Building an equal partnership of mutual respect

The Jakarta Post, Retno LP Marsudi, Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Jakarta,March 11, 2020

President Joko Widodo (right) accompanied by First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo (second left)
and Dutch King Willem Alexander (second right) accompanied by Queen Maxima planting
trees during a state visit to Bogor Palace, West Java, Tuesday (10/3/2020). (Antara/
Sigid Kurniawan)

“The ongoing global economic and geopolitical volatility will not keep Indonesia and the Netherlands from advancing their long-standing cooperation” — that may be the right tone to begin the narrative on the state visit of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima to Indonesia.

On Tuesday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo greeted the Dutch king and queen at Bogor Palace in West Java.

The visit sends the clear message that the two countries aspire to advance their ties going forward. It will surely create a new momentum for the Indonesian-Dutch partnership. The visit also instils not only increased confidence of Dutch investment in Indonesia but also strategic trust in the long run.

The visit produces numerous concrete deliverables in various sectors at the government-to-government as well as the business-to-business level. These include eight government initiatives in important sectors such as sustainable palm oil production, cooperation on infectious diseases control, waste management, the circular economy, water management, aviation cooperation, capacity-building of healthcare professionals, as well as women, peace and security.

On the business side, the king’s 190-strong business delegation has met with hundreds of Indonesian business counterparts and concluded investment and business deals amounting to US$1 billion. These include agreements on dairy products, oil and gas, agriculture, infrastructure and renewable energy.

However, these achievements did not come overnight. In fact, in the last seven decades, both sides have taken significant steps to strengthen bilateral ties.

I was the Indonesian ambassador in The Hague in 2013, when Indonesia and the Netherlands signed a joint declaration on a comprehensive partnership that laid out the modalities for concrete cooperation. This was an important building block to mature our bilateral cooperation into what we have today and what we will harvest tomorrow.

After more than 70 years, it is undeniable that the bond between the two countries has had its share of challenges. While we cannot deny the past of Indonesia-Netherlands relations, we can choose to fully capitalize on the potential of future cooperation for the benefit of both nations.

Read also: A time to remember

Therefore, the goal for our shared future must be clear, which is pursuing a forward-looking partnership that really benefits both countries and peoples.

There are three things that the two countries should advance together to attain common goals for a solid and mutually beneficial partnership.

First and fundamentally, both countries must remain committed to the common values of mutual respect and principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Second, the Indonesian-Dutch partnership must produce long-term and concrete economic benefits for our two peoples.

The Netherlands is and should continue to be Indonesia’s strategic partner for trade and investment. In 2019, the Netherlands was Indonesia’s largest investment partner in the European region, the second-largest trading partner and the fourth-largest tourism partner.

Our political solidarity in furthering the common cause of sustainability is also strong. In promoting sustainable palm oil in Europe, for instance, it is evident that we can rely on the Netherlands as our friend. Last year, together with my colleague, Sigrid Kaag, the Dutch minister for foreign trade and cooperation development, we signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on joint production of sustainable palm oil in New York, the United States. King Willem-Alexander’s current visit has also brought an impetus toward the progression of sustainable production of palm oil through the conclusion of a technical arrangement that will focus on capacity-building for Indonesian smallholder farmers.

This is a good reflection of how trust is an important pillar of bilateral cooperation, as also exemplified through the Netherlands’ support in the establishment of the Indonesia-European Union Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade in 2016.

Third, Indonesia and the Netherlands must continue to promote the universal common values of multilateralism, diplomacy and democracy, promoting habits of dialogue and peaceful dispute settlement to tackle shared global challenges amid rising tensions, intolerance and unilateralism.

Peacekeeping and counterterrorism are among our signature areas of collaboration on the world stage.

Indonesia and the Netherlands were among the core countries facilitating and supporting the Untied Nations' secretary-general’s Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative to rally member states and other crucial stakeholders to fulfil their obligation in strengthening UN peacekeeping operations.

Both nations also need to stand shoulder to shoulder in the global fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

Deepening the promotion of democracy, pluralism and tolerance are other important areas of cooperation to further develop. The Bali Democracy Forum could become the platform to jointly advance these shared values.

