monument Pembantaian Westerling in South Sulawesi

By reason for looking the ‘extremists, robbers, criminals, and killers’, Westerling troops entered the villages. Actually they looked for the strugglers of Indonesia. They used strategy of Counter Insurgency by their way. They were not held on officially stipulation of Counter Insurgency (about intelligence, civil society and prisoner).

Everyone who was assumed as a dangerous person was killed. They were not only use method of shooting gun, but also other cruel method. According a book that written by Horst H. Geerken, Westerling was not only instruct to shoot nape but also ordered beheading. Hundreds of sacks that filled heads were wasted in the sea to erase the trace.

Target of killing was spread, not only people who assumed as terrorists, extremist, criminal, robber and murderers, but also the innocence people. Including the people who had been jailed first were due to some reasons. They were take out from jail, and then were killed.

Thousands of people dead in some villages in South Sulawesi. Batua village, Tanjung Bunga village, Kalikuang village, Jongaya village, Polobangkeng village, Gowa and the others.  But the greatest victim of Westerling is Incident of Galung Lombok on February 2, 1947.

On 1947, Indonesian Government in front of UN claimed that the victim of slaughter Westerling was 40,000. But Dutch Government, on 1969, predicted the victims achieve 3000-5000. Whereas Captain Westerling said ‘only’ 600 dead.

Captain Westerling

Now, the victims of Westerling have new hope to get justice. The winning of victims of Rawagede case, give them a hope. 9 widows of victims, representative all victims will sue Dutch government.  Initiation has been done through KUKB (Komite Utang Kehormatan Belanda, Committee of Dutch Honorary Debts) and a lawyer of human rights, Liesbeth Zegveld.

“They especially need recognition of their suffering and also apology,” Lisbeth Zegveld said, like reported by site of Netherlands Radio of broadcasting Indonesia. Lisbeth Zegveld was a lawyer of victims of Rawagede tragedy.

However, what Westerling and his troops did is a crime. War crime! Hopefully the people of South Sulawesi get justice.

 (Images from Google)

On January 23, 1870, perhaps the most outrageous act of ethnic repression was carried out by the US cavalry, when they massacred most of an American Indian tribe, the Piegans. The dead were mostly women and children in this possibly greatest slaughter ever of native Americans by U.S. troops.

 While the Blackfoot Confederacy – Blood, Piegan and Blackfoots – had endured hostile relations with local white settlers for several years things came to a head when, in 1869, Piegan warrior Owl Child stole several of horses. His victim, one Malcolm Clarke, tracked him and beat him in front of his peers.

 The humiliated, Owl Child led a rogue Piegan band in pursuit of Clarke, killing him, the reason a band of cavalry – led by Major Eugene Baker – was sent by General Sheridan to track the killers and punish them. It was this troop that, on January 23, 1870, received a scout report telling of a Piegan group camped along the Marias River.

 Dawn saw 200 dismounted troopers spread out in ambush positions around the camp, awaiting orders to open fire. When chief Heavy Runner appeared, he approached the troops waving a safe-conduct paper he had been earlier presented with.

Army scout Joe Kipp shouted that the cavalry had found the wrong camp, but was silenced by Baker, who ordered his men to open fire. Heavy Runner fell, and the ensuing massacre of the unprotected. Indian camp was brutal, 173 innocents, mainly elderly, women and children dying in the hail of bullets.

 140 other Piegans were taken prisoner, later released with no food, no clothing and no horses, meaning that the 90-mile trek to Fort Benton, saw many of these poor refugees freezing to death on the march. The incredibly callous and unfeeling murderer Baker never even found the tribe members he was looking for, because they had escaped to Canada.

Despite a brief Congressional storm of outraged protest at the time, General Sherman issued a press denial of any military guilt, blaming the alcoholism of Major Baker for both the massacre and failure to capture the right Indians, an official investigation into the incident never taking place.

This little-known incident was every bit as significant and damning as other dreadful acts of savagery by the US military, like Bear River or Washita, where massacres also took place, but, history has overlooked it.

No monument was ever erected to mark the site of the mass Piegan grave, but it should not ever be forgotten. America has its own share of dirty secrets and atrocities, something nobody should ever overlook.

      The news of the massacre didn’t break to the American public until journalist Seymour Hersh was told the story by Vietnam veteran Ron Ridenhour (PBS 2005). Ridenhour heard of the massacre by members of Charlie Company. After submitting an ignored appeal to Congress, the White House, and the Pentagon he went to Hersh to get the story published. Two months before Hersh’s story was to be published Calley was charged with murder (PBS, 2005).

Sources

PBS. “The My Lai Massacre.” PBS. March 29, 2005. Web. Retrieved from       http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/trenches/my_lai.html

            On December 17th, 1944 an American battalion were caught by an SS force. The force captured 150 POWs. Roughly 80 of the men were shot and killed and their bodies were left behind. This became known as the Malmedy Massacre. Once news of the event spread the Allied forces ordered that all SS forces be killed on sight.

