The International Right to Housing, Evictions and the Obligation to Provide Alternative Accommodation: A Comparison of Indonesia and the Netherlands

I N THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS the Dutch Government has on various occasions indicated its general program for political reforms, especially in regard to the Netherlands Indies. To many people, particularly Americans, who only recently had discovered the colonial problems of Southeast Asia, these pronouncements appeared as the expression of a sudden change of heart, forced on the Dutch by the misfortunes of war. The war naturally has changed situations and attitudes, including those regarding the dependencies, but it is a grievous mistake to believe, for instance, that the Queen's declaration of December 7, 1942 on the future organization of the Netherlands Kingdom drew its inspiration only from current events. The error is serious because it hinders effective cooperation between progressive elements in the colonial empires and those in the United States; the latter are apt to proceed on the assumption that British and Dutch colonial liberal policies are insincere makeshift proposals based on wartime necessities, while the former, put on the defensive, feel that they need to stress the accomplishments of the past and the difficulties in the way of more rapid progress. This bickering threatens to destroy the common front which all progressives, regardless of nationality, should form against the reactionary forces which, after the war, will attempt to re-establish the colonial status quo. There exists a study on political currents in the Netherlands Indies which, if available in translation, could do much to dispel the suspicions just noted and at the same time form a basis for intelligent discussion of the future position of the Indies. It is a report of an official for the Study of Political Reforms,1 often referred to as the Visman Report, after its chairman, Dr. F. H. Visman. The circumstance that led to the appointment of the Commission was, in general, the dissatisfaction of various population groups, particularly Indonesian nationalists, with the progress made toward self-government. After the Netherlands had been invaded, the Indies obtained practical, though not legal, autonomy. It was only natural that many leaders, now more than ever, desired greater responsibilities to be added to greater duties. The Indies Government did not think, however, that far-reaching reforms should be undertaken in such a critical period; but it declared its willingness to have the whole problem investi-