Women, peace and security shall be another hallmark of our bilateral cooperation. The partnership aspires to deepen the capacity of women to promote peace and security, in line with the formation of the ASEAN Women Mediators Network and the Afghanistan-Indonesia Women Network last March.

Read also: King Willem-Alexander, please recognize Indonesia’s Independence Day

In conclusion, another historical step was taken with the king of the Netherlands’ visit to Indonesia, in the very year when Indonesia celebrates its 75th year of independence.

The history binding our two countries together is not an easy one. This dark period should not be repeated in the future.

King Alexander stated that “today, we warmly congratulate the people of Indonesia as you celebrate 75 years of independence. The past cannot be erased and will have to be acknowledged by each generation in turn.” King Alexander also expressed his regret and apologized for excessive violence on the part of the Dutch in those years.

Let us together build a better and stronger relationship, one that is based on mutual respect and mutual interests.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.

King Willem-Alexander and Indonesian president Joko Widodo. Photo: AP Photo/
Achmad Ibrahim, Pool 

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Dutch King Returns Prince Diponegoro's Golden Kris to Jokowi

From left, Dutch Queen Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti, Dutch King Willem-Alexander, 

President Joko Widodo and Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim observe 

Prince Diponegoro's golden kris at the Bogor Palace in Bogor, West Java, on Tuesday. 

(Antara Photo/Sigid Kurniawan)

Dutch King Returns Prince Diponegoro's Golden Kris to Jokowi

Jakarta Globe, 10 March 2020

From left, Dutch Queen Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti, Dutch King Willem-Alexander, 

President Joko Widodo and Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim observe 

Prince Diponegoro's golden kris at the Bogor Palace in Bogor, West Java, on Tuesday. 

(Antara Photo/Sigid Kurniawan)

Jakarta. After nearly two centuries, a golden kris belonging to Indonesia's national hero Prince Diponegoro was returned by the Dutch King Willem-Alexander, here on a three-day state visit with Queen Máxima and a 130-strong delegation, to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo at the Bogor Palace on Tuesday.

The golden kris was placed in a glass box not far from the podium where President Jokowi and King Willem-Alexander held a joint press statement.

Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim was seen explaining how the golden kris came into Dutch hands to the President and the King.

The Dutch government had returned several of Prince Diponegoro's belongings in 1968, but the golden kris was not included. 

The kris was reportedly lost but was later found at the Volkenkunde Museum in Leiden.

A team of Dutch and Indonesian researchers has confirmed the authenticity of the golden kris.

Prince Diponegoro was a Javanese royal, the eldest son of Sultan Hamengkubuwono III of Yogyakarta, who led a crusade against Dutch colonial rule in the 1825-1830 Java War.

The war, in which 200,000 people died including 8,000 Dutch, ended with the prince's capture on March 28, 1830.

His famous golden kris was seized by the Dutch government during his famous capture when he was tricked into a fake negotiation – the subject of one of Indonesian painter Raden Saleh's most well-known paintings.

Colonel Jan-Baptist Cleerens gave Prince Diponegoro's golden kris as a gift to King Willem I in 1831.

Apart from returning the heirloom to Indonesia, the Dutch royal visit is intended to increase bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands.

"This is an excellent opportunity to work together for a future relationship between Indonesia and the Netherlands," King Willem-Alexander said.

Dutch monarch offers apology for past ‘excessive violence’

The Jakarta Post, Marchio Irfan Gorbiano, March 10, 2020

Dutch King Willem-Alexander (second right) and Queen Maxima (right) return after
laying a wreath during their visit to the Heroes Cemetery in Jakarta on March 10.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands are on a five-day
visit to Indonesia, a former Dutch colony. ( AFP/BAY ISMOYO)

Dutch King Willem-Alexander has offered an apology over "excessive violence" suffered by Indonesians during the early years of Indonesian independence, acknowledging the period as a "painful separation".

The statement was conveyed by the king after he and Queen Maxima were hosted by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in an official ceremony at the Bogor Palace in West Java on Tuesday.

"In line with earlier statements by my government, I would like to express my regret and apologies for the excessive violence on the part of the Dutch in those years," Willem said during a joint press statement on Tuesday.

"And I do so in the full realization that the pain and sorrow of the families affected continue to be felt today."

