Detiknews interviewed researcher Ireen Hoogenboom on the research into decolonization, violence and war in Indonesia 1945-1950 conducted by KITLV, NIOD and NIMH.
The three Dutch institutes work together with Universitas Gadjah Madah (UGM), told Ireen. ‘This is not an investigation between two governments, it is an independent academic investigation. This research, therefore, does not aim to change Indonesian history and it will not deny the date of Indonesian independence, August 17, 1945. The purpose of this research is to find out what has happened and why.’
Ireen also provided information about the program’s witnesses and contemporaries project, which calls witnesses of this period of war to tell about their experiences.