Today’s papers pay tribute to a heroic Dutch skipper, wonder what the future holds for Tunisia, report on ghosts from Haiti’s past, take a critical look at the police and present powerful images from Palestine.

Dutch skipper in the thick of refugee drama
Several of today’s papers tell the story of the skipper of Dutch freighter Momentum Scan who responded to a distress signal in the Adriatic Sea at the weekend and found himself in the middle of a life-and-death refugee drama.

Captain Martin Remeeus tells AD: “We got the shock of our lives. Instead of a handful of fishermen we saw hundreds of people in complete panic aboard a sinking ship.”

De Telegraaf describes the rescue operation by the Dutch captain and his mainly Filipino crew as “an act of heroism with a bitter aftertaste”. They managed to save 241 Afghan migrants from rough seas off the Greek island of Corfu but also saw how others did not survive the ordeal “Women and children were disappearing under the waves before my eyes ... it was intensely emotional.”

De Volkskrant reports that “over twenty people drowned or were crushed between the two vessels”. The migrants had been left to their fate by people smugglers, who made their escape in a motor boat when the situation turned ugly.

Captain Remeeus tells de Volkskrant modestly “I think we responded with the kind of professionalism you would expect under the circumstances” and expresses his concern for his crew “They have witnessed terrible scenes, the kind you don’t forget easily.” He hopes most of them will use their upcoming leave to “work through the experience together.”

Liberated Tunisia faces an uncertain future
Tunisia continues to hold the Dutch press in its sway now that the president has fled and the country is looking to a new future.

De Volkskrant’s headline is “A new regime but Tunisians are sceptical”, focusing on the fact that key posts in the new national unity government remain in the hands of the old government party, the RCD.

In an article entitled “hand in hand with the devil to save the country”, it observes that “opposition parties are keen to play a role in the new Tunisia now that the hated dictator has been driven out, but they also need the help of loyalists from the old regime”.

The paper suggests that the way ahead will not be a smooth one, quoting an opposition spokesman who says “it is hard to cooperate with those who have persecuted and abused you”.

De Volkskrant goes on to report on criticism of the French government by Tunisian exiles, noting that as recently as last week the French foreign office was offering assistance to the old dictatorial regime in order to calm the unrest, while the French agriculture minister was happy to emphasize all the good things that despot President Zine El Abadine Ben Ali had done for his country.

In an opinion piece in nrc.next, academic Saskia van Genugten condemns Europe’s politicians for “sweeping aside all the dubious aspects of Ben Ali’s regime” and expresses the hope that “European leaders will finally see that supporting a dictatorship can only be counterproductive”.

AD reports that Tunisian pilot Mohamed Ben Kilani is now enjoying hero status after he refused to allow five members of the ousted president’s family on board his flight to Lyon. “I decided not to collaborate with these escaping criminals,” he says in an interview. “If I had let them on board as passengers, I would have been a traitor for the rest of my life.”

Haiti haunted by phantoms of the past
NRC.next reports that Haiti has been visited by “a ghost from the past” in the shape of ousted ex-president Jean-Claude Duvalier, better known as “Baby Doc”. His return makes the front page of Trouw under the headline “Baby Doc is back”.

The paper reports that the heavily guarded exiled leader insisted his appearance was not political and that he had come to help, but that human rights organisations are calling on the Haitian authorities to arrest him so that he can stand trial for the torture and murder of thousands of opponents under his regime from 1971 to 1986.

Trouw notes that “there are fears that his return will further complicate the already troubled political situation in Haiti”, where the second round of voting in the presidential elections was recently postponed indefinitely.

The paper warns that “Baby Doc still has support in Haiti despite his past”, a past that observer Amy Willentz summed up yesterday as “prison camps, torture, arbitrary arrests and illegal executions.” But two things work in the former despot’s favour: the fact that half of Haiti’s population is under 21 and has no memory of what life was like under his rule, and the fact that “life has barely improved since his departure”.

For nrc.next, Duvalier’s return may hint at worse to come. “Perhaps the real fear of many Haitians is not Duvalier but another ghost from the past. If Baby Doc can appear again out of the blue, why can’t ousted former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide – exiled in South Africa – do the same?” The paper notes that Aristide still enjoys considerable active political support and warns that “his return would make the political chaos in Haiti complete.”

Police accused of high-handedness and overlooking victims
There’s bad news for the police in today’s Dutch dailies. According to De Telegraaf’s front page, the boys in blue have irked MPs by refusing to abandon the practice of setting targets for the number of fines they dish out.

The paper reports that “parliament has had enough” and wants “a clean sweep through the police”. Word has reached the politicians that certain regional forces are not only ignoring the instructions of Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten but are actually training their rookies in the old quota mentality. One Socialist MP complains “They are making a laughing stock of the minister ... this high-handedness among police chiefs has to stop.”

AD’s headline accuses the police of “leaving crime victims out in the cold”, reporting that “15,000 victims a year miss out unnecessarily on psychological, legal and practical assistance” as the result of a new police computer system.

Victims of robbery and violent crime should be asked automatically whether they want to be referred to the Dutch victim support association, but the system the police has been using since 2009 no longer prompts officers to ask this question, which therefore goes unasked in many cases.

Since shifting the focus from the criminal to the victim of crime is a priority of the current government, the relevant ministers have wasted no time in demanding a solution.

The power of the image
There’s a striking illustration of the impact of photography in today’s de Volkskrant. The power of the image comes into its own in the paper’s centrespread “Photos from Gaza, intended as a confrontation”.

The images are the work of photographer Kai Wiedenhöfer who has been visiting the Gaza Strip since 1990. They show injured Palestinians looking straight at the camera, their scars, disfigurements and missing limbs exposed.

As the paper says “each of them is an ordinary citizen, all of them mutilated for life.” Their impassive expressions are hard to read – do their eyes show defiance, resilience, resignation? But the impact of their image leaves no room for doubt. Powerful stuff.
 

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