Person

Raymond Westerling

1919–1987 · 20th century

Raymond Westerling was a Dutch army officer, born in Istanbul, who led counter-insurgency operations in South Sulawesi in 1946–1947 that killed thousands of Indonesians. After leaving the army he formed the Legion of Ratu Adil (APRA) and in January 1950 led an attempted coup in Bandung against the new United States of Indonesia, killing dozens of soldiers. The coup failed, and he escaped to Singapore and later the Netherlands.

Raymond Westerling
Image: Ministerie van Defensie · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

United States of Indonesia

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Raymond Westerling. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/raymond-westerling
MLA
“Raymond Westerling.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/raymond-westerling. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Raymond Westerling.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/raymond-westerling.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Raymond Westerling’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/raymond-westerling (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