Time for Confession
Okay, I have to admit that I was culturally and geographically ignorant on the topic when I started this project. I did not know, for instance, that the Dutch East Indies had morphed into Indonesia. In truth, I used to wonder what became of the Dutch East Indies, as it just kind of disappeared.
A little further along the learning curve, I did not know why Ilse bristled one day and told me never to call her Indonesian. I realized I’d stumbled onto a cultural canker. It was tricky, writing the story. I could not talk about Indonesia–it did not exist in that time frame. Nor could I talk about Indonesians–they did not exist, either. They had to be Javanese, Sumatran, Balinese, etc, depending upon which island they came from. Ilse said she was an Indiesa; she’s not terribly keen on today’s term, “Indo,” but she accepts it.
So I thought I was doing quite well until we got toward the end of the story and I made the mistake of saying she emigrated to Holland. “Emigrrrrate? Emigrrrrrate?” she said, her r’s rolling indignantly. I knew I was in trouble again. “We did not emigrrrrate–we were Dutch citizens, with Dutch passports.” Her eyes flashed, and once again, I learned something about this complex culture we now call Dutch Indo, or just plain Indo.
Their ethnic roots are in a country that stopped existing in 1949. Their Dutch citizenship worked against them. In the country of their birth, they were the despised oppressors; in the “motherland” they were not welcome. My learning curve goes on, as I gain insight from my blog responders.
Daniel says, “The Dutch Indonesian (Indo) has always been an outsider.” Calvin points out, “The Indonesian History books deleted all the involvement of Indo in the collective knowledge. I guess it can’t be helped because Indo was always considered as ‘Dutch’ by the natives.” Mark says, “Let our culture not become a figment of the imagination…” Tina says, “As a very ‘watered’ down Dutch/Indo, I would love to know the history of my roots.” Jack says “…you have an almost incalculable number of third generation Indo’s….I think they are silent, because they are lost, not because they don’t care.” David speaks for many when he says, “I would like to show my friends who don’t understand about my heritage and how it shapes who I am today.”
From the beginning, my passion has been to get Ilse’s story out for the world to hear. Now I have extended my passion to getting the story of a dispersed culture out to the world and to the Indos that need to know their proud heritage.
Watch the program.
I’m living in the netherlands and I’m from the 2e generation so called Indo’s. I read your artical about Ilse with a lot of interrest . Her statement about not to be en Indonesian is the same as a lot of our parents have. Indo’s are a mix between european and people of the Indonesian archipel but to my opinion we should not be ashamed of our asian blood . Because our european blood (German,Franch,England) ,we were allowed to have the dutch nationality and could visit the dutch schools, that gave us a higher position above the locals. The locals had there own schools.
The mixed people where a 2e class because of there asian blood and had to struggle against discrimination of the Dutch, but they did the same against the locals.The locals were 3rd class.
I did not understand why my parents did ignore their asian blood and wanted to be more dutch as the dutch and on the otherhand talking about their culture (mainly asian culture).
I agree with Daniel ,we have a motherland and a fatherland but not a homeland .
The creation of Indonesia has been started by the Dutch VOC , the first multinational in the world, in approx. 1619 by J.P. Coen and finished approx. 1800 when the Yokyakarta was handed over by the Brithish to the Dutch.
Due to the bad handling of the Dutch politicians with the Indonesians and the interferrence of the Allied powers to stabelize the political situation ,made us to leave Indonesia and left Indonesia with one of the most incompetent leaders, Soekarno.
By ignoring the dutch civil government system and know-how ,he put the country back for some 2 decades. he failed twice to kick out the chinese ,who run the financial system.
Boudie, I have never had the impression that Ilse denies her Asian blood. As a matter of fact, she takes pride in being Indiesa. Her objection to being called Indonesian, I think, is political, not cultural. I see a big difference.
You have certainly opened up the political side of this history with your interesting perspectives.
What wonderful stories! .I can hardly wait to read the rest of them! It will make such a great book!
I will be watching for it be published.
By nature of colonial society the heiarchy is based along racial and economical lines. In such a system, the mentality is to aspire to the ruling class (the Dutch in this case) and some went as far as denying their Asian bloodline in order to align more with the ruling class. It is a form of brainwashing and remnants still remain to this day, particularly in Holland where they live closer to the source. This kind of behavior sends a message to the descendants that the Asian part of their heritage is inferior and not worthy of acknowledgment. Not all think like this of course, but it does exist. Fortunately, the 3rd generation and younger ones have a fresh outlook and curiosity about their heritage on all sides. In many cases, the Asian side is more fun, colorful and interesting. So we live in a new era and Ilse’s story honors the past and is an excellent vehicle to teaching the young ones about their history.
We love Ilsa here at the center…we love hearing her stories.
Can’t wait to have her book signing here at the Snohmoish Senior Center.
She spoke, reading excerpts from the book, and really brough her story to life.