Return our Javaman and looted jewels, Netherlands told

The items sought by the former colony includes scientific discoveries not directly linked to colonial plunder.

The Naturalis museum, which holds the skull of Javaman, says it ‘would not have been found if the Dutchman Dubois had not set up an excavation’

Indonesia has demanded the Netherlands return valuable collections of fossils and jewels from its museums, including scientific discoveries not directly linked to colonial plunder.

The former Dutch colony wants hundreds of artworks, valuables looted by troops from a Balinese palace, and eight collections, including the famous fossilised hominid skull of Java Man.

A list of works of art, natural history objects and complete collections has been sent to the Dutch ministry of culture. Included are reins said to have been taken from the horse of Diponegoro, the leader of a Javanese revolt against the Dutch at the start of the 19th century and held in an Arnhem museum.

Two years ago, the prince’s gold-inlaid dagger was returned from the Dutch State Collection.

Top of the latest demands is the Lombok Treasure, a once-large hoard of precious stones and gold and silver jewellery held in the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. In 1894, Dutch troops captured a Balinese palace and plundered 230kg of gold, 7000kg of silver and countless gemstones. Much of it was returned to Indonesia in 1977.

The list also includes the collection of palaeoanthropologist Eugene Dubois, who excavated about 40,000 fossils from Indonesia at the end of the 19th century. The collection in the Naturalis Museum in Leiden includes the Java Man skull found in 1892, which is estimated to be up to two million years old.

The list will be reviewed and decided upon by a special Dutch museum repatriations committee. The Netherlands has a policy of returning looted or captured “cultural goods”. However, a spokesman for the Leiden objected to the return of fossils, including Java Man. “Art treasures are, of course, handmade by people from the local population,” he said. “But the Java skull would not have been found if the Dutchman Dubois had not set up an excavation.”

The Times