Political Career in The Netherlands
In 1930, Palar became a member of the Social-Democratic Workers' Party (Dutch: Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiders Partij (SDAP)) shortly after the SDAP convened a Colonial Congress and voted on propositions that included unconditionally recognizing the right of national independence for the Dutch Indies. Palar then held the position of secretary of the Colonial Commission of the SDAP and the Netherlands' Trade Union Federation (Dutch: Nederlands Verbond van Vakverenigingen (NVV)) starting in October 1933. He was also the director of Persbureau Indonesia (Persindo), which was given the task of sending articles related to Dutch social democracy to the Dutch Indies. In 1938, Palar returned to his homeland with his Indo (Eurasian) wife, Johanna Petronella Volmers, whom she married in 1935. He traveled throughout the archipelago and gather information on the current developments. He discovered that the Indonesian nationalist movement was very much alive and returned to the Netherlands writing about his experience.
During the German occupation of Holland, Palar couldn't work for the SDAP and instead was employed in the Van der Waals Laboratorium. He also taught classes for the Malay language and was a guitarist in a Kroncong ensemble. During the war, Palar and his wife joined the anti-Nazi underground movement.
After the war, Palar was voted into the Lower House (Dutch: Tweede Kamer) representing the newly established Labor Party (Dutch: Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA)), which originated from the SDAP. After the Indonesian Declaration of Independence on August 17, 1945, Palar being sympathetic to the proclamation promoted contacts with the Indonesian nationalists. This was not received well by the PvdA resulting in the party distancing itself from the original position of unconditionally recognizing the right of national independence for Indonesia, which was opposed by Palar. Being assigned by his party on a fact finding mission to Indonesia, Palar again met with the leaders of the Indonesian National Revolution including President Sukarno. Palar continued to urge non-violent resolution of the dispute between the Netherlands and the new Republic of Indonesia. However, on July 20, 1947, the parliament voted to commence Police Action (Dutch: Politionele Acties) in Indonesia. Palar resigned from the parliament and the Labor Party the following day.
Read more about this topic: Lambertus Nicodemus Palar
Famous quotes containing the words political, career and/or netherlands:
“Our democracy, our culture, our whole way of life is a spectacular triumph of the blah. Why not have a political convention without politics to nominate a leader who’s out in front of nobody?... Maybe our national mindlessness is the very thing that keeps us from turning into one of those smelly European countries full of pseudo-reds and crypto-fascists and greens who dress like forest elves.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“Each of the professions means a prejudice. The necessity for a career forces every one to take sides. We live in the age of the overworked, and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Greece is a sort of American vassal; the Netherlands is the country of American bases that grow like tulip bulbs; Cuba is the main sugar plantation of the American monopolies; Turkey is prepared to kow-tow before any United States pro-consul and Canada is the boring second fiddle in the American symphony.”
—Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (1909–1989)