ABSTRACT
For a long time, the debate on the Dutch colonial past focused mainly on the years in which Indonesia, Suriname, and the Caribbean part of the kingdom became independent or autonomous. We can hardly imagine it now, but in those years the positive aspects of the Dutch presence – bringing education, healthcare work, infrastructure, the ‘true’ faith – often received more attention than the negative ones – exploitation, violence, and theft of cultural heritage. The latter were downplayed.
