First woman to be tried over the 1965 coup: 'Gestapo' woman (Berita Harian, 1973)
Berita Harian, 9 May 1973, p. 3, Reuters: a court spokesman says Mrs Sumali, a Gerwani leader, will be the first woman tried over the 1965 coup, charged with torturing an army general with a razor blade; she was arrested with other Gerwani members at Lubang Buaya on 1 October 1965 after six generals' bodies were found. Repeats the razor-blade slander as fact. Also a West Kalimantan commander's warning.
Abadi, 22 August 1973, p. 1: Witness at Sutarto's Mahmillub Trial, Lubang Buaya Training
Harian Abadi, 22 Aug 1973, p. 1: Mahmillub trial report (ex-Brig. Gen. R.S. Sutarto) where BPI agent A. Hamid testifies 1,200 Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani members trained at Lubang Buaya and saw them kill the generals.
Austrian minister at Israeli reception (with note on Sulami trial)
Amigoe di Curaçao news roundup, 8 Oct 1973. The only relevant item is a brief note that the trial of Mrs Sulami, 50, secretary-general of the PKI women's section (Gerwani), is about to begin in Jakarta for alleged part in the 1965 coup. The rest concerns Austrian and Israeli diplomacy.
Vashti's Voice, Women's Liberation Newspaper, issues 6-9 (1974-1975)
Issues 6-9 (March 1974 onward) of Vashti's Voice, a Melbourne women's liberation newspaper, covering rape crisis, abortion, women's theatre and conferences. The only Indonesia item found is a page of Jakarta family-planning posters in Indonesian; no legible mention of Gerwani survives in the poor OCR.
FCO 15/1941: Political Detainees in Indonesia (1974-75)
British Foreign and Commonwealth Office file FCO 15/1941 (1974-75), 'Political detainees in Indonesia': ministerial letters on the National Peace Council and TAPOL campaigns, Research Department notes on Carmel Budiardjo, UN human-rights briefing, ICRC/Buru material and TAPOL Bulletin extracts. Gerwani features in the TAPOL extracts: Sulami, described as Gerwani secretary, awaits trial; Amnah, a Gerwani leader, was sentenced to life at Tebingtinggi (March 1974); 52 ex-Gerwani women at Kampung Helvetia, Medan, were exposed; Plantungan women's camp conditions are reported.
Photographs of Diorama, Museum Satriamandala (Museum Pusat ABRI), 1974
Eleven damaged colour prints (June 1974) of dioramas made by Edhi Sunarso's workshop for the Museum Satriamandala, showing oath-taking, assemblies and possibly an exhumation scene. Uncaptioned visual record of the military museum's historical narrative.
TAPOL Bulletin No. 3, Jan 1974: case notes on Mrs Siti Mudigdio, Member of Parliament
TAPOL Bulletin No. 3 (January 1974) of the British Campaign for the Release of Indonesian Political Prisoners, with campaign news, prison conditions and torture reports. Its 'Case Notes' profile Mrs Siti Mudigdio, a Communist MP and vice-chair of Gerwani, once also a WIDF vice-chair, whose husband was killed in 1948. OCR of the profile is badly damaged.
A political fighter: profile of Ratna Sari Dewi Sukarno in Paris
De Tijd profile by Anton Koene (8 Feb 1974) of Ratna Sari Dewi Sukarno in Paris, who is serialising her memoirs to clear Sukarno's name over the 1 Oct 1965 coup, rebuts the Widjanarko report in Dake's book and criticises Suharto's regime. Gerwani and Gerwani women are not mentioned.
Dunántúli Napló, 12 Feb 1974: former Indonesian women's movement chair sentenced to life
Dunántúli Napló, 12 Feb 1974, brief Jakarta report (via radio): the former chairwoman of the Indonesian women's movement, name garbled in OCR as 'Amnah', was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking part in the September 1965 events; a former BTI chairman got twenty years. The translator's guess of Umi Sardjono is unsupported; compare the Tebing Tinggi report naming Amnah.
Former Gerwani chair jailed (Berita Harian, 1974)
Berita Harian, 12 February 1974, p. 3, AP: a court in Tebing Tinggi, North Sumatra, sentences Mrs Amnah, former Gerwani chair, to life imprisonment for involvement in the PKI's failed 1965 'power seizure' (per Radio Jakarta); Maryo, ex-chair of the BTI, gets 20 years. Shows continuing New Order trials of Gerwani leaders nearly a decade later.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 5, June 1974 (London campaign for Indonesian political prisoners). Covers mass transfers of tapols to Central Java workcamps (Nusakambangan, Cilacap), British and Australian policy, IGGI aid, press bans and the January 1974 Malari aftermath. A short item, 'Ex-Gerwani Members Also in Trouble' (p.5), reports 52 women in Kampung Helvetia, Medan, exposed in March 1974 as former Gerwani members holding 'yellow' cards, with one arrested; also 'non-involvement certificates'.
