He 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.

When World War II engulfed Europe in 1941, he went to the Dutch consulate in Istanbul and enlisted in the Royal Netherlands Army, much to his father's dismay.

He 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.

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 own.”[4] In July 1946, Having completed his first assignment as a first lieutenant, Westerling took over the Depot Special Forces (DST) commando unit.

Guerilla fighters from Java had joined the local groups and government officials and members of the pro-Dutch Eurasian and Indo-Chinese community, were attacked and killed.

[6] After intensive consultations between the political leadership in Batavia and the Dutch army command, it was decided to deploy an extra battalion of troops and the DST led by Raymond Westerling.

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

[7][page needed] The violent period prior to Westerling's crackdown saw 1,200 Indonesian casualties in South Celebes from rival gangs, crime and political terror under the Republican banner.

Historians Rémy Limpach ("De brandende kampongs van generaal Spoor", 2016) and Gert Oostindie ("Soldaat in Indonesië", 2016) also give the impression that Westerling's actions, if not directly ordered from on high, were at least condoned by the military and political authorities in Batavia.

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

In August 1948, in an open letter to Prince Bernhard, his then adjutant Henk Ulrici drew attention to the fact that Westerling had still not received an award, even though he was a "rare brave, sturdy and handsome commander".

Here he put together an armed movement from groups opposed to the impending transfer of official power from the Dutch to the Indonesian Republic with the aim of preserving the autonomy of the Dutch-created state of Pasundan in western Java.

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

With the help of Lieutenant Colonel Johannes Josephus Franciscus Borghouts - Westerling's successor as commander of the elite KST troops - on 16 February at the officers' mess where KL Adjutant H.J.

A plan was drawn up to take Westerling out of Indonesia on a Catalina aircraft belonging to the "Marineluchtvaartdienst - MLD" (Naval Aviation Service) under the authority of Vice Admiral J.W.

General van Langen, in his letter to Admiral Kist, only explained that one Catalina aircraft was needed for the visit of a high-ranking officer to the Riau Islands, and not a word about Westerling.

[26] On Wednesday 22 February, one month after the failed "coup", Westerling, wearing the uniform of a KNIL sergeant, was picked up by van der Veen and taken by car to the MLD base at Tanjung Priok Port.

With the help of John Thiessen, in preventing his extradition to Indonesia and the escorting of his Indonesian-French wife, Yvonne Fournier, Westerling settled down in a small town in the province of Friesland.

Foundation (Steunt Ontredderde Staten) in Sneek, which called for extra-parliamentary actions to force compliance with the peace agreement reached at the Round Table Conference (1949).

[33] With financial support from ex-NSB Mr Jan Wolthuis and Groningen businessman and former Sicherheitspolizei and SD officer Pieter Gaillard, the armoured yacht Evipan was purchased to sail to Ambon.

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

In interviews, however, he stated "The introduction of martial law in South Celebes was the result of purely human reasoning, although for many people it was a bestial act.

But go deeper into the reasoning of why I was forced to do it - I put myself aside, I risked martial law and public opinion - then it is the only way to restore peace and order on Celebes with a minimum of bloodshed."

"They painted me as a bloodthirsty monster, who attacked the people of Celebes by fire and sword and exposed all those, who in the interest of Indonesia's national independence resisted Dutch rule, to a merciless campaign of repression".

Westerling stated he had based his tactics on the premise that he performed the role of policeman, combating terror: "I arrested terrorists, not because they acted as instigators of the Republican government... but because they made themselves guilty of open and unmistaken crimes...I never had them [his troops] bombard a village, nor did I take the hut of innocent under fire.

[47] After a revealing publication in 1949 in De Groene Amsterdammer about Dutch atrocities in Java, the Van Rij and Stam committee was set up, using the Enthoven report.

The Dutch Honorary Debts Committee Foundation is working to ensure that the relatives of victims of the purges in South Celebes receive compensation and recognition from the Netherlands.

In late July 2014, the Council of State ruled on appeal that it was implausible that the intelligence service AIVD had only one document about Westerling's failed coup.

[54] In August 2016, Australian historian Robert Cribb began investigating claims by widows and children of men allegedly executed there by Dutch soldiers in South Sulawesi.

[7][page needed] (Commissie-Generaal) 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.