with videoThe House of Representatives has rejected two motions to finally pay out arrears to war widows. For the second consecutive week, it led to intense emotions in the public gallery, among people who have been trying to get their rights for 78 years.
President Jan van Wagtendonk of the Japanese Debts of Honor Foundation says: ,,Prime Minister Rutte must remember that his father is from the Dutch East Indies and has lost everything. And that his half-sister said during a memorial: what are you going to do about it, Mark Rutte? I want to talk to him about that.”
A week ago, an SP motion was rejected, to the great consternation of war widows. President of the House Vera Bergkamp then removed the motions from the list, which were voted on today.
First generation victims
MP Van Haga wanted an individual financial settlement for the surviving first generation victims of the Japanese occupation and their direct descendants. In addition, an individual financial arrangement for the widows of civil servants and KNIL soldiers who were wrongly not paid a salary during the Second World War. Both motions received no more than 61 votes in favor, they were defeated by 68 votes.
Peggy Stein, chairman of Indisch Platform 2.0, was also angry about the prime minister: “Why does Rutte stand firm and stand in the way of the solution? He knows exactly what it is, although he said last Friday that it is too detailed for him.”
Behind the scenes MPs say they want to do ‘something’ in the not too distant future, but it is not clear what. Othilde Drost Siersema of Indisch Platform 2.0 is furious about this. After she was removed from the stands last week, she had a conversation with Wieke Paulusma of D66 and Lucille Werner of the CDA. “I really blame those two MPs for saddled us with a sweetener last week. They wanted change for something for which there is no change. My father was a prisoner of war for three and a half years and was not paid anything. The Netherlands is the only country that does not pay out anything! How does it exist?”
‘wrong grounds’
Jan Wagtendonk is also angry with the coalition MPs: they have supported State Secretary Maarten van Ooijen of VWS ‘on the wrong grounds’. Stein is also not pleased with the four ruling parties. “The coalition is loose from God,” she says.
Van Ooijen will soon receive a visit from Van Wagtendonk, he says. In anticipation, he says: ,,I hope that Van Ooijen thinks about what he should do towards the Indisch community. He must admit that he does not know his files. He has not followed the obligations of State Secretary Van Rijn. It has to do with money, with nothing but that. This is a very annoying debt for people who have lost their belongings and everything.”
State Secretary Van Ooijen did not want to respond to questions about the subject due to lack of time.
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