Collected photo

THE HAGUE, June 21, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten Sunday 
issued a formal state apology to members of the Moluccan community for their 
decades-long mistreatment by the Netherlands after Indonesia won independence 
from colonisation.

Many Moluccans, from the so-called "spice islands" in eastern Indonesia, 
fought for the Dutch colonial army during the post-World War II struggle for 
independence.

After Indonesia gained independence in 1949, around 12,500 Moluccans were 
brought to the Netherlands in a state-organised transfer to escape reprisals.

They were supposed to stay only briefly before returning to an independent 
country, as part of negotiations at the time between the Dutch government and 
Indonesia.

However, the Dutch reneged on their promise to repatriate them and they were 
housed in dire conditions, with little attempt to find them jobs or integrate 
them into broader Dutch society.

Unveiling a monument to commemorate that dark period of Dutch history, a 
visibly moved Jetten told hundreds of Moluccans gathered in Rotterdam that it 
was "high time" to apologise.

"For the inadequate reception and housing. For being unseen and abandoned. 
For the unfulfilled longing for home. And for the grief and pain in so many 
families. For this, I offer my apologies today on behalf of the Dutch 
government," said Jetten.

The Ulu Kora monument was unveiled on the Lloydkade in Rotterdam, where the 
first ships transporting Moluccans arrived in the Dutch port.

Those who were in the army were immediately discharged and many were sent to 
former concentration camps used to gather Jews in the Nazi-occupied 
Netherlands.

The 1970s saw a number of violent actions by second-generation Moluccans, who 
felt betrayed by the Dutch for failing to secure their independent homeland.

"I realise the injustice cannot be suddenly removed with apologies. We cannot 
change the course of history and the reality of today with a few sentences," 
said Jetten.

"But I do hope that the words I just spoke are perceived as a form of 
recognition and an act of historical justice for you," he told members of the 
community, many of them clutching family photos of first-generation Moluccans 
now dead.