The 15th Anniversary of the August Revolution
Api Kartini (Aug-Sept 1960) report on the 15th anniversary of the August Revolution: summarises Sukarno's 17 August address to the DPR-GR plenary and speech (Manipol-USDEK, unity of Nasakom groups, landreform, retooling, firm line on Irian Barat). Also prints editorial replies to readers in Lombok and Central Java. Con
Weekly Situation Reports, Indonesia, January 1960 (State Department Central Files)
Compilation of Djakarta embassy weekly political, economic and military situation telegrams to the State Department, January 1960. One item (21 Jan) reports labour union and women representatives picketing the Trade Minister's office over prices despite an army ban, with a newspaper identifying many women as members of
FBIS, 27 March 1960: Sukarno names National Front committee
FBIS-monitored Jakarta radio text (27 Mar 1960) of Presidential Decision No. 34 of 1960 appointing the Preparatory Committee for the National Front, with Sukarno's installation speech. Among functional-group members are Mrs Supeni and Mrs Umi Sardjono (Gerwani leader), alongside D.N. Aidit in the political group; Arudj
Indonesian Defense Affairs: Biographical Profiles, April 1960
Compilation of US embassy Djakarta despatches (April 1960) giving biographical profiles of members of the Supreme Advisory Council and other leaders. Gerwani appears in the profile of PSII chairman Arudji Kartawinata, whose wife was a Gerwani member (1954) and praised China after a Nov 1959 Beijing visit; women members
Singapore Free Press, 16 June 1960 (lead snippet only; full text behind NewspaperSG click-through). A hand grenade thrown by an unknown person into the house of 'Mr. Nungtjik' in Jakarta killed one woman and injured a member of parliament and a girl. The item does not name Zubaidah Nungtjik or any Gerwani member; the l
Biographic Data on Members of the Gotong Royong Parliament (US Embassy despatch, July 1960)
US State Department Central Files despatch from Embassy Djakarta (July 1960, chargé Rolland Buchner): biographic data, with alphabetical index, on about 110 former members of parliament appointed to the Gotong Royong parliament, grouped by party. Biographies of women MPs include Gerwani figures. Mrs Mudigdio (Gerwis/Ge
PKI Politburo member Sakirman abducted by armed men (Renmin Ribao, 20 July 1960)
Renmin Ribao, 20 Jul 1960, p. 6 (Xinhua, Jakarta): the PKI Central Committee secretariat announces that Politburo member Sakirman was taken from his Bandung home on 16 July by men in military uniform. The secretariat sent DPR-GR members Mrs Mudigdio and Mrs Sundari to question the Attorney General. Gerwani is not named
PKI Politburo member Sakirman abducted by armed men (Renmin Ribao, 20 July 1960)
Renmin Ribao, 20 Jul 1960, p. 6 (Xinhua, Jakarta): the PKI Central Committee secretariat announces that Politburo member Sakirman was taken from his Bandung home on 16 July by men in military uniform. The secretariat sent DPR-GR members Mrs Mudigdio and Mrs Sundari to question the Attorney General. Gerwani is not named
Renmin Ribao, 21 Jul 1960: military authority to summon PKI Politburo member; Sakirman incident
People's Daily page 5, 21 July 1960 (excerpt only): Jakarta military authorities say a PKI Politburo member will be summoned over the Sakirman 'abduction' incident. The excerpt reports PKI members of the Gotong Royong Parliament, Mrs Mudigdio (Siti Mudigdio) and Mrs Sundari (Sundari Abdulrachman), meeting Attorney Gene
Renmin Ribao, 21 Jul 1960: military authority to summon PKI Politburo member; Sakirman incident
People's Daily page 5, 21 July 1960 (excerpt only): Jakarta military authorities say a PKI Politburo member will be summoned over the Sakirman 'abduction' incident. The excerpt reports PKI members of the Gotong Royong Parliament, Mrs Mudigdio (Siti Mudigdio) and Mrs Sundari (Sundari Abdulrachman), meeting Attorney Gene
Biographical Profiles of DPR-GR Members, Aug 1960
Compilation of US embassy Djakarta biographical despatches (2 Aug 1960) on members of the new Gotong Royong parliament. Contains profiles of Gerwani figures: Umi Sardjono (Gerwis then Gerwani chairwoman, WIDF delegate 1960), Francisca Fanggidaej (PKI women's group Gerwani board), Setiati Surasto (SARBUPRI, Gerwani link
A History of Struggle Remembered: Exhibition for Gerwani's 10th Anniversary, 1961
Api Kartini (mid-1961) report on the exhibition at Gerwani's 10th anniversary (from 5 June 1961), with an interview of chair Umi Sardjono on Gerwani's history. Founded 4 June 1951 (first congress Surabaya, 17-22 Dec 1951), 185 branches, membership from 6,000 to 710,000, 326 kindergartens, 23,000 election workers; six m
The Communist Party of Indonesia 1951-1961: A Decade of the Aidