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.

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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Germany ready to support Turkey's EU accession process, says Merkel

Chancellor Merkel has said Germany will support Turkey's EU membership bid, during a visit aimed at securing Ankara's help in stemming a migrant influx to Europe. Turkish PM Davutoglu hailed Europe's "better approach."

Deutsche Welle, 18 Oct 2015

Merkel and Davutoglu shake hands at a joint-press conference

Germany is ready to accelerate Turkey's EU accession process, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday at a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Merkel spoke of organizing the accesion process "more dynamically."

"Germany is ready this year to open Chapter 17, and make preparations for (Chapters) 23 and 24. We can talk about the details," she said.

Kanzlerin #Merkel zu Gesprächen in #Türkei eingetroffen. Im Mittelpunkt: Syrien+Kooperation in der Flüchtlingskrise. pic.twitter.com/15vLrwt6jM

— Steffen Seibert (@RegSprecher) 18 oktober 2015

Merkel's statement comes as she visits Turkish leaders on Sunday in a bid to secure Ankara's support in stemming the current migrant influx into the EU.

'Better approach'

Davutoglu hailed the EU's latest moves to foster collaboration between Brussels and Ankara as a "better approach."

"Unfortunately Turkey was left alone by the international community in terms of burden sharing. We are very pleased there is a better approach now. The issue of sharing going forward is very important," Davutoglu said.

The Turkish premier also praised Merkel for "not turning a blind eye" to the crisis.

However, Davutoglu noted that "significant new waves of migration" were likely to occur if a political solution to the Syrian conflict does not emerge.

Turkey has taken in more than two million Syrian refugees since a civil war erupted there in 2011, according to UN figures.

Thousands of refugees have crossed the Aegean Sea to enter EU member
state Greece from Turkey

Whole package?

According to officials, the EU offered Ankara an aid package of at least 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) along with an easing EU visa restrictions for Turkish citizens, which Merkel and Davutoglu discussed.

The German chancellor later met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said he asked Merkel to support Turkey's EU membership bid. Erdogan added that he also asked France, Britain and Spain for support.

The EU is struggling to cope with the current influx of asylum seekers, with more than half a million migrants having crossed into the 28-nation bloc in 2015, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported in September.

ls/tj (Reuters, AFP, dpa)

Germany, Turkey hail progress in handling refugee crisis http://t.co/KzSFwV7skC pic.twitter.com/HgwlJBVOOH

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 18 oktober 2015

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Australia doctors demand children be freed from #immigration detention http://t.co/oSHkZyvn5V pic.twitter.com/s9yLBKHA2Z

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The Future Is Bright for Europe, Indonesia

Jakarta Globe, Giacomo Tognini,  May 23, 2014

According to data from the Ministry of Manpower, 6,351 Europeans currently
call Indonesia their temporary home. (JG Photo/Boy T. Harjanto)

Jakarta. Indonesians and Europeans don’t always get along. When asked how they felt about one another, one source asserted that “British people keep to themselves,” while another exclaimed that “Indonesians are rude.” Stereotypes abound whenever diverse cultures meet, even in the supposedly globalized world we live in today. Indonesia and Europe are no exception, yet trade, travel, and cooperation between the two continue to grow.

The two cultures made contact for the first time when Portuguese explorers reached the Sunda Kingdom in 1512, leading to centuries of Dutch and Portuguese colonization of the archipelago. Nowadays, an estimated 6,351 Europeans live in Indonesia, 13.8 percent of all the expatriate residing in the country, according to a May 10 report from the Ministry of Manpower and Transportation.

While the history between the two is hardly pleasant, Indonesia’s rapid economic development and the advent of the European Union have led to strengthened ties and increased cultural exchange. According to a December 2013 report by the Indonesia Diaspora Network, 185,512 Indonesians make the Old Continent their home, in addition to approximately 700,000 people of mixed or Indonesian descent in the Netherlands.

In the post-war era, Europeans arrived to work in diplomacy and Indonesia’s expanding industries, and many more traveled to experience its natural and cultural wonders. Conversely, some Indonesians emigrated to seek a better life in Europe during economic trouble at home.

