Floris Van Straaten: Have my countrymen gone mad?

Are the Dutch simply a spoilt lot with a self-destructive streak in them? Not quite

Cycling to work this morning and looking at the peaceful, prosperous streets of my home town, The Hague, I was wondering: have my fellow Dutchmen suddenly gone mad? How is it possible that in Wednesday's elections nearly one in every five votes went to the Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF), a party that was founded only three months ago, does not have a coherent programme and whose leaders have been arguing bitterly among each other ever since the dramatic assassination of their leader Pim Fortuyn 10 days ago?

Cycling to work this morning and looking at the peaceful, prosperous streets of my home town, The Hague, I was wondering: have my fellow Dutchmen suddenly gone mad? How is it possible that in Wednesday's elections nearly one in every five votes went to the Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF), a party that was founded only three months ago, does not have a coherent programme and whose leaders have been arguing bitterly among each other ever since the dramatic assassination of their leader Pim Fortuyn 10 days ago?

And why did the present coalition led by the popular Wim Kok of PvdA, the Dutch equivalent of Labour, the liberal VVD and the left-liberal D66 deserve such a bad thrashing? After all, the economy is in far better shape than when they started eight years ago. The Dutch unemployment rate is among the lowest in the European Union and wages have risen by some 25 per cent in real terms over that period.

So are the Dutch simply a spoilt lot with a self-destructive streak in them? Not quite. There are various reasons why a certain unease had come over the country in the past few years. An important factor is the large inflow of foreign migrants, mainly from Turkey and Morocco but also from other developing countries.

The changes these migrants have brought are especially noticeable in the big cities in the west of the country. When I, a tall, blond Dutchman, visit the large open-air vegetable market in The Hague with my Indian wife, the people there, mostly of foreign origin themselves, appear more surprised by my presence than that of my wife. In many cafés and bars in the vicinity the only language spoken is Turkish.

For the occasional visitor to those areas this is nice, but some "indigenous" Dutch people feel the changes have gone too fast. Security in their streets has declined and a large proportion of crime is committed by migrants. The schools of their children are often full of migrant children, who because of their poor Dutch tend to slow down the pace. This in turn prompts many parents, who don't want to make concessions to multiculturalism at the expense of their children's education, to move to far-away suburbs or rural areas.

Those "indigenous" Dutch who stay behind feel increasingly besieged and let down by the government. The Dutch government, like the authorities in many other European countries, did not know how to handle the problem. For a long time it appeared to be more afraid of stigmatising migrants than interested in finding solutions to the problems.

Then, last autumn, in came Pim Fortuyn, a charismatic, plain-spoken, gay former sociology professor, who expressed loud and clear what many had been thinking before. The Netherlands is full up, he said. Whoever is here will be allowed to stay, but new immigrants are no longer welcome. He especially singled out Islamic immigrants, as he considered Islam a backward culture.

There were other reasons however, why Fortuyn appealed to many voters. He criticised the Dutch government for neglecting public health, in which an increasing number of people had to wait for operations. He wanted to overturn the generous government disability scheme, which provides nearly one million Dutch people with a regular allowance. He favoured a reform of education too. I must say that I was personally not at all impressed with his solutions to the problems, which were often rather vague.

In any case, Fortuyn's timing was perfect. The popular Wim Kok had already announced last autumn that he would step down after the elections. His successor Ad Melkert, though a skilful politician behind the scenes, totally lacked in charisma.And when the left and the right found each other at the centre, politics in Holland – never famous anyway for lively debates – became even more boring than before.

The telegenic Pim Fortuyn skilfully exploited these circumstances. When he was gunned down in Hilversum, the first political assassination in more than three centuries, the collective outpouring of grief by the normally down-to-earth Dutch was equally unprecedented. Fortuyn was portrayed by his supporters as a saint and anybody who dared to criticise him or his views risked scoldings or worse.

The elections themselves and their outcome have reduced the tension, in a way. No incidents of any significance have occurred at the polls and Fortuyn's party won 26 out of 150 seats in parliament. But the Christian Democrats too posted big gains and captured 43 seats.

Although no great friend of the Christian Democrats, I heaved a sigh of relief that they will be around, at least to make sure that the situation will not spin any further out of control. As for the LPF, let it have a go at government and it will soon discover that talking is easier than action.

Straatem@nrc1.nrc.nl

The writer is diplomatic editor of the Dutch newspaper 'NRC Handelsblad'