Abstract
Although the color-line/class struggle among Creoles had been submerged to some extent in the Kielstra years, the NPS victories over its opposition in the electoral reform, and in the general elections of 1949, brought with them a new flare-up of Van Lier’s “latent animosity.” Ironically, but also logically, its locus was the NPS itself. A struggle for power between rival cliques within the party was quickly transformed into a color-line/class struggle, as the newest members of the party attacked the old guard for alleged elitism.
The NPS is the focus of everyone’s attention. She is being tugged and jerked in all directions. That she has remained firmly upright is certainly not to be credited to the good intentions of her opponents, nor, sadly, to the efforts of a few of her so-called supporters.
Purcy Wijngaarde, 1949*
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References
J. van de Walle, interview, Hilversum, April 2, 1976.
Ormskirk, op. cit., pp. 66–68.
Mitrasing, op. cit., p. 161; De West, January 17, 1949.
Mitrasing, op. cit., p. 161.
DW, February 21, 1949. De West, in response, noted that Creoles had indeed voted a Hindustani into the Staten (in 1930) — the ex-headteacher, lawyer, and civil servant, C.R. Biswamitre. Biswamitre, a Catholic, had been an early member of Unie Suriname. But after the war he had worked for Radio Nederland and had kept aloof from party politics (interview, Amsterdam, July 30, 1974).
Letter from the PBIS executive committee to De West, July 14, 1947.
DW, December 1, 1948.
Mitrasing, op. cit., p. 167.
Ormskirk, op. cit., p. 65.
Interview, Jacques Lemmer (“Pa Lern”), Paramaribo, February 5, 1974.
G. van der Schroeff (the party’s chairman), P. Wijngaarde, O. Wong, and L.A. Lauriers. E. de la Fuente, W. Bos Verschuur and Findlay had also joined the party by this time.
Mitrasing, op. cit., p. 162.
Ibid., p. 163.
ZW, May 6, 1949.
ZW, May 13, 1949.
ZW, May 20, 1949. DW, May 25, 1949.
Mitrasing, op. cit., p. 165.
ZW, June 1, 1949.
Interviews, Jacques Lemmer, Paramaribo, February 5, 1974; A.L. Smit, Epse, Netherlands, March 16, 1976.
Ibid.
Gastmann, op. cit., p. 179.
Ibid., p. 180.
Ibid., p. 180–81.
Ooft, Ontwikkeling..., p. 156.
DW, July 25, 1949. See also Ooft, Ontwikkeling..., pp. 156–57.
DW, July 29, 1949.
DW, July 27, 1949; Ooft, Ontwikkeling..., p. 157.
Technically, the Dutch Second Chamber had not violated any constitutional law. The Interim Orders, which would only go into effect in January 1950, safeguarded Surinam’s control over legislation concerning internal affairs, but did not give it the power to amend its own constitution. This was one of the changes yet to be made (by the 1954 Statute). For an analysis of the constitutional issues involved in this matter, see Ooft, Ontwikkeling..., pp. 149, 153–61.
ZW, September 14, 1949; Ooft, Ontwikkeling..., p. 159.
Ooft, Ontwikkeling..., p. 160.
DW, January 23, 1950.
DW, June 13, 1949.
Ormskirk, op. cit., p. 74.
DW, December 7, 1949.
DW, September 14, 1949; October 3, 1949; and March 29, 1950.
DW, September 19, 1949.
DW, December 5, 1949.
DW, January 18, 1950.
DW, December 12, 1949.
Ormskirk, op. cit., p. 83.
DW, January 9, 1950.
DW, September 16, 1949.
Interview, Bos Verschuur, January 28, 1974.
“Indieningsbrief van Lou Lichtveld” (Paramaribo, September 28, 1949), cited in Ormskirk, op. cit., p. 61.
DW, July 7, 1950.
DW, March 20, 1950.
DW, March 22, 1950.
DW, March 27, 1950.
DW, March 29, 1950.
DW, April 3, 1950.
DW, April 11, 1950.
DW, April 14, 1950.
Ibid, confirmed by F.E.M. Mitrasing in communication (February 1976).
DW, April 21, 1950.
DW, April 26, 1950.
Interview, Jagernath Lachmon, January 16, 1974. Ironically, Dr. Van Ommeren was the first to treat Lachmon after his collapse in the S taten (interview, A.L. Smit, March 16, 1976, Epse, Netherlands).
Mitrasing, op. cit., p. 198.
Ibid., p. 199.
DW, April 12, 1950.
DW, June 12, 1950.
DW, March 1, 1950.
DW, March 20, 1950.
DW, July 7, 1950. Lachmon was still hospitalized and was unable to vote.
Emile de la Fuente, a shrewd, but well-liked, theatre showman, announced that, though he disagreed with the party and had to resign, he would continue to make his Bellevue Theatre available to the NPS for its meetings (DW, July 6, 1950). Mitrasing says that the NPS was ready to expel all those voting for the Government, and that, in addition, they would boycott De la Fuente’s theatre (op. cit., p. 204).
