Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts, NGO Status Roster
His Excellency Shinzo ABE
Prime Minister of Japan
The Hague, 14 October 2014
Petition: 239
Subject: Royal State visit to Japan by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
Excellency,
Our King Willem Alexander and Queen Máxima will be visiting Japan on an official State visit, 29th to 31st October 2014. In the past visits by our respective Royals have been controversial, accompanied by anger and demonstrations. Not this time. The Dutch from former Dutch East Indies hope that in this visit you and your government find the opportunity to reflect on and to acknowledge the war time history between Japan and The Netherlands. Our countries centuries’ old relationship was based on commerce and mutual respect. The relationship during World War Two however was bitter and sour. It never regained the trust and regard as before.
Prime Minister
Despite the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty and subsequent Yoshida/Stikker protocol of 1956 Japan did not acknowledge its moral responsibility for the terror and dishonourable behaviour of the Imperial Army against the Dutch during the occupation of Dutch East Indies during World War Two. We informed His Majesty King Willem Alexander that whilst in Japan he should not forget what his mother former Her Majesty Queen Beatrix said at the occasion of her State visit to Japan in 1991:
Many of my compatriots did not survive the war.
Those who returned are traumatised by memories.
That is why their sufferings as yet did not come to an end.
Prime Minister
The State visit by His Majesty King Willem Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Maxima should prompt you and your government to consider what Her Majesty Queen Beatrix said and meant. A voluntary gesture by the Japanese government in acknowledging its moral responsibility, including individual excuses and a meaningful solatium for those who are still alive is long overdue. Next year it will be 70 years ago that World War Two ended in Asia. Since then Japan became prosperous and paid many Asian countries a form of reparation. The surviving Dutch from Dutch Indies lost everything during the war but were neglected in Japans generosity to the Asian countries.
Prime Minister
The State visit of the Dutch King and Queen is an opportune moment for Japan and in particular for you to reflect on the past and amend the Yoshida-Stikker protocol with an additional solatium.
On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts,
J.F. van Wagtendonk
President
His Excellency Shinzo ABE
Prime Minister of Japan
The Hague, 9 September 2014
Petition: 238
Subject: Honoring war criminals, how disgusting!
Excellency,
Your message sent to the annual ceremony honoring class A and other war criminals is truly disgusting. You appear to have no consideration for all the victims, Japanese and others, who suffered so badly from the atrocities caused by these war criminals. They induced the Imperial Army and their agents to bring terror and fear in the occupied territories and bullied their own people into war. Many of the survivors and the next of kin of those who died are shocked by your message.
How can you as a private person and as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party say that the war criminals “sacrificed their souls to become the foundation of the fatherland”?
The people of Japan must now realize and recognize the true colors of their Prime Minister:
He honors Japan’s convicted war criminals, forgets their atrocities, and glorifies them to cover up the role and activities of his ancestors. The Japanese citizens will realize that the war criminals are not “the foundation of modern Japan”, but give Japan a lasting bad name.
Prime Minister
As Prime Minister you must take responsibility for your acts as a private person and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. You cannot but acknowledge Japan’s past wrongdoings and stop backpedaling on former apologies. If not, Japan’s stand in the world will continue to deteriorate and the young people of Japan will continue to be blamed for not knowing their country’s history. Your so called peace agenda is wrought by the past and lacks repentance.
Germany’s example in acknowledgement and apologies and reparations for all its war crimes against its people, the Jews, Sinti and other Europeans, brought them respect and admiration. An honest apology recognized by the government and conveyed directly by the Prime Minister to the surviving victims and the next of kin will bring peace and better international relationships to Japan.
Respect must be earned and paid for!
Prime Minister
Accept in the long term interest of Japan and its people this responsibility.
Come to terms with the past!
On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts,
J.F. van Wagtendonk
President
His Excellency Shinzo ABE
Prime Minister of Japan
The Hague, 12 August 2014
Petition: 237
Subject: The meaning of August 15th
Excellency,
We remember the 15th of August 1945 as the day that Emperor Hirohito ordered his Imperial Army to cease the fighting and to surrender. For the then surviving Dutch prisoners the news of the Japanese surrender came later, but they were not liberated. They were kept in the concentration camps. Those outside the camps were subjected to further terror by the Japanese invoked Indonesian revolutionaries. On the 15th of August we remember the dead and the sufferings we endured. We are supposed to celebrate the end of the war. The truth is that those who survived and are still alive fully remember their fate at the hands of the Japanese military and the follow on of the Indonesian revolutionaries. But at the ceremonies they remember their lost ones. In particular how their lives ended through execution, torture, starvation, illnesses and lack of medicine and hygiene. For many of the survivors the end of the war meant a new challenge to survive. They had to move on for themselves, for their families and their children in particular and for their parents who lost all. They cannot forget and subsequently do not have respect for Japans’ failure to acknowledge their war past and their moral responsibilities.
Prime Minister,
In this context it is outrageous that your government does not accept the advice of the UN Human Rights Council to acknowledge responsibility for the Comfort Women issues. It was possibly the last opportunity for your government to do so honorably, in demonstrating Japan’s sincerity to resolve the issues. The world will not forget Japans’ refusal to follow the UN Human Rights Council advice. It will question Japans’ standing as a responsible compassionate member of the international community, the United Nations. How remorseful is Japan for its past behavior? How long can you maintain this position of historical denial? How will Japanese voters react to the shame? The world is not all about economics and commerce, but it is ultimately about integrity in accepting history and humanity.
Prime Minister,
The MH17 plane disaster confronted the people of The Netherlands with the importance of the United Nations in maintaining an international community with respect for humanity and integrity. The pictures of the disaster site and the disrespect for the remains of the victims will be remembered always. His Excellency Mr. Timmermans, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, made the feelings and the disgust of the Dutch very clear in his speech to the UN Security Council. At this raw time for the Dutch Japan’s disregard for its obligations to both the Dutch and the wider UN is unacceptable.
On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts,
J.F. van Wagtendonk
President
cc UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Attachment: High Commissioner Mrs. Navi Pillay Japan’s approach to the issue of “Comfort Women” causing further violations of victims’ human rights.
His Excellency Shinzo ABE
Prime Minister of Japan
The Hague, 8 July 2014
Petition: 236
Subject: Japan’s indigestible war history
Excellency,
Why can you not accept that Japan lost its colonial war in 1945? Deal with it and recognize the moral consequences. Then you can concentrate on Japan’s future in the Pacific region. As long as you do not accept this commitment, your neighbours and the rest of the world will doubt Japan’s intentions. Japan remains haunted by its past as it does not wish to acknowledge the historic facts. The sneaky way you try to throw doubts upon the Kono statement to satisfy local political interests makes Japan unstable and unreliable in the eyes of the world. Questioning the validity of the Kono statement and suggesting that the wording of the statement were established by diplomatic negotiations with the Republic of Korea is untrue and deceiving. The historic facts are overwhelming: the Imperial Forces committed war crimes as a matter of policy and were supported in this by the Tokyo government. The Kono statement deals only with the terrible coercing of young women and girls by the Imperial Forces in Japanese occupied territories into sexual slavery, it does not cover the other atrocities committed by the Imperial Forces such as those to the Dutch in Netherlands-East Indies.
Prime Minister,
Historical facts cannot be changed. As long as there is doubt about the meaning and amendments of apologetic statements by the belligerent nation Japan, the victims and their next of kin will never accept Japan’s sincerity. They will continue to press for a universally accepted resolve to the Japanese Honorary Debts stemming from the misconduct by the Imperial Forces during World War Two. The continuous doubts expressed by you and by frustrated politicians, who remember it all too well but dare not take their responsibilities, are obviously done in order to avoid liabilities. If you are still in doubt about these historic facts have the courage to ask the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the facts and accept these honorably. For global acceptance cover not only the enforced sexual slavery issue, but the other issues such as crimes against humanity and ignoring international conventions by the Imperial Forces. An independent investigation by historians and lawyers under the auspices of the Human Rights Commission would demonstrate Japan’s sincerity to resolve the issues.
