Struijs then engages in a conversation about tackling crime with Fred Westerbeke, chief commissioner of the Rotterdam Regional Police Unit. Struijs faced widespread criticism after he referred to the Netherlands as a “Narco-state 2.0”, but three months later, Peter R. de Vries was murdered. Struijs believes that organised crime requires a new approach, with infiltration tactics needing to be applied more frequently.
The focus then shifts to politics, with a discussion on class-based justice. How can we ensure justice for people with less wealth or lower social standing, both in the workplace and beyond? This theme has been central throughout Struijs’s career, and he discusses it with Nine Kooiman, chair of the Dutch Police Union and former SP Member of Parliament; and Maria Heiden, writer, former bookseller, and long-time political advocate.
The evening also touches on family secrets. Struijs’s grandfather spent a prolonged period in Japanese internment camps during the war, not knowing if his family had survived. He struggled with trauma that he was never able to discuss openly with his wife and children. The audience will see a short film featuring Salim Yah, Struijs’s grandfather’s secret Indonesian son, whose existence was hidden by the family for many years. The secrets were so sensitive that the older generation refused to speak of them for decades. Struijs addresses these issues with his daughter, Liselotte Struijs.
Struijs presents the first copy of *The Missing Father* to Vijay Gangadin, director at AethiQs, publisher De Meent, and chairman of OPEN Rotterdam and the APNA Foundation. Finally, there will be time for audience responses, followed by an extended book-signing session. The book can be ordered here.
