Bhinneka, October 2015: Half a Century of the 1965 Genocide (Indonesian edition, women ex-prisoners' testimonies)
Bhinneka, October 2015 (Surabaya; ed. Soe Tjen Marching), a 1965 anniversary issue. Women ex-prisoners testify: Hartiti, a Gerwani member, was asked whether she joined the 'naked dance' and castrated the generals; Maria Goretti Sumilah was beaten and burned to confess she was Gerwani; Theresia Kadmiyanti ran a TK Melati under Gerwani women; Christina Sumarmiyati recounts torture. It also reviews the novel Lasmi (a Gerwani village head) and Saskia Wieringa's Lubang Buaya, and has a Plantungan poem.
Tempo.co, 2 October 2015: Putmainah, the Gerwani-PKI podium lioness who forgot September
Tempo.co profile (2 Oct 2015, by Bobby Chandra) of Putmainah, 77, former Gerwani chair and PKI faction member of the Blitar DPRD, now stroke-afflicted in Pakisrejo, Srengat. Her husband Subandi, Blitar Front Nasional and DPRD head, was killed after a PKI congress; she fled into the forest with seven children. Once a researchers' source and 'macan podium', she can no longer recall September.
Tempo.co, 9 October 2015: The fall of the PKI, Suharto and the destruction of the women's movement
Tempo.co report (9 Oct 2015) on a Yogyakarta (UIN Sunan Kalijaga) discussion of Saskia Wieringa's book on the destruction of the women's movement. It summarises her argument that the military slandered Gerwani over Lubang Buaya as a pretext to kill; army press libel, and women forced to dance naked while soldiers photographed them. Speakers urge youth to look beyond New Order versions.
Suti, Gerwani Activist: In a Mother's Womb We Are All the Same (Jurnal Perempuan, 2016)
Jurnal Perempuan feature (Jan 2016) on a Jejer Wadon visit to Suti (Arjo Sutiyem), 96, in Musuk, Boyolali: her reasons for joining the women's movement, early life, chairing Gerwis Boyolali with 4,000 members from 1952. Adds biographical detail to the 2014 profile.
Half a Century After G30S, Survivors Retrace Steps to Plantungan Camp (KBR, 2016)
KBR report (23 Dec 2016) on former women prisoners and a Komnas Perempuan team visiting the Plantungan camp site: testimonies of Sumilah (forced to admit Gerwani membership, stripped) and Debora Oni, and the Lubang Buaya slander. Memorialisation of Plantungan.
The Story of Suti, 96-Year-Old Gerwani Activist and 1965 Survivor (Rappler, 2016)
Rappler first-person account (2 Feb 2016) of Suti (Arjo Sutiyem), 96: born 1920 in Musuk, third wife in an arranged marriage, joined Gerwis in 1951, chaired Musuk and Boyolali Gerwani, then persecuted in 1965. Fullest of three texts on her.
Audio track (5:43) from the 2016 album 'Dunia Milik Kita' by Dialita, a choir of 1965 survivors and relatives; guest artist(s): Frau. The album records songs written by women political prisoners and former Gerwani/leftist circles in the 1960s-70s, newly arranged (Yes No Wave YESNO083).
Audio track (2:44) from the 2016 album 'Dunia Milik Kita' by Dialita, a choir of 1965 survivors and relatives; guest artist(s): Cholil Mahmud. The album records songs written by women political prisoners and former Gerwani/leftist circles in the 1960s-70s, newly arranged (Yes No Wave YESNO083).
Audio track (5:48) from the 2016 album 'Dunia Milik Kita' by Dialita, a choir of 1965 survivors and relatives; guest artist(s): Sisir Tanah, Frau and Lintang Radittya. The album records songs written by women political prisoners and former Gerwani/leftist circles in the 1960s-70s, newly arranged (Yes No Wave YESNO083).
Audio track (2:28) from the 2016 album 'Dunia Milik Kita' by Dialita, a choir of 1965 survivors and relatives; guest artist(s): Sisir Tanah. The album records songs written by women political prisoners and former Gerwani/leftist circles in the 1960s-70s, newly arranged (Yes No Wave YESNO083).
Audio track (6:04) from the 2016 album 'Dunia Milik Kita' by Dialita, a choir of 1965 survivors and relatives; guest artist(s): Kroncongan Agawe Santoso. The album records songs written by women political prisoners and former Gerwani/leftist circles in the 1960s-70s, newly arranged (Yes No Wave YESNO083). The title refers to Plantungan, the camp for women political prisoners.
Audio track (2:28) from the 2016 album 'Dunia Milik Kita' by Dialita, a choir of 1965 survivors and relatives; guest artist(s): Sisir Tanah. The album records songs written by women political prisoners and former Gerwani/leftist circles in the 1960s-70s, newly arranged (Yes No Wave YESNO083). The title refers to GANEFO, Sukarno's Games of the New Emerging Forces.
Audio track (3:37) from the 2016 album 'Dunia Milik Kita' by Dialita, a choir of 1965 survivors and relatives; guest artist(s): Cholil Mahmud. The album records songs written by women political prisoners and former Gerwani/leftist circles in the 1960s-70s, newly arranged (Yes No Wave YESNO083).
Audio track (4:35) from the 2016 album 'Dunia Milik Kita' by Dialita, a choir of 1965 survivors and relatives; guest artist(s): Frau and Lintang Radittya. The album records songs written by women political prisoners and former Gerwani/leftist circles in the 1960s-70s, newly arranged (Yes No Wave YESNO083).
Audio track (2:12) from the 2016 album 'Dunia Milik Kita' by Dialita, a choir of 1965 survivors and relatives; guest artist(s): Cholil Mahmud and Lintang Radittya. The album records songs written by women political prisoners and former Gerwani/leftist circles in the 1960s-70s, newly arranged (Yes No Wave YESNO083).
Audio track (3:55) from the 2016 album 'Dunia Milik Kita' by Dialita, a choir of 1965 survivors and relatives; guest artist(s): Nadya Hatta, Prihatmoko Catur and Lintang Radittya. The album records songs written by women political prisoners and former Gerwani/leftist circles in the 1960s-70s, newly arranged (Yes No Wave YESNO083). The title evokes Afro-Asian solidarity.
Tempo, 8 February 2016: Mintardjo and a fragment of Gerwis history
Tempo review (8 Feb 2016) of Elisabeth Ida Mulyani's video 'Supervivere' on 1965 exiles (Mintardjo and nine others in the Netherlands and Sweden), shown in Yogyakarta with a charcoal portrait 'Suti, Plight of Gerwani' by Dewi Candraningrum. It describes Suti, 95, founder of Gerwis Musuk/Boyolali in 1952, a literacy campaigner stripped and the only woman survivor of 19 shot in 1965.
Tempo, 18 April 2016: Onward the women's movement
Tempo editorial note (18 Apr 2016), recalling a 1978 Kartini Day feature on the women's movement from Aceh 1614 to the 1970s. It describes Kowani's formation (1946), Perwari's protest over Sukarno's 1954 marriage to Hartini, Perwari being squeezed as Gerwani, 'affiliated with the PKI', gained influence, and Gerwani steering Kowani left in 1959-65 under Hurustiati Subandrio.
Tempo.co, 25 May 2016: Former Gerwani chair dies; mourners watched by intelligence officers
Tempo.co obituary (25 May 2016, Abdul Djalil Hakim) of Putmainah, 90, former Blitar Gerwani chair and DPRD-GR member for the PKI faction, called the last Gerwani branch head. It covers her family background (father a Red Sarekat Islam leader killed at Madiun 1948), ties to Sukarno's family, and mourners including a Banser leader, while police/army intelligence photographed guests.
Plantungan Camp, Witness to Gerwani Political Prisoners' Suffering (KBR/YPKP 1965, 2017)
KBR radio feature (reposted by YPKP 1965, 9 Jan 2017) following ex-prisoners Sumilah and Debora Oni to the Plantungan camp site with Komnas Perempuan; they recount being accused as Gerwani, stripped and beaten, and their prison itineraries. Survivor testimony on Plantungan.
