2014 Kanchanaburi Memorial Ceremony

The Second World War ended on August 15, 1945 with the capitulation of Emperor Hirohito of Japan. Last Friday, the Dutch Embassy organized a commemoration ceremony at the cemetery of Don Rak in Kanchanaburi.

Ambassador Joan Boer gave a speech and Mrs. Jannie Wieringa recited a poem in memory of her husband and other Dutch East Indies Veterans.

Speech Ambassador Joan Boer:

'Thank you for taking the time to come to Kanchanaburi to join us in commemorating the 69th anniversary of the end of World War II in this part of the world. In the Netherlands, this will be commemorated later today in the presence of Prime Minister Rutte at the Indies Monument in Roermond. Here in Kanchanaburi, far away from the Netherlands, we remember the fallen, on what for a large part of them became their final resting place.

During commemorations such as these, we are particularly aware that the freedom we enjoy cannot be taken for granted. Here in Kanchanaburi, in the midst of all these fallen, we realize even more than elsewhere that great personal sacrifices have been made for this freedom and that often young people have been denied the chance for an ordinary life and that there were also consequences in families after that war by fathers who came back with unspeakable scars.

Just like on May 4th, we do that today through wreath laying, the Last Post and by being silent together. The Dutch all over the world keep a tradition alive with this. A tradition in which the awareness of freedom, of the possibility and respect for diversity and being different without having to be ashamed or hide it, are central.

In which we remember the horrors that conflicts entail. Conflicts that we unfortunately still face every day when we read our newspapers, turn on our televisions or iPads and in which truth and falsehood are sometimes difficult to distinguish because we are presented with snapshots that evoke fierce emotions and are sometimes explicitly intended for that purpose. Consider, for example, the photo we saw of an armed man holding up a toy animal belonging to a deceased child in Ukraine after the recent MH17 plane crash. Seemingly disrespectful. A few days later it turned out that it was a photo from a series that may have had a different intention because we saw him bare his head and then cross himself. With social media raging uncontrollably in real time with the aim of arousing emotion, it becomes very difficult to be well informed.

Today we are here again to remember in the hope and belief that it will also help new generations to carry on this crucial sense of freedom and respect.

Constant vigilance is required to protect these values ​​that are so self-evident to us in the West and to prevent conflicts over them. Major conflicts and minor conflicts as we saw in the Netherlands this week as a shadow of Gaza and ISIS. Yet it is precisely this attentiveness that is so difficult. She starts with a willingness to look openly at situations, not to immediately pigeonhole or label them; incidentally, without being naive and based on the possibility to inform you properly and reliably. How often do we catch ourselves making judgments before facts reach us? That's how it starts and that's where the human shortcoming is so visible.

That nonchalance, whether you are an influential person, a journalist or just a citizen, is unfortunately a constant in our history and still plays tricks on us today. As long as things are going well at home, in our own country or in our own region, we tend to close our eyes to threats elsewhere, to wars far away from us, to human suffering far away that flashes past on the news. Carelessness that unfortunately is only broken when we ourselves, as Dutch people, are struck in the heart by an event or conflict that previously seemed comfortably far away. Suddenly, carelessness turns into involvement. For example, MH17 and the Ukraine are now etched in our memories. Standing by the MH17 condolence book at the embassy, ​​I saw fellow ambassadors and others moved to tears as it evoked memories of similar moments of futility, helplessness and arbitrariness and the breaking of what we experienced as normal until then.

Let our involvement not be temporary in nature and let us above all try to act on that awareness and continue to emphasize the abnormality of violence and conflict – however difficult that may be.

Because it is unfortunately true. Involvement soon turns into negligence. The next event, emotion, the next conflict calls, life must go on! Carelessness, therefore, as perhaps the greatest cause of wars and conflicts between countries and population groups; down to the level of neighbourhoods, streets, families and households of ordinary people. Afterwards you know quite well what you should have done yourself to prevent all that misery. We knew we were negligent in the run up to…………. We hoped against our better judgement, that it would not be too bad! Peace for our times. Here, in the midst of all the graves of young men, we see the horrors to which heedlessness leads. Back then in a world in which good and bad were easier to order than is the case now.

How realistic is it today to continue to divide the world into good guys and bad guys? Can you answer hate with hate if peace is your goal? Can you still place and limit conflicts geographically? I admire our former army commander Peter van Uhm, who lost a son in Afghanistan but still had the courage to say some time ago that he had a certain understanding for young people who decided not to stand aside to stop evil regimes. call.

I know, it's tough topics and tough questions and strong emotions that come up, but not asking them adds to the nonchalance: to the right not to be bothered, to sit back as long as it doesn't affect you personally . That sense of unacceptably casualness is……… what I find and can touch here in Kanchanaburi, every time I am here in a place where time and lives have been frozen. Where you can also stop for a while. Where words are insufficient for a reality that remains incomprehensible even after 69, 70, 71 or 72 years, but still! …'

“My husband is an Indian veteran”

Poem written by an unknown Dutchman. Read by Jannie Wieringa.

My husband is an Indian veteran
When there are tears in his eyes
Is he trying to say something with that?
Which he can't explain yet

When he came back from the east
So young, tanned and carefree
Does he, smiling at me
The war brought me

I dreamed of a future together
Think of a hundred children's names
I've been waiting for so long
Lived on letters, thought of him

For many years it went so well
Maybe that was the courage to live
Sometimes he was startled by a faint smell
And always watched the door

My husband is an Indian veteran
When there are tears in his eyes
Is he trying to say something with that?
Which he can't explain yet

Deep despair in such a night
A desperate complaint
We cry, cheek to cheek
A war lasts a lifetime
A war lasts a lifetime

Scared nights have come
He experiences India in his dreams
Screams and sweats and lies shaking
Until my arms give calm

I carry it through the anxious hours
Endure his silent pensive peering
I will never complain to anyone
But is full of a thousand questions

My husband is an Indian veteran
When there are tears in his eyes
Is he trying to say something with that?
Which he can't explain yet

When he came back from the east
So young, tanned and carefree
Does he while smiling at me
The war brought me
The war brought me.'

Source: www.facebook.com/netherlandsembassybangkok