Historun: How the Indonesian Student Association

Communicate with Europe and the past

The European Student Think Tank, May 14, 2013

Indonesian students in front of the former residence of A. Soebardjo, the first Foreign Minister of the newly created
Republic of Indonesia. Copyright: Author

The Historun

Last Saturday, the members of the Indonesian student association (PPI) from the Netherlands,
Germany, and France gathered through Historun. It is an event they have initiated as a way to
discover and re-discover Indonesian history inscribed in objects and Leiden monuments, a beautiful
city in the Netherlands’ Randstad[1] which hosts the first university in the country founded in 1575 by
the Prince William of Orange[2]. There were around 80 participants, including important Indonesian
embassy officials, PhD candidates, researchers, scholars or Master students coming from all over the
Netherlands, but some were also from Germany and France. They were all ready and well equipped
for a journey through historical discovery.

The journey began with a lunch and a visit inside the National Museum of Anthropology/Volkenkunde
museum (thankfully, as the rainy Dutch weather announced a rather challenging day for this sort of
events). The collections for which the Indonesian students were coming to see were those of Frits
Liefkes (curator Rijkmuseum Amsterdam). Liefkes and his partner compiled around 1,000 beautiful
artefacts from every corner of the Indonesian archipelago, ranging from jewelleries, statues, cloths
and dolls. Two objects in particular drew attention to the complexity of multicultural identity: a box
with the inscription of a statement in Dutch on one of its sides (“My grandpa is full, my father is half,
I’m a quarter”) and a range of dolls wearing traditional clothes from the various ethnicities across the
Dutch East Indies, sent by the Dutch East India Company to Queen Wilhemina to make her aware of
the diverse identities of her subjects.

As the weather was getting a little better, the participants were divided into five groups, each led by a
guide (one of the members of the association) in search for traces of Indonesian history spread all over
Leiden. It was fasinating to learn the many marks history has sculpted on the city’s architectures. One
example is the former residence of the first Foreign Minister of the newly independent Republic of
Indonesia, Achmad Soebardjo, when he lived in Leiden as a student before becoming an important
actor of the Indonesian independence. Another one is the former residence of C. Snouck Hurgronje, a
Leiden University Professor and the first Western scholar of Oriental cultures being examined by a
delegation of scholars from Mecca before being allowed to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Muslim city
of Mecca in 1885. Finally, the discovery of two Indonesian poems –one, in Buginese, inscribed on the
wall of the Royal Institute for Oriental Studies KITLV and the other, in Javanese, on the wall of a
private building- added some artistic and cultural sides to the journey. Along the way, the participants
also explored Dutch history by visiting the residence of the famous Dutch painter Rembrandt, the
Dutch military barrack or Kazerne, the famous buildings of Leiden University, and other historical
monuments. As the participants felt heavy rain and a wind gust coming, the journey ended at the
Burcht of Leiden with some snacks offered by the association. The photo hunt game had to be
cancelled, but all the participants left satisfied, without forgetting to congratulate the association for
this great initiative.

Living in a world with multiple identities

What can we learn from this Indonesian students’ initiative? For one thing, it is the notion of complex
or multiple identities. As I was passing through the traces of the Dutch-Indonesian history in Leiden
with the participants, an idea came across my (EU-specialised) student’s mind: in this increasingly
interdependent world and with the rich diversity of European nations and history, how should one
perceive a European identity? The Dutch and Indonesians have shared a common history, including
the 3 centuries and a half period of colonisation. You can find a lot of Indonesian food all over the
Netherlands in restaurants and supermarkets, but also many Indonesian descendants and other
cultural heritage. Other EU member states, even those neighbouring the Netherlands, do not share the
same history. Thus, it would be very hard for the EU not to accept the diverse and well forged
identities of its member states. A search for identity, as the Historun event demonstrates, cannot be
limited to a “within” or “exclusive” perception of identity, nor can its perception be limited to economy
and law.

The EU has made some interesting projects to promote intercultural dialogues between the EU
member states, such as the European Capitals of Culture, European Heritage Days, Intercultural
Cities Project, the Platform on Intercultural Europe and the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue
(2008). The latter was the starting block of the ongoing process of intercultural dialogue, covering
many EU policy fields such as culture, audio-visual sector, multilingualism, youth, research,
integration and external relations. The EU has also allocated 1.7% of the EU Structural Funds on a
cultural programme (€6 billion for the 2007-2013 term), although it is mainly focused on economic
activities related to culture such as tourism, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Building a European identity

One might envision a European identity. However, there is still much to be done and it surely takes
time. We are all aware of the fact that European history is part of the global history, where people have
shared multiple identities, within Europe and beyond. At the same time, we also know that European
nations have fought for their existence. Thus, the idea of a European citizenship that the Treaty of
Maastricht has created should be regarded as an open citizenship and complementary to the nation
state identity, and not a threat to it. It is the EU policy makers’ job to convince its citizens that it is the
case. The form of ‘intrusive regionalism’ through economic policies that has been enhanced following
the European sovereign debt crisis could put in danger the EU’s legitimacy and thus widen the
distance between the EU institutions and European citizens. However, once the EU institutions
manage to overcome these challenges and regain its legitimacy and acceptance from European
citizens, the EU project could lead to an unprecedented form of a complementary identity creation,
built not within one single nation but out of multiple nations. Hence, our generation and descendants
would perhaps one day be able to say: ‘I’m half …. -half European’.

[1] A conurbation consisting of the four largest Dutch cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and
Utrecht

[2] Commonly believed as a reward to its population’s resistance against Spanish attacks during the
Eighty Years’ War or the Dutch War of Independence against the king Phillip II of Spain (1568-1648).
The episode referred to here is ‘the Defense of Leiden’ (1574).