Tempo, 29 June 1974: S.K. Trimurti's birthday
Tempo profile (29 June 1974) of S.K. Trimurti on her 64th birthday by the Javanese calendar: ex-Minister of Labour (1946-47), journalist since 1933, now editing the spiritual magazine Mawas Diri. Notes her will asking for cremation, her economics degree at 48, a forthcoming biography by Kustiniati Mochtar. No mention of Gerwani.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 6, August 1974. Covers the Hariman Siregar (Malari) trial, tapol forced labour on the Cilacap oil pipeline and Nusakambangan cement works, prison conditions, Australian and British military links and trials of 1965 detainees. It reports on Plantungan women's camp (food, commander Major Prayoga, deaths from cancer) and the life sentences of Gerwani leader 'Mrs Amnah' (Tebingtinggi) and Taty Hartaty (North Sumatra); also Ruslan Widjajasastra's death sentence.
US State Department cable, 15 Aug 1974: congressional inquiry on the status of Dr Sutanti Aidit
Declassified US State Department cable (15 August 1974, Kissinger to Embassy Jakarta) relaying a Congressional inquiry. Senator Hubert Humphrey has forwarded a constituent's letter asking the status of Dr Sutanti Aidit, 'apparently imprisoned since 1967'; the embassy is asked for details by 18 August. The same cable asks about another prisoner, Yusuf Ronnie. Shows foreign interest in Soetanti Aidit's detention.
US State Department cable, 15 Aug 1974: congressional inquiry on the status of Dr Sutanti Aidit
Declassified US State Department cable (15 August 1974, Kissinger to Embassy Jakarta) relaying a Congressional inquiry. Senator Hubert Humphrey has forwarded a constituent's letter asking the status of Dr Sutanti Aidit, 'apparently imprisoned since 1967'; the embassy is asked for details by 18 August. The same cable asks about another prisoner, Yusuf Ronnie. Shows foreign interest in Soetanti Aidit's detention.
US Embassy Jakarta cable, 15 Aug 1974: congressional inquiries on Dr Sutanti Aidit and Yusuf Roni
Declassified US Embassy Jakarta cable (15 Aug 1974) answering congressional inquiries. It states that Sutanti Aidit is the wife of D.N. Aidit, that her fate is unknown, that she was born 1 Nov 1923 in Sungai Liat, Bangka, was a PKI member and radiobiology consultant at the National Atomic Energy Agency, and was dismissed dishonourably. Gerwani is not mentioned.
US Embassy Jakarta cable, 15 Aug 1974: congressional inquiries on Dr Sutanti Aidit and Yusuf Roni
Declassified US Embassy Jakarta cable (15 Aug 1974) answering congressional inquiries. It states that Sutanti Aidit is the wife of D.N. Aidit, that her fate is unknown, that she was born 1 Nov 1923 in Sungai Liat, Bangka, was a PKI member and radiobiology consultant at the National Atomic Energy Agency, and was dismissed dishonourably. Gerwani is not mentioned.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 7, October 1974. Covers the Indonesian Defence Department's attack on TAPOL, the Hariman Siregar trial, admissions on tapol forced labour, 'C' category releases and re-arrests, non-involvement certificates, civil-service purges (teachers and PLN staff dismissed) and plans for October Week in Britain. Gerwani: p.8 reports that Kopkamtib announced Sulami, Secretary of Gerwani, would shortly be tried, alongside Oei Tju Tat and Karim D.P.; no other Gerwani coverage.
US Embassy Jakarta cable, 16 Dec 1974: inquiry on the Sutanti Aidit case
Declassified US Embassy Jakarta cable (16 Dec 1974). The embassy says all information on Mrs Aidit was reported in an earlier cable and that it is asking the Indonesian government to clarify her status, to help the Department reply to a query from Rosenthal. Metadata tags: amnesty, US congressional hearings, political prisoners. Gerwani is not mentioned.
US Embassy Jakarta cable, 16 Dec 1974: inquiry on the Sutanti Aidit case
Declassified US Embassy Jakarta cable (16 Dec 1974). The embassy says all information on Mrs Aidit was reported in an earlier cable and that it is asking the Indonesian government to clarify her status, to help the Department reply to a query from Rosenthal. Metadata tags: amnesty, US congressional hearings, political prisoners. Gerwani is not mentioned.
