However, in 1958 he resigned his post as military attaché to the United States to join the rebel Permesta movement after the Incidents in Manado where he encountered Kopassus as his opponent.

[1] His father, Alexander Herman Hermanus Kawilarang, was a major in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL or Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger).

Kawilarang enjoyed European-style education that included attending the Dutch secondary school (HBS or Hogere burgerschool) in Bandung.

[6] During the Japanese occupation, Manadonese (Minahasan), Ambonese, and Indo people were often arbitrarily arrested during raids due to their perceived closeness to the Dutch.

In October 1945, he was assigned to the staff of the First Command of West Java or Komandemen I Jawa Barat in Purwakarta and given the rank of major.

[13] In August 1946, he became the commander of the Second Brigade ("Surya Kencana") of the newly formed Siliwangi Division and was promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Kawilarang was assigned to lead the Seventh Sub-Territorial Command (or Komando Sub-Teritorial VII) for Tapanuli and the southern region of East Sumatra.

[18][19] In December 1949, Kawilarang was appointed as Territorial Commander of North Sumatra (or Komando Teritorium/Sumatra Utara, now Kodam I/Bukit Barisan) in anticipation of the Dutch recognition of Indonesian sovereignty after the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference.

[22] He was ordered to quell a revolt by a company of former KNIL that included Andi Aziz and Dutch army soldiers or Koninklijke Leger in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

The expeditionary force consisted of several brigades, including those that were led by Suharto (the future second president of Indonesia) and Joop Warouw.

Col. Slamet Riyadi who was the commander of the government forces in the Maluku sector and an important participant during the offensive was killed on the final day of the campaign.

[33] In August 1956, Maj. Gen. Nasution as Chief of Staff of the Army appointed Kawilarang to the post of Military Attaché to the United States.

[34] It has been argued that the purpose of the appointment was to remove Kawilarang from the influential post of commander of Military Territory III / West Java and replace him with an officer who was less of a threat or even pro-Nasution.

[35][36][37] A similar move by Nasution was to replace commander of the East Indonesia Military Territory from Joop Warouw to Ventje Sumual.

[38][39] Just a day before the transfer ceremony, Kawilarang ordered the arrest of the Foreign Minister Ruslan Abdulgani due to his alleged corrupt activities.

[43] Because of continued grievances toward the central government in Java due to the lack of regional autonomy and economic development, on 2 March 1957, Ventje Sumual declared the Universal Struggle Charter or Piagam Perjuangan Semesta (Permesta).

Kawilarang had been monitoring the situation from Washington and had concluded that the central government in Java and its mismanagement was to blame for the regional crisis.

[48] He had not fully accepted the PRRI side of the movement that he thought was aligned to religious extremists, and Jakarta had thus hoped that he would change his mind.

Kawilarang participated in the ceremony on 14 April that was attended by the deputy commander of the Indonesian army, Maj. Gen. Hidayat, and also Brig.

During post war reunions with his former Dutch classmates at the Bandung school for officers he concludes: "Comradery is deeply rooted in their soul.

[58] Putting his fighting years behind him, he made amends with all his former opponents and even visited The Netherlands several times for reunions with KNIL pensioners before his death in 2000.

[citation needed] Under the New Order or Orde Baru, he was an official at Bimantara, a company owned by Suharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo.