Indonesia gov't to monitor Dutch compensation for 1947 massacre

[News_Editor]

Indonesia gov't to monitor Dutch compensation for 1947 massacre

2011-09-16 08:27:37 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA (BNO NEWS) -- The Indonesian government will monitor developments around a Dutch court ruling on the 1947 Rawagede massacre, a presidential spokesman said on Thursday.

A Dutch court ruled on Wednesday that the Netherlands was responsible for the massacre carried out by its colonial troops in the town of Rawagede, east of Jakarta, on December 9, 1947. It said the victims' families should be compensated, although it is not known how much they will be paid.

Teuku Faizasyah, the president's special aide on international affairs, declined to comment on what the government would do next to follow up on the ruling, the Jakarta Globe reported. He only said the government hoped the ruling could meet the people's sense of justice.

In 2008, the widows of eight victims and one survivor from Rawagede filed a lawsuit against the Dutch state to demand compensation for the massacre. The Netherlands has admitted the executions in the past but had insisted that no claim could be lodged due to the expiry of the statute of limitations of five years in Dutch law. 

Dutch authorities say that 150 were killed, while a victims' association claims that 431 people lost their lives.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-09-16

[Dancealot]

Better late then never.

[Steely Dan]

Perhaps Indonesia should put their own house in order before throwing stones seeing as they were responsible for a genocide in East Timor proportionally greater than that which happened under Pol Pot, we are talking hundreds of thousands of deaths not 150.