Prime Minister,
We require a personal acknowledgement of the receipt of this petition.
On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts,
J.F. van Wagtendonk
President
Cc. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
His Excellency Shinzo ABE
Prime Minister of Japan
The Hague, 10 June 2014
Petition: 235
Subject: Review of the Kono apology.
Excellency,
In our previous petition 234 we stated that the Kono Statement and the Murayama Statement are only limited apologies as they deny Japan’s full liability for the consequences of the Imperial Army’s violations of human rights. We presented the points which should at least be included in the lasting apology by Japan on behalf of its people. The San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 did not discharge Japan from its moral responsibility. What happened in the past has a bearing on Japan’s future.
Prime Minister,
The announcement by the Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga that a “verifying team” is to study how the Kono Statement was established and on which facts it was based makes the remarks in our petition 234 even more valid. Although the Chief Cabinet Secretary remarked that the Kono Statement will not be revised during your administration, it begs the question what will happen if the review concludes differently to the official apology. This is why we request the Japanese government in a gesture of penance to promise in the apology that it will never happen again. Indeed a commitment which will be lasting into the future. President Barak Obama’s damning remarks in Seoul following his visit to Tokyo about Japan’s institutionalized forced recruitment into prostitution during World War II as a “terrible, egregious violation of human rights” should be taken into account by the “verifying team”. As should Japan’s general unwillingness to accept the world’s disapproval of Japan’s World War II past. We recommend you instruct your verifying team to involve surviving victims from the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) in its review.
Prime Minister,
The issues which the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts presented in her petitions are issues which will not go away. It is not a legal matter but requires an Honorable solution in accepting the moral obligation stemming from the behavior of the Imperial Army during World War II. We are confident that if you put the question to the Japanese people, they will admire your courage and agree to resolve this painful memory of World War II. And this will allow your country to move far more quickly into the future.
We require a personal acknowledgement of the receipt of this petition.
On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts,
J.F. van Wagtendonk
President
His Excellency Shinzo ABE
Prime Minister of Japan
The Hague, 13 May 2014
Petition: 234
Subject: Meaningful formal apology by Japan for its wartime atrocities.
Excellency,
The Netherlands remember their war dead on May 4th. Each year it is a very moving moment when the King and Queen lay their wreath in remembrance, thus paying their respect to all Dutch who died during World War Two and during peace keeping missions. It is also the moment to reflect on how Japan remembers World War Two. In particular how Japan has dealt with the atrocities by its Imperial Army, its poor apology to the victims and their next of kin and Japan’s disregard of world opinion.
Prime Minister,
The Kono statement and the Murayama statement are limited apologies as they deny Japan’s liability for the consequences of the Imperial Army’s violations of human rights. They do not involve the victims and their next of kin in a gesture of penance. The actions of current Japanese politicians demonstrate time and again that the apologies are not made sincerely by the Japanese nation and continue to haunt Japan. The suggested revision of the constitution proves that the Japanese apologies in their present form cannot be taken seriously. Formal government apologies have to be meaningful and state the facts in order to be acceptable now and in the future. It is essential that Japan issues a meaningful apology in which:
– Japan acknowledges the wartime atrocities by its Imperial Army,
– Japan accepts responsibility for these atrocities,
– Japan sincerely apologizes and incorporates the surviving victims and their next of kin in formulating the apology,
– Japan promises that its military nor any other government body in future are involved in atrocities and other violations of human rights,
– Japan offers concrete reparations to the victims and their next of kin,
– Japan formally remembers in wartime ceremonies the atrocities, involves the victims and their next of kin and educates its people on the importance to remember the past for a better future,
– Japan’s apology is by an act of Parliament, in which it accepts both legally and morally liability to the victims and their next of kin and penalizes denial of the attrocities by politicians.
Prime Minister,
We are not alone in requesting Japan to apologize for its wartime atrocities. In formulating our request we made use of the concept of apology by Calvin Hancock for Toronto ALPHA, Association for learning and preserving the history of World War II in Asia.
