LATE one afternoon in 1947, my father was executed by the Dutch troops who had occupied our town. I, the youngest child, was not allowed to see the body. But later on my mother told me there were three bullet holes in my father's head.

Our family never knew why he was sentenced to death. There were no courts in those days. The very night the Dutch forces took over our town, a guerilla fighter threw a grenade into their base and killed a numb