Two Americans Murdered in Java

BANDUNG, April 27, 1950. In the cool of the morning, an open jeep left the Savoy Homan Hotel heading to the east. From the color of their skin and stature, one could tell at a glance that the two passengers were Caucasians.

Indeed, the two men sitting behind the wheel were Raymond Kennedy (then 43 years old), professor of anthropology at Yale University, and Robert “Bob” Doyle (then 31), a contributor to Time-Life magazine.

That day, Raymond and Bob planned to go to Cirebon and then continue to Yogyakarta. They shared the same goal: to conduct research and investigations. Raymond, who had been in Indonesia for almost a year, intended to write about the influence of Western civilization on Indonesian society, while Bob wanted to gather responses of farmers along the Bandung-Yogyakarta route regarding the condition of post-war Indonesia.

Leaving Bandung, they didn't encounter any obstacles. However, when they entered Sumedang, a blue sedan followed them. As they approached the area between Cimalaka and Tomo in the afternoon, they were intercepted by armed men who emerged from behind the hills on the left and right sides of the road. The gunmen then led them into the forest on the side of the road and shot them to death.

The sadistic act was carried out in front of a number of residents, but they couldn't do much. Under the threat of guns, they were even ordered to bury the bodies of Raymond and Bob.

After the burial, the gunmen immediately fled towards Cirebon. Before fleeing, they threatened local residents not to report the incident to the authorities, or their village would be burned down.

However, the villagers ignored this threat, and reported the incident to the nearest army post a day later. Based on this report, on April 29, 1950, a group of soldiers moved to the crime scene and with the help of residents dug up the graves of the two poor Caucasians.

At first, the two bodies were difficult to identify as their condition was terrible, as shown in two old photographs. Their bodies, covered in dirt, dried blood, and gaping wounds to the head and chest, lay stiffly on a gurney covered with mats. Bob's body was recognized first, then Kennedy.

An Indonesian Army liaison officer took the two bodies to Bandung and made a report to Lieutenant Colonel F. Day, a British United Nations (UN) military observer on duty in Bandung. It was through F. Day that the news of Raymond and Bob's death was received by Lieutenant Colonel Karl Hisgen, a UN observer from the US, in Jakarta. Hisgen then forwarded the unfortunate news to the US Embassy in Jakarta.

Who Were The Culprits?

In Bob's notebook, which was found from his shirt pocket, there was writing that contained several sensitive questions. Among them were a series of interview questions related to Westerling and APRA, wrote Alexander Marschack, a US journalist, in an article entitled “Unreported War in Indonesia”, published in The American Mercury magazine, February 1952.

Captain R.P.P. Westerling was the name of a Royal Netherlands East Indies Army or KNIL officer from the Korps Speciale Troepen (KST), a special commando unit whose members were mostly involved in the Ratu Adil War Force or APRA. It was a treason movement led by The Turk, Westerling's nickname, against the government of the Republic of the United States of Indonesia or RIS in January 1950 in Bandung.  

In the book Siliwangi dari Masa ke Masa (Siliwangi from Time to Time) by Sejarah Militer Kodam VI Siliwangi, it is stated that after the APRA rebellion was thwarted by Siliwangi troops, KST units retreated to outside the city of Bandung. Some then established small posts along Sumedang-Cimalaka-Tomo.

This was confirmed by Kasim, one of the elders in Tomo. “At that time, on the Cimalaka-Tomo route there were many posts of Dutch troops with green berets,” he told Historia.

Raymond and Bob might have been clueless about the situation of the route they would pass. Moreover, the US Embassy in Jakarta didn't give a warning when they moved to leave Jakarta.  

According to Marschack, the ones who intercepted them were six Moluccans wearing KNIL uniforms and green berets (KST) with weapons in hand. “Kennedy and Doyle were immediately shot dead with sten-guns,” wrote Marschack.