We require a personal acknowledgement of the receipt of this petition.
On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts,
J.F. van Wagtendonk
President
His Excellency Shinzo ABE
Prime Minister of Japan
The Hague, 8 April 2014
Petition: 233
Subject: Murayama and Kono statements uphold!
Excellency,
Just prior to the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, the Japanese government wisely announced that they would continue to adhere to the apologies for wartime behavior made by past Japanese cabinets in 1993 and 1995. On behalf of the members of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts we are relieved that Japan will uphold the Murayama and Kono statements and, by implication, no longer put in doubt Japan’s responsibility for the World War Two atrocities by the Imperial Army.
Prime Minister,
During the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague you visited the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam. A war memorial for a Dutch girl, famous for her diary, murdered in the Holocaust. You faced the historical facts in a humble manner. You said that you would like to pass on the lessons and facts of history to the next generation. We assume that you will do likewise in Japan. You are obliged to educate your people to recognize that Japan’s Imperial Army also attempted genocide to the same extent as the Holocaust. Many of the Dutch children of Anne Franks’ age in the Dutch East Indies did not survive the war. Those who survived remember and feel their sufferings at the hand of the Japanese military and their agents every day. It is time that you acknowledge those historic facts as well, as an Honorary Debt of Japan, to the world in general, and to the Dutch in particular.
The Anne Frank House and her diaries are monuments of war. Amongst others the Germans continue to visit the museum and are humbled and ashamed, despite their Wiedergutmachung. Your visit should have been in shame as Japan has not made its Wiedergutmachung to the Dutch who survived, nor did you attempt to open up Japans World War Two military history to the people of Japan. The Japanese educational textbooks ignore the facts and give false impressions. There are even attempts to destroy copies of Anne Frank diaries in Japanese libraries, and yet you visited the AnneFrankMuseum.
Prime Minister,
In your discussion with Prime Minister Rutte you indicated that the doors for dialogue are always open. You also stated that Japan will continue programs to cure the emotional pain of the Dutch people who were detained and mistreated by the now defunct Imperial Army. We would highly appreciate an immediate date to meet to open the dialogue on curing the emotional pain and conclude this issue, on mutually acceptable terms. An annual trip for 20 of the remaining 60.000 Dutch victims of Japanese terror does not cure many. Acknowledgement with appropriate atonement will be a better cure.
We require a personal acknowledgement of the receipt of this petition.
On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts,
J.F. van Wagtendonk
President
His Excellency Shinzo ABE
Prime Minister of Japan
The Hague, 11 March 2014.
Petition: 232
Subject: Review of the 1993 Kono statement!
Excellency,
The world is astounded by your government’s decision to consider revising the so called Kono statement of 1993. According to your chief Cabinet Secretary evidence given by “comfort women” is to be re-examined. Much of the information given has been verified by many and proven to be correct. Whilst considering the evidence it is opportune also to consider the evidence taken by the 1946 – 1949 Temporal Military Tribunal of Batavia. 356 Japanese military and their civilian agents serving in Netherlands East Indies during its occupation were accused of war crimes. Of the accused 59 (more than 20%) were sentenced to death and subsequently executed. Only 27 (less than 10%) were acquitted.
Prime Minister,
Among the cases considered by the Tribunal was the so-called Semarang compulsory prostitution case. Officers of the Japanese army and their Japanese civilian agents were convicted for removing, under force and threat, young European girls and women from concentrations camps. These girls and women were coerced into prostitution for Japanese officers. The victims made sworn statements that they were not volunteers, but were abused and forced by camp commanders, systematically raped and forced into sexual slavery for Japanese officers in specially organized “clubs”. The Tribunal punished the Japanese offenders severely including the death penalty and long prison sentences.