Whereas Europeans continue to come to Indonesia for the same reasons, today people increasingly move in the opposite direction for higher education. The European Union’s recent push to attract more foreign students to study in its renowned universities by providing scholarships through its Erasmus Mundus education outreach program has been successful. Around 7,000 Indonesians studied in the EU as of 2013, many of whom receive financial aid from the European Commission.

However, a clear cultural divide remains between Indonesians and Europeans across the continent.

“I definitely love living here, but I have to say it takes a lot of effort to make friends,” said an Indonesian student in London. “My closest friends here aren’t British.”

When it comes to other nationalities, she had a different perspective: “French people are a bit condescending, I feel like Italians are the friendlier bunch.”

Europeans in Jakarta mention a similar experience adapting to their host culture.

“We have a completely different mentality because we are separated by centuries of history,” said an Italian woman who has lived in Indonesia for a year. While she admires the natural beauty of the country, she “cannot stand the traffic that paralyzes this city and the complete lack of respect for the environment.”

The EU and the Indonesian government have long collaborated on a variety of bilateral projects to aid in the resolution of significant issues. The Blue Book on EU-Indonesian Development Cooperation published in 2013 outlines six areas of partnership: education, economic cooperation, the environment and climate change, good governance and human rights, disaster preparedness and conflict prevention and health, water and sanitation. Many of these target specific regions of the island nation that require more help in certain areas and less in others to maximize efficiency.

Along with the EU as a whole, Indonesia is among the members of the G-20, an organization that represents the world’s 20 largest economies. Indonesia is now the 10th largest, as revealed in a World Bank report published in 2014. As a result of Indonesia’s growing economic clout, the EU is seeking a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a deep free trade agreement. The union was Indonesia’s second largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) behind Japan in statistics released by the Indonesia Investment Coordination Board in 2012, although it has fallen in the rankings since due to slower yearly increases of investment compared to South Korea and Singapore.

As the second-largest democracy and the world’s largest Muslim nation, Indonesia has tremendous geopolitical importance. This is likely to increase, given the archipelago’s strategic location in a region witnessing the ascent of China and India. Europe is taking note: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited at least four European countries in his second term, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Indonesia between 2012 and 2013. These are signs of the country’s rise as an influential player in the international arena.

In the future, a continent emerging from an economic crisis and still searching for its place in a global chessboard dominated by the United States and China could gain from increased cooperation with a nation seeking a role commensurate to its massive demographic and economic expansion.

The two have much to learn from one another. Sarah Braga, a Portuguese-Luxembourg student in Jakarta, believes that “Europe has become a very individualistic region, whereas in Indonesia it’s more about a sense of community.”

“Indonesians are a people that know how to laugh and be happy even in times of difficulty,” said an Italian resident of Jakarta. “This is something that Europeans should learn from.”

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Dutch state owes millions to Dutch Indonesians, book claims

DutchNews.nl, Tuesday 18 March 2014

(Volkskrant/ANP)

The Netherlands owes millions of euros to the 380,000 Dutch forced to flee the former Dutch East Indies between 1950 and 1970 and banks and insurance companies also owe them a considerable debt, writes the Volkskrant on Tuesday.

The claim is made by journalist Griselda Molemans whose book ‘Opgevangen in andijvielucht’ (Welcomed by the smell of endive) chronicles the repatriation of thousands of Dutch Indonesians to the Netherlands.

Many had lost the paper work relating to bank accounts and life insurances in the confusion surrounding the Japanese occupation and the Indonesian revolution and so were unable to claim what was theirs.

Report

Molemans bases her findings on a 1945 report from the archives of the Federal Reserve in New York. It says that the 17 largest insurers sold 251.8 million guilders worth of life insurances in the former Dutch colony, the paper writes.

A large part of the unpaid funds were transferred to the United States after the Japanese invasion. The central bank of Indonesia, the Javasche Bank, likewise found a safe place for its gold and deposits.

According to Molemans the proof lies in the American vaults. The Dutch association of insurers denies the administration is in New York. Any claims only go through the Dutch archives.

Transparency

For its part, the Dutch state failed to pay out salaries and pensions to soldiers in the Dutch colonial army. Prisoners of war, citizens and the so-called ‘comfort girls’ never received their share of the Japanese compensation money.

