consisted of about 1,000 officers and 34,000 enlisted soldiers, of whom 28,000 were indigenous. The remainder were made up of locally organised militia, territorial guard units and civilian auxiliaries. The KNIL air force, Militaire Luchtvaart KNIL (Royal Netherlands East Indies Air Force (ML-KNIL)) numbered 389 planes of all types, but was largely outclassed by superior Japanese planes. The Royal Netherlands Navy Air Service, or MLD, also had significant forces in the NEI.

During the Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–42, most of the KNIL and other Allied forces were quickly defeated. Most European soldiers, which in practice included all able bodied Indo-European males, were interned by the Japanese as POWs. 25% of the POWs did not survive their internment.

A handful of soldiers, mostly indigenous personnel, mounted guerilla campaigns against the Japanese. These were usually unknown to, and unassisted by, the Allies until the end of the war.

During early 1942, some KNIL personnel escaped to Australia. Some indigenous personnel were interned in Australia under suspicion of sympathies with the Japanese. The remainder began a long process of re-grouping. In late 1942, a failed attempt to land in East Timor, to reinforce Australian commandos waging a guerrilla campaign ended with the loss of 60 Dutch personnel.

Four "Netherlands East Indies" squadrons (the RAAF-NEI squadrons) were formed from ML-KNIL personnel, under the auspices of the Royal Australian Air Force, with Australian ground staff.

KNIL infantry forces (much like their counterparts in the UK), were augmented by recruitment among Dutch expatriates around the world and by colonial troops from as far away as the Dutch West Indies. During 1944–45, some small units saw action in the New Guinea campaign and Borneo campaign.

History 1814–1942


A Dutch KNIL officer with Indo KNIL soldiers

The KNIL was formed by royal decree on 14 september 1814. It was not part of the Royal Netherlands Army, but a separate military arm specifically formed for service in the Netherlands East Indies. Its establishment coincided with the Dutch drive to expand colonial rule from the 17th century area of control to the far larger territories constituting the Dutch East Indies seventy years later.

The KNIL was involved in many campaigns against indigenous groups in the area including the Padri War (1821–1845), the Java War (1825–1830), crushing the final resistance of Bali inhabitants to colonial rule in 1849, and the prolonged Aceh War (1873–1904). In 1894, Lombok and Karangasem were annexed in response to reports of the local Balinese aristocracy oppressing the native Sasak people. Bali was finally taken under full control with the Dutch intervention in Bali (1906) and the final Dutch intervention in Bali (1908).

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the KNIL resumed the conquest of the Indonesian archipelago. After 1904 the Netherlands East Indies were considered pacified, with no large-scale armed opposition to Dutch rule until World War II, and the KNIL served a mainly defensive role protecting the Dutch East Indies from the possibility of foreign invasion.

Once the archipelago was considered pacified the KNIL was mainly involved with military policing tasks. To ensure a sizeable European military segment in the KNIL and reduce costly recruitment in Europe, the colonial government introduced obligatory military service for all resident male conscripts in the European legal class in 1917. In 1922 a supplemental legal enactment introduced the creation of Home Guard (Dutch: Landstorm) for European conscripts older than 32.

No large-scale armed threat to Dutch rule existed until World War II.


A KNIL patrol in formation on patrol in a Javanese rice field in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)


A mixed company (military unit) of the KNIL, made up of Javanese, Menadonese en Ambonese (Moluccan) men in 1939.

World War II


KNIL Indo soldiers and officers with a Japanse war flag in the beginning of the Japanese-Dutch war of 1941

Dutch forces in the Netherlands East Indies were severely weakened by the defeat and occupation of the Netherlands itself, by Nazi Germany, in 1940. The KNIL was cut off from external Dutch assistance, except by Royal Netherlands Navy units. The KNIL, hastily and inadequately, attempted to transform into a modern military force able to protect the Dutch East Indies from foreign invasion. By December 1941, Dutch forces in Indonesia numbered around 85,000 personnel: regular troops consisted of about 1,000 officers and 34,000 enlisted soldiers, of whom 28,000 were indigenous. The remainder were made up of locally organised militia, territorial guard units and civilian auxiliaries. The KNIL air force, Militaire Luchtvaart KNIL (Royal Netherlands East Indies Air Force (ML-KNIL)) numbered 389 planes of all types, but was largely outclassed by superior Japanese planes. The Royal Netherlands Navy Air Service, or MLD, also had significant forces in the NEI.


