If you'd like a pdf version of this newsletter where the margins & pages are formatted to 8 1/2 x 11 pages, making it easier to print, please send requests to ingridmccleary@theindoproject.org and I'll add your email to the pdf distribution list, which usually comes within a day of the email version.
 

 

• Silenced Voices, Ohio University Press, 2008;
• Verstilde stemmen en verzwegen levens, Atlas, 2009

I was one among millions who spent Saturday afternoons watching Shirley Temple dance across the screen and into our hearts. I knew she was a phenomenal child star whose very presence was a balm to Americans struggling to make it through the Great Depression of the 30s, but I watched reruns of her movies throughout the 60s and 70s.  By that time, she'd turned her efforts to public service, eventually becoming Ambassador to Ghana. When the public heard of her passing on February 10th, 2014, it wasn't Shirley Temple Black at age 85 who sprang to mind but that of her singing, "Animal crackers in my soup."  I respected her immensely and when I heard the news, it felt like someone had torn through the fabric of my life & let the cold air in.  I found a small measure of comfort at discovering that she had not only lived less than 20 miles from my home but that her family was of English, German, and Dutch ancestry. Her presence enriched generations of families and we are fortunate indeed that we can still wile away some Saturdays with our children and grandchildren sprawled across our laps, watching her sing, "On the good ship Lollipop."  Please click here to read the New York Times article, which includes videos & photos. 


 

News from Indos living in other countries

Have you read the latest in the series from Australian Indo, Katherine Pentecost?  Kathryn had previously written an intriguing feature in 2013, "Imagined Communities in Cyberspace", which spurred TIP to ask her to do a series for the website & share her findings on the research she did for her Ph.D. Here are the links to. A Brief History of the Dutch East Indies – Part 1 and Part 2.  Robert Bean praised her Cyberspace piece: As an experienced intercultural consultant and trainer who has been privileged to meet thousands of people in settings focused on the exploration of cultures and identity, I found Kathryn Pentecost’s article not only fascinating in itself but most accurate in its depiction of the multiplicity of cultures and cultural identities within the majority of people on this connected planet.  Enjoy the read!

Welcome another 4th Generation Indo

This Editor is exceedingly proud to introduce my first cucu (Indonesian word for grandchild, delightfully pronounced choo choo), Benjamin Christopher Brown, to the Indo community worldwide.  He gave us a scare, arriving 7 weeks early but time will help this little guy grow taller than his Oma, probably by the time he's 11 years old, since I'm a skosh under 5 feet tall. This photo shows him at 3 hours old, weighing 4 lbs 4 oz so his Opa's hand is the perfect size for a blanket!


How you can help

 

The Indo Project strives to bring the past to the future by raising awareness about Indo history and culture via the English language so that second and third generation Indos can know what it was like for the First Generation before, during and after WWII. Go to our website and learn more. Become involved. Spread the word to your family and friends. 

Join The Indo Project Facebook network. 

 
Donate! All it takes is one minute of your time to donate online. No one receives a salary at The Indo Project. The work we do to bring the Indo community together relies entirely on public donations.  Please go to our website or send a check to: “The Indo Project”, 19 Chestnut Square, Boston, MA 02130, USA.

War and Military News

Buitenkampers (outside campers) -  By Priscilla Kluge McMullen - TIP Co-founder

A few months after the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies (March 1942), the Japanese started imprisoning the Dutch in camps. The Japanese made a racial distinction between pure-blood Dutch (totoks) and mixed-blooded Dutch (Eurasians/Indos). The totoks were taken to the Japanese-run internment camps.  Most Indos could not prove they were pure-blood Dutch, so they were not allowed in the internment camps where they would, at least, have been given one meal a day and medical care. The Indos had to stay outside the camp and fend for themselves. With the husbands, fathers, and brothers taken prisoner by the Japanese and serving most of World War II on the Thai-Burma Railroad or in Japan, most of the people left behind and not allowed in the camps were mothers with young children! These were the Buitenkampers.
 
Although life in the internment camps was horrible, international law required Japan to feed their prisoners and take care of them but the people outside the internment camp had no food, no income, no medicine, shelter or clothing, they were terrorized by the Japanese and at their mercy. The Buitenkampers lived in an increasingly hostile environment and had great difficulty to stay alive. Their freedom was very relative. After the Japan capitulated (August 1945), the hardships of these Buitenkampers only increased.  They endured a genocide (the Bersiap) at the hands of the Indonesian rebels seeking independence from the Dutch.  They were labeled as “the dogs of the Dutch”.  While there have been movies made about the people in the camp, this is the first time that a film has been made about the people that had to survive outside the camps.  This period has long been concealed by the people that survived this horrendous period, there was just too much shame & pain to talk about it.  So many of their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of the Buitenkampers don’t know about this period of Dutch history. This film is groundbreaking as it manages to obtain interviews with some of these Buitenkampers who were child survivors of this period.  Heartbreaking stories.

My daughter Michelle, my grandson Kellan and I (as 2nd, 3rd, & 4th generation Indos) appear in the documentary. While all the other people telling their stories are of the 1st generation, Hetty used the story I tell about my mother to highlight the discrimination and suppression Indos feel and are not able to talk about freely. She also wanted to film us as we are a living example of the rainbow of colors that Indos have become since the exodus from Indonesia.