Similar thing was expressed by Sudiyono Joyoprayitno, an Indonesian parliamentarian from the Murba Party. According to him, as quoted in Memenuhi Panggilan Tugas Jilid III (Fulfilling the Call of Duty Volume III) by A.H. Nasution, the murder was the work of Dutch soldiers (KST) who were posted in that area.  

“The professor was killed because he had records on the Dutch army's relationship with troublemakers, especially with the DI/TII led by Kartosuwiryo,” said Sudiyono, referring to Darul Islam/Indonesian Islamic Army.

However, Stef Scagliola, a military historian from Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, doubted that the Dutch were responsible for that action. Despite not mentioning who the real perpetrators were, Stef called it a “foolishness” if KST was really the culprit. “Is it possible for them to wear a uniform complete with green beret when carrying out a mission that is supposed to be completely private?” Stef told Historia.

An Unsolved Mystery

The bodies of Kennedy and Doyle were buried at Pandu Cemetery (currently located on the side of the Pasteur-Pasopati Bandung toll road), on Sunday, April 30, 1950.

“The funeral ceremony was simple,” wrote The Day, May 1, 1950. “Several hundred Americans, including staff from the US Embassy in Indonesia, as well as representatives from Indonesia and the United Nations attended the funeral in the European cemetery overlooking the city.”  

The funeral situation was depicted perfectly in an old photograph. In a seemingly hushed atmosphere, a priest is leading a funeral service attended by several locals and foreigners. In the center of the gathering, two coffins draped in the Stars and Stripes (the US national flag) lie stiffly, radiating a sense of grief and loss. That is, perhaps, the only image documenting the atmosphere of Kennedy and Doyle's funeral ceremony.  

The deaths of Kennedy and Doyle shocked and angered Indonesian officials. The RIS government officially condemned the assassination. To Rubby Jo Kennedy, widow of Raymond Kennedy, RIS Ambassador to the US Ali Sastroamidjojo expressed his sorrow and promised “to do everything possible to resolve the matter fairly.”

Through Information Minister Arnold Manonutu, Prime Minister Mohammad Hatta also promised to instruct Indonesian security forces to handle the case attentively. “[We promise] not to neglect it, until this mysterious and sad incident is revealed and the perpetrators brought to justice,” Manonutu said in The Day, April 29, 1950.

The police acted quickly and arrested four suspects, but later released them for lack of evidence. In an article entitled “Combating a ‘Half-of-the-World state of mind’: Indonesia Expert Raymond Kennedy Embraces World History, 1942-1950”, published in the journal World History Connected Vol. 13. No.1, February 2016, Robert Shaffer, a historian from Shippensburg University, wrote that the Indonesian government initially tried to blame “elements hostile to Indonesian independence” with “the aim of creating an international incident to discredit Indonesia”, but then easily blamed “bandits”.

Meanwhile, US government sources in the late 1950s believed the involvement of the Indonesian Army (TNI). The first US Ambassador to Indonesia H. Merle Cochran had received further evidence of the involvement of TNI officers in the Kennedy and Doyle assassinations. However, the Indonesian government vehemently denied it.  

Cochran repeatedly asked the Indonesian government for progress reports on the assassination case. In a telegram to the US secretary of state dated October 26, 1950, Cochran explained the contents of his meeting with President Sukarno, including the prosecution of the perpetrators of the murder of US citizens. When Sukarno explained the aggressiveness of the Chinese communists and the weakness of Indonesian intelligence, Cochran agreed, mentioning “the need for improvement and pointing out the perpetrators of the murder of U.S. citizens who were not punished."  

Cochran mentioned the case again in another meeting with Sukarno, as reported in a telegram to the US secretary of state dated March 14, 1951. Cochran said that his government was not happy with the failure of the Indonesian government to arrest and punish the perpetrators of the assassinations of Kennedy and Doyle.  

According to Shaffer, the investigation into the case was carried out for several years, “But there is no clarity on the case.”

Until now, Hatta's promise to solve the murder of the two US citizens hasn't been fulfilled. Instead of answering who the perpetrators were and the motive for the murder, the case became yet another addition to unsolved mysteries in Indonesia’s history.

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