Willem's statement reversed previous Dutch monarchs’ stance of refusing to apologize for the nation’s past war crimes in the country. During the last state visit by a Dutch monarch in 1995, Queen Beatrix was prevented by then-prime minister Wim Kok from offering an apology, saying the Netherlands was not ready.

Indonesia declared independence on Aug. 17, 1945, but the Dutch only recognized its sovereignty on Dec. 27, 1949.

The Dutch government had apologized several times for its colonial troops’ war crimes conducted between 1945 and 1949 in Indonesia.

In 2013, then-Dutch ambassador to Indonesia Tjeerd de Zwaan addressed an apology to 10 widows of men who were summarily executed in a series of mass killings in South Sulawesi between December 1946 and February 1947 during military operations by Dutch troops under Raymond Pierre Paul Westerling.

The king’s four-day state visit kicked off on Tuesday. It went ahead despite the recent announcement of 19 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indonesia.

The Dutch king also expressed his desire to see a stronger tie between Indonesia and the Netherlands.

"Indonesia has a long tradition of religious tolerance and can play a constructive part in this respect. It's important to continue working together to foster peace, justice and the protection of minorities based on respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity," King Willem-Alexander said.

"And we are keen to work together with you toward this end."

Speaking before Willem, Jokowi emphasized the need for the two countries to forge ahead in a relationship of mutual respect.

"Of course, we cannot erase the history, but we can learn from the past. It serves as a lesson for our commitment to grow a relationship that is equal and with mutual respect and mutually-beneficial," the President said.

Death toll mounts as Papua hit by bloody unrest

Yahoo – AFP, September 24, 2019

Torched shops and cars line a street in Wamena in Indonesia's Papua province
after deadly rioting (AFP Photo/Vina Rumbewas)

Wamena (Indonesia) (AFP) - More than two dozen people have died in riots in Papua, authorities said Tuesday, sparking calls for an investigation into one of the bloodiest eruptions of violence to hit the restive Indonesian territory in years.

Thousands fled to shelters following an outburst of bloodshed that saw civilians burned alive in buildings set ablaze by protesters, with at least 30 people killed and dozens injured since Monday.

Papua, on the western half of New Guinea island, has been paralysed after weeks of protests fuelled by anger over racism, as well as fresh calls for self-rule in the impoverished territory.

"This is one of the bloodiest days in the past 20 years in Papua," said Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia's executive director.

"Indonesian authorities must initiate a prompt, impartial, independent and effective investigation," he added.

Some 26 people died in Wamena city where hundreds demonstrated and burned down a government office and other buildings on Monday, authorities said, as images showed burnt-out buildings and charred cars overturned on rubbish-strewn streets.

"Some were burned, some were hacked to death... some were trapped in fires," local military commander Chandra Dianto told AFP.

Most victims were non-Papuans, authorities said, threatening an escalation in violence against migrants from other parts of the Southeast Asian archipelago.

A soldier and three civilians also died in the provincial capital Jayapura, where security forces and stone-throwing protesters clashed Monday.

The soldier was stabbed to death and three students died from rubber bullet wounds, authorities said, without elaborating.

Some 700 people had been rounded up for questioning, with several hundred later released.

'Mostly migrants'

Some 4,000 residents, including mothers and their children and the elderly, sought shelter at military and police posts, government buildings and a local church. Most were migrants.

A destroyed police truck in Wamena, Papua province, after deadly riots in 

Indonesia (AFP Photo/Vina Rumbewas)

"There are local Papuans who helped protect migrants by hiding them in their homes, but when word got out their houses were also targeted," said Yudi, an Indonesian businessman living in Wamena, whose wife left Tuesday for security reasons.

"Wamena is destroyed," he added.

The majority of Papuans are Christian and ethnic Melanesian with few cultural ties to the rest of Muslim-majority Indonesia. Most previous clashes have been between separatists and security forces.

One analyst threw cold water on the idea that migrants may have been targeted in the fires.

"I doubt... that this was intentional, or at least planned," Damien Kingsbury, a professor of international politics at Australia's Deakin University.

Wamena resident Naftali Pawika said renewed violence was driving a wedge between neighbours.

"This conflict is splitting migrants and indigenous Papuans apart," said the 37-year-old Papuan.

