[1] Mediated by the Committee of Good Offices (CGO), a panel of representatives from Australia, Belgium, and the United States, negotiations between the Dutch and Indonesian forces began on 8 December 1947 aboard the USS Renville.

On 9 December 1947, a day after the start of the Renville negotiations, a Dutch army unit consisting of about 100 conscripts under the command of Major Alphons Wijnen attacked Rawagede village and raided houses.

No strict sanctions were imposed for the human rights abuses, nor was the massacre treated as a war crime against innocent civilians.

Although Dutch Army General Simon Hendrik Spoor recommended prosecuting the responsible officer, Major Alphons Wijnen, no criminal investigation was initiated.

"[6] In 2006, Jeffry Pondaag, organizer of the Komite Utang Kehormatan Belanda, collaborated with lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld, an expert on international law and war crimes, to represent the Rawagede widows.

In a response dated 24 November 2008, the Dutch state expressed "deep regret" for the massacre but argued that the term for prosecution had expired.

This position drew criticism from members of the States-General of the Netherlands and leading Dutch newspapers, such as NRC Handelsblad, which argued that there should be no statute of limitations for war crimes.