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world news Diasabra 28 Mei 2022

Racism in the ranks: Dutch police film spurs conversation

(AP) — A documentary Police leaders received an was backed by Dutch public
about discrimination within early showing of the film and broadcaster KRO-NCRV.
the ranks of Dutch police has promised action. Problems with racism, as
sparked a national conversa- "The personal stories make it well as discrimination against
tion in the Netherlands about painfully clear how great the women and members of the
racism, with many officers impact is (of the racism), and LGBTQ community, are
and others hoping it will fi- how long it will last," Police widespread and systemic
nally bring about change. Chief Henk van Essen said within police ranks, said Jan
in a statement. "We all have Struijs, the chairperson of
"The Blue Family," or "De something to do; not just ex- the country's largest police
Blauwe Familie" in Dutch, ecutives, but all 65,000 col- union.
discusses a culture of bully- leagues. Because safety out- Struijs also took part in the
ing and fear in the national side starts with safety inside." film. "I hope this is a historic
police force. It premiered "There is no room for racism turning point," he told the
on Dutch television Mon- and discrimination in our AP.
day, timed around the second police," Justice Minister Di- The first article of the coun-
anniversary this week of the lan Yesilgöz told Dutch talk try's constitution, which is
killing of George Floyd at the show "RTL Boulevard." displayed on posters in ev-
hands of Minnesota police. ery police station, outlaws
"There is no way back," Peris The Dutch parliament voted discrimination against any
Conrad, one of the officers by a large majority this week group. The Dutch consider
featured in the film, told The to place police leaders under themselves to be some of the
Associated Press. stricter supervision, citing most open-minded, tolerant
Born in the former Dutch the suicides in recent years of people in the world.
colony Surinam, Conrad three officers who had com- There's been no significant
dreamed of being a police plained about discrimination. criticism of the "The Blue
officer as a child. He moved Last year, a Dutch newspaper Family," those involved in the
to the Netherlands when he published messages from po- documentary welcomed the
was 4 years old, and after a lice group chats that showed response to it.
stint in the military, became a officers making racial slurs "I have been saying the same
security guard. and joking about killing non- While 24% of the Dutch pop- pears in "The Blue Family," things for years, only now do
While in that job, he had an white people. "One less Turk" ulation meets that definition, told The Associated Press. they get a positive reaction,"
encounter with police offi- one officer wrote, in response only 14% of the police force George Floyd's death in the Snijders said.
cers who were looking for in- to the slaying of a 16-year-old does. The National Police U.S. two years ago prompted
formation about crime in the girl who was shot and killed Corps employs some 65,000 protests against racial injus- The Dutch police union
Surinamese community. The by her ex-boyfriend in her people, and around 40,000 tice in the Netherlands and is calling for better mental
officers encouraged him to high school's bicycle shed. work as officers. around the world. Controle health counseling for officers
join the force himself, which As in other countries, the Margot Snijders has spent 30 Alt Delete, an advocacy or- and more accountability for
he did, ultimately spending problems in the Netherlands years on the national force, ganization that pushes for ones who make racist jokes.
26 years in service. have a long history. A 1998 including a number of years better law enforcement prac- Conrad sees a need for wide-
But Conrad, who is Black, report by the Ministry of In- working on diversity and in- tices, wanted to highlight spread change, both in policy
recalled how in his first year ternal Affairs said discrimina- clusion efforts. After years of problems within the Dutch and leadership.
at the police academy, col- tion was driving out police frustration, she took a step police force. In the meantime, he's forbid-
leagues hung a picture of him officers with a "migration" back from that role. The group brought on board den his 20-year-old son from
with cell bars drawn on it. background - defined as hav- "People don't trust us, and filmmakers Maria Mok and joining the force.
The caption read: "Our mon- ing at least one parent born they don't want to work for Meral Uslu to direct and pro- "I don't want him to experi-
key in a cage." abroad. us," Snijders, who also ap- duce the documentary, which ence this," he said.

Ex-Malaysia PM: U.S.-led trade group intended to isolate China

(AP) — Former Malaysian The signatories are Australia, Later Friday, current Malay- oped countries and frequent- of power since Malaysia's in-
Prime Minister Mahathir Brunei, India, Indonesia, Ja- sian Prime Minister Ismail ly criticized the West. He re- dependence in 1957.
Mohamad criticized a new pan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Sabri Yaakob, who is also in mains an influential figure in Mahathir became the world's
U.S.-led economic grouping the Philippines, Singapore, Tokyo, met with his Japanese Malaysia. oldest leader at 92 but his
on Friday, saying it is intend- South Korea, Thailand, the counterpart, Fumio Kishida. rule lasted only 22 months
ed to isolate China, and won't United States and Vietnam. They welcomed the launch He led an opposition coali- as his government collapsed
benefit regional economic Together they represent 40% of the economic framework tion to a historic election vic- due to infighting. Mahathir
growth without Beijing. of the world's GDP. and affirmed their coopera- tory in 2018 that ousted a cor- formed a new ethnic Malay
U.S. President Joe Biden tion in areas such as digital ruption-tainted government party in 2020 to oppose the
launched the 13-nation Indo- "This is not good for their transformation, cybersecu- in the first peaceful transfer new leadership.
Pacific Economic Framework own economic develop- rity, emerging technology
during a visit to Japan earlier ment," Mahathir said of the and supply chain resilience,
this week. He said it will help countries in the grouping. Japan's Foreign Ministry said.
the United States work more "China is a big trading partner Kishida sought Malaysia's
closely with Asian countries for Malaysia, we don't want support in achieving a "free
in areas including supply to see any tension, any con- and open" Indo-Pacific, a vi-
chains, digital trade, clean en- flict with China and we hope sion promoted by Japan and
ergy and anticorruption. that the U.S. will realize that the United States as a coun-
"The U.S. will always want China is there, it's not going ter to China's military and
to use groupings like this in to disappear, and we have economic rise in the region,
order to isolate China," Ma- to live with China, which is the ministry said.
hathir said at an international now richer than most coun-
conference in Tokyo. "Many tries in the world," he said at Mahathir, 96, who served as
countries recognize that this "The Future of Asia," a con- Malaysia's fourth and seven
is not an economic group- ference organized by Nikkei prime ministers, was seen
ing but it is truly a political Inc. for many years as a de facto
grouping." spokesperson for less devel-