            American forces began their first counterattack on December 23, 1944. The counterattack included the targeting from both sides on aircraft. After 20 days of fighting the Americans lost 460 aircraft while the Germans lost 277. The Americans were able to come back from the loss; however it left the German forces weakened. On January 7th, 1945 Hitler decided to end all offensive operations. The Battle of the Bulge claimed 70,000 to 81,000 American casualties, 1,400 British, and 60,000 and 104,000 German. More than 100,000 soldiers were claimed by the battle (DigitalHistory, n.d.).

Source

DigitalHistory. “World War II, December-January 1944.” DigitalHistory. n.d. Web.    Retrieved from http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1753.html.

“…. In this context and on behalf of Dutch Government, I apologize for the tragedy,” Zwaan said when attending the 64th commemoration of Rawagede Tragedy in Balongsari village (former Rawagede), West Java, Indonesia. It was also participated by victims and their families.

The Tragedy of Rawagede happened on December 9, 1947. Dutch military slaughtered 431 villagers in Rawagede. The massacre is convinced as the most brutal crime that was done by Dutch during 1945-1949.

The apology is based on decision of Civil Court of Den Haag at September 2011. The Court obligated Dutch Government to apologize and to give compensation for victims of Rawagede Tragedy. The 11 widows of victims Rawagede will receive each 20,000 Euro as compensation.

Of course, the compensation cannot replace suffering of victims. The victims only wanted a confession of Dutch Government about their crime in Rawagede at 1947.

(Image from Google)

While the victims were on their way to file a certificate of candidacy for Esmael Mangudadatu, a vice mayor of Buluan town, they were kidnapped and brutally killed. The 58 people killed included Mangudadatu’s wife, his two sisters, journalist, lawyers, aides, and motorist who were witnesses or were mistakenly identified as part of the convoy.

The Maguindanao massace was the single deadliest event for journalist in history, at least 34 journalists are known to have died in the massacre. Their vehicles were also inclued in the grave, it was dilapidated already when found and other bodies were still inside the vehicle.

In connection to this, on December 4, 2009, through Proclamation No. 1959, the President of the Philippines officially placed Maguindanao province under a state of martial law, the step was taken in order to avert the escalation of “lawless” violence in the province and pave the way for the swift arrest of the suspects in the massacre.

 It was January, and the land was dry and scotched. Bush fires were billowing everywhere on the land. Unfortunately for the population, it was also in such times when the rebels move rapidly across the land, unleashing atrocities on the people who rarely appear to be informed of the rebel troop movements and other vital intelligence that could have saved them from rebel ambushes and surprise attacks.  Okello, who had become a senior Commander in the ranks of the LRA decided that he should run away and join the government forces. He escaped but was quickly followed up by a platoon of rebels and was arrested on the orders of Joseph Kony himself. He was being led away back  to the  Sudan when midway through the journey as a captive,  he decided to escape again, carrying along with him, a gun he grabbed from one of the child rebel guards planted to watch over him during a brief  nap.

Angered by this behavior, the rebels made a u-turn to find and capture their prisoner once again. But this time, they were under instructions to kill anybody they  met. The first victim they pounced on was a young man who was leaving a local dancing joint. He was arrested, tied and chopped into pieces. Nobody could define his crime, the only crime anybody could conjure was that he crossed the rebel path at a fateful time. They moved on to the dancing joint, found young men and women dancing the night away-they rounded them up, herded them into the grass-thatched huts and set them ablaze and waited until they were sure there was not a single survivor. This orgy of  killing went on through out the night well into the morning. Some villagers simply slept away to their death, never to wake up to see the next morning because the attacks were lightening surprise attacks characterized by chopping off heads of sleeping victims.

The sad aspect of this tragedy over which local folks of my village still grumble is the very callous way in which the rebel deserter conducted himself.  When he ran away from his captors, people expected him to be more responsible enough to alert the entire village of the fast approaching rebels. To the pain of the villages, he simply went to his home, woke up his two wives, his mother and father and then left the rest of the villagers to their fate. Interestingly, his first wife did not take him seriously-she hesitated and was captured along with her 4 of her children and added to the close to the 200 prisoners they had arrested and arraigned  in the compound of this deserter. They addressed the captives, and expressed their anger at the conduct of their (deserter) son.

They ordered each and every captive to enter the available huts, subsequently, 4 huts were filled with human beings pleading for their lives. All pleas fell on deaf ears and brutal hearts because the next thing the world saw was black smoke and wild flames at dawn, ragging so violently that it muzzled the cry and screams of the distressed villagers crying out for help which never came. About 250 innocent Acholis  were exterminated in a single night by stupid people for a truly stupid mistake made by this deserter whose action haunted him to his very death 2 years later!

