(de Ware Tijd) AMSTERDAM – Suriname will never bow down to the Netherlands just to improve relations with that country. It is the Dutch who are damaging the relationship, so they must take action to make the relationship healthy again, former President Jules Wijdenbosch says in reply to questions from de Ware Tijd shortly after a press conference he held yesterday in Hotel Casa400 in Amsterdam.
He harshly criticized the attitude of the Netherlands towards Suriname, saying, “it is not the Netherlands which decides the legitimacy of Suriname’s rulers.” Wijdenbosch expressed his personal opinions. Lower House member Harry van Bommel (Socialist Party, SP) hopes both countries will deal with the relationship in a “mature way,” so it can be normalized. Wijdenbosch issued a warning to Dutch political parties which expressed the wish to isolate the country during the Lower House’s most recent Suriname-debate. The warning came in view of the upcoming Parliamentary elections on 12 September.
Although he did not mention parties by name during his press conference, Wijdenbosch tells dWT he was referring to the governing parties of CDA and VVD and their partner PVV, as well as PvdA. The former President calls the decision to refuse visa to the suspects of the 8 December murder trial “childish”. In his presentation, Wijdenbosch used many data to show that Suriname’s economy is doing well, adding that The Hague is not pleased with this success. He also criticized the Dutch government’s decision to keep documents secret for 60 years, as these contain information on Suriname in the 1980s and the role the Dutch might have played in developments then. It may be impossible to uncover the truth during the 8 December trial without these documents.