Contrary to what most of the population believed at the time, the Dutch Indonesians were made to pay for their own repatriation and lodgings. The average debt was 15,000 guilders.

The Royal Netherlands institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies KTIVL , which has been championing more research into the colonial war, is quoted as saying the claims are ‘new’.

‘Some redress has been made by the state following earlier claims but claimants never received the sum they were entitled to,’ a spokesman for the institute said.

Silfraire Delhaye, chairman of the Indisch Platform, formed in the wake of the movement to pressure the Dutch government into recognising past wrongs in Indonesia, told the Volkskrant that although the material debt to the Indonesians is still a great one, recuperation of the money is complicated.

‘Many policies and deposits ended up elsewhere. We don’t know why. We need transparency and knowledge.’

The Netherlands Ready to Face Off Against Indonesian Football Team

Jakarta Globe, Ian Dulkowski, May 8, 2013

Netherlands’ Wesley Sneijder, right, celebrates with Giovanni van Bronckhorst
 after scoring in the 2010 World Cup match against Uruguay on July 6, 2010.
(AFP Photo/Thomas Coex).

The Netherlands will play against the Indonesian football team in Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, on June 7.

The Royal Netherlands football association and its Indonesian counterpart signed the contract this week. The Netherlands team manager Louis van Gaal said, “We know that our national team and their players enjoy fantastic support in Indonesia and we are looking forward to bringing Oranje closer to these loyal fans.”

van Gaal added the historical bonds between the countries will make “this visit even more special.”

Jean Paul Decossaux, commercial director of KNVB, said, “We would like to share our know how and experience in football with Indonesia. Therefore a special program will be designed, which will help the Indonesian FA to develop their football knowledge and structure.”

CEO of Nine Sport, partner of the Indonesian FA, Arif Wicaksono, said, “We choose to invite the Netherlands because of three things. First, the world is now entranced by Tiki Taka, which originally came from Holland. Total football was first used by Ajax in 1969 and later on adapted by the Dutch National Team in 1974.

“Secondly, the historical background will make an exciting match as this will be the first match ever between the two nations. And lastly, as we are going to officially register this match with FIFA, this friendly could boost Indonesia in FIFA rankings.”

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Indonesia Looking to 2016 Games

Jakarta Globe, Sandy Pramuji, August 13, 2012

Indonesia's Deni Deni embraces weights celebrating a successful lift
 on the men's 69Kg Group A weightlifting competition at the ExCel venue
 at the London 2012 Olympic Games on July 31, 2012. (Reuters Photo/
Grigory Dukor)

         

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As Britain basked in the feel-good factor of its most successful Olympic performance, Indonesia and many of its Asian peers found themselves going back to the drawing board.

The London Games officially closed on Sunday with no Indonesian athletes taking part in the closing ceremony at the Olympic Stadium. All 22 athletes had returned home earlier.

Indonesia’s Olympics finished well before Sunday, with the country only earning one silver and one bronze medal in men’s weightlifting. Sprinter Fernando Lumain and marathon runner Triyaningsih were the last to compete, and they had left London last Tuesday without adding to the country’s medal count.

This year’s Olympics was one of Indonesia’s worst since making its debut at the 1952 Games in Helsinki. It failed to come home with a gold medal in badminton since the sport gained full Olympic status in 1992. Badminton had produced all six of Indonesia’s Olympic gold medals, but none of the country’s shuttlers managed to even reach the finals in London.

Mixed doubles pair Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir came in as Indonesia’s best hope but left empty-handed, losing in the semifinals before bowing out meekly in the bronze-medal match. When Indonesia did make the headlines, it was for the wrong reasons — Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari were among four women’s doubles pairs disqualified for intentionally playing poorly to receive an easier quarterfinal draw.

Sports officials have offered apologies for the poor results but had few answers on how to stop Indonesia’s slide into irrelevance.

Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng suggested narrowing the country’s focus.

“We have to determine which sports need to be given priority,” he said. “We’ve been too dependent on badminton as a gold mine in the Olympics. I think we will have to pick probably five sports [as top priorities] for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero.”

Sports given priority would receive more funding and other support, the minister added.

He offered no other details of his plan, only saying that badminton and weightlifting would be two of the priority sports and “we’ll use a more scientific approach and technology in training our athletes.”

