There is a Dutch tinge to Ambon and the surrounding islands. An umbilical cord connecting it with the former colonial power. This umbilical cord takes the form of family. Everybody I meet has an uncle, aunt, nephew, grandfather, brother or sister who lives somewhere in The Netherlands. Names of cities and towns fly by, Frankie who lives in Venlo, Jaap who lives in Almelo, Tony who lives in Amsterdam. Older folk speak Dutch to me spontaneously when I tell them where I am from. For good or for ill, Holland is quite popular out here. Which, if you think about it, is rather strange, seeing the atrocities we committed. The reason so many Moluccans and specifically Ambonese live in Holland has to do, as is often the case, with the past. We have to go back
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