The Dutch

The Dutch are a peculiar people. They’re probably the only ones with two names recognized as the official name of their country. There’s Holland, and there’s The Netherlands.
If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren’t people from Holland called Holes? It’s because they’re actually from The Netherlands.

Growing up in the Philippines (and probably in the rest of the world outside of Holland), I first learned about the Dutch from the story of the Dutch boy who plugged the leaking dike with his finger. Imagine my dismay when I learned much later on that most Dutch people are not even aware of the story. They’re also not aware of the Dutch boy who goes around painting stuff everywhere.

A couple of decades back, while I was a foreign student in California, I was invited by a Dutch immigrant family for my first Thanksgiving dinner. Later on, I found out that I was only invited to Thanksgiving dinner because without me, there would have been thirteen people at the Thanksgiving dinner. With me in attendance, there would be fourteen. Not an unlucky number. Apparently, the Dutch are also superstitious people.

The reason I was thinking about my Dutch Thanksgiving hosts was the news that Communist Party of the Philippines founder Joma Sison had been arrested by the Dutch police. I find this particularly odd. I mean, the Dutch are the most liberal people on the surface of the earth! Marijuana is legal in Holland. Prostitution is legal in Holland. If I remember correctly, even assisted suicide is legal in Holland. That means that you could be smoking a joint while screwing a prostitute and helping a friend “off” himself—and you would not be arrested. If you did that in the Philippines, at the very least, you would be spending a few years in Muntinlupa. The more often consequence is that you would either be executed (“salvaged”) or set up for extortion.

Anyway, to be arrested in Holland could only mean that someone really screwed up royally. Apparently, Joma was arrested on the theory that he ordered the assassination of two former colleagues in the communist movement. As a defense, he could claim that he must have been smoking marijuana when he made the alleged order. And that Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara really wanted to die so he was only assisting them commit suicide. Both of which are perfectly legal under Dutch law.

As a result of Joma’s arrest, the National Democratic Front (NDF) is threatening to call off peace talks with the national government. Didn’t the NDF already call off the peace talks when the Garcillano tapes controversy came out? A threat is only effective if you haven’t done it yet. The NDF said that they were calling off peace talks because they do not recognize the Arroyo administration as a legitimate administration. Well, it’s still the same administration with which they called off the peace talks. They can’t threaten it again with calling off the peace talks as they have already done so. However, given the current administration’s propensity to go back on its word, quien sabes (who knows), as a close friend often said.