Representation of the past in the media

230 _{Such as the project Krijgers in de Kerk of 2011.} 231

[‘ Het doet me goed na 40 jaar een eigen museum te hebben, waar je achter je eigen geschiedenis komt. Hoe geïntegreerd je ook leeft, jouw kinderen en kleinkinderen vinden zo hun antwoorden’] Reaction from A.D. La- tumaerissa. Selection from the visitor books, as printed in MHM-mededelingen (1992) 2:1, p. 34

The museum was long anticipated by Moluccans, but it was subject to much attention from the Dutch media. The Moluccan community had always been closed, and now opened up for Dutch visitors through the museum. Around the opening in 1991 all major national newspapers had an item about the museum, and in local newspapers all over the country two page articles were printed. The staff of the museum gave interviews to explain the vision and goals of the museum. An analysis of these messages shows that the MHM was mostly perceived by the Dutch media as a Moluccan project, where curious Dutch could pop in to see what they were doing. Many of the national newspapers were positive about the exposition. Some local newspapers, especially

Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, the newspaper for the northern part of the Netherlands (where the

violent actions had taken place) were more critical towards the set-up of the exhibition. Accord- ing to reporters of the Nieuwsblad, the museum conservators had not given enough information about the context of the events. The museum did not given enough attention towards the violent actions, making it seem like they were of little importance. ‘It may sound childish,’ the article reported, ‘but this lack of information is not only characteristic for the first room, it is sympto- matic for this museum.’ The newspaper also said that there was not enough information about the violent actions in the seventies. 232 _{In a different article the paper praised the effort of the}

museum to tell the stories ‘that are untold’. The museum had done a good job of representing a history that included ‘the sudden tearing in young lives, of people who were torn from their own culture to wait on the other side of the world for a future that did not arrive. The plaything of the waves of world politics, victims of a new time in which there was no longer room for colonial powers.’233 _{The article only vaguely said ‘world politics’ are to blame for the sad faith of the Mo-}

luccans, but does not speak about the role of the Dutch government in the story.

Het Parool, Amsterdam’s regional newspaper, said that the museum filled the need of the

first generation to pass on memories about their time in the Netherlands.234 _{Trouw, the}

protestant national newspaper, was also sympathetic towards the plan and emphasized the transmission of information as well. Trouw also specifically mentioned that the museum was not a propaganda institute for the RMS but rather a scientifically reliable overview of what has hap- pened with the Moluccans – an interpretation quite unlike Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, which

232 _{[‘Kinderachtig misschien, maar ontoereikende informatie kenmerkt niet alleen de eerste zaal, het is ook} symptomatisch voor dit museum.’] ‘Moluks museum Utrecht donderdag open. Verhalen die onverteld blijven.’ Nieuwsblad van het Noorden (27-11-1990)

233 _{[‘…de plotselinge scheuring in jonge leven, van mensen die werden weggerukt uit hun eigen cultuur om aan} de andere kant van de wereld te wachten op een nieuwe toekomst die niet kwam. Speelbal op de golven van de wereldpolitiek, slachtoffers van een nieuwe tijd waarin geen plaats meer was voor koloniale mogendheden.’] ‘Moluks museum Utrecht donderdag open. Verhalen die onverteld blijven.’ Nieuwsblad van het Noorden (27- 11-1990)

implied that the Moluccans had tried to cover their violent past.235 _{Trouw was even more explicit}

in supporting the Moluccans, and ended with a quote by resistance leader Pattimura. ‘Once the dark clouds of repression will disappear and then the sun of justice will shine on the horizon.’236

Such a political statement implied that MHM was politically oriented, while especially Smeets repeatedly mentioned in interviews that they simply wanted to give a historically accurate over- view of the past. The papers picked up on the idea of the Moluccans as a people that were fighting for their right to be recognized as an independent Moluccan minority. Utrechts Nieu-

wsblad even brought back the RMS to the foreground, reporting that the museum was symbolic

of the RMS and the hope that the RMS would come into existence, with an article titled ‘Moluccan Museum in Utrecht full of symbolism’. According to the museum was nostalgic for past times, and the set up of the exhibition was symbolic for the ideals of the Moluccan RMS idealists.237 _So

despite Smeets’s and Manuhutu’s efforts to present the museum in a neutral, academic way, the media mostly framed the museum as a museum for and by RMS idealists. Like Trouw, the protestant newspaper Nederlands Dagblad said ‘the living monument gives Moluccans a self- image’. Unlike the other newspapers, however, Nederlands Dagblad did not focus on the (post- colonial) right to independence of the Moluccans, but rather emphasized the old image of ‘loyal- ty-through-thick-and-thin’ between the ‘brown Hollanders’ as the Moluccans were called in the Indies, and the Dutch. Although Trouw and Nederlands Dagblad are both Protestant newspapers,

Nederlands Dagblad is more orthodox and aimed at a more confessional audience, which tradi-

tionally felt a bigger connection with the Moluccans, as fellow Christians. The choice of the words ‘Dutch’ as in Dutch people, instead of ‘Dutch government’ is illustrative of the Protestant Christian viewpoint.238 _{Nederlands Dagblad furthermore praised the effort of the museum to}

´preserve the Moluccan history, to adapt it and to present it in a sensible manner´.239 _{The idea}

that the Moluccan culture was preserved through preservation of the Moluccan heritage and memory, was already central in 1987, when Utrechts Nieuwsblad reported that ‘Correctie ges- chiedschrijving Molukkers is hard nodig’’ ‘Correction of historiography Moluccans is badly needed’].240

5.4. Reactions from visitors

235 _{‘Museum als levend monument. “Eigen huis” voor Molukse gemeenschap in Nederland.’ Trouw 28-11-1990} 236

[‘Eens zullen de duistere wolken der onderdrukking verdwijnen en zal de zon der gerechtigheid aan de hori- zon verschijnen.’] ‘Museum als levend monument. “Eigen huis” voor Molukse gemeenschap in Nederland.’ Trouw 28-11-1990

237 _{‘Moluks Museum in Utrecht vol symboliek.’ Utrechts Nieuwsblad (28-11-1990).}

238 _{‘Levend monument biedt Molukkers beeld van zichzelf’. Nederlands Dagblad (28-11-1990).} 239

[‘Men is er in geslaagd de Molukse geschiedenis op een zinnige manier te bewaren, te bewerken en te presen- teren’] ‘Levend monument biedt Molukkers beeld van zichzelf’. Nederlands Dagblad (28-11-1990).