Five steadfast Indonesian KNIL soldiers from field battalion Inf X on February 14, 1942. They nearly succeeded in driving the Japanese paratroopers out of the oil refinery near Palembang, Sumatra. They wear the M37 field kit with KNIL helmets without the picture of the lion on it, are armed with the M95 carbine and a klewang and carry hand grenades on their belt in fabric bags. Photo collection Colonial Military Museum Bronbeek, Arnhem, the Netherlands.

During the Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–42, most of the KNIL and other Allied forces were quickly defeated.[10] Most European soldiers, which in practice included all able bodied Indo-European males, were interned by the Japanese as POWs. 25% of the POWs did not survive their internment.

A handful of soldiers, mostly indigenous personnel, mounted guerilla campaigns against the Japanese. These were usually unknown to, and unassisted by, the Allies until the end of the war.

During early 1942, some KNIL personnel escaped to Australia. Some indigenous personnel were interned in Australia under suspicion of sympathies with the Japanese. The remainder began a long process of re-grouping. In late 1942, a failed attempt to land in East Timor, to reinforce Australian commandos waging a guerrilla campaign ended with the loss of 60 Dutch personnel.



Four "Netherlands East Indies" squadrons (the RAAF-NEI squadrons) were formed from ML-KNIL personnel, under the auspices of the Royal Australian Air Force, with Australian ground staff.

KNIL infantry forces (much like their counterparts in the UK), were augmented by recruitment among Dutch expatriates around the world and by colonial troops from as far away as the Dutch West Indies. During 1944–45, some small units saw action in the New Guinea campaign and Borneo campaign.


Men in the uniform of the tenth Bataljon of the KNIL Royal Netherlands East Indies Army in a re-enactment in the Colonial Indonesian army Museum Bronbeek in Arnhem in the Netherlands

1945–1950




KNIL soldier behind a machine gun during the war against the Indonesian nationalists -1946-1950

Following World War II, the KNIL was used in two large military campaigns in 1947 and 1948 to re-establish Dutch control of Indonesia. The KNIL and its Ambonese auxiliaries have been accused of committing war crimes during this "police action". Dutch efforts to re-establish their colony failed and Netherlands recognition of Indonesian sovereignty came on 27 December 1949. On 26 January 1950, elements of the KNIL were involved in an abortive coup in Bandung planned by Raymond Westerling and Sultan Hamid II. The coup failed and only accelerated the dissolution of the federal Republic of the United States of Indonesia.


KNIL soldier with an M1928 submachine gun, c. 1948.


Raymond Pierre Paul Westerling ([reːmɔnˈ ʋɛstərˈlɪŋ]; 31 August 1919 – 26 November 1987) was a Dutch military officer of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army and a War Criminal. He orchestrated a massacre in Sulawesi during the Indonesian National Revolution after World War II and was responsible for a coup attempt against the Indonesian government in January 1950, a month after the official transfer of sovereignty. Both actions were denounced as war crimes by the Indonesian authorities.


APRA-troops of Raymond Westerling during the coup in Bandung in januari 1950


SOLDIERS OF THE ROYAL DUTCH EAST INDIES ARMY (KONINKLIJK NEDERLANDS-INDISCH LEGER, KNIL) IN THE COMPANY OF CAPTURED, WOUNDED, AND KILLED INDONESIAN SOLDIERS. MALANG, EAST JAVA, IN LATE JULY 1947. (PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN ARMY, TLC, NATIONAL ARCHIVES, THE HAGUE)

The KNIL was disbanded by 26 July 1950 with its indigenous personnel being given the option of demobilising or joining the newly formed Indonesian military. However, efforts to integrate former KNIL units were impeded by mutual distrust between the predominantly Ambonese KNIL troops and the Javanese-dominated Republican military; leading to clashes at Makassar in April and the attempted secession of an independent Republic of South Maluku (RMS) in July. These revolts were suppressed by November 1950 and approximately 12,500 Ambonese KNIL personnel and their families opted for temporary resettlement in the Netherlands. Following this, the KNIL ceased to exist but its traditions are maintained by the Regiment Van Heutsz of the modern Royal Netherlands Army. At the time of disbandment the KNIL numbered 65,000, of whom 26,000 were incorporated into the new Indonesian Army. The remainder were either demobilised or transferred to the Royal Netherlands Army.