US Embassy Jakarta cable, 30 Dec 1974: Sutanti Aidit confirmed as 'Class A' detainee
Confidential US Embassy Jakarta cable to the State Department, 30 December 1974 (declassified), reporting that Indonesian government sources confirm Sutanti Aidit is a 'Class A' detainee, i.e. slated for trial over the 1965 'coup attempt'. They describe her as a PKI central committee member, leading supporter of husband D.N. Aidit and prominent in pre-coup planning, claiming she travelled to Moscow and Peking. No trial date given.
US Embassy Jakarta cable, 30 Dec 1974: Sutanti Aidit confirmed as 'Class A' detainee
Confidential US Embassy Jakarta cable to the State Department, 30 December 1974 (declassified), reporting that Indonesian government sources confirm Sutanti Aidit is a 'Class A' detainee, i.e. slated for trial over the 1965 'coup attempt'. They describe her as a PKI central committee member, leading supporter of husband D.N. Aidit and prominent in pre-coup planning, claiming she travelled to Moscow and Peking. No trial date given.
The Women's Role in Development in Indonesia (National Committee for International Women's Year, 1975)
Indonesia's official country report for the 1975 International Women's Year World Conference in Mexico City, prepared by the Indonesian National Committee under the Suharto government (Jakarta, June 1975). It gives speeches by Suharto, Tien Suharto and ministers, then chapters on women's legal status, the 1974 Marriage Law and polygamy, employment, education and literacy, family planning, welfare and peace. Its history of the women's movement runs from Kartini to KOWANI and skips the 1950s-60s left-wing organisations; Gerwani and 1965 are not mentioned.
Minutes of First Handover of Dioramas, Museum Pusat ABRI, 30 Sep 1975
Official record of the first handover, 30 Sep 1975, of 29 dioramas by Edhi Sunarso to the Armed Forces History Centre for the Museum Pusat ABRI. Documents the production of military-history dioramas that fed the 1965 narrative.
Minutes of Second Handover of Dioramas, Museum Pusat ABRI, Dec 1975
Official record of the second and final handover of 29 dioramas by Edhi Sunarso to Nugroho Notosusanto's Armed Forces History Centre, Dec 1975. Shows the Pusjarah project that produced official military history displays.
Memo 741/Pusjarah/V/75 to Edhi Sunarso on Filling the Dioramas, 22 May 1975
Urgent memo no. 741, 22 May 1975, from Pusjarah ABRI asking Edhi Sunarso to send finished diorama figures to the Museum ABRI before a ministry inspection. Administrative record; no Gerwani or 1965 content.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 9, March 1975: Women on Trial
TAPOL Bulletin no. 9 (March 1975) front page 'Women on Trial': photo of Sulami, Sudjinah, Sri Ambar Rukmiati and Suharti Harsono at their 3 Feb 1975 trial for subversion, with a Lubang Buaya sewing-and-cooking allegation. Early international attention to Gerwani trials.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 8, January 1975. Leads on Papuan mass killings and the Indonesian ban on the word 'tapol'; also Buru unrest and health conditions, the British Foreign Office meeting with religious leaders, non-involvement certificates, 'C' category releases, Hariman Siregar's six-year sentence and Carmel Budiardjo's German tour. Gerwani: p.6 reports that Sulami, Secretary-General of banned Gerwani, will be tried next in Jakarta with three other unnamed women 'Gerwani figures'.
Subversion Trial of Four Gerwani Leaders (FBIS, 3 Feb 1975)
Short FBIS item (Jakarta radio, 3 Feb 1975): four leaders of the PKI-affiliated Gerwani, Mrs Sri Ambar, Sujinah, Sulami and Suharti, went on trial in the Central Jakarta district court on subversion, conspiracy and rebellion charges linked to Gestapu-PKI. The report calls them the first PKI woman leaders to be tried.
Jakarta trial for women (South China Morning Post, 4 February 1975)
South China Morning Post, 4 Feb 1975, p.22 (AFP, Jakarta, 3 Feb): four leading women of the outlawed PKI went on trial in Jakarta District Court charged with conspiracy to topple the Government. Miss Sulami was secretary general and the other three were board members of the 'defunct communist women's movement' (Gerwani). Prosecutor Mrs Nuraini Kadja alleged they conspired at the time of the 1965 coup and engaged in guerrilla activity afterwards; the trial was adjourned for the accused to obtain counsel.
Gerwani Archive