Dutch to Indonesia: sorry about that massacre
Leader of the Indonesian National Party Achmed Sukarno (1902-70) demanding independence from the Netherlands in an undated photo. Indonesian independence from Dutch colonial rule was achieved in 1949 after a bloody struggle.
Better late than never.
The Netherlands sent its Indonesia ambassador to a small Javanese village to, at long last, apologize for a bloodbath waged by colonialist troops in 1947, according to the AP.
The unarmed young men were slaughtered to intimidate and weaken a guerrilla force that later secured Indonesia's independence in 1949.
The apology, reports the Jakarta Globe, will be paired with $27,000 payouts to nine relatives of the victims.
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