Petitie #246: How to reconcile.

His Excellency Shinzo ABE

Prime Minister of Japan

The Hague, 12 May 2015

Petition: 246

Subject: How to reconcile.


In your address to the joint meeting of the U.S. Congress on April 29th 2015 you paid tribute to General Snowdown for his efforts to reconcile. Sadly you did not apologise nor said sorry for the terror and cruelties of the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy in occupying South East Asian countries during World War Two. Sharing former Japanese Prime Ministers apologies is not sufficient as you continue to honour Japanese war criminals and doubt the coercion of young girls and women in the occupied nations into sexual slavery. Due to the deliberate disregard by the Japanese military in respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, signed and implemented by Japan prior to World War Two, reconciliation is only possible if Japan accepts the consequences of the violations by its military.

Prime Minister,

Nevertheless in your address you attempted to reconcile with the past in order to go forward into the future. You admitted that Japan and its military brought sufferings to the people of the occupied Asian countries. You failed in your address to mention those who survived the war. The San Francisco Peace Treaty provided Japan with a base to resurrect, as you stated so clearly, from the ashes. The individual survivors including the Dutch from Dutch East Indies are still in “ash” and did not benefit from Japan’s post war successes. They continue to suffer from attrocities inflicted upon them, causing permanent mental and physical damages.

Prime Minister,

Today Japan cannot deny its past and must redress the damage done to the individuals. Japan cannot downplay its responsibilities of the past. It is not a government to government reconciliation but a people’s one, whereby the Japanese government must honor its apologies in law and redress the Dutch victims. The Dutch from Dutch East Indies are ready to reconcile with the Japanese people. The Dutch victims will never forget what happened to them. 70 years after the ending of World War Two the time is there to reconcile and to redeem Japan’s Honorary Debts. We are looking for an early reply,

On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts.

J.F. van Wagtendonk