Moluccan diaspora

Begins in the 1950s as the result of the end of its occupation over Dutch East Indies, the Netherlands government decided to transport around 12,000 Moluccan soldiers of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army and their families to Europe, as they fought on the Dutch side during the Indonesia independence war. They were then discharged on arrival, not allowed to work, given pocket money and 'temporarily' housed in camps.

The Dutch government, never made any effort to help the Moluccans establish their Republik Maluku Selatan (RMS) which the Indonesian government refuses to recognise it to this day.

Although the South Moluccan Republic has been declared on 25 April 1950, this movement was defeated by Indonesian government and the rest of RMS (Republik Maluku Selatan) followers leave their homeland and forming a government in exile in the Netherlands in 1966.

There were a number of actions performed by radicalised young Moluccans during the '70s in the Netherlands, including hijacking a train, taking hostages at De Punt in Groningen and at a school in Bovensmilde.