The Dutch Way of Fighting

Under the heading "Tjara Belanda berperang" (The Dutch way of fighting a war), a figure on the left wears red, white and blue, representing the Dutch, which stands for the politicians, officials and financiers cast as the masterminds of Indonesia's recolonization after 1945, who avoided fighting themselves and instead sent Dutch soldiers and Indonesians in the colonial army. The uniformed figure beside him may be a Dutch soldier tanned by the tropics or an indigenous KNIL recruit. As the official holds out a sack marked with a guilder ("f..."), the poster casts the soldiers as men manipulated into fighting Indonesians for meagre pay.