Earlier this week, King Willem-Alexander offered excuses for the Dutch violence in Indonesia. He said to Indonesian President Widodo: “I would like to express my regrets and apologies for the violent derailments of the Dutch side in those years, following previous statements by my government.”
That was unexpected. In the run-up to the state visit to Indonesia I wrote that excuses are not expected to be made. That was too sure, it turns out afterwards. The Deputy Prime Ministers were also surprised by the apologies, the AD writes. How to interpret the statements of the king in a Dutch context?
According to the government, the king actually said nothing new. Minister of Foreign Affairs Blok refers to his predecessor Bot, who said in 2005 that the Netherlands was “on the wrong side of history”. Blok also mentions the 2013 Dutch ambassador to Indonesia then apologize for summary executions during the Indonesian War of Independence.
“Nothing new under the sun”
The government continues to insist that there is nothing new under the sun except that the head of state himself apologized. In any case, two explanations are conceivable for this. It may be that the government does not want to make the king too much part of the social discussion that started after his words. And the wording “in line with previous rulings from my government” keeps away any claims for damages that may follow excuses.
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