For a discussion of these problems, see Ooft, Ontwikkeling..., pp. 244–47.
DW, July 7, 1950.
DW, July 10, 1950.
DW, July 11, 12, 13, 1950.
DW, July 14, 1950.
Besides criticism, appeals for reconciliation were also heard. In a letter to De West, A.J. MacMay, an NPS-member, wrote that “People say that the struggle now underway is between intellectuals and the people, meaning Creole intellectuals against Creole masses. They forget that there is only one interest that must bind all Creoles: self-preservation through unity.” (DW, July 21, 1950)
DW, July 29, 1950.
Ibid.
DW, September 11, 1950.
DW, October 7, 1950; and Ormskirk, op. cit., p. 88.
DW, October 10, 1950.
Ibid.
DW, October 20, 1950.
DW, October 19, 1950.
DW, November 10, 1950.
This involved application of Article 174 of the 1950 Surinamese Staatsregeling, which declared that whenever an organ of the government was unable to fulfill its’ constitutional functions, a Dutch law can establish which law-making authority shall replace it (cited in Mitrasing, op. cit., p. 210).
DW, November 16, 1950.
DW, November 18, 1950.
DW, November 25, 1950.
DW, November 24, 1950.
DW, December 5, 1950.
DW, December 8, 1950.
DW, December 9, 1950.
Ibid.
DW, December 18, 1950.
DW, December 22, 1950.
DW, January 12, 1951.
DW, January 6, 1951.
DW, January 15, 1951.
Gastmann, op. cit., p. 185; Mitrasing, op. cit., p. 214.
DW, August 18, 1950.
Gastmann, op. cit., p. 186.
DW, January 20, 1951.
DW, January 23, 1951.
DW, January 29, 1951.
The issue remained a thorny one, however. Those who had opted for Indonesian nationality did lose their right to vote — only those who had not opted one way or another could still vote. The Dutch passed another law in 1954 to enable Indonesian citizens to regain their Dutch nationality, and this was put into effect in Surinam later that year (Gastmann, op. cit., pp. 186).
DW, August 30, 1950.
DW, September 23, 1950.
DW, December 22, 1950.
DW, February 13, 1951.
Mitrasing, op. cit., p. 215.
Ibid.,p.2\S.
DW, March 22, 1951.
Mitrasing, op. cit., p. 220.
A.L. Smit reports that Findlay and Lim A Po had their own list of candidates for the Cabinet and that the result was a series of difficult compromises. (Interview, March 16, 1976, Epse, Netherlands).
DW, June 14, 1951.
DW, May 9, 10, 22 et passim, 1951.
With this announcement, the Staten quickly appointed a delegation composed of Lim A Po, Pengel, Bergen and Findlay (NPS), Lachmon and Shriemisier (VHP), M.A. Karamat Ali and Soemita (KTPI) and Jongbaw (PSV) (DW, July 27, 1951). But the Dutch weren’t in any hurry to move, calling instead for a Study Commission to prepare an agenda for the meeting which would be held in 1952 (DW, October 11, 1951). To this “proto-delegation”, the government named Buiskool, Lim A Po, Pos, Jongbaw and H. de Vries (who had replaced Pos as Surinam Representative in the Hague).
Quoted in Gastmann, op. cit., pp. 205–06.
Ibid., p. 206.
Ibid., pp. 206–07.
Ibid., p. 207.
Ibid., pp. 207–08.
Ibid., p. 208.
Reprinted in DW, June 25, 1952.
DW, June 25, 1952. The group was led by E.A. Gessel, C. Defaris, and the young law student, Eddy Bruma (DW, June 11, 1952). A Surinam-Antillean bi-weekly, De Westindiër, published in The Netherlands, defended the students against the “Communist” charges, and warned critics of the Surinamese delegation’s performance at the RTC against using “cheap” political charges. (July 4, 1952, p. 1; July 18, 1952, p. 1.)
DW, July 4, 1952; August 12, 1952.
DW, July 4, 1952.
Ibid. A.L. Smit recalls that Pengel and Lim A Po visited him at this time, proposing full independence, with Lim A Po as President and Pengel Prime Minister. “I told them they were fools.” Shortly thereafter Lim A Po had a severe heart attack and was forced to resign his seat in the Staten. (Interview, March 16, 1976, Epse, The Netherlands).
DW, August 27, 1952.
Mitrasing, op. cit., p. 240.
DW, December 31, 1953.
Gastmann, op. cit., note 2, p. 210.
Ibid., p. 211.
Ibid., pp. 211–13. No change was made in the other provision, giving the Dutch Prime Minister a tie-breaking vote in deadlocked Kingdom legislation.
Ibid., p. 213.
Though the status of the overseas territories was less than sovereign, the United Nations accepted their argument that this had been a voluntary association, and thus exempted the Netherlands from the duty of reporting annually to the Secretary-General. Gastmann describes the United Nations deliberations on this, ibid., pp. 215–32.
Adhin, op. cit., pp. 115.
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Dew, E. (1978). The Struggle for Power in the New Regime (1949–1954). In: The Difficult Flowering of Surinam. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3278-9_4
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