JAKARTA – Dutch King Apologises To Indonesia. The Dutch King, Willem-Alexander, on Tuesday, apologised to Indonesia for “excessive violence” during the former colony’s independence struggle in the 1940s.
According to details, the Dutch king is on a state visit to Indonesia. He travelled there with his wife, Queen Maxima of Netherlands. Meanwhile, the king made these remarks after a ceremony with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in the capital Jakarta.
The king said the following in a joint statement. “The past cannot be erased, and will have to be acknowledged by each generation in turn. In the years after the independence proclamation a painful separation followed that cost many lives. I would like to express my regret and apologise for excessive violence by the Dutch in those years. I do so in the full realisation that the pain and sorrow of the said families continue even today. Dutch King Apologises To Indonesia.
Indonesia declared its independence on August 17, 1945. It was following a brief wartime occupation by the Japanese and several hundred years as a Dutch colony. In 2013, the Dutch government publicly apologised to Indonesia for mass killings by its army in the 1940s war of independence.