Weightlifting has consistently produced medals for Indonesia since the 2000 Games, when Lisa Rumbewas won silver in the women’s 48-kilogram division. Triyatno finished second in the men’s 69kg while Eko Yuli Irawan was third in the men’s 62kg.

Lukman, who coached the weightlifting team, said Indonesia’s success was down to keeping up with new training methods and paying attention to details, such as athletes’ diets.

“We’ve been introducing technology such as recording the athletes’ training with slow-motion cameras so they know what to improve,” he said.

Indonesia’s Southeast Asian peers also largely struggled in London. Thailand finished with two silvers and a bronze, a far cry from the two gold and two silver medals it won at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

While Malaysian star Lee Chong Wei had to settle for men’s singles silver, the country earned its first Olympic medal outside badminton when Pandalela Rinong won bronze in women’s 10-meter platform diving.

Asian powerhouse China could not quite emulate its stunning performance from four years ago. It finished the 2008 Games with 100 medals, including 51 gold, but it fell back slightly after leaving home soil. As of Sunday afternoon, China was second in the medals table with 87 overall — 38 gold, 27 silver and 22 bronze — while the United States was first with 46 gold, 29 silver and 29 bronze.

South Korea and Japan also fell back in the table. Iran was the only Asian nation to improve its standing, earning four gold, five silver and three bronze after winning just one gold and one bronze in Beijing.

The host nation, meanwhile, celebrated its best Olympics in a century. Great Britain racked up 29 gold medals and 64 overall to secure third place in the table, beating out Russia.

Its performance was its best since London hosted the Games in 1908. Great Britain topped the table that year with 56 gold medals and 146 overall.

Additional reporting by AP & AFP

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Belarus' Aliaksandra Herasimenia, Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands

 and China's Tang Yi pose with their medals during the women's 100m freestyle

victory ceremony during the London 2012 Olympic Games. (Reuters)

Java Gets Its Chance to Savor Dutch-Indonesian Piano Virtuoso

Jakarta Globe, Katrin Figge, June 17, 2012

Wibi Soerjadi, the 42-year-old Dutch-Indonesian pianist and composer, will
 come to Indonesia in late June and early July for a tour of Java on which he
will perform in Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Solo. (Agency Photo)    

He has played in the world’s most highly esteemed concert halls, accompanied by renowned orchestras: Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein in Vienna, and Carnegie Hall in New York.

Wibi Soerjadi, the 42-year-old Dutch-Indonesian pianist and composer, will come to Indonesia in late June and early July for a tour of Java on which he will perform in Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Solo.

It is a rare treat to witness the performance of a world-class pianist in Indonesia. Because of Wibi’s ancestry, it is that much more exciting.

Born to Indonesian parents in 1970 in Leiden, Wibi studied in Amsterdam at the Sweelinck Conservatory for four years before graduating with a special recognition for his exceptional skills at the piano.

After that he won several prizes, including the National Eurovision Competition for Young Musicians.

It was only the beginning of a stellar career. His recordings have been extremely successful, and in 2005, Wibi was invited to perform at a jubilee concert at Disneyland Resort Paris.

In 2006, he celebrated his 25th year as a pianist with a very special performance: as part of a Franz Liszt recital, Wibi played a recital in Amsterdam using a piano that once belonged to the 19th century Hungarian musician. The next year, he was knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

But it hasn’t been all awards and knighthood for Wibi. At the peak of his career in 2009, he was struck by a strange illness.

Called idiopathic sudden sensor neural hearing loss, it forced him to stop performing, but only for a couple of months. Although he had to cancel an earlier Indonesian tour, he was able to stay creative during his recovery, writing a nine-part composition during his concert-hall hiatus.

The first time he performed again, in Amsterdam, Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad described his concert as “magnificent” and “breathtaking.”

Harry Rolnick, a critic for online magazine Concerto Net, wrote of Wibi’s performance at Carnegie Hall in early 2011: “After a long absence, the Dutch pianist-composer Wibi Soerjadi gave a “recital” last night, though that word is a misnomer. More accurately, Mr. Soerjadi presented two hours of fervor and digital frenzy, dazzling and confounding, where his ten fingers multiplied like dragon’s teeth, where his piano spat out thousands of notes per second.”

