Within the Dutch colonial army in Indonesia (the KNIL, or Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger), ‘Ambonese’ or Moluccan soldiers’ reputations for ferocity carried through from the Aceh War (1873–1942) to the aftermath of the Indonesian National Revolution (1945–1949) in ways that worked to absolve white members of the Dutch national army (Koninklijke Landmacht) from responsibility for the worst violence of the Revolution.
