The Star for Loyalty and Merit (Dutch: Ster voor Trouw en Verdienste) was a civilian award established on 1 January 1894 by Governor-General Carel Herman Aart van der Wijck of the Dutch East Indies. The star replaced the old Medal for Civil Merit, which had limited prestige and status according to the Netherlands government. The star was awarded in gold to "significant and meritorious" natives, and in silver to village chiefs and leaders of the "Eastern foreigner" (i.e. Chinese) communities. Dutch (Europeans) were not eligible to receive the star.
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The star was considered the colonial equivalent of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (or at least the "Brother" grade associated with the Order), as well as the medals and the Knight's Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau.
The star ceased to be awarded after 1949.
Grades
The Star for Loyalty and Merit originally had four grades:
On January 4, 1924, Governor-General Dirk Fock created a fifth grade, the Great Silver Star, ranked immediately after the Small Gold Star; the old Silver Star was renamed the Small Silver Star thereafter.
Insignia
Despite the "Great" and "Small" nomenclature, the five grades of the star were all equal in size, consisted of a badge in the form of a 12-pointed star with straight rays, suspended from a ribbon worn on the left chest:
The ribbon was originally blue with an orange central stripe, the same as the "Brother" grade of the Order of the Netherlands Lion; for the Great and Small Gold Stars the ribbon had an additional narrow orange stripe on the edges. These were changed on 1 April 1945 into a blue ribbon with one to five narrow orange wavy stripes, with five stripes being the highest (Great Gold Star).