Rolnick compared Wibi’s performance to an enchanting show of a magician and praised his ability to combine classical music with show business.

“Mr. Soerjadi is not tyrannized by his fingers, he relishes the sound, speed and virtuosity which puts every internal or introspective thought out of his mind,” he wrote. “It was fun to hear him, it was the most dazzling entertainment imaginable.”

In addition to playing the piano, Wibi is also an accomplished composer.

He wrote, among others, specially commissioned pieces for Karen Venhuizen, the Dutch figure skater, and Anky van Grunsven, the dressage rider, who reveled in the World Championships and Olympic Games in 2008 to the sounds of Wibi’s “Dance of Devotion.”

Wibi Soerjadi

Piano recital

Wednesday, June 20, from 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, July 5, from 7: 30 p.m.

Erasmus Huis,Jl. Rasuna Said Kav. S-3,Kuningan, South Jakarta

www.erasmushuis.org

Dutch Star Urges More Youth Power in Football

Jakarta Globe, Wimbo Satwiko, June 26, 2011

Former Dutch team captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst, center, coaching young
athletes during a football lesson on Saturday in Jakarta, where he had played
a friendly. (Antara Photo)

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Former Netherlands captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst says Indonesia must improve training programs for young talent if it wants to produce a top-flight football team, particularly improving Merah Putih.

“You need to build a good youth system in the association [PSSI], not the club,” he said during a recent visit to Jakarta for a friendly. “That’s how we started in Holland.

“You need to have a good training program from around 6 or 7 years old until they reach 17 to 18 years old,” he added.

It’s no surprise, then, that Van Bronckhorst, who claims Indonesian ancestry through his Maluku-born mother, has plans to establish a second headquarters in Indonesia for his youth-centered organization.

The Giovanni van Bronckhorst Foundation, based in Rotterdam, has been spearheading projects geared toward helping children and teenagers, including Birth Center Sophia and Van Bronckhorst Academy.

In particular, the football academy — based at his former team Feyenoord’s home ground, De Kuip Stadium — not only schools children on the fine art of field play, but also teaches basic language and math.

It also focuses on helping children with learning disabilities.

“Some kids may want to be footballers, but a majority of them won’t become one,” Van Bronckhorst said. “So providing them with good education and emphasizing health and fitness become more important.

“Those are the things we want to do — build a perfect environment where children can develop properly.

“While helping them with their education, we want to make sure every kid is disciplined. We also want to help them identify their goals in life,” Van Bronckhorst said.

The birth center, meanwhile, was established for mothers who could not afford hospital care.

Van Bronckhorst, who guided the Netherlands to a runner-up finish in last year’s World Cup, also said the development of the sport in Indonesia was severely hampered by the existence of rival leagues, the FIFA-sanctioned Super League and the breakaway Indonesian Premier League.

“You also need a strong league,” he said. “With the current situation where you have two leagues, that will block the development of Indonesian football. In the future, let’s hope there will only be one strong league.”

Such problems came to his attention, Van Bronckhorst said, when he visited Jakarta last week to play an exhibition at Gelora Bung Karno called “Starbol — Unite for Football Indonesia.”

Though the 36-year-old retired from professional football last year, he said he would not stop assisting sports officials both in the Netherlands and his “second home” in giving aspiring athletes a chance to learn.

“That’s why we made this trip and talked to lots of people,” he said. “We want to form partnerships with the local government, companies and hospitals, and find out what people need.

“It’s important to get good partners who want to help out because we can’t do it alone.”

Van Bronckhorst, a defensive midfielder, started his professional career at RKC Waalwijk in 1993. He later moved to Feyenoord, Rangers, Arsenal and Barcelona before ending his career at Feyenoord last year. He earned 106 caps and scored six goals for the Netherlands.

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Van Bronckhorst: 10-20 years before RI reaches World Cup finals

Van Bronckhorst: 10-20 years before RI reaches World Cup finals

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Wed, 06/22/2011

On the ball: Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, the former captain of the Dutch soccer
team in the 2010 World Cup, speaks to reporters after arriving in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Giovanni, who is half-Dutch, half-Indonesian, is in Indonesia to officially launch his new
charity, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst @all Children of Indonesia, which aims to assist
impoverished children. (Antara/Puspa Perwitasari)

Former Dutch soccer player Giovanni van Bronckhorst on Tuesday said that Indonesia would need 10 to 20 years before its national team could reached the World Cup finals.