The Flight of Three Gerwani Women from Bukit Duri Prison (Merdeka.com, 2012)
Merdeka.com feature (2012; YPKP repost 2017) visiting the demolished Bukit Duri women's prison: neighbours recall a 1975 escape by three alleged Gerwani women, and journalist Sri Sulistyawati describes eleven years held there without trial. Memory of a women's detention site.
Bernas, 19 July 2017: reader's letter 'Rome Statute still not ratified'
Bernas, 19 July 2017, p. 4: Jurnal Perempuan letter on the unratified Rome Statute listing unresolved cases from 1965–66 to 1998 and naming Gerwani women as targets of sexual violence.
Kedaulatan Rakyat, 31 July 2017: Menwa must stay consistent with the values of struggle
Kedaulatan Rakyat, 31 July 2017: at an IARMI Central Java reunion in Semarang a veteran of the student regiment recalls joining ABRI's post-G30S security operation, guarding Gerwani detainees and helping interrogate.
Tempo.co, 28 December 2018: A look inside the Gerwani book seized by the TNI as 'PKI'
Tempo.co report (28 Dec 2018) on the seizure by TNI and police in Kediri of 19 books from a bookshop owner, including Amurwani Dwi Lestariningsih's 'Gerwani: Kisah Tapol Wanita dari Kamp Plantungan' (Gramedia 2011), which describes torture and sexual violence against women prisoners. The owner says the books are mainstream publications; the book does not promote communism.
Umi Sardjono, Gerwani's Pendulum (Historia Infographic, 2020)
Historia infographic (2020) with a timeline of Umi Sardjono, Gerwani chair: born Semarang 1923 as Suharti, anti-Japanese underground work, leadership of Gerwani, and detention ending at Plantungan. Popular biographical summary.
Tempo.co fact-check, 15 June 2020: Did Ribka Tjiptaning call Jokowi's mother a Gerwani-PKI chair?
Tempo.co fact-check (15 June 2020) debunking a Facebook meme that PDI-P MP Ribka Tjiptaning said Jokowi's mother chaired Gerwani PKI. Ribka never said it (she wrote 'Aku Bangga Jadi Anak PKI', 2002) and Jokowi's mother Sudjiatmi was no Gerwani leader; a biography by Wawan Mas'udi and Ramdhon is cited. Shows Gerwani invoked in present-day smears.
Legal aspects of dissolving the FPI
Ambon Ekspres, 5 Jan 2021, p. 4: opinion on the FPI ban by a student; cites Gerwani as the 'concrete example' of a PKI 'underbow' dissolved for its members' crimes. Shows Gerwani as a legal precedent in contemporary debate.
Tempo.co, 29 September 2021: Organisations considered affiliated with the PKI
Tempo.co explainer (29 Sept 2021) on organisations 'considered affiliated' with the PKI: Gerwani, Lekra, SOBSI, Pemuda Rakjat. It states, citing Wieringa, that Gerwis became Gerwani at its 1954 second congress, electing PKI member Umi Sardjono as chair. Short, background-level.
Tempo, 2 October 2021: The burden of trauma of 1965 (why Umi Sardjono was not open about Gerwani's history)
Tempo feature (2 Oct 2021, Dini Pramita and Bagja Hidayat) on why Gerwani chair Umi Sardjono (Suharti Sumodiwiryo) said little after 13 years in Bukit Duri (to 1978). Drawn from Ita Nadia, Ruth Indiah Rahayu, others: she wept at accounts of rape and Sudjinah's injury, 'it is my responsibility'; friendships with Fransisca Fanggidaej and S.K. Trimurti; Waluya Abadi Sejati home; death 11 Mar 2011.
Tempo, 2 October 2021: Breaking up before the decisive congress (how Umi Sardjono led Gerwani)
Tempo feature (2 Oct 2021) on how Umi Sardjono led Gerwani: Marx House courses, the 1945 Barisan Buruh Wanita with S.K. Trimurti, Gerwis founded at Semarang (3-6 June 1950, Tris Metty chair), Umi chair from 1954 when it became Gerwani. Cites 650,000 members and 179 kindergartens at the 1957 Solo congress, WIDF links, slander of Gerwani as infidels, and late-1965 dispute over merging into the PKI.
Gerwani Archive