Het Zuidmolukse radicalisme in Nederland: nationalistische of emancipatiebeweging?

Samenvatting

The South Moluccans, who arrived in the Netherlands in 1951, engaged in a number of actions to dramatize their struggle for a free South Moluccan republic (in Indonesia) during the 1950's. In the '60's, little was heard from them. Later the burning of the Indonesian embassy and the occupation of the house of the Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands showed that the movement was still active. The goals of the movement, as far as the members of the older generation (mostly former soldiers of the KNIL--Royal Dutch East Indian Army) are concerned, are to gain: (1) recognition of an independent republic of the South Moluccas, (2) the return of their military status, and (3) return to the South Moluccas. However, the overt nationalism of the older generation has decreased, partly because many of them have found employment in the Netherlands. The middle generation, those from 25 to 40, were never soldiers but lived in the camps in the Netherlands before being relocated; they also have a desire to return to a free republic in the South Moluccas. The younger children have been integrated into Dutch society to a much greater extent, as is evidenced by the fact that many of them marry a Dutch partner or have taken up Dutch citizenship. However, many receive inadequate schooling and are later frustrated in their attempts to find suitable work. They then fall back on the older generations, and their frustration turns into radical political action. This action is modeled less on the example of the older generation (although many of the aims are the same), than on radical movements elsewhere in the world, especially among Dutch young people. 2 tables. P. Tiersma.