The Dutch army in Indonesia during the Indonesian National Revolution, or Indonesian War of Independence in 1947. You see that they used American tanks, American helmets and British armoured vehicles


Links:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor-General_of_the_Dutch_East_Indies
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksraad_(Dutch_East_Indies)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_Indies#Government
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Netherlands_East_Indies_Army

[pieter]

Sept 8, 2019 12:21:59 GMT -7 Jaga said:

Pieter,

thanks for a very interesting presentation. I was always curious about Dutch India and how did it influence the mainland in Netherlands. This is my first post after the visit in Czech Republic. It was really nice and I posted a lot of pictures in the facebook but mainly using my cellphone where I don't have my forum. I thought I would not have any internet in Poland but happily students left the internet running through the summer, so I can check even this email.

Dear Jaga,

The heritage of the V.O.C. (The Dutch East India Company) and the colonial Dutch East Indies has had and has a great influence on the mainland the Netherlands. Indo people are integrated and assimilated in the Native Dutch population. But occasionally Dutch Indo's who are coloured and have Asian features (like Asian eyes, black hair, being shorter than most Dutch) face the same discrimination and sometimes racism most Asians experience in Non-Asian countries and continent, because they are considered different.


A monument to Benkoelen, unveiled by Mrs. S.L. Zieck - van Hengel, the resident 's wife, 1931. Bengkulu (Benkoelen) is the capital of the Indonesian province of Bengkulu. The city is the second largest city on the west coast of Sumatra Island after Padang. Previously this area is under the influence of the kingdom of Inderapura and the Sultanate of Banten. The British East India Company founded Bengkulu (named Bencoolen by the British), in 1685, as their new commercial centre for the region. In the 17th century, the British East India Company controlled the spice trade in the Lampung region of southern Sumatra from a port in Banten, in the north west of the neighbouring island of Java. In 1682, a troop of the Dutch East India Company attacked Banten. The local crown prince submitted to the Dutch, who then recognised him as Sultan. The Dutch expelled all other Europeans present in Banten, leading the British to establish Bengkulu. In 1714, the British built Fort Marlborough at Bengkulu.

The trading centre was never financially viable, because of its remoteness and the difficulty in procuring pepper. Despite these difficulties, the British persisted, maintaining a presence there for over a century, ceding it to the Dutch as part of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 to focus their attention on Malacca. Edmund Roberts, the first U.S. envoy to the Far East, visited Bengkulu in 1832. Like the rest of present-day Indonesia, Bengkulu remained a Dutch colony until World War II.

Sukarno (later the first president of Indonesia) was imprisoned by the Dutch in the 1930s, including a brief period in Bengkulu. Sukarno met his future wife, Fatmawati, during his time in Bengkulu.


Sukarno in Bengkulu with his wife and daughter


Studio portrait of an Indo-European family, Dutch East Indies (ca. 1900)


Studio portrait of the family Engelenburg, Banyuwangi (1919). Banyuwangi is the administrative capital of Banyuwangi Regency at the far eastern end of the island of Java, Indonesia.


Indo-European girls in Batavia (1925-1935), the capital of the Dutch East Indies, today Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.


