why after over 300 years of dutch rule, contrary to other former colonies, Indonesia neither has significant leftovers of dutch culture nor is the dutch language spoken anywhere.

Question

why after over 300 years of dutch rule, contrary to other former colonies, Indonesia neither has significant leftovers of dutch culture nor is the dutch language spoken anywhere.

In: 9430

Answer 1

We were never there to impose our culture or our religion, we were there to make money, as others have said.

Also, the decolonization process wasn’t a gentle one. People in Indonesia probably call it a liberty war, like the one the USA had. And they wouldn’t be wrong. (Which is, until this day, not a popular opinion in The Netherlands. Though if you found me a dutch historian who diasgreed, you’ve probably found one with otherwise suspect opinions)

Many of the most dutch-aligned people in the conflict came here after we lost. Amd the new Indonesian government did a fair bit of stomping out dutch influences as well. Twenty years ago, you’d have found many more dutch-speaking people there, although most of them were old by then too. Now most of them have just died off.