Status verified as of 22 September 2026. Political positions change; this explainer describes the documented position on that date.
Current position
The Moluccas remain provinces of Indonesia. An RMS government-in-exile has continued in the Netherlands since 1966, unrecognized by the Dutch government, primarily as a symbolic and diaspora-community institution rather than an active independence campaign.[1]
Sources for this page
Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.
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1.
Claim: Following Soumokil's capture and execution, RMS supporters proclaimed a government-in-exile in the Netherlands on 12 April 1966, with Johan Manusama becoming its first president-in-exile; the Dutch government neither supported nor recognized the RMS. Around this period, some 12,500 Moluccan soldiers of the former Royal Netherlands East Indies Army and their families were evacuated to the Netherlands, forming the basis of the present-day Moluccan diaspora there, estimated at approximately 70,000 people as of 2018.
- Republic of South Maluku (Wikipedia) link, Government in Exile section. Source record
- Moluccans in the Netherlands (Minority Rights Group International) link, Moluccan community profile. Advocacy organisation perspective Source record
Printed from https://independenceatlas.com/movements/south-moluccas/status · last substantive update 24 September 2026.