Blog Ambassador Kees Rade (15)

Let me start this blog by explaining why it only appears now, and not at the end of January: I was in the Netherlands during that period, where I attended the annual ambassadors conference.

Always a packed week, where all Dutch ambassadors and consuls-general are updated on the latest developments in the Netherlands, and of course also contrasted with the reality of the rest of the world. Many sessions on all kinds of subjects, a visit to the King and Queen, the always dynamic meeting with our MP, conversations with many other ministers and MPs. Also a lot of networking, of course, with the business community, colleagues, civil society and so on. Every year, the session with Kim Putters, director of the Social and Cultural Planning Office, is one of the absolute highlights. With a deluge of statistics and graphs, he once again showed us that the Dutch actually live in a very pleasant and well-functioning country. Yes, there are many challenges, and no, not everything is going in the right direction, but time and again dry statistics show that the Dutch are among the happiest people on the planet. Always good to see things in perspective again, especially when done so convincingly by the most influential Dutchman of the past year, according to de Volkskrant.

The opening of this ambassadors conference took place at a special location: in the Oranjehotel National Monument in Scheveningen. The Oranjehotel was the nickname for the Scheveningen prison during World War II, where the Germans imprisoned more than 25.000 people. A diverse group from all corners of the Netherlands who had broken German laws: resistance fighters, but also Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, communists and people who were imprisoned for an economic crime. The ministry had chosen this place because this year marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. We will also commemorate this special fact here in Thailand, on May 4, and in particular on August 15. After all, it will be 75 years ago that the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies came to an end, officially ending the war for the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
A first activity in this context has already taken place. In January, two Dutch soldiers walked a large part of the route of the infamous Burma railway line. With this they wanted to draw attention to this dark page of history, especially among younger Dutch people, and to the need to cherish and permanently protect the freedom we now enjoy. I had the pleasure of walking over 14 kilometers with a few colleagues on January 10, watched from above by their drone. An inspiring encounter.

Of course, the word coronavirus cannot be missed in this blog, especially since it has just become known that the Netherlands also has a first case. As far as the embassy is concerned, the vicissitudes surrounding the Westerdam cruise ship in particular caused quite a stir, to put it mildly. First of all because of the efforts we have made together with other embassies involved to get the ship to dock in Bangkok. However, that soon turned out to be a hopeless case. With the surprising turn towards Sihanoukville, the next chapter began. Once that became clear, we made a quick decision with the crisis council in The Hague, with whom we had a daily video conference, to send my deputy and the acting head of our consular section to Sihanoukville. They arrived just in time to greet the first passengers who disembarked, together with Cambodian PM Hun Sen. The fact that the EU had just decided to withdraw certain trade benefits for Cambodia due to the lack of democracy in that country could not spoil the fun, the PM offered a flower to all passengers of this Dutch-flagged ship. On board, the embassy staff were also able to hold consultation hours with the rest of the Dutch passengers.

The shock was great when it suddenly turned out that one of the passengers on their way home in Kuala Lumpur had fallen ill and was infected with the virus. Disembarkation of passengers was immediately halted, and passengers already in a hotel in Phnom Penh were not allowed to continue their journey home. It was also a difficult time for our colleagues. Due to the strict Thai rules for Westerdam passengers and for people who had come into contact with those passengers, we decided to have them work in isolation, outside the embassy. The good news was that no other Westerdam crew members turned out to be infected, and rumors arose that the positive test in KL might not have been carried out properly after all. Fortunately, the HAL, with the help of the great efforts of our two Honorary Consuls in Cambodia, managed to get all Dutch people home safely. I would have loved to travel to Sihanoukville myself to greet them, but due to the aforementioned Thai measures I would have had to be quarantined for two weeks.

The seclusion of our two colleagues ends this weekend, it will be good to welcome them again in person at the embassy on Monday!

Regards,

Keith Rade