The Dutch were one of the first European countries to establish contact with the Indonesian archipelago. In the 16th century, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) began to colonize parts of Indonesia and soon became the dominant European power in the region. However, the Dutch were never able to completely dominate Indonesia and, in the early 20th century, they found themselves fighting a series of costly and unsuccessful wars against the emerging Indonesian nation.
In the aftermath of World War …