Prime Minister,
It would have been more courageous if you had taken the opportunity of the revision to personally announce that you would bring the “revised” Kono statement to the Diet for approval. Then you should widen the scope of the apology to include the brutal and unacceptable and unlawful behaviour of the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces in the occupied territories of South East Asia during the World War Two. Failing to do so will continue to question the sincerity of Japan in recognizing its past and apologizing for its war crimes. It will worsen Japan’s global moral standing. Japan must accept responsibility and face up to its past. It must make good what it had failed to do so far, for the survivors and their next of kin. An obvious and weak willed attempt to undermine the victims of your country’s military will only add to Japan’s further shame.
We would welcome an acknowledgement of the receipt of this petition by you personally.
On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts,
J.F. van Wagtendonk
President
His Excellency Shinzo ABE
Prime Minister of Japan
The Hague, 11 February 2014.
Petition: 231
Subject: What it means to know your past!
Excellency,
We, children then but now in our eighties and seventies, had to endure the evil of the Japanese military occupation of Dutch East Indies during World War Two. We know and painfully feel our past. We know how it was to endure hunger, maltreatment, enslavement and to be forced to see the humiliation of our mothers, sisters and brothers. We know how it feels not knowing what happened to our fathers, kept in separate captivity. It cannot be a surprise to you that we do not respect and cannot forgive those who gave the orders to maltreat us and ultimately the order to kill us all in order to hide the war crimes of the Japanese military.
Prime Minister,
We cannot understand that the children and grandchildren of those who issued the orders for war crimes are not ashamed of their parents. We cannot understand that these same people are being glorified and that their war crimes are honored. It is sickening to deny their evil past and have no compassion for those who suffered so badly. There is ample proof of the direct involvement by the Japanese military in coercing women into sexual slavery, which did untold emotional and physical damage. There is ample proof that Japanese military ignored behavioral conventions, were instructed to maltreat us all and conduct war crimes on a large scale. There is also concrete proof that the Japanese military were instructed at the end of the war to kill all captives to hide the war crimes which they knew would be uncovered.
Prime Minister
The Japanese leaders of the war period lost all respect for humanity. The present leaders must accept that and must not try to rewrite history. There is and there will never be honor in glorifying the Japanse military behavior during World War Two. It would be honorable for the present leaders of Japan to admit it and not to glorify the past. The good people of Japan must be informed about the past. We believe that they will appreciate honesty, and honor and accept the moral commitment stemming from art. 14 (a) of the San Francisco Peace treaty: “It is recognized that Japan should pay reparations for the damage and sufferings caused by it during the war.” Educate the people of Japan and communicate to them the truth. Stop ignoring the past and above all be honest in knowing your past.
We would welcome an acknowledgement of the receipt of this petition by you personally.
On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts,
J.F. van Wagtendonk
President
His Excellency Shinzo ABE
Prime Minister of Japan
The Hague, 14 January 2014.
Petition: 230
Subject: Be honest about your past!
Excellency,
The Board and members of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts wish you and your country a Happy New Year. Last year we congratulated you on the occasion of your election victory and your appointment as Prime Minister of Japan. Much of your intentions to create change in Japan you repeated in your present New Year message. It is regrettable that these intentions appear to ignore Japan’s past and do not take into account that Japan’s future as a nation must first resolve that horrible past. Japan is part of the global community and must realize that its own wellbeing is dependent on its international relations.
Prime Minister,
The Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts is not a political entity. Its purpose is to care for the Dutch from former Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, and resolve the relationship with Japan stemming from the horrible period of Japanese military occupation of the Dutch East Indies during World War Two. It is remarkable that a spokesman from the German Chancellor Mrs. Angela Merkel made the point recently that Japan should deal “honestly” with its World War Two past. Your recent visit as Prime Minister to the Yasukuni Shrine angers many international institutions and countries. It demonstrates that in fact you do not care how the world reacts to these visits. It means too that your other intentions to revive Japan’s standing in the world will not be improved. As so well demonstrated by Germany. We demand that you accept moral responsibility for the past. You must realize how the individual survivors suffered and what they lost as result of the war which Japan started. Make Japan respectable again as a nation of conscience and principals and open an honest dialogue with our Foundation.
We would welcome an acknowledgement of the receipt of this petition by you personally.
On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts,
J.F. van Wagtendonk
President