South Moluccan youth hijacked a train 40 years ago and took more than a hundred primary school children hostage in Drenthe. The Netherlands was turned upside down:nothing like this had ever happened here! This was not the first hijacking, but kidnapping children was a new low. What drove the South Moluccan youth to these violent actions?
As with the recent attack in Manchester 40 years ago, schoolchildren were targeted by terrorists. Yet the South Moluccan youth and the young jihadist suicide perpetrators of today are not comparable, according to anthropologist Fridus Steijlen (Royal Institute of Language, Land and Ethnology). “In the 1970s, activists used violence to achieve political goals, to force negotiations. For example, the Moluccans demanded an independent state. ISIS violence is not aimed at negotiations, but at making as many victims as possible." Why did the Moluccans resort to violence and what effect did this have?
Mandatory to the Netherlands
During the Indonesian War of Independence (1945-1949), Christian South Moluccan soldiers in the Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL) fought against the Indonesian freedom fighters. After Indonesia gained independence, the South Moluccans proclaimed their own independent Republik Maluku Selatan (RMS). Indonesia, however, did not recognize this independent state. In order not to put pressure on the fragile ties with Indonesia, the Moluccan soldiers in Dutch service had to leave Indonesia as soon as possible.
In 1951, the Netherlands shipped about 12,500 South Moluccans with the promise that it would only be for a short period of time. Upon arrival, the government dismissed the soldiers from the army, despite long years of service. This did not do any good for confidence in the Netherlands and the Moluccans were now not only stateless, but also unemployed. The men and their young families were housed in camps, including the Westerbork and Vught transit camps from the Second World War. Integration was not a good idea for both sides, and there was nothing for it but to sit out their time here.
Meanwhile, the years passed and the RMS never got off the ground. Steijlen:“Political activists were persecuted in the Moluccas and the Moluccans could not return. From 1956, the former soldiers had to look for work themselves or apply for benefits and were no longer fully cared for by the state. Unemployment was high and the children were lagging behind in learning.” New policy was supposed to improve this. There would be new residential areas in areas with more employment. Sixty Moluccan residential areas were built between 1957 and 1960, but mostly not close to work. The problems persisted, the socio-economic disadvantage continued to grow, along with dissatisfaction with Dutch government policy.
Radicalizing youth
“The second generation of Moluccans, who grew up in the Netherlands, were just as passionate about the ideal of an independent republic as their parents. They saw role models in the violent Palestinian hijackers and the American Black Panther Movement and some young people became radicalized,” Steijlen said. This manifested itself in arson in the Indonesian embassy (1966) and occupation of the residence of the Indonesian ambassador (1970). It did not yield the desired result and the young people focused their actions on Dutch society. In 1975, they hijacked a train, with the hijackers killing the driver and two passengers. There was also a hostage action in the Indonesian consulate in Amsterdam. The purpose of these actions was to put pressure on the Dutch government to work on the RMS. The hijacking was eventually broken because the hijackers allowed themselves to be talked into. This dull talk of hostages has since been called the Dutch approach.
After the 1975 hijacking, the government made agreements for the first time with the Moluccan community itself and also set up the Köbben-Mantouw joint commission to work on the Moluccan problem. But things did not go fast enough for the Moluccan youth:too many promises, but few actions. On May 23, 1977, nine young people hijacked another train and at the same time four others occupied a primary school in Bovensmilde. This time they had handled the preparation more professionally. In order to get their demands met, they wouldn't let themselves be talked about this time either, and they weren't allowed to die either.
After three weeks of negotiations, the two sides had not come closer and the government took action. Ultimately, the hijacking and occupation would end on June 11, after an invasion by marines with the help of tanks, (sniper) gunners and low-flying fighter jets. Two of the 54 passengers and six of the nine hijackers were killed. The question of whether excessive force has been used, in which defenseless hijackers have already been executed, still occupies the minds within the Moluccan community. They think so and have sued the State for this. The investigation is still ongoing.
Hopeless
The opinion of the Moluccan community about the actions in 1977 mattered little, according to Steijlen. “The country was in shock. If I said I understood the thinking behind the actions, I was called a traitor. The relationship with the Dutch deteriorated and Moluccans were less easily hired on the labor market. Moluccan youngsters who did not find a connection with the RMS ideal fell into a hole. Because of the hopelessness, drug use increased. Ten percent of the 18 to 24-year-olds used heroin, compared to less than a percent of the Dutch in that category.”
Although the Dutch government thought that after the violent end of the hijacking in 1977 the Moluccans chose eggs for their money, there had been an undercurrent within the Moluccan community for some time that doubted violence as the best option. Steijlen:"Moluccans supported the ideal of a free republic and they hoped that actions would bring it closer, but a smaller and smaller part supported violence." Slowly the Moluccans realized that they would stay in the Netherlands and they started investing more in their future here. Even if there was an independent republic, they wouldn't necessarily have to go back.
“Through this repositioning, the former exiles become migrants. This is an essential difference in their relationship with Dutch society. Moluccans themselves have undergone this process, which is not due to the harsh response of the government in ’77. I think that if the Dutch government had taken the RMS ideal of the Moluccans more seriously, there would have been a good chance that some of the actions would not have been carried out. The ideal of an independent Moluccan Republic is still alive in the Netherlands, but today it mainly symbolizes their identity and the right to self-determination for the Moluccans there.”