Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Sense of Belonging


This blog was started in 2005 because I wanted to get in touch with my roots from the former Dutch East Indies. I always have to say "former" or "now Indonesia" because it no longer exists as our parents knew it to be. Clearly, the sense of identity and belonging is innate as I meet more like-minded people who also revere and want to preserve the legacy of the Dutch East Indies - Tempoe Doeloe (the good ol' days). This personal blog may be neglected for the greater picture which is the creation of The Indo Project. However, I still find it to be a time of solace and reflection as I write on this blog.

It is thrilling to know that the younger generations are interested in the stories of their grandparents and the land where they are from. It is my deepest hope that we can leave a legacy for them which reminds them of where they came from. Don't we all want to know that ? It's hard to move forward unless you know where you came from. It makes one complete. The collective memory of the stories keeps the history alive of the Dutch East Indies, both the good and the bad.

I am proud to be part of this history and I am glad to belong to this incredible community.


2 comments:

muhammad rizqy anandhika said...

so you're a dutch and your grandparents were living in "dutch east indies"? it's quite interesting to see the world at "tempo doeloe", for me, and good for your blog. soo many history connection between dutch and indonesian, even there's not so many dutch live from their ancestor at colonization in indonesia, but we found several family that still have a relatives with the dutch. and so do dutch family in netherland have some relatives with indonesian ( much of them with moluccas people, ex: van bronchorst--footballer). and oiya, some words here absorbed from dutch

muhammad rizqy anandhika said...

oyeah. it'll interisting if you read pramoedya ananta toer's. he's indonesian international-award-author that made a novel based on colonization era. most of the novels are humanity novels.