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View all search results‘Java Man’ return marks Indonesia-Netherlands reconciliation: Foreign Ministers
The return of more than 28,000 fossils unearthed by Dutch geologist Eugene Dubois was among highlights of Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel’s first trip to Indonesia for a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Sugiono in Jakarta.
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Foreign Minister Sugiono (right) shakes hands with Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel (left) on Thursday before their bilateral meeting at the Foreign Ministry office in Jakarta. During the meeting, which took place in van Weel's first visit to Indonesia since assuming office in early September, both ministers discussed various topics, including the repatriation of artifacts unearthed in Indonesia during the Dutch colonial era and cooperation to push for a sustainable palm oil supply chain. (Antara/Bayu Pratama S.)
T
he foreign ministers of the Netherlands and Indonesia hailed the plan to return thousands of artifacts unearthed during the Dutch colonial era, including the remains of the Homo erectus known as “Java Man”, as the two countries’ “historical reconciliation and mutual trust” during both officials meeting on Thursday in Jakarta.
For his first trip to Indonesia since assuming office in September, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel met with his Indonesian counterpart Sugiono at the Foreign Ministry’s office in Jakarta on Thursday. The visit was aimed at building on the outcome of President Prabowo Subianto’s visit to The Hague two weeks earlier.
Both ministers charted out future cooperation across various sectors, including research, education and heritage conservation.
Among the highlights of Thursday’s ministerial meeting was the plan to return more than 28,000 fossils of the “Dubois Collection”, looted by Dutch geologist Eugene Dubois during the Dutch colonial era in the archipelago. The plan was first announced during Prabowo’s visit to the Netherlands, where King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima conveyed their support for the repatriation effort.
What drew the most attention from the vast collection were the remains of the “Java Man”, the first ever remains of Homo erectus, believed to have lived from around 1.9 million years ago to about 150,000 years ago.
The return of thousands of fossils to Indonesia is a gesture “beyond ecological exchange”, Sugiono said, adding that the momentum should be used to build deeper scientific and cultural cooperation in the future.
“It symbolizes the shift in history reconciliation and mutual trust, and it creates new opportunities for collaboration, research, conservation and public education,” Sugiono said in a statement on Thursday following his nearly hour-long meeting with van Weel.