Indonesia needs to build a systematic soccer development program to win a place in the World Cup finals, he said.

“Indonesia is a big country with abundant talent. Should they be trained well, Indonesian soccer will be big,” van Bronckhorst said in Jakarta as quoted by tribunnews.com

Van Bronckhorst was in Jakarta to launch a charity program dedicated to character-building and improving education and health for children.

Van Bronckhorst served as the captain of the Dutch national soccer team in the 2010 World Cup finals, where the team finished second.

On Wednesday, he is scheduled to take part in a friendly game in Jakarta.

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Egypt-Indonesia democratisation explored

The Egyptian Gazette, by Mohamed Kassem, Monday, May 23, 2011

JAKARTA – Egypt occupies a special place in Indonesia’s history and many Indonesians have not forgotten how Egypt was one of the first countries to recognise its independence from a colonial power.

Against this backdrop and the recent democratic transition in Egypt, there is a widespread international awareness of the similarity between Indonesia’s experience with democratisation since 1998 and the rapidly moving events in Egypt today.

Egypt is entering a period of historic political transition and is facing remarkably similar challenges to those that Indonesia had to deal with during the period of reformasi in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Following a popular uprising against a previously entrenched authoritarian regime, Egypt today, like Indonesia a decade ago, is attempting to rebuild its institutions of state and foster a new democratic culture and open political competition.

Conditions in Egypt today resemble those of the immediate post-Suharto period in Indonesia, with the closest parallel perhaps in the months between the resignation of the Indonesian President in May 1998 and the convening of the Special Session of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) in November whereby the agenda of reform was agreed upon.

Like that time in Indonesia, events in Egypt are moving rapidly with the holding of the referendum on constitutional reform on March 19 in Egypt and elections next September.

In light of political developments in the two countries, it is appropriate to compare them in other more basic ways. Indonesia and Egypt are of similar size and potential global significance and are pivotal in their respective regions.

Both have a moderate Muslim majority but with significant non-Muslim minorities; have a largely secular political culture but with challenges from Islamist minorities; and have had militaries with a major role in politics and the economy.

Given the similarity between the processes of democratic transition in Indonesia and Egypt, a workshop, organised by the Institute for Peace and Democracy, opens Wednesday in Jakarta to initiate dialogue between selected Indonesians and Egyptians regarding lessons and observations about the Indonesian experience that may be of relevance to efforts to strengthen democracy in Egypt.

This is not to suggest that everything that occurred in Indonesia from 1998 should or could be copied by Egypt, but that the Egyptians can select what they might find helpful. Mistakes as well as successes could be taken as inspiration or salutary lessons.

The objective of the workshop is first to hold dialogue and provide an opportunity for the Egyptian participants to be exposed to examples from a comparable country, not to develop particular proposals or solutions, say organisers.

The initiative of the workshop came from the Institute of Peace and Democracy (IPD) as the implementing agency of the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) as a track to initiative.

The focus of the discussions would fall under the broad theme of “Setting the Agenda”: in other words, identifying what are the key tasks that need to be tackled in the immediate period to advance and consolidate democracy in Egypt.

The current situation is very fluid and the nature of constitutional and political arrangements in the post-Mubarak era are not yet clear. The most pressing task would appear to be to define what has to be done, how and when it should be done and who should do it.

Current debate in Egypt about what should be done appears to focus on questions such as the role of an interim administration, constitutional reform and early elections, the how and who embraces issues such as the place of the military in both the transition period and in future politics, balancing the respective voices of various majority and minority religious and socio-economic groups in the process of change, as well as the role of political parties and civil society in a new national political compact.

The when questions, especially the timing and sequencing of constitutional reform and elections, will critically affect the quality of popular consultation and participation and thus the nature of outcomes.

Topics of discussion include the role of the military in transition and their place in future democratic society, constitutional and political reforms, politics and state in Islam as well as the role of the media in transitional and consolidating democracy.

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