Forwarded message:
From apakabar Thu Jun 9 18:33 EDT 1994
Date: Thu, 9 Jun 1994 18:33:07 -0400
From: John MacDougall
Message-Id: <199406092233.SAA22698@clark.net>
Subject: DUTCH WRITER (L ONLY) By ANGELIQUE VAN
ENGELEN/AMSTERDAM
Apparently-To: apakabar@clark.net
Content-Type: text
Content-Length: 3387
DATE=6/9/94
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-159976
TITLE=DUTCH WRITER (L ONLY)
BYLINE=ANGELIQUE VAN ENGELEN
DATELINE=AMSTERDAM
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A DUTCH WRITER HAS BEEN ACQUITTED BY A COURT IN THE
NETHERLANDS AFTER BEING ACCUSED OF BERSMIRCHING THE IMAGE OF
DUTCH VETERANS WHO FOUGHT IN THE COUNTRY'S FORMER COLONY,
INDONESIA. ONE OF THE EX-INDONESIA FIGHTERS SUED THE WRITER,
STIRRING A PUBLIC DEBATE ABOUT DUTCH RULE IN INDONESIA.
ANGELIQUE VAN ENGELEN HAS A REPORT FROM THE COURTHOUSE IN
AMSTERDAM.
TEXT: IN A NEWSPAPER INTERVIEW ABOUT HIS BOOK TWO YEARS AGO,
WRITER GRAA BOOMSMA COMPARED THE TACTICS OF THE DUTCH TROOPS THAT
WERE SENT TO INDONESIA TO RESTORE LAW AND ORDER IN 1947 TO THOSE
OF THE GERMAN NAZIS. THEY WERE NOT S-S TROOPS, HE SAID, BUT
COULD BE COMPARED TO THEM BY THE WAY THEY BEHAVED. HE REFERRED
TO THE ALLEGEDLY BRUTAL WAY IN WHICH THE DUTCH TROOPS PUT DOWN
VIOLENCE BY MEMBERS OF THE INDONESIAN NATIONALIST MOVEMENT.
BOTH THE WRITER AND THE JOURNALIST WHO QUOTED HIM WERE SUED BY
ONE OF THE WAR VETERANS, WHO FELT HE HAD UNJUSTLY BEEN PORTRAYED
AS A NAZI.
THE VETERAN'S LAWYER DEMANDED BOTH DEFENDANTS PAY A SYMBOLIC FINE
OF 250 DOLLARS. HOWEVER, THE JUDGE DECIDED TO ACQUIT THEM,
SAYING THE JOURNALIST WAS ONLY DOING HIS JOB AND HAD NOT BEEN
OUT TO HURT ANYONE IN PARTICULAR.
WRITER GRAA BOOMSMA SAYS HE NEVER SHOULD HAVE APPEARED IN COURT.
RATHER, HE SAYS, THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN TRIED FOR
FAILING TO CONDUCT AN OFFICIAL INQUIRY INTO WHAT HAPPENED IN
INDONESIA. HE HOPES THE MEDIA WILL PICK UP ON, WHAT HE CALLS,
THIS BLACK HOLE IN DUTCH HISTORY.
<![CDATA[ // BOOMSMA ACT // ]]>
I WANT AN OPEN DISCUSSION, NOT IN COURT, BUT IN THE
MEDIA -- ON TELEVISION, ON THE RADIO, IN THE PAPERS, IN
ART -- ON THIS SUBJECT. A LOT OF PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY
YOUNG PEOPLE, DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS SPECIFIC
PART OF DUTCH HISTORY.
<![CDATA[ // END ACT // ]]>
IN HIS BOOK, MR. BOOMSMA RECOUNTS THE STORY OF HIS FATHER, WHO
WAS SENT TO INDONESIA.
<![CDATA[ // BOOMSMA ACT // ]]>
AFTER WORLD WAR TWO, HE WAS DRAFTED BY THE DUTCH
GOVERNMENT; AND IN 1945, HE WAS SHIPPED TO JAVA, THE
MAIN ISLAND OF INDONESIA. AND THERE HE WAS FIRST A
COOK, AND LATER ON HE WAS DRAGGED INTO THE DIRTY WAR,
BECAUSE OF THE FIRST MILITARY ACTION AGAINST THE
NATIONALISTS, THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS. AND LATER ON, HE
WAS A GUARD IN A PRISON. AND IN THAT SPECIFIC PERIOD
IN HIS INDONESIAN TIME, HE ENCOUNTERED TERRIBLE THINGS;
AND I THINK SPECIFICALLY THAT PERIOD HAS SHORTENED HIS
LIFE, BECAUSE WHEN HE WAS BACK IN HOLLAND HE WAS NOT
ABLE TO DISCUSS WHAT HE HAD SEEN; AND NOT ONLY MY
FATHER BUT ALL THOSE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SOLDIERS WHO
HAD BEEN THERE.
<![CDATA[ // END ACT // ]]>
THE INTERNATIONAL WRITERS ASSOCIATION, PEN, REACTED WITH DELIGHT
TO MR. BOOMSMA'S ACQUITTAL. PEN CHAIRMAN AND PLAYWRIGHT RONALD
HARWOOD RECENTLY EXPRESSED CONCERN ABOUT THE CASE TO THE DUTCH
MINISTER OF JUSTICE, SAYING IT WAS JEOPARDIZING THE EXEMPLARY
ROLE OF HOLLAND WHEN IT COMES TO THE FREEDOM OF OPINION. (SIGNED)
NEB/AVE/PCH/MMK
09-Jun-94 1:15 PM EDT (1715 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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