Toespraak door minister Gouke Moes (OCW) ter aankondiging van de overdracht van de collectie Dubois aan Indonesië
Minister Gouke Moes (Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap) sprak op vrijdag 26 september 2025 in Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden. Hij overhandigde een Letter of Intent aan minister Fadli Zon, minister van Cultuur van Indonesië. Met deze brief kondigt de minister de teruggave aan van de collectie die Eugène Dubois verzamelde op Java. Het gaat om vele tienduizenden fossielen, waaronder een schedelkapje van een soort die toen het gevonden werd nog niemand kende: de homo erectus.
De toespraak werd gehouden in het Engels.
Minister Gouke Moes (Education, Culture and Science) spoke on Friday, September 26, 2025, at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden. He handed a Letter of Intent to Minister Fadli Zon, Indonesia’s Minister of Culture. With this letter, the minister announced the return of the collection gathered by Eugène Dubois on Java. The collection consists of many tens of thousands of fossils, including a skullcap of a species that, at the time of its discovery, was still unknown: Homo erectus.
Your Excellency Minister of Culture Fadli Zon,
distinguished guests,
For decades, Indonesia kept knocking on a door that remained closed. You knocked with facts, with legal arguments, with moral appeals. For all of that time, the Netherlands did not answer.
But times have changed, and so changed our understanding of colonial heritage. Dutch policy is now guided by a simple but fundamental principle: return what does not belong to us.
The Dutch advisory committee on colonial collection has made clear that this also applies to the Dubois Collection.
Dear friends,
It is my honour to announce the forthcoming return to Indonesia of a collection of natural history specimens of Indonesian origin, the Dubois Collection.
With great pleasure, I will shortly hand Your Excellency a Letter of Intent. It states that, together with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, we will prepare the careful transfer of the collection in the near future.
This includes the skull, a bone, and a tooth of a Homo erectus whom Dubois regarded as the “missing link” in human evolution.
The collection carries immense historical and scientific significance. For Indonesia, for the Netherlands, for Museum Naturalis, and for humanity as a whole.
It represents nothing less than one of the oldest pieces of evidence of human presence in the world - discovered in Indonesia.
Especially on this occasion, we must also reflect on the context Dubois worked in.
Dubois could pursue his pioneering work only because of the unequal colonial system.
He relied on local knowledge, used forced labor, and managed to send thousands of fossils to the Netherlands - where they remained for over a century.
What these fossils meant for the people of Indonesia, was at the time never considered.
These specimens tell not only the story of humankind, but also the history of the people of Indonesia. They are part of Indonesian heritage.
Returning the collection to where it was originally gathered, means that Indonesians who want to visit their own history and heritage will no longer face obstacles like long flights or visa requirements.
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Naturalis Biodiversity Center and to the Colonial Collections Committee and their Indonesian counterpart, the Repatriási Comittee.
Your engagement in this process has been truly invaluable.
Distinguished guests,
Indonesia stands as a vital hub of science.
With ever more advanced techniques, I am convinced you will unlock ever deeper insights into the fossils.
This way, you will look ever further back into the history of humanity.
Yet today is not just about looking back.
It is also about looking forward towards a future where our countries will work ever more closely together in research and education.
In so doing, the return of the Dubois Collection will certainly inspire an even stronger bond between our nations.
Let us increase and intensify the cultural and scientific cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands, as well as between our institutions.
I thank you very much.