The Netherlands sought to “close a difficult chapter” with its former colony Indonesia on Thursday by publicly apologising for mass killings carried out by the Dutch army in the 1940s war of independence.
As children of some of the men who were massacred in summary executions looked on, Dutch ambassador to Indonesia Tjeerd de Zwaan offered a state apology during a ceremony at the country’s embassy in Jakarta.
“On behalf of the Dutch government, I apologise for these excesses,” said the ambassador.
“The Dutch government hopes that this apology will help close a difficult chapter for those whose lives were impacted so directly by the violent excesses that took place between 1945 and 1949.”
He was referring to the years of the Indonesian war of independence, when the sprawling archipelago nation sought to shake off Dutch colonial rule.
The Hague had previously said sorry to the relatives of those in particular cases but it has never before offered a general apology for all summary executions.