DUTCH APPROACH

Director: René Roelofs Commissioning
Editor: Hans Dortmans
Camera: Sander Snoep
Sound: Rik Meier
Editing: Jelle Redeker
Research: Daisy van den Broek; Hendrina Praamsma
Production: Elsemijn Teulings, Rolf Laimböck and Hetty Krapels
Producer: Pieter van Huystee
Dutch Broadcasting Company: Carel Kuyl and Cees van Ede, NPS

The 4-part documentary series about
the Dutch approach to the Moluccan hijacks in 1970 - 78

Pictures of the trains hijacked by the villages Wijster and De Punt, the occupation of the Indonesian consulate in Amsterdam and the school in Bovensmilde: they are engraved on the memories of everyone who remembers the 1970s. The Free South Moluccan Youth wanted to draw attention to their struggle for a Free Ambon. They were the longest hostage dramas known at the time. The Dutch approach to these actions - 'talking them down and out' - received international attention under the name 'the Dutch Approach'.

The film is also about the 'Dutch Approach' in a second meaning: the attitude of Holland towards the Moluccans themselves. That started in 1951, when Moluccan soldiers in the Dutch East Indian Army were ordered back to Holland and, on arrival, were immediately discharged from military service and put into camps. Throughout the Sixties and Seventies, the Moluccans felt ignored by the Dutch government in their struggle to return to their own South Moluccan state.

In four episodes, the documentary tells the terrifying story of this period of Moluccan hijackings, from Wassenaar in 1970 to the provincial administration building in Assen in 1978. All those involved have their say in this meticulous documentary. The unknown, neglected and largely secret details of the negotiations throw a new light on one of the most important post-war events in Holland.

The Dutch Approach is a film about decision-makers on the issues of life and death, the struggle of a people for self-determination and the damaged trust of Moluccans and hijack victims in the government.