Politionele_acties
Politionele acties
1947 and 1949 Dutch military offensives on Java and Sumatra
Politionele acties (English: Police actions), also politiële acties,[1] in its narrowest definition refers to two major military offensives undertaken by the Netherlands on Java and Sumatra against the Republic of Indonesia during its struggle for independence in the Indonesian National Revolution.[2][3] In Indonesia they are known collectively as the Agresi Militer Belanda (English: Dutch Military Aggressions), although the less common translation Aksi Polisionil is also used.
For a long time in Dutch historiography and discourse, the entirety of the Indonesian War of Independence was referred to by the euphemistic term politionele acties, as used by the government at the time. In the Netherlands, the prevailing impression was that there had only been two distinct, short-term police actions intended to restore Dutch authority over a rebellious overseas territory. This perspective disregards that between the arrival of Dutch troops in March 1946 and the cession of sovereignty in December 1949, a full-scale military occupation and a continuous counterinsurgency had taken place, involving 120,000 conscripts.[4]