July / Augustus 2009 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

Special
Proud to be Dutch -
but do Singaporeans know why?
By Gene Kwee
As an Indonesian born Dutch national with Chinese
heritage and raised in the Netherlands, I consider
myself to be very Dutch. After giving some thought,
I must say that the roots of this must be the way
we have been brought up and the formative years
spent in the Netherlands.
The adventurous nature of the Dutch has
always been very evident. I do not know why,
but the Dutch have, historically been never shy
to work and perform their duties in other parts
of the world far away from home. Even since the
early days, you would be able to find the Dutch
‘working abroad’, whether being the Batavieren
acting as bodyguards of the Roman emperor Nero
or the VOC traders establishing the trade monopoly
between Europe and Asia in the 17 th century. Even
nowadays, everywhere you go you are bound to
meet the Dutch.
Having said this, I have been wondering
whether it is instilled in the Dutch entrepreneurial
spirit that we want to venture, explore and conquer
the world or are we just proud to be Dutch and that
we want to show the rest of the world that we are
to be reckoned with.
As to find out what sort of an impression the
Dutch and/or the Netherlands would have left to the
rest of the world for its achievements, I interviewed
a few Singaporeans at random at different places
and asked them the following questions. When
hearing the answers some did made me feel proud
to be Dutch and some did make me feel small.
To the question of what is the capital of the
Netherlands, the answer ranged between a timid
‘is it Holland or Amsterdam(?)’ to a very confident
Amsterdam.
Not surprisingly, the tulips, windmills and
wooden shoes were mentioned as the first thing
that would come to mind when thinking of
the Netherlands. However, there was one that
immediately mentioned the concept of ‘total
football’. I must say, I was very surprised about
the bliss and joy the answer gave me. On the other
hand, I could have expected the answer coming
from a colleague, as we have been talking about
football more than once before.
To take it one step further, I asked whether
they would be interested to live and work in the
Netherlands. Notwithstanding the fact that some
may have thought Holland is believed to the capital
of the Netherlands, the general answer was that
they all would love to live in the Netherlands. Others
felt that they would welcome the opportunity to
work and/or live in the Netherlands because of
the nice weather(?), of the lower pace of work(?).
Though, eyebrows were raised
when I informed them that, at
work, a 30 minute lunch break was
considered more than sufficient.
To my quest of how well known
the Netherlands and the Dutch
are in Singapore, I asked whether
they could name any Dutch
celebrities, artists or athletes. I
did not expect them to know the
Toppers, Andre Hazes, Dolly Dots,
Willeke Alberti, Golden Earrings
or Shocking Blue but there must
be somebody they know. None
of them were mentioned, but
fortunately, one brought consolation as he named
me on the spot without any hesitation nine players
of the current national Dutch soccer team.
As my dented pride needed to be restored, I
went on to ask for an easy question. Whether they
could name me some Dutch MNC’s in Singapore. I
had high hopes for this one, as on top of my head
there are the two royal Dutch companies having
established fair presence in Singapore (one in the
oil and gas industry and one in the fast moving
consumer goods company) or for the beer drinking
group of people I would have guessed that if you
would be drinking beer may be able to name one.
I’m happy to inform you that I was not disappointed
by the responses received. Twenty percent of the
respondents indeed mentioned at least one of the
above. One respondent, who recently got engaged
even mentioned the name of diamond company in
Amsterdam.
Finally I asked about the Dutch cuisine. Can
you name five typical Dutch dishes/snacks. The
answers I got were sate, stroopwafels, cheese,
milk and cookies.
I’m the first to acknowledge that the above poll
was unstructured and for sure not conducted as
Maurice de Hond would have done, but nonetheless
the above proofs that the Netherlands and the
Dutch can take pride in the positive impression
about the country and the people. Therefore, let
us all acknowledge that we are who we are and
that our small country is what it is. Regardless
whether our little froggy country is known for the
weather, tulips, windmills, wooden shoes, great
soccer team, sate, stroopwafels, cheese, milk and
cookies, to me, we all feel connected in our own
way with the Netherlands and we can feel proud
for being Dutch for our very personal reasons. For
this gained insight, I would thank the respondents
for their contributions.
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Vol.19 • No. 6 • July/August 2009