The Last Black Santa Claus Before Expelling The Dutch From The Country

JAKARTA - Long before the United States recognized Santa Claus, the Netherlands had a tradition of a Santa Claus party that was held every December 5. This tradition also entered Indonesia during the Dutch East Indies era.

Santa Claus parties are always lively, especially in Batavia. Every Dutch child and noble child will celebrate by exchanging gifts. This tradition continued, even after Indonesia's independence. However, this tradition ended in 1957.

President Sukarno prohibited this celebration. The ban was followed by the expulsion of the Dutch and their descendants as a result of the impact of heating up relations between Indonesia and the Netherlands. The event of expulsion and banning the celebration became known as "Black Santa".

Quoted from the book A History of Modern Indonesia Since C.1200 by Merle Calvin Ricklefs, at that time President Sukarno ordered the Indonesian Ministry of Law to issue a letter of expulsion for 46 thousand Dutch people to leave Indonesia.

In fact, since the transfer of sovereignty from the Dutch Government to the Indonesian Government in 1949, many Dutch citizens as well as people of Dutch descent have started to leave Indonesia.

However, the move did not take place on a large scale and did not automatically make all Dutch people leave Indonesia. The Black Santa incident was motivated by tough negotiations between Indonesia and the Netherlands over the West Irian region.

At that time, the Dutch were reluctant to release West Irian to Indonesia. Sukarno's anger exploded even more because the United Nations (UN) decided that West Irian entered Dutch territory on November 29, 1957.

To vent this anger, President Sukarno on December 5 65 years ago gave an ultimatum to the Dutch citizens in Indonesia and prohibited them from celebrating the Santa Claus tradition. According to Sukarno, tens of thousands of Dutch people, whether descendants or not, were still dangerous during the West Irian dispute. That's why they have to leave Indonesia.

Spread throughout Indonesia

This anti-Dutch attitude eventually spread to all regions in Indonesia. For the citizens of the Netherlands, December 5, 1957, which should have been as lively as they had done for hundreds of years, turned gray. There were no singing, parading, let alone exchanging gifts.

They are afraid to leave the house and prefer to clean up tools and leave Indonesia immediately. They commemorate the event as "Zwarte Sinterklaas" which means Black Santa. The Dutch did not dare to fight or choose to stay, because the situation was tense.

Anti-Dutch demonstrations took place everywhere, interspersed with chants of "Expel the Dutch". In addition, many walls in each city were inscribed with calls for the expulsion of the Dutch. This mass movement was also accompanied by the takeover of companies controlled by the Netherlands for nationalization.

The hatred was getting worse. The shops at that time were reluctant to serve Dutch buyers. Seeing that hatred was getting worse, many Dutch citizens chose to move within 1x24 hours. Many of them also left without carrying any items as a result of being forcibly evicted by the mass movement.

In droves they moved to the port, boarding a ship provided by the Dutch Government to return to the Windmill Country. The state of the ship is overcrowded. Just be clear. Nearly 46 thousand Dutch citizens and citizens of Dutch descent left simultaneously with the ship.

In each region. Many of them are even willing to travel thousands of miles on the deck of the ship. They are also forced to eat and drink there. Saving themselves from the rampage of the masses is clearly more important to them.

Not a few who were forcibly evicted were Dutch citizens of Indonesian descent who had been born and raised in Indonesia from generation to generation. In fact, many of them have never even set foot in the Netherlands once. They are confused and wonder what the country is like, how is life there.

Although their physical appearance has blonde hair and blue eyes, for citizens of Dutch descent, Indonesia is the land of birth that they also love. When they arrived in the Netherlands, they were greeted by the International Red Cross who immediately cracked down on refugees who had contracted illnesses while on their way.

Many of them started life from scratch. Without a home, let alone a job. To overcome this situation, the Dutch Government through the Ministry of Social Affairs appealed to all Dutch citizens via TV and radio broadcasts to accommodate the new arrivals in their homes.