Next year, 2021, it will be 70 years since 12,500 Moluccans – largely ex-KNIL soldiers and their families – came to the Netherlands in 12 transports. That was in March, but the first steps towards that passage were in fact taken as early as December 1950. During a court case, the delegation led by sergeant major Aponno secured a ruling that the Dutch state could not discharge Moluccans into territory under the control of the Republic of Indonesia. I recently read the judgment of 21 December 1950 again. There were interesting things in it. But why did the Aponno delegation bring a court case, and why was that, in hindsight, the first step towards the passage?
On 26 June 1950 the KNIL was officially disbanded. All KNIL soldiers who had not yet been demobilised at that point – at any rate close to 4,000 Moluccan men still serving in the KNIL – were temporarily given the status of Royal Netherlands Army (KL). That was the only way to keep them under Dutch authority. A knife that cut both ways: they had to keep following orders, and towards the Indonesian government the Netherlands also remained responsible for them.
But why did the Aponno delegation bring a court case, and why was that, in hindsight, the first step towards the passage?
A KNIL soldier had the right to be discharged at his place of origin or of choice. For many of the Moluccan KNIL men that had become, after the proclamation of the RMS, the Moluccas. For the Indonesian and Dutch governments that place was unacceptable, because they regarded the RMS as a rebellion. Mistrust of the Dutch government grew among the Moluccan KNIL soldiers. They were not sure the Netherlands would not force them to be discharged on the spot, that is, on the territory of the Republic of Indonesia.
The Aponno delegation to the Netherlands To put a stop to that, a delegation was sent to the Netherlands in August to speak directly with the Dutch government. This delegation, led by sergeant major F.A. Aponno, also consisted of the Reverend A.Z. Sahetapy, corporal Ch.P. Tauran, sergeant J. Siauta and sergeant major J. Kapel. In the Netherlands they were received by the queen, by politicians and by the organisation 'Door de Eeuwen Trouw' (DDET). DDET also provided legal support.
At first, in early December 1950, Aponno and his delegation tried through a legal claim to force the Dutch state to transfer the Moluccan ex-KNIL soldiers housed on Java to Ceram. This was one of the free areas in the South Moluccas – that is to say, under the RMS – or to New Guinea. In the judgment I read that on 4 December Aponno ordered the Dutch government to state by 7 December where it was taking the Moluccan soldiers. The Dutch response was not to address the demand, but to order Aponno and his companions to return to Indonesia. On top of that they no longer received rice meals at the Frederik barracks where they were apparently staying.
On 21 December 1950 the judge found in favour of the Aponno delegation and ruled that the Dutch state could not discharge the Moluccan ex-KNIL soldiers into territory controlled by the Republic of Indonesia without their consent.
That Dutch non-response could only be answered with interim proceedings; otherwise the Netherlands could still put the soldiers out on the street on Java. In the proceedings, the Aponno delegation no longer demanded where the ex-KNIL soldiers should be discharged, but defined where they did not want to be demobilised. That was all territory controlled by the Republic of Indonesia. There, after all, the ex-KNIL soldiers and their families would be in 'danger to life and liberty'. With that demand, effectively the whole of Indonesia dropped out as a place of demobilisation, including the South-East Moluccas, which had previously still been under consideration. But Ceram too – in the hypothetical case that the Netherlands would want to take the ex-KNIL soldiers there – fell away as a place of demobilisation, because a large part of the island was already back in Indonesian hands.
On 21 December 1950 the judge found in favour of the Aponno delegation and ruled that the Dutch state could not discharge the Moluccan ex-KNIL soldiers into territory controlled by the Republic of Indonesia without their consent. The judgment was upheld on appeal and in cassation. Through that judgment the Dutch government became only partly dependent on the wishes of the Moluccan ex-KNIL soldiers. They could only be demobilised on Indonesian territory with their consent. But outside it? There, apparently, no consent was needed. We now know that this turned out to be the Netherlands, and that a game of more or less real choices preceded it. A game in which the Aponno delegation, incidentally, also played a part. But that is for another time.
On rereading the judgment, something else stood out. It seems to contain a kind of advance notice of dismissal on arrival. Not announced by the Dutch State, but formulated by the Aponno delegation's lawyer. He appears to hold that the judge should be able to rule because the situation of the ex-KNIL soldiers is urgent: "because there are threatened infringements here of the life, or at least the liberty, of the unarmed former KNIL soldiers, who are civilians from the moment they are put ashore at the place of discharge". That did not sound good, because who would ultimately define the 'place of discharge'?
