The Dutch apology for slavery is already mired in controversy | Tech Reddy

The monument to slavery in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The cabinet’s lack of communication about what exactly will happen on December 19 when the government will formally apologize for the Netherlands’ role in slavery has angered Surinamese organizations.

The news of the apology, to be spoken by cabinet members in Suriname and the six Caribbean islands, was leaked on Friday and later confirmed by the minister of legal protection Franc Weerwind.

However, instead of formally confirming the news, the cabinet said it would announce a reaction to the recommendations made by the advisory body on slavery Dialooggroep Slavernijverleden on that date.

The lack of clarity and communication about the substance of the apology caused a storm of criticism in Suriname.

Armand Zunder of the Nationale Reparatie Commissie Suriname (NRCS) told the NRC that the way the cabinet is handling the apologies is “totally unacceptable” and “prejudicial to the cause”. Zunder said the apology should come on July 1 when slavery was abolished in the former colony, and should be spoken by King Willem-Alexander.

That is unlikely to happen, Prime Minister Mark Rutte told broadcaster NOS, citing the king’s “constitutionally vulnerable” position and his role as a “national symbol of unity that should not be dragged into a political discussion.”

The Surinamese ambassador to the Netherlands Rajendre Khargi said that the government had not been formally informed about the apology on December 19. The Surinamese government said that it did not comment until that time.

The anger over the timing and content of the apology in Suriname is “a signal that must be taken seriously,” Joyce Sylvester of the Staatscommissie tegen Discriminatie en Racisme said in the political program Buitenhof on Sunday. “It has taken 150 years for an attempt at reconciliation. We cannot allow it to end in disaster,” he said.