Makassar Uprising

The Makassar Uprising, also known as Andi Aziz rebellion, was a skirmish in Makassar, Sulawesi, between former Royal Dutch East Indies Army soldiers under Captain Andi Aziz and the Republic of the United States of Indonesia government. The purpose of the uprising was to revolt against the incorporation of the Indonesian federated "states" into the Indonesian Republic. However, the uprising was quashed in a little over two weeks when troops under Lieutenant Colonel Suharto and Colonel Alexander Evert Kawilarang arrived at Makassar to find only light resistance. The East Indonesian government refused to condone Aziz's actions and he was subsequently arrested in Jakarta on 14 April while attempting to negotiate with the republican authorities. The Makassar Uprising only facilitated republican control over the federal states. Following the end of World War II in August 1945, the Dutch sought to re-establish control over the East Indies, modern-day Indonesia. While Australian and Dutch troops managed to occupy much of eastern Indonesia with minimal resistance, Anglo-Dutch forces in Java and Sumatra were challenged by nascent Republican nationalists advocating self-rule under Sukarno. The Republican goal of a unitary Republic of Indonesia centered on Java clashed with Dutch decolonization efforts to implement a system of federal states which was part of a Dutch commonwealth. Negotiations were dogged by skirmishes and police actions. In Sulawesi, resistance to Dutch rule was successfully suppressed by Captain Raymond Westerling, who drew controversy for his use of arbitrary terror tactics including rounding up villages and summarily executing members until they submitted information. However, the eradication of Republican forces paved the way for the establishment of a more amenable East Indonesian civil administration based in Makassar. In South Sulawesi, they also replaced more than a quarter of the pro-Republican local nobility including the Rajahs of Bone and Lawu, prompting the remaining rajahs to collaborate with the Dutch authorities.