Monday's protests in Wamena -- mostly involving high-schoolers -- were reportedly sparked by racist comments made by a teacher, but police have disputed that account as a hoax.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua described Monday's violence as a "massacre" and said that 17 Papuan high school students had been gunned down by Indonesian security forces.

Neither the military nor the separatist movement's claims could be independently verified.

Conflicting accounts are common in Papua and the government appears to have renewed a region-wide Internet service shutdown.

Jakarta has said the riots were meant to draw attention to Papuan independence at this week's UN General Assembly.

A low-level separatist insurgency has simmered for decades in the former Dutch colony after Jakarta took over the mineral-rich region in the 1960s. A US-sponsored vote to stay within the archipelago was widely viewed as rigged.

Weeks of protests broke out across Papua and in other parts of Indonesia after the mid-August arrest and tear-gassing of dozens of Papuan students, who were also racially abused, in the country's second-biggest city, Surabaya.

Children of Indonesian men executed by Dutch demand damages

DutchNews, March 31, 2017

More than 500 children of men executed in Indonesia during the independence war of 1946 to 1949 are preparing damages claims against the Dutch state, the AD said on Friday. 

Lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld has sent a list of 520 names to the defence and foreign affairs ministries, urging the state to settle their claims out of court, the paper said. 

She wants the government to agree to give the children damages the same rights as the widows of the men killed. They are able to make an uncontested claim for damages, outside the courts. 

The state, however, has said it wants to wait until the outcome of a test case brought by the children of men executed in southern Sulawesi. A lower court ruled in 2015 that they are entitled to compensation like their mothers. 

The Dutch military interventions in Indonesia, or Dutch Indies as it was known then, followed the proclamation of the independent Republic of Indonesia in 1945 and lasted until the country formally gained independence in 1949 after a bloody struggle. 

At the end of 2011, the Netherlands finally formally apologised for the massacre of hundreds of men and boys in the Javanese village of Rawagede in 1947. 

Last year, the Dutch government agreed to set up a major inquiry into the structural use of violence in Indonesia.

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Dutch cabinet agrees to fund research into violence in Indonesia

Dutch cabinet agrees to fund research into violence in Indonesia

DutchNews, December 2, 2016

The Dutch government has agreed to finance a major investigation into the structural use of violence during the end of Dutch rule in its former colonies in Indonesia. 

Ministers agreed on Friday to fund the project after new research indicated that extreme violence, including torture and executions, were normal during the colonial wars, which ran from 1945 to 1949. 

In a statement, the cabinet said it realises that the research could ‘cause pain to soldiers who served in Indonesia’. 

However, it is important that the research takes into account the ‘difficult circumstances most veterans operated in, the violence on the Indonesia side…. and the responsibilities of the political, administrative and military leadership.’ 

During the battle for independence, some 100,000 Indonesians and almost 5,000 Dutch nationals died. According to the Telegraaf, the ruling VVD only agreed to back the research if violence by both the Dutch and the Indonesians came under the spotlight. 

Report

‘Dutch soldiers left a trail of burning kampongs and piles of bodies throughout the Indonesian archipelago,’ Swiss-Dutch historian Rémy Limpach said in his report, which was published in September. 

Until now, the official line had been that there were only isolated incidents of excessive violence.

‘The Netherlands has always had difficulty with this dark side of its own history,’ Socialist MP Harry van Bommel told the Volkskrant on Friday. ‘But I think this research is the start of a road towards recognition. It is primarily about political responsibility.’ 

Bloody struggle 

The Dutch military interventions in Indonesia, or Dutch Indies as it was known then, followed the proclamation of the independent Republic of Indonesia in 1945 and lasted until the country formally gained independence in 1949 after a bloody struggle. 

At the end of 2011, the Netherlands finally formally apologised for the massacre of hundreds of men and boys in the Javanese village of Rawagede in 1947. 

The Netherlands has also been ordered in court to pay compensation in connection with a bloodbath in southern Sulawesi. 

The research will be carried out by three Dutch institutes who submitted a specific research proposal in 2012, but failed to secure funding, the Telegraaf said. 

Indonesia says not to blame for missing WWII shipwrecks

Yahoo – AFP, Dessy Sagita, November 17, 2016

The Dutch and Indonesian naval commanders laid a wreath during a 2014 ceremony
 to commemorate the 1150 sailors who died in the Battle of the Java Sea in
1942 (AFP Photo)

Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia refused to take the blame Thursday for the disappearance of at least six British and Dutch World War II shipwrecks -- considered war graves -- that investigators believe could have been salvaged for scrap.

