Today is Remembrance Day 2019
This year marks the 74th anniversary of the end of World War II. Traditionally, on May 4, we pay attention to those who fought for our freedom, but also to those who have died in war situations and peacekeeping operations since the outbreak of the Second World War.
Back in the days
De Remembrance Day takes place in numerous Dutch municipalities, of which those on Dam Square in Amsterdam and the Waalsdorper Vlakte are the best known. In my youth I visited the Remembrance Day with my father a number of times in Almelo, the city where I was born and raised. Not really consciously, I must say, but it was certainly impressive to see thousands of people walking in a silent procession to the War Memorial.
Later
When I left the parental home nothing came of visiting or even participating in the Remembrance Day, also because my family was fortunately spared from victims of war violence. However, May 4 has always remained a day of reflection for me and the Remembrance Day on Dam Square in Amsterdam makes a great impression on me every year.
Abroad
Dutch nationals abroad can also sometimes participate in a Remembrance Day, usually organized by the Dutch embassy. Sometimes, I said, because Remembrance Day only takes place in a handful of countries. On the Netherlands Worldwide website, I counted less than 20 countries where Dutch people can attend a Remembrance Day ceremony. Thailand is also one of those few countries and of the surrounding countries I only saw announcements from Hong Kong and Jakarta. All in all, a bit little, considering the 140 diplomatic posts of the Netherlands. It is not clear to me why it is or is not organized in a certain country.
Thailand
Thailand is therefore one of the few countries where Remembrance Day on May 4 has become a tradition. It is a short ceremony, where – to be fair – there was less and less interest from the Dutch. An audience of a few dozen Dutch people out of a total of 15 – 20.000 who live in Thailand is very little. In defense of those absent, it may be said that Thailand is a large country and that long journeys to Bangkok should not be expected to attend the ceremony.
May 3
This year a unique problem arose in Thailand, because May 4 is the start of the Coronation ceremonies of the Thai king in Thailand. In the first instance, the Dutch Remembrance Day was cancelled, but after many protests that decision was reversed and a day earlier, 3 May, was chosen. I thought it was an excellent “polder solution” and given the many previous protests you would expect that the number of visitors yesterday was considerably higher than in previous years. Friday, May 3 is also not a bad choice, because May 4 is on Saturday, the Sabbath for the Jewish population. In the Netherlands, a commemoration is held in several places on May 3 at Jewish cemeteries.
Future
The problem has therefore been solved for this year, but not yet for subsequent years. Thailand has declared May 4 as Coronation Day, a national holiday. Even then it will be difficult to organize a Dutch-tinted Remembrance Day.
Finally
As far as I am concerned, the annual Remembrance Day on the grounds of the Dutch embassy be permanently abolished. I don't need that ceremony to remember the victims of war violence on May 4th. For me it is and remains a sober day and I feel supported by reports in the Dutch press and social media and the broadcast on television of the ceremony on Dam Square in Amsterdam, where our King and Queen are present.
As far as I am concerned, the commemoration of the dead on May 4 may also be abolished in the Netherlands. Politics in the Netherlands is quite hypocritical. They do think that the Dutch should continue to do the commemoration. In the meantime, politicians have decided that the Netherlands will only be liberated once every five years by considering May 5 as a day off once every five years. I therefore find it laughable that people from the May 4 and 5 committee proclaim on TV that it is important that the youth should continue to remember it. No sane person can agree to commemorate the liberation once every 5 years. This is one of the reasons why people abroad see the Dutch as a bunch of idiots.
I don't understand what having a day off, paid for by the community, because who did you think, how that day was paid in salary, etc., has to do with celebrating Liberation Day (from the Nazis). Remembrance Day is not a day off, is it?
In 1796 the first parliament, the National Assembly, which was elected on a fairly broad basis, met, and in 1798 the “Batavian Republic” received its first Constitution. The introduction of a sound civil service as part of the French Empire (summer 1810) or the proclamation of November 17, 1813, nor the establishment of a self-appointed government on November 21, after which Prince Willem-Frederik van Oranje was asked for a possible return of Louis Predating Napoleon as king are not commemorated (if at all known). Since the British Foreign Secretary Lord Castlereagh held a restoration of the Oranges in an independent Netherlands of better interest to the British, the opportunistic attitude of the Prince of Orange towards the French Emperor was no longer considered important. On 2 December, during his visit to Amsterdam as 'Sovereign Prince of the United Netherlands', the Prince accepted, pending the Congress of Vienna. That date is also NOT commemorated, even though it is the start of “Kingdom of the Netherlands”. It was not until March 30 that the Sovereign Prince was solemnly inaugurated in Nieuwe Kerk, where he took the oath to the new Constitution before the assembled notables. The population of the country did not show the slightest interest in the contents of the constitution.
zie http://www.koninkrijk1813.huygens.knaw.nl/?page_id=1925
In other words: for how long?
That is not true. For the (central) government, 5 May is a day off every year (art 21 7a ARAR). For the private sector, it is stipulated that employees are free at least once every five years. Each employer can make further agreements in mutual consultation (CAOs). In any case, the government is setting a good example.
In the past, people traveled together from the embassy grounds to Kanchaburi to celebrate Remembrance Day, lay wreaths and listen to speeches at two different cemeteries.
The Dutch government turned off the subsidy because they apparently did not consider it important enough and only then did the commemoration take place on the embassy grounds, from 2016.
Excuse me?
https://www.thailandblog.nl/nieuws-uit-thailand/impressie-dodenherdenking-kanchanaburi-2018-video/