Japanese Indonesian identity card in the name of Johanna Maria Durand, born Leeuwenburgh, Malang (1942)


Arrival of the vessel "Castel Felice" with Indo Eurasian repatriates from Indonesia on the Lloydkade in Rotterdam, Netherlands (20 May 1958)


The epicanthic fold, the skin fold of the upper eyelid that covers the inner corner (medial canthus) of the eye, extending "from the nose to the eyebrow", is the main thing which differentiates Asians from Europeans. Some native Europeans have an ethnic, ethnocentric, aesthetic, xenophobic and biological preference for other White, Native European build partners, colleagues, friends, acquaintances and neighbours. They don't like Asians, Black people, coloured (brown or beige Indian, Afghan, Pakistani, Bangladesh) people and even have difficulties with other Europeans with other linguistic and ethnic backgrounds. Germanic people in Germanic regions who prefer Germanic people and don't like Slavic, Latin-Romanesque, Celtic, Basque, Hungarian and other alien people to them. The same you of course have with Slavic, Latin, Celtic and Hungarian, Basque and Baltic Europeans. Sometimes Indo people face that hostility or rejection or bullying behaviour of obnoxious, irritating racist compatriots who think in some sort of White nationalist, White power and anti-Asian and anti-alien mindset. You have these people everywhere in Europe of course. But sadly also in the Netherlands. I have heard the stories of Indo colleagues and friends who faced verbal and non-verbal racist agression. One female colleague of mine was beaten up by a white native Dutch man when she was younger, because of her Asian Indo looks. She looks somehow like a native American (Indigenous American) and that irritated that white Duch brute. It is a sad example, but seldom takes place today in the Netherlands.


The Asian epicanthic fold which is often cause of racist comments in Europe and Africa, where Asians are the minority

Today racism, xenophobia and discrimination is more directed against people with a Muslim migrant background from North-Africa, Turkey, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Muslim countries.

It is a strange family clan based, tribalist, local/regional/national related ethnocentrism, exaggerated self love and isolationalism. In this time of nationalism and isolationalism and xenophobia it is spreading like a wild fire over the world.

Colonialism has disrupted Africa, the Middle east and large parts of Asia and Southern America. Until today racist white South-Americans of Portuguese and Spanish and even partly Italian descent dominate Argentina, Chile, Brasil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Columbia, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Mexico.

Even though the white population of many South-American countries during its colonial era were mainly descendants from Spain and Portugal (Brasil), today their white population is a result of a mixture of European immigrants, predominantly from Spain with people from Italy, Germany, France, and Switzerland who have settled in the early 20th century.

In the Netherlands the Indo Eurasian people had an influence on the way some cities and towns looked. The Hague and Arnhem have a lot of Indo people and people of Indonesian descent (Javanese, Moluccan or Balinese, Sundanese, Sumatran or Malayan). Their influence on the Dutch culture goes from their part in the Dutch economy, the Dutch army and their influence on Dutch music, cuisine and Dutch entertainment, television, radio, theatre and art. Many Indo's had some role in Dutch show business, TV shows, News media, the Dutch Pop culture (you have a lot of Indo musicians), professional dance, as civil servants, teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers, cab and bus drivers and accountants and administrators. Skills their grandparents and parents learned in Indonesia they took to the Netherlands Jaga. I love their food and culture. Especially Nasi Rames, Indonesian large lumpia's, Nasi Goreng and the Indo Rice table.

Cheers,
Pieter

[pieter]

Bersiap

Bersiap is the name given by the Dutch to a violent and chaotic phase of the Indonesian National Revolution following the end of World War II. The Indonesian word bersiap means 'get ready' or 'be prepared'. The Bersiap period lasted from August 1945 to December 1946.

The period started with revolutionary violence occurring during the increasing power vacuum left by the retreating Japanese occupational forces and the gradual buildup of a British military presence but before the official handover to a Dutch military presence. The term refers to that period when, after being kidnapped by Republican youths (Pemuda), Sukarno declared independence on 17 August 1945.

The period ended with the departure of the British military in 1946, by which time the Dutch had rebuilt their military capacity. Meanwhile, the Indonesian revolutionary fighters were well into the process of forming a formal military. The last Japanese troops had been evacuated by July 1946.

Term

This particular phase of the Indonesian revolution is termed Bersiap by Dutch Indo (Eurasian) survivors of the period and is used in academic works in Dutch and English. The term is derived from the Indonesian battle cry and perpetual call to arms: "Siap!" – "Get Ready!" heard when potential enemies of the revolution were entering pro-republican areas.

For more info, read the following link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bersiap

[pieter]

When you watch this video please turn on the English subtitles, because this video is in Dutch.

[pieter]

[pieter]