Raymond Westerling
| Raymond Westerling | |
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| Born | August 31, 1919 Istanbul, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) |
| Died | November 26, 1987 (aged 68) Purmerend, The Netherlands |
Raymond Pierre Paul Westerling (31 August 1919 - 26 November 1987), nicknamed the Turk, was a Dutch military officer. He waged a bloody occupation campaign in Sulawesi during the Indonesian National Revolution after the Second World War, and staged a coup d'état in Bandung and Jakarta in January 1950.
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[edit] South Sulawesi
Westerling was born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, as a child from a Dutch father and a Greek mother. During the Second World War, Westerling would join the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army and receive his training in England. After the War, Westerling would be sent to the Dutch East Indies to suppress the Indonesian Republicans. By November 1946, the Dutch governance of soutern Sulawesi was being hindered by local Republican guerillas trained in Java. As a Captain of the Special Forces Depot (DST), Westerling commanded a successful albeit bloody counter insurgency campaign to pacify South Sulawesi.[1] The KST consisted mostly of indigenous soldiers and was an elite unit of the KNIL, and were relentless in their methods of subjugating the population.
From December 1946 to February 1947,[2] Westerling's forces would utilize terror tactics which led to the deaths of at least 10,000 Indonesians and the decimation of the Republican forces in the region.[3] Westerling was accused of using arbitrary terror techniques including public execution, which were copied by other anti-Republicans. As many as 3,000 Republican militia and their supporters were killed in a few weeks.[4] In contrast, Westerling maintains in his autobiography that only 600 deaths occurred during the duration of his campaign, accusing the Republicans of exaggerating the figures.[5]
[edit] Bandung
After the 1949 Indonesian independence, Westerling commanded a force, the Angkatan Perang Ratu Adil (APRA, Legion of Ratu Adil) of deserted Regiment Special Forces (one of successors of the DSF), and KNIL soldiers. He collaborated with the Federalist Sultan Hamid II in staging a coup d'état in January 1950 to overthrow the Sukarno government.[6] Poorly planned, the coup failed and Westerling had to flee to Singapore.[7]
Although the Indonesian government wanted to try Westerling on war crimes,[8] Westerling never had to stand trial for these allegations. He moved to the Netherlands, where he died in Purmerend in 1987.
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Westerling's War". The Jakarta Post. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/05/19/westerling039s-war.html.
- ^ Westerling (1952), page 112
- ^ Kahin (1952), page 356
- ^ Ricklefs (1991), page 224
- ^ Westerling (1952), page 116
- ^ Indonesia - The National Revolution, 1945-50
- ^ Jayakumar, S.:"Public International Law Cases from Malaysia and Singapore", page 108. Singapore University Press, 1974
- ^ "INDONESIA: A Mild Little Boy". Time. 20 March 1950. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,858732,00.html. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
[edit] References
- de Moor, Jaap A. (1999). Westerling's Oorlog: Indonesië 1945-1950. Amsterdam: Balans. ISBN 90-5018-425-1 ISBN 9789050184250.
- Boekholt, Ralph (1992). De Staat, Dr. L. De Jong En Indie: Het Proces Van Het Comite Geschiedkundig Eerherstel Nederlands-Indie Tegen De Staat Der Nederlanden over Deel 11A Van Het Koninkrijk Der Nederlanden in De Tweede Wereldoorlog 29 Maart 1986-10 April 1990. Moesson. ISBN 9070301563 ISBN 9789070301569.
- Kahin, George McTurnan (1952). Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-9108-8.
- Lapre, S.A. (1989). Ned. Indie 1940-1950 in Kort Bestek: En Enkele Gevolgen, O.A. De Coup-Westerling En Het Zuidmolukse Verzet. Lapre. ISBN 9080034010 ISBN 9789080034013.
- Reid, Anthony (2005). An Indonesian Frontier: Acehnese & Other Histories of Sumatra. Singapore: Singapore University Press. ISBN 9971-69-298-8.
- Ricklefs, M.C. (1993). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300. Hampshire, England: Macmillan Press. ISBN 0-333-57690-X.
- Sidarto, Lins (19 May 2010). "Westerling's War". The Jakarta Post. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/05/19/westerling039s-war.html. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
- Venner, Dominique (1977). Westerling: Guérilla Story. Paris: Hachette. ISBN 2-01-002908-9 ISBN 9782010029080.
- Westerling, Raymond Paul Pierre (1952) (in French). Mes aventures en Indonesie. – translated from the French to English by Waverley Root as – Challenge to terror. London: W. Kimber.
- Westerling, Raymond (1952). Challenge to Terror. William Kimber. ISBN: B000LA8J5M.
[edit] Further reading
- Eric Ambler, The Night-comers or State of Siege (1956). Thriller set in the fictional "Republic of Sunda", which mentions "Turko" Westerling's attempt at Bandung as an example of the fragility of post-colonial states.
[edit] External links
- Westerling biography in the Dutch language
- Celebes VPRO Documentary on the DSF troops in Sulawesi
- Images of Westerling, his troops, his passport and gravestone
