24 August 2025 | ROOTS ON DECK: a VOC ship becomes a stage for Moluccan makers during SAIL
Watch ROOTS ON DECK live: Moluccan stories, music and the power of the future. Straight from Het Scheepvaartmuseum.
On Sunday 24 August 2025, during SAIL 2025, one of the best-attended events in the Netherlands, Het Scheepvaartmuseum, Museum Maluku and L3B.AGENCY present the first edition of ROOTS ON DECK, a new programme in which different communities take the stage each time to share their own stories. This time it is OMBAK ANAK MALUKU, dedicated to the Moluccan communities in the Netherlands. From the museum, overlooking the replica of the VOC ship Amsterdam, the voice of the Moluccan communities will sound for a whole afternoon, in their own way, with their own energy and perspectives. Not a story about the communities, but by the communities themselves: about professionalism, craftsmanship, creativity, talent and a view of the future.
A powerful livestream programme premieres: three talk shows, performances and music. An afternoon in which perspectives shift, stories come to life and new generations set the tone.
OMBAK ANAK MALUKU means 'the waves of Moluccan children (descendants)'. It is a tribute to generations who move, build and remember, and who carry the strength of their heritage into the present.
"This is a take-over – of our stories."
"Today we are filling this ship and this space entirely with Moluccan energy, stories and perspectives. This is a take-over: we are taking representation into our own hands, on our own terms. We are bringing what was missing from the VOC ship and from the museum for far too long, and making it felt that our stories are not only about the past, but about our future too." – Henry Timisela, director of Museum Maluku and host of ROOTS ON DECK.
ROOTS ON DECK: co-creation from within the community
ROOTS ON DECK is a new programme by Het Scheepvaartmuseum in which the VOC ship is used as a living stage for communities that are too little seen in a museum context. Each edition is made in co-creation with one or more communities connected to the maritime and colonial past – in all the diversity of their perspectives and experiences.
For many, the VOC ship is a symbol of a violent past. Het Scheepvaartmuseum is aware of this and handles programming in this place with care. At ROOTS ON DECK, however, the choice lies with the communities themselves. This time the Moluccan communities deliberately chose to use the ship as a stage – to tell their own stories, in their own way, and so to fill a loaded place with new meaning.
"ROOTS ON DECK is about representation, not just reflection. We hand the direction to the communities themselves, so that they decide which stories, emotions and dreams of the future are heard. Think of it as a mixing desk: sometimes you turn one voice up a little, sometimes another, until a complete sound emerges in which everyone is represented – in his, her or their own way. It is about making room for professionalism, craftsmanship, creativity and talent, and about inspiring younger generations in the Netherlands." – Repti Suprantinah, head of audience, Het Scheepvaartmuseum.
*Watch live on Sunday 24 August, 14.00 – 16.00, on the YouTube channel of Het Scheepvaartmuseum.
Livestream programme (14.00–16.00)
Three talks give the stage to Moluccan perspectives on past, present and future, interwoven with pre-recorded performances and visual interludes.
TALK 1: Reflection: Who We Were, with Joao Loupatty and Margery Kainama – On seaworthiness, ancestral strength and identity beyond colonialism. An exploration of Moluccan roots in which tradition and AI meet.
TALK 2: Entrepreneurship: What We Do, with Geronimo Tuhumena, Joshua Timisela and Franciska Manuputty – On entrepreneurship, a head for trade and community strength. How do Moluccan makers put their resilience and creativity to work to build, even when circumstances are challenging?
TALK 3: Representation: Who We Are, with Aca Siwabessy and Yopi Abraham – On visibility in art, culture and museum spaces. How is the collective story of the Moluccan community represented, and how are they taking the narrative into their own hands?
Building future heritage
The programme is being recorded and shared, as a foretaste of what is coming in 2026: the year in which we commemorate and celebrate 75 years of Moluccans in the Netherlands. "At Het Scheepvaartmuseum we show how maritime culture is part of everyone's life – whether that comes from a life on or around the sea, origins in the islands of the Moluccas or the Caribbean, a history of migration or another maritime story. ROOTS ON DECK connects that past with the present by giving communities themselves the floor in a place that carries both history and new perspectives." – Michael Huijser, managing director of Het Scheepvaartmuseum.
About this collaboration
ROOTS ON DECK: OMBAK ANAK MALUKU is a co-production by:
Het Scheepvaartmuseum – Initiator and host of this programme. ROOTS ON DECK is part of our commitment to letting representation take shape in the museum from within the communities themselves, so that both maritime heritage and today's maritime culture reflect their stories, perspectives and visions of the future.
Museum Maluku – Content partner and driving force from within the Moluccan communities. Earlier moments of dialogue with Het Scheepvaartmuseum gave rise to the wish to shape a new narrative together, carried from the inside out.
L3B.AGENCY – Creative and strategic partner with expertise in youth culture, community building and storytelling. Responsible for the creative translation, strategy and conceptual framework of ROOTS ON DECK.
This programme is made possible in part by the Mondriaan Fund and the Vriendenloterij.
What we cherish takes time
In this column, director Henry Timisela looks back on the steps Museum Maluku has taken this year and ahead to what is still to come. A personal word of thanks with a promise: there is much more good to come.
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Three striking murals have been created in the Moluccan neighbourhood in Assen to mark the district's 60th anniversary. One of them is Becoming Without Permission by artist Daniël-Michel Saptenno. He drew his inspiration from a Moluccan postage stamp that was never used.
Now on view: ONS LAND
An exhibition about Dutch colonial history and how it still works through society today.
