Raymond Westerling

Raymond Pierre Paul Westerling (August 31, 1919 - November 26, 1987), nicknamed "the Turk", was a Dutch commander. He waged a bloody pacification campaign in the Sulawesi during the Indonesian National Revolution after the Second World War, and staged a coup in the city of Bandung in 1950.

South Sulawesi

Westerling was born in Istanbul, Turkey, as a child from a Dutch father and Turkısh mother. During the Second World War, Westerling would join the Dutch military service and receive his training in England. After the War, Westerling would be sent to Dutch Indies, where in 1946 he would command the Depot Special Forces (DSF) to pacify the southern Sulawesi, where the Nationalists tried to hinder the return of Dutch governance. The DSF consisted mostly of indigenous soldiers and was an elite unit of the KNIL, and were relentless in their ways to subjugate the population.

Bandung

After the 1949 Indonesian independence, Westerling commanded a force, the Angkatan Perang Ratu Adil (APRA, Army of the Just King) of deserted Regiment Special Forces (one of successors of the DSF), and KNIL soldiers, to stage a coup in Bandung in January, 1950, to overthrow the Sukarno government. [ [http://countrystudies.us/indonesia/16.htm Indonesia - The National Revolution, 1945-50 ] ] Poorly planned, the coup failed and Westerling had to flee to Singapore.Jayakumar, S.:"Public International Law Cases from Malaysia and Singapore", page 108. Singapore University Press, 1974]

Although the Indonesian government wanted to try Westerling on war crimes [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,858732,00.html A Mild Little Boy - TIME ] ] , Westerling never had to stand trial for these allegations. He moved to the Netherlands, where he died in Purmerend in 1987.

ources

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* Westerling, Raymond Paul Pierre (1952) "Mes aventures en Indonesie". - translated from the French to English by Waverley Root as - "Challenge to terror" London: W. Kimber.
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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.

External links

* [http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/BWN/lemmata/bwn4/westerling Westerling biography in the Dutch language]
* [http://geschiedenis.vpro.nl/programmas/2899536/afleveringen/32522438/ "Celebes"] VPRO Documentary on the DSF troops in Sulawesi
* [http://members.chello.nl/pscheele/kapiteinwesterling.html Images of Westerling, his troops, his passport and gravestone]

References