Moluccans in the Netherlands

Moluccans

- descendants of native residents of the Moluccan islands

Ambon

- a South Moluccan island

religion

- most Moluccans in the Netherlands are Christians

when

- Moluccans arrived in the Netherlands from 1950

why

- they fought with the Dutch army against Indonesian independence fighters

While Indonesia was a Dutch colony, Moluccan soldiers served in the Dutch army, attempting to crush Indonesian moves towards independence.

When Indonesia declared independence in 1945 and the Dutch colonial army was finally disbanded in 1949, the Moluccans emigrated from their native island of Ambon to the Netherlands. The Dutch government had promised that their exile would be temporary and that they could return to their islands in the Indonesian archipelago later.

The Moluccans, who are mainly Christian, were settled in temporary refugee camps. They later moved to town estates where they formed tight-knitted communities. To this day, some families have a packed suitcase ready by the door, in anticipation of a return to the Moluccan Islands.

An attempt in 1950 by the South Moluccan islands to secede from Indonesia failed, and the South Moluccan Republic (RMS) settled in exile in the Netherlands.

First generation Moluccans firmly believed that one day they would return; the second generation lost faith in the Dutch government's promises and some turned to train hijacking in order to force the Dutch government to act on their word. The third generation is said to have settled firmly in the Netherlands.

The Labour party in the Netherlands has called for an action plan "for the government to firmly defend freedom of religion on all fronts".

Labour MPs expressed their concern after two churches run by Christian Moluccans and a mosque in the city of Groningen were set on fire.

In questions put to Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin the MPs urged that these cases be given priority, given "the destabilising effect that these attacks have on society". The Labour Party is also asking how the Moluccan communities and mosque administrators will be helped to protect their buildings around the clock.

Simultaneous
In the early hours of Monday morning, part of a Moluccan Christian church in the northern town of Hoogeveen was destroyed by fire while at the same time a Moluccan church community centre in the town of Nijverdal was burnt down. The remains of the building had to be torn down by the fire brigade to prevent it from collapsing.

The same night police in Assen, north of Hoogeveen, received a call about a person attempting to set fire to a local Moluccan centre. It is not known who is behind these apparently coordinated arson attempts.

Moroccans vs. Moluccans
Around New Year's Eve riots broke out in the central town of Culemborg, where Moroccan and Moluccan youths attacked each other. On Tuesday one young Moroccan was jailed for one year for an attempt to kill members of a Moluccan family by running them over with his car on 1 January.

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