3.5.5.

THE LEGAL POSITION OF FORMER COLONIAL CIVIL SERVANTS

In this sub-section the legal position of colonial personnel after the transfer of
sovereignty is dealt with.

Basic legislation on the subject constitutes an integral part of the regulations

resulting from the Round Table Conference, which automaticaly came into force on
the transfer of sovereignty. For civil servants this was part b. of the Agreement
on transitional measures (Overgangsovereenkomst/Persetudjuan perpindahan part b:
Overeenkomst inzake de positie van de burgerlijke overheidsdienaren in verband met
de souvereiniteitsoverdracht/ Persetudjuan tentang kedudukan pegawai-pegawai
pemerintah sipil sehubung dengan penjerahan kedaulatan).

According othe agreements of the Round Table Conference the colonial civil servants
would
become the responsibility of the Indonesian Republic after the transfer of
sovereignty. The agreement was supported by a guarantee from the Dutch government
to pay the salaries of the colonial civil servants if the Indonesian Republic
should fail to honour its obligations. The
Indonesian Republic did honour its obligations, however, even though for political
reasons it chose to suspend an increasing number of Dutch civil servants.
Nevertheless, for some time
salaries were paid to even suspended civil servants and when these stopped within
the five-year term, the civil servants benefited from the Dutch guarantee.

This settlement was not without its problems, however. The Dutch authorities did
not consult the colonial civil servants on the transfer of the responsibility for
them of the Republic. To all appearances, it did not consider the possibility that
some civil servants might be put at risk by such a transfer. These circumstances
and the fact that at least before the war colonial civil
servants were not as a rule allowed to resign from the corps, strained relations
between the Dutch authorities and the corps of former civil servants in the
Netherlands.