Former colonial ruler The Netherlands has launched a probe into how three Dutch navy ships seemingly vanished from the bed of the Java Sea, while Britain has urged Indonesia to investigate what has happened to three of its vessels.

It is believed the military wrecks -- lost in 1942 during the Battle of the Java Sea -- were removed by illegal scavengers looking for scrap metal, an effort that could have taken years.

More than 900 Dutch and 250 Indo-Dutch sailors died during the battle in which the Allied navies suffered a disastrous defeat by the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Indonesian authorities have sought to distance themselves from the mystery, saying they could not be expected to protect the sites without assistance.

"The Dutch government cannot blame the Indonesian government because they never asked us to protect those ships," said Bambang Budi Utomo, head of the National Archeological Centre under the Ministry of Education and Culture.

"As there was no agreement or announcement, when the ships go missing, it is not our responsibility."

Amateur divers in 2002 discovered the long-lost wrecks of three Dutch ships, 60 years after they sank while in action against Japanese forces.

But an international expedition that sailed to the wreck site ahead of next year's 75th anniversary of the battle was shocked to discover the wrecks had vanished.

Britain expressed its distress at the disappearance of its own warships and asked Indonesia to "take appropriate action" to protect the sites from further disturbance.

But Utomo said Indonesia did not have the resources to maintain a constant patrol over its vast archipelago, a hotspot for other criminal enterprises like illegal fishing and people smuggling.

Row over naval war graves (AFP Photo)

'Looters are fearless'

Treasure hunters and scrap collectors are lured to Indonesia's relic-rich seas, experts say, where countless vessels have gone to a watery grave over centuries of trade, colonial conquest and war.

"Looting is really huge, not only on these World War II shipwrecks, but also on ancient shipwrecks," said Veronique Degroot, a Jakarta-based archaeologist.

The prize find for scavengers targeting the warships would be the huge bronze propellers used to power these juggernauts -- a far more lucrative find than iron or other scrap, according to Utomo.

"The looting must have been going on for years for such a huge ship to disappear," he said.

"Looters are fearless," he added, saying that divers risked death and injury sucking air through tubes to retrieve valuable scrap and antiquities, taking the wreck apart piece by piece.

While some larger, commercial operations use cranes and platforms to wrench heavy loads from the seabed, smaller ventures keep a low profile as they ship metal to scrapyards along Indonesia's thousands of kilometres of coastline.

Australia has been working closely with Indonesia to protect HMAS Perth -- which sunk off Java in World War II, claiming hundreds of lives -- after discovering in 2013 that the warship was being plundered for brass.

A spokesman for the Indonesian navy said the missing ships should not have been disturbed as they were war graves.

"However, the Indonesian navy cannot monitor all areas all the time," spokesman Gig Jonias Mozes Sipasulta told AFP.

"If they ask why the ships are missing, I'm going to ask them back, why didn't they guard the ships? They should have been more proactive."

Naval warships and war graves are protected under international law that makes the desecration of such shipwrecks illegal.

The HNLMS Kortenaer in the 1930s

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Royal revolution as Indonesian sultan taps female heir

Yahoo – AFP, Olivia Rondonuwu, June 29, 2016

Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, governor and sultan of the tiny kingdom of Yogyakarta,
 with his wife, Queen consort Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Hemas, at his 70th birthday
celebrations (AFP Photo/Goh Chai Hin)

Yogyakarta (Indonesia) (AFP) - Courtiers in elaborate outfits danced to the gentle tinkling of Javanese music as the Sultan of Yogyakarta looked on, a scene that has played out in much the same way for centuries in the tiny Indonesian kingdom.

But the recent ceremony to mark the 70th birthday of Hamengku Buwono X, Indonesia's last sultan with real political power, had one key difference from previous celebrations -- many of his relatives refused to attend.

A bitter feud has erupted at the heart of the kingdom on Java island, after the Muslim ruler signalled he wants his eldest daughter to become the sultanate's first female monarch after he leaves the throne.

Indonesia is home to numerous small kingdoms. But while other provinces now elect political rulers and their sultans are largely ceremonial figures, Yogyakarta's sultan serves as both royal leader and governor of the city and its surrounding areas.

