Suriname and the Dutch in the Caribbean

During World War II the Dutch government and royal family sought refuge in England. In 1942 Japan occupied what was then the colonial Dutch East Indies, present-day Indonesia. Consequently the Dutch government's authority was limited to the West Indies: Suriname and the six islands of the Dutch Antilles. To ensure the loyalty of her colonies, in late 1942 Queen Wilhelmina (1880–1962) announced a new political system of overseas "internal autonomy." In 1945, immediately before Japan surrendered to the Allies, it granted independence to Indonesia under a government headed by Sukarno (1901–1970). Holland attempted to reestablish its rule in the region by sending troops and occupying the large cities of Java, the main island, but under pressure from the United States, the government in The Hague opened negotiations for independence. Indonesia rejected the offer of a British-style commonwealth, and independence was declared in 1949.

Meanwhile, The Hague had begun negotiating with the remaining portions of its empire, Suriname and the Dutch Antilles. The negotiations ended with a statute establishing in 1954 the relationship between the three "autonomous nations" of the Kingdom of the Netherlands: European Holland, Suriname, and the Dutch Antilles. The relationship was gilded by cooperation funds. In 1969 a labor conflict in Willemstad, the capital of the Antilles, ended in a confrontation with the police. There were deaths and wounded, and the police forces requested aid from the Dutch Navy. In additional confrontations, the population burned part of the historical center of the capital city. In Holland a public debate arose, recalling the military intervention in Indonesia. The government appointed an investigative commission whose recommendations resulted in new, tripartite deliberations on future independence. Keeping colonies was expensive in terms of both finances and international prestige. A Dutch parliamentarian proposed sending a certificate of independence by certified mail when the colonies rejected independence.

In 1973 the prime minister of Suriname, Henck A. E. Arron, the leader of a coalition with a small electoral majority, announced Suriname's intention of becoming independent within two years. The government in The Hague immediately expressed its approval. Independence without a plebiscite was sweetened by an agreement for a financial donation of 3.5 billion florins (€1.6 billion). The government of the Antilles, in contrast, rejected independence. In 1986, the island of Aruba gained autonomy from the Antilles and in 2006, following a plebiscite, the population of the five remaining islands voted in favor of dissolving the political structure of the Antilles as a nation whilst securing a bilateral relationship with Holland for each of the islands.

At the time of its independence in 1975, Suriname had the highest per capita income in Latin America. Exports of aluminum and aid funds from Holland seemed to ensure a stable nation. But many inhabitants left for Holland, opting for Dutch citizenship. The result of the population exodus was that, by 2005, Suriname had about 480,000 inhabitants, with another 325,000 Surinamese-Dutch living in Holland. Most families in Suriname have relatives in Holland, and the flow of capital towards Suriname averaged €100 million per year between 2000 and 2005. Dutch cooperation has always been a "reserve economy," but the funds committed in 1975 will be exhausted by 2008.

With independence, a small Surinamese national army was created. A labor dispute by noncommissioned officers turned into a coup d'état in 1980. In its first twenty-five years of independence, Suriname experienced two government coups and several attempted palace coups, and had seven civilian government administrations and seven civilian-military administrations between 1975 and 2000. During the years of the military government headed by former sergeant-major (later colonel) Dési Bouterse, the nation's relations with Holland worsened, and a second population exodus followed. The economy worsened, partly due to the suspension of Dutch financial cooperation from 1980 to 1987. Democracy was reestablished in 1987. A second coup took place in 1990, and cooperation was again suspended. When a civilian government was reestablished, after consulting with civilian leaders in Suriname, Holland again offered to create a commonwealth, but Suriname later decided against it, partly due to a military veto. All this was aggravated by an internal conflict led by ex-sergeant Ronnie Brunswijk (b. 1962), formerly one of Bouterse's bodyguards. Lengthy negotiations resulted in a peace agreement in 1992, sponsored by the Organization of American States. Military influence on politics gradually disappeared after that, and as of 2007 country is governed by the three-time civilian president, Ronald Venetiaan (b. 1936).

See alsoArron, Henck A. E.; Bouterse, Desi; Dutch-Latin American Relations.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hoogbergen, Wim, and Dirk Kruijt. De oorlog der sergeanten: Surinaamse militairen in de politiek, 1980–1992. [The Sergeant's War: The Surinamese Military in National Politics]. Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2005.

Lier, Rudolf A. J. van. Frontier Society: A Social Analysis of the History of Surinam. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1971.

Oostindie, Gert, and Inge Klinkers. Decolonising the Caribbean: Dutch Policies in a Comparative Perspective. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2003.

Organization of American States (OAS). Peace and Democracy in Suriname: Final Report of the Special Mission to Suriname (1992–2000). Washington, DC: OAS Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, 2001.

                                             Dirk Kruijt