55 Facts About Raymond Westerling

Raymond Pierre Paul Westerling was a Dutch military officer of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army.

Raymond Westerling orchestrated a counter-guerrilla operation in Sulawesi during the Indonesian National Revolution after World War II and participated in a coup attempt against the Government of Indonesia in January 1950, a month after the official transfer of sovereignty.

Raymond "The Turk" Westerling was born on 31 August 1919 in Istanbul.

Raymond Westerling was the second son of a Greek mother, Sophia Moutzou, and a Dutch dealer in antiques, Paul Westerling, whose family had lived there for three generations.

At the age of 22, in 1941, Raymond Westerling reported to the Dutch consulate in Istanbul as a volunteer for the Allies.

Raymond Westerling made his way to England, where he was conscripted into the Princess Irene Brigade in Wolverhampton, but was unhappy with garrison life.

Raymond Westerling was among the first 48 Dutch soldiers to receive special training at the Commando Basic Training Centre in Achnacarry, on the barren, cold and uninhabited Scottish coast.

Raymond Westerling completed this training under William E Fairbairn in July 1942.

On 10 March 1945 Raymond Westerling was seriously injured by a German attack with a V-1 Rocket.

Raymond Westerling first came to Indonesia in September 1945, landing in Medan, North Sumatra, as an officer of the KNIL.

Formally, Raymond Westerling was under British command, but he mostly went his own way.

Raymond Westerling had built a reputation for decisive and heavy-handed action where necessary by successfully rooting out enemies classified as rogue elements by the Dutch, which those most involved legitimized by referring to the brutal methods of the opposing side.

In July 1946, Having completed his first assignment as a first lieutenant, Raymond Westerling took over the Depot Special Forces commando unit.

Raymond Westerling was given a clear mandate and instructions to organise a counterguerrilla operation against the 'red-white terror'.

Part of the mandate Raymond Westerling received from Colonel Henk de Vries, the operational commander on South Celebes, was the authority to exercise summary execution.

From information obtained through spying and the local people, Raymond Westerling deemed certain people as terrorists and murderers.

Finally, Raymond Westerling organised a new police force and appointed kampong boards that were made responsible for maintaining order.

Geersing therefore concludes that Raymond Westerling's action was in line with the political and social morals of the time and the legal and military frameworks in place at the time.

However, the Netherlands East Indies government and the Dutch army command soon realised that Raymond Westerling's actions led to growing public criticism.

Raymond Westerling was relieved of his duties in November 1948.

Bernhard inquired from General Spoor the same month whether or not Raymond Westerling would be awarded a decoration.

Raymond Westerling proposed to give Westerling a Military Order of William for his work in Sumatra, Celebes and Java.

Raymond Westerling settled down in western Java, married and started a transportation company in the Puncak Pass area.

Raymond Westerling named his movement the Legion of the Just Ruler from the Javanese myth that a messianic figure would come to save the people of Java and establish universal peace and justice.

Raymond Westerling stated that APRA hardly had any size and Westerling was hoping for help from soldiers of the KNIL and in particular the Regiment Speciale Troepen, of which he had been commander.

Raymond Westerling favoured a federal form of state, different from the unitary state Sukarno pursued.

Consequently, supporters of Raymond Westerling call it a myth that this so-called 'Bandung coup' was solely the work of the ousted commander and his faithful.

On 5 January 1950, Raymond Westerling sent an ultimatum to the government of Jakarta.

Raymond Westerling's demands were the recognition of the APRA as the official army of the state of Pasundan and unconditional respect for the autonomy of the federal states.

Raymond Westerling added that if the answer was not positive, he could not be held responsible for the outbreak of large-scale fighting by the APRA.

Raymond Westerling's plan was to attack Bandung and Jakarta at the same time, concentrating on garrisons, police stations, media centres and other key positions.

Titaley, who had acted as a liaison with Raymond Westerling, received a sentence of one year and eight months.

Raymond Westerling moved from place to place, among others at Kebon Sirih 62A, with the De Nijs family.

On 8 February 1950 Raymond Westerling's wife met Major General van Langen, who was Chief of Staff, at his residence.

Raymond Westerling's wife told van Langen about the situation her husband was facing.

The subject of the conversation was the rescue of Raymond Westerling, who in the eyes of many Dutch people was a hero.

McEwan, it was found that Raymond Westerling had entered the colony without the correct papers, mainly the false passport.

Raymond Westerling was then incarcerated in Changi Prison having to enter the territory illegally.

Raymond Westerling explained to the Singaporean authorities, that he had come to Malaya in an attempt to garner financial support and arms for his organization in Indonesia.

Raymond Westerling was visited by representatives of the Ambonese from The Hague, who founded the "Stichting Door de Eeuwen Trouw - DDET ".

The decision of the Dutch Supreme Court on 31 October 1952 stated that Raymond Westerling was a Dutch citizen and therefore would not be extradited to Indonesia.

Schilling was sentenced to one year in prison for swindling and embezzling substantial sums of money collected for sabotage operations in Indonesia, while Raymond Westerling was acquitted of involvement.

Raymond Westerling said he wrote some military reports, including for a foreign oil company, but turned down offers to work as a mercenary.

Raymond Westerling responded with an interview in Vrij Nederland, where he defended the use of summary executions.

Raymond Westerling maintained his reputation as a fire-eater; as recently as 1977, he was mentioned in connection with possible kidnapping of war crimes suspect Pieter Menten.

Raymond Westerling had a daughter, named Palmyra Westerling, from his third marriage.

Raymond Westerling moved to Amsterdam, where he ran an antiquarian bookshop in Amsterdam.

Raymond Westerling died in his hometown of Purmerend at the age of 68 in his sleep from cardiac arrest and was buried at Nieuwe Ooster Cemetery in Amsterdam.

Raymond Westerling continued to defend his purges and denied accusations of atrocities.

In that report, this committee concluded that Raymond Westerling's actions were warranted.

Raymond Westerling later stated that the Dutch government supported him.

Raymond Westerling had been appointed by the court in The Hague to do so.

Raymond Westerling's actions were denounced as a war criminal by the Indonesian government and left-wing parties in the Netherlands.

Geersing wrote in his book, that Raymond Westerling received his orders from the political and military top in Batavia with the consent of the Dutch government representatives there.

Raymond Westerling was depicted by Marwan Kenzari in the 2020 film The East, which focuses on his role in leading counterinsurgency operations in South Sulawesi during the Indonesian National Revolution.