SATUDARAH

An incident in Amsterdam recently nicely illustrates a common police technique: in order to prevent things from getting out of hand, crack down on the smaller group, even if they are not at fault.
That, at least, is one possible explanation for the Amsterdam police taking 56 members of the Moluccan Motorcycle club Satudarah into custody on Saturday evening, July 30.

[Satudarah ('One Blood') was founded in Moordrecht in 1990. Currently there are ten chapters and hundreds of members. It is closely associated with the South Moluccan independence ideology (see RMS - Republiek Maluku Selatan entry in Wikipedia), though there is little membership overlap with many of the other Moluccan movements in the Netherlands.]


The police feared a confrontation between the Moluccers and the Hells Angels.
According to the Hells Angels, this was entirely unnecessary. Dutch Hells Angels chairman Harold Böhne said on Sunday that speculation about tensions and 'war' between the two bike gangs was exaggeration.

The Dutch Hells Angels are a peaceful bunch.

"It is calm in the Netherlands. We wish to keep it that way"

Another possible explanation is that Moluccers scare the crap out of gentle Dutch police dudes.

After sixty years in the Netherlands, Moluccers have developed a reputation of not taking guff from anybody. A few incidents in recent years involving Arab thugs misbehaving in Moluccan neighborhoods lead to nasty confrontations. Mass bloodshed was narrowly averted, but since then the Dutch police have realized that Moluccers WILL take care of themselves.


MENA, MURIA!

Also in years past, Moluccers demonstrating against the occupation of Ambon in Den Haag have 'erupted' when the Dutch authorities acted ham-handed, leading to running battles with the 'mobiele eenheid' (riot police).
So, given that the authorities are always right (and don't you EVER forget it) in the Dutch system, there may have been a certain animus influencing the decision to arrest the Moloccan bikers.

Of course that cuts both ways.

Up to 1949 Moluccan soldiers were the backbone of the Dutch East Indies army, many retreating to the hills and jungles after the Dutch surrendered to the Japanese in 1942 to defiantly continue the war. They waged a savage guerilla against a much larger force for three years.
They fought as fiercely against the Republicans after 1945. Because of political considerations, following Indonesian independence they were demobilized in the Netherlands, very much against their will.
This was a paternalistic decision by the Dutch government which like many Dutch bureaucratic moves was not nearly as well thought out as officials have ever since represented it to be.
Further 'we know better' dictats over the years have been equally 'obtuse'.

Let's just say that the last sixty years have been "educational" for both sides. There have been "issues".


Wherefore the prospect of severely outnumbered Moluccers getting into a rumble with the Hells Angels was so terrifying.
Imagine piles of slaughtered Angels in the streets of Amsterdam.
We can't have that.
It might traumatize the few remaining natives in the city.
And really, Dutch motor bikers NEED to be protected. They're rather fragile.



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