The Oslo district court ruled that Behring Breivik would remain in custody until February 6, when a new custody extension hearing will be held, and announced a possible trial start-date of April 16.

The 32-year-old rightwing extremist, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and light blue tie and sporting a narrow beard, asked judge Torkel Nesheim if he could speak to the families “for five minutes,” but was turned down.

It was the first court hearing open to survivors, victims’ family members, the media and the general public since the July 22 killing spree.

After the hearing, his lawyer Geir Lippestad, who had asked that his client be set free, said Behring Breivik had prepared a short note, but that he did not know what he had planned to say.

Behring Breivik also attempted to take advantage of his first public appearance since the attacks to make a speech.

“I am a military commander in a resistance movement,” Behring Breivik said in a calm voice before questioning the legitimacy of the court to try him.

“You have been mandated by those who support multiculturalism. That is a hateful ideology that aims to destroy the Norwegian society,” he told Nesheim, who quickly interrupted him.

The judge said he did not want to offer Behring Breivik “a soap box or an opportunity to justify his actions”.

Appearing calm and with a hint of a smile on his lips, the confessed killer turned repeatedly to look at the crowd in the courtroom, which looked on in stony silence.

The court had initially placed a gag order on reporting Behring Breivik’s words for fear he would turn the hearing into a platform for his far-right ideology, but later lifted the order.

A ban on publishing pictures or video of him remained in effect however.

Behring Breivik has admitted setting off a car bomb outside Norway’s government offices in Oslo on July 22, killing eight people, before going on a shooting rampage on the nearby island of Utoeya where the ruling Labour Party’s youth wing was hosting a summer camp.

Sixty-nine people, mostly teens, died in the shooting massacre.

In a 1,500-page manifesto he published on the Internet just before the attacks, Behring Breivik said he was on a crusade against Islam and professed his hatred for Western-style democracy, saying it had spawned the multicultural society he loathed.

“I acknowledge the facts but I do not plead guilty,” he said, reiterating the line he has taken since his arrest on July 22, describing his actions as “cruel but necessary.”

If a psychiatric evaluation, which is set to conclude this month, finds Behring Breivik fit to be held criminally responsible for his acts, his trial should begin on April 16, 2012 and last about 10 weeks, the Oslo court said.

As in past hearings, Behring Breivik on Monday described his incarceration in virtual isolation as an “irrational torture method”.

Previous custody extension hearings had all been held behind closed doors for fear that Behring Breivik, who has said he acted alone in the July 22 attacks, might communicate with possible accomplices.

As the investigation has progressed, police have said the theory that Behring Breivik had helpers appeared increasingly unlikely.

In addition to extending his custody for three months, the Oslo court ruled Monday that Behring Breivik’s visits and correspondence would be strictly restricted for the first eight weeks and he would have no access to media for the first four weeks of the renewed detention period.

Since the beginning, Behring Breivik has sought as much publicity as possible.

“Our shock attacks are theatre, and theatre is always performed for an audience,” he wrote in his manifesto.

Herman Heggertveit, a young survivor of the Utoeya massacre, attended Monday’s hearing as “a form of therapy.”

“It is very emotional and very difficult. It is like meeting another person,” the young man, wearing a pin with a Labour Party rose, told reporters.

“He is arrogant, sure of himself. He is living in his own little bubble.”

Bolton’s oldest, best known pub, The Old Man & Scythe dating back to 1251. 

The name and pub sign image refer to the coat of arms of the Pilkington family, which consists of a reaper in action with said scythe. The ‘old’ was added to comment on the pub’s startling longevity, though it was rebuilt in 1630.

The pub’s greatest fame came in the English Civil War years of the mid-17th Century. Owned by the Stanley family, the pub witnessed family descendent, the 7th Earl of Derby’s forces commit an infamous massacre on the towns-people of Bolton for their Parliamentary sympathies in May 1644.

In October 1651, captured and tried for his crimes, Derby (also known as Lord Strange) was sentenced to execution by decapitation, and spent his last night alive in the pub itself, before going to his death right outside on the 15th October 1651.

The very chair he sat on is preserved in a glass case. It was used openly as a bar stool until a member of the rock group, The Who damaged it by kicking it across the room in a fit of drunken temper, after which the chair was stored away on a look but don’t touch basis.

The pub is very popular, and a romantic historic novel about the massacre and aftermath, John of God’s Sending, subtitled The Lass The Old Man & Scythe was written by Allen Clarke in 1897. A stage version was performed at Bolton Octogen in 1989.

There are actually two signs for the pub. One depicts the reaper with his scythe and the other summarizes the fate of Lord Derby. 

The pub and town stage a re-enactment of Derby’s execution every year.

Arthur Chappell

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