The Indonesian government, represented by then Minister of Defense Abdul Halim and the Commander of the National Armed Forces, MGen T. B. Simatupang, was very much furious with this act of rebellion, and by late August, President Sukarno was convinced that the time had time for the Army to assert the authority of the by now unitary national government in these islands, which during the National Revolution saw fighting between the regular Dutch forces and their pro-Dutch supporters and pro-republic Christian and Muslim inhabitants.