Send it back! Dutch report on possible return of colonial theft of cultural heritage

On 7 October 2020 a report was handed over to the Dutch Government with the title Koloniale collecties en erkenning van onrecht (= Colonial collections and recognition of injustice). It concludes that thousands, perhaps about more than one hundred thousand cultural objects were stolen by the colonial government in Surinam, the Dutch Caribean Islands and Indonesia. If the objects were honestly paid for, or  given by free owners, there is no problem. But if they were stolen, and the former owners want it back (in fact the states of Indonesia, Surinam, Curacao and other islands) then it should seriously be considered to send these objects back. Examples were given such as the large diamond stolen from Banjarmasin during the war of 1859 and the precious objects in Lombok (Cakranegara) during the war of 1894 (only the manuscript of the Negarakertagama was once given back to Indonesia, during the visit of President Soeharto to the Netherlands in 1970).

Another example is the beautiful statue of Ganesha, taken in 1803 from the temple of Singasari in East Java and brought to the mansion of the Governor of the Northcoast of Java in Semarang at the request of Governor Engelman and later brought to the Netherlands. Now it is a masterpiece at the largest museum of the country, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. If the Indonesian government wants it back there should be no argument that the theft is already outdated because of lapse of time. It will probably a matter of some long deliberations and some time, but the director of the commision, Lilian Goncalves-Ho Kang You, responded that colonialism was a matter of nearly four hundred years (1600-1975) and that its restoration may take some time as well.