Jakarta allowed the Yogyakarta royal family to keep power as the central government was grateful for the sultanate's support for independence in 1945 after a long period of Dutch colonial rule.

The sultan still maintains many of the trappings of Javanese royal rule in the kingdom, which has a history stretching back to the 16th century.

His main residence is a traditional Javanese palace complex, known as a Kraton, and important events are celebrated with much pomp and circumstance.

But the sultan's push to make the eldest of his five daughters -- he has no sons -- the first female monarch of Yogyakarta has transformed him into an unlikely champion for gender equality, and threatens to overturn hundreds of years of tradition in the Muslim, conservative sultanate.

Sultan Hamengku Buwono X watches a dance performance to celebrate his

70th birthday and 27th year in power in Yogyakarta (AFP Photo/Goh Chai Hin)

Rooster or hen?

It has sparked a furious row with his family, who say he is breaking rules laid down to govern the sultanate, amid speculation that his brothers were jockeying to fill his position.

"A female sultan is an impossibility," the sultan's cousin, Kanjeng Raden Tumenggung Jatiningrat, told AFP.

"One symbol in this palace is a rooster -- so if we have a queen should we change it to a hen?"

The rooster is a symbol of bravery.

He added that a female ruler could not oversee rituals in the mosque or other ceremonies that have traditionally been led by men.

Hamengku Buwono, who has been on the throne 27 years, last year set in motion the process for his daughter to become monarch by giving her the title "Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Mangkubumi".

While he has not confirmed publicly that she is the crown princess, in Javanese culture -- where much is conveyed through symbolism rather than anything said out loud -- the signs are clear.

The title Mangkubumi, which translates from Indonesian as "the one who holds the Earth", was the same one given to the sultan when he was made crown prince several decades ago.

She was also entrusted with the task of "attempting to bring safety, happiness and prosperity to the world", another indication she would succeed her father.

And the sultan made small changes to his own lengthy royal title -- removing a word normally only used by men and tweaking another -- to make it gender-neutral, opening the door for a woman to take over.

A traditional royal orchestra performs for Sultan Hamengku Buwono X during a 

ceremony to mark his 70th birthday and 27th year in power in Yogyakarta (AFP

Photo/Goh Chai Hin)

'An Islamic kingdom'

The sultan has defended the move, saying there is nothing stopping him from making changes in his kingdom and he has to adapt as Indonesia modernises.

"The Yogyakarta palace doesn't have a hereditary tradition that can't be changed, and all ruling sultans can introduce changes," he told local media.

Still, many disagree with him, from his relatives to local Muslim groups.

"The king should maintain the tradition as it was originally, because this is an Islamic kingdom," said Abdurrahman, from local hardline group Islamic Jihad Front, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

But it is not the first time there has been a female monarch in diverse Indonesia -- nowadays Muslim-majority, but which has had Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms over the centuries and is home to about 300 different ethnic groups.

Queens at times ruled over the ancient Majapahit empire, which covered large parts of what is now Indonesia from the late 13th to the early 16th centuries, as they did in Aceh, on western Sumatra island, when it was an independent sultanate.

And the sultan's approximately four million subjects in Yogyakarta and the surrounding area, who view him as a demi-God, have had only a muted a reaction, with most preferring to keep out of royal affairs.

Nevertheless the row looks unlikely to be resolved any time soon, and it cast a long shadow over the recent celebration, which marked the anniversary of the sultan's coronation as well as his birthday.

The solemn melodies from the "gamelans" -- a traditional Indonesian instrumental ensemble, made up of bronze percussion instruments -- were a million miles from the seething tensions swirling around the royal succession.

"About 90 percent of the family don't respect him anymore," raged Gusti Bendoro Pangeran Haryo Prabukusumo, a step-brother of the ruler who snubbed the event.

Dutch FM: Confront Painful Parts of Indonesia-Netherlands History

Jakarta Globe, Bastiaan Scherpen, March 24, 2016

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, left, with his Indonesian counterpart
Retno Marsudi in Jakarta on Thursday. (Reuters Photo/Darren Whiteside)

Jakarta. Indonesia and the Netherlands must have the courage to confront the difficult periods and events in their common past to be able to move forward together, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders told students in Jakarta on Thursday.

"After the birth of the Republik Indonesia on Aug. 17, 1945, we experienced a painful separation, a process marked by terrible violence," Koenders said. "The deployment of military force in 1947 put the Netherlands on the wrong side of history."

"The years after the Proklamasi [declaration of independence] had lasting consequences for those suffering during that time — both Indonesians and Dutch," the minister added. "I believe this is a history that we should have the courage to examine and discuss, lest we forget. And we preferably do this together."

Historical sensitivities

Only in 2005 did a Dutch foreign minister, Ben Bot, openly recognize Aug. 17, 1945 as the date when the Indonesian republic came into existence, clearing the way for better bilateral ties. Previously, Dutch officials had insisted that Indonesia only became independent on Dec. 27, 1949, when the Netherlands formally relinquished sovereignty to its former colony.

Relations between the two countries have improved significantly since Bot's acknowledgement, and the formal apology by the Dutch government in 2013 for massacres committed in South Sulawesi to quell resistance against Dutch rule.

Some experts in Indonesia and in the Netherlands have been calling for a more open-minded approach to the common Dutch-Indonesian past for years.

Koenders insisted on Thursday that "even with all its ups and downs, our shared history offers a sound basis for building a shared future."

Agreeing to disagree

At the Dutch cultural center Erasmus Huis in Kuningan, South Jakarta, where he delivered his speech, the minister told the Jakarta Globe that he believed Indonesia-Netherlands relations currently were "really at a high level."

"They are at a high level because we discuss all issues openly, with a lot of trust in each other," Koenders explained. "As you know, for instance we have different views on the death penalty, so we will discuss that — not only in terms of judging, but also in working, for instance right now, on drugs policy, together."

Koenders also met with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi and other ministers earlier in the day. Human rights, long an important pillar of Dutch foreign policy, were on the agenda, the Dutch government said in a statement.

Last year the Dutch ambassador in Jakarta was briefly recalled to The Hague after the execution of a Dutch drug convict in Indonesia. The move does not appear to have had a major impact on trade ties, however, as the Netherlands still ranked fourth in investment realization in Indonesia for 2015, outperforming economic giants such as China and the United States.

The rejection of the death penalty is a point on which "we agree to disagree [with Indonesia]," the minister told the Globe. He added that "we have questions whether it [capital punishment] can be effective in tackling drugs issues," but that does not prevent the two countries from working together "in a very productive and positive ambiance."

On the rights of LGBT people in Indonesia, which has been a highly controversial topic in recent months, Koenders said: "For me, that's a question of human rights, it's not an issue to be politicized."

"They have the right to be protected [from violence], all over the world, and I think that is also something that your minister of security [Luhut Panjaitan] mentioned in his public statement."

Luhut, Indonesia's coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, said last month that LGBT people, as citizens of Indonesia, have the right tobe protected against violence and to be treated humanely, although he also said he believed they needed to be "cured."

Areas of cooperation

In his speech, Koenders identified several main issues that he said are important both for the European Union and for the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is dominated by Indonesia due to the size of its economy and population.

The minister singled out migration crises, foreign terrorist fighters and domestic violent extremists, freedom of navigation and maritime security, and keeping the Internet open and secure. In practical terms, he said Dutch-Indonesia cooperation was centered around the maritime economy, education and issues related to the rule of law.

On the tensions in the South China Sea, where China has been increasingly assertive in staking its claim to almost the entire area, Koenders said that the Netherlands does not take sides in territorial disputes. He added however that "freedom of navigation and maritime security are absolutely vital, not only for your [Indonesia's] safety and prosperity, but also for the rest of the world."

"There are many opportunities for us to deepen our friendship and collaboration even further, for example in the areas of trade and investment, the judicial sector and counterterrorism," he said. "Our relationship should be forward-looking. It should be an equal partnership. We should build on our common past, not be hostages to it."

Equal Partners: Indonesian FM Retno Marsudi Meets Dutch Counterpart Bert Koenders @Portal_Kemlu_RI @DutchMFA pic.twitter.com/2KloUnMOrc

— The Jakarta Globe (@thejakartaglobe) March 24, 2016

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As Dutch FM Visits Indonesia, Human Rights Dilemma Lingers