Captain Westerling, hero against Javanese imperialism or villain of its Dutch counterpart.
Having long had an interest in history, and having taken the time and trouble to read as much as I can of Indonesia’s history since I came here (largely because, like most Brits/ Canadians/Americans, though not all Australians, I knew almost nothing of the country) I was fascinated to read the following article in the Jakarta Post Weekender.
Westerling’s War
For many Indonesians, Captain Raymond Pierre Paul Westerling (31st August 1919 – 26th November 1987), nicknamed “the Turk”, remains the most notorious Dutch military figure from the young republic’s war of independence. With a Dutch director now planning to make a film about Westerling’s rampage in South Sulawesi, a closer look reveals a multifaceted man who continues to symbolize a thorny episode in Indonesian–Dutch history. Lina Sidarto reports.
The name Westerling still evokes images of evil and inhumanity for most Indonesians raised on history textbooks that describe the violence committed by the Dutch officer against people in various parts of the archipelago.
In his memoirs, he described an act of terror designed to subdue groups that had been attacking European soldiers in North Sumatra.
[pullquote]“We planted a stake in the middle of the village and on it we impaled the head of a Terakan [half-Japanese, half-Chinese inhabitant]. Beneath it we nailed a polite warning to the members of his band that if they persisted in their evildoing, their heads would join his.“[/pullquote]
Dutch director Martin Koolhoven believes Westerling is, of course, a very interesting person for a movie.
“There are still people now who adore him [in the Netherlands], while others see him as the personification of evil.”
While many Dutch films have been made about World War II, Koolhoven is currently working on a script for the first movie highlighting the years just after 1945.
“It’s not a period in our history that we can be most proud of. It won’t be a biopic about Raymond Westerling, but a film about the men who served under him in Indonesia.”
There’s no need for me to publish the whole JP item which you can find for yourselves, but what it moves onto is possibly the most intriguing part of the Westerling story – just how much support did he really have among local people?
I wrote a novel which included a brief review of his role (“Westerling’s Legacy”, morfinybooks@yahoo.ca) several years ago, and my own researches then led me to conclude that his support was far from negligible. Not talking about Java but about the outer islands, where the present regime is still so terrified of calls for self-determination that they not long ago gave a guy a life sentence for waving an RMS flag. If it is purely a cause of elderly exiles, why the draconian panicky reaction?
Back to the article.
Westerling had a disdain for the authority of the Republic of Indonesia under Sukarno.
He also had little respect for the various youth groups striving for independence, regarding them as “terrorist gangs” who plundered, raped and murdered innocent civilians.
In a matter of months, he had built up a reputation for successfully routing those who were branded rogue elements by the Dutch authorities, sometimes using unorthodox methods such as his purge of the Terakan. In the book “Westerling’s War”, Dutch historian Jaap de Moor noted that by February 1946, British newspapers already carried stories about Westerling’s deeds.
“His fame as a fearless commando, a lone fighter for justice, was established.”
Westerling saw himself as a savior of the weak.
So Westerling had no hostility towards those who would become Indonesians. And if we examine the facts of that time, we can’t really challenge many of his assertions.
The reality of Javanese domination, which he predicted, has manifested itself, not solely because Java has many more people, but because they are used as colonialist vanguards in Sumatra, Papua, Aceh and elswhere, via the dictatorship’s transmigration programme, which reformasi has not discontinued, much less reversed.
Lots of the Republic’s men were sometime collaborators, and I’ve heard it said that Sukarno himself did little or nothing to resist the Japanese slave-labour system.
Like many Third World ‘liberation’ heroes, Sukarno was a little Mussolini who trampled democracy down when it obstructed his megalomaniac ambitions. The Red Youth were indeed a blood-thirsty crew who butchered many harmless Sumatran royals and I guess similar episodes can be found in other parts of the archipelago.
The end of empire here, and in the British realms, was not notably marked by free choice. Kenyans and Ghanaians protested at the departure of the British and their ethnic identities were ignored, as were those of the Barotse people in Zambia.
As for his methods, he was fighting terrorism, not a conventional war, and in the light of the craven character of Western countries today, there are many who might prefer a tough stand (I refer in particular to this week’s report from UK, where a court blocked deportation for two known Al Qaeda scumbags, because, poor wee souls, their own police, in Pakistan, might ‘torture’ them. Might do them the world of good!
My last film review was spiked here, but I hope one day I’ll get a chance to review this movie about a man who was no cardboard cut-out but a real hero – or villain, depending on your point of view!
A villain like him should be sent to hell period. No matter what his nationality, motives, or ideology. May he rot in hell. Amen
The Dutch film maker could say or portray whatever they want of Raymond, but the fact is it is not believable knowing that they are making a film out of biased opinion.
The fact is Dutch was not able to defend the Indonesian archipelago against the Japanese invasion. WWII while bloody had exposed the weaknesses of European expansionism in Asia. While not idolizing WWII, had it not for that, would there be a Republic of Indonesia and other republics in Asia?
Anyway, the Government of Indonesia must ban whatever film is to be produced portraying the heroic deeds of any person or military officers during the Indonesia occupation.
They are not worth watching and for sure, one sided.
After not defending the onslaught of the Japanese in WWII, then after the war the Dutch wanted to reclaim the archipelago. As previous colonizer, I would be ashamed to reclaim something which I was not even able to defend.
To the gallant defenders of freedom and democracy in Indonesia – Merdeka!!!
how do we judge yesterdays actions by todays values? you can’t.
there’s a marvellous, relevant quote…..history is a record of events written by the victors. ri won, therefore belanders are blood thirsty, inhuman arseholes.
both sides committed atrocities.
post the dutch, the events surrounding sukarno’s downfall and the ensuing purges matched or surpassed events in the independance struggle. it could be argued that these events were even more morally corrupt as they centred totally on power, not sovereignty, self determination…..
So.. westerling killing people wasn’t evil at the time coz he’s just doing his duty “as he saw it”…??
Do please tell.. what was his duty…?
Wasn’t it to reassert Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia..? Fight a war of agression against the Independent Republic of Indonesia..? To ensure that white dutch meneers and mevrouws continue as masters of the Indonesian people..? with that in mind, of course large sections of the Dutch public and press endorsed his actions!
And now the Pemudas are evil coz they are fighting those white men coming to take our independence..?? Don’t u think that those pemudas are actually the one doing their duty “as they saw it”..? That is to get rid of the dutch and ensure the independence of OUR country… now I’m sure that large sections of the Indonesian public and press endorsed their actions!
I’m not javanese nor is my family… but I’m Indonesian… and the fight for our independence was a national one and not just by javanese… Just because Javanese the likes of Suharto almost totally ruined the country in later years, doesn’t mean we want the dutch to keep on colonizing us or were happy that a murderer soldier the likes of Westerling rampaging our country..!
“In fact in all functioning democracies sooner or later you must face your past, it is only the despotic and doomed to failure that refuse to do so”
Has the Dutch did so…? the fact that they still make movies glorifying their war criminals seems to be and indication of the refusal to do so… and please remember.. The dutch has been a democracy much.. much longer than us… how could u expect a 12 years old democracy to do something a 65+ years old democracy (counting from their time of liberation from the Nazis) still can’t or won’t do…?
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Hi Ross,
Unfortunately, you might find a film like this quickly banned in Indonesia, just like others films and books that don’t follow the “official” version of history here: e.g. Balibo, The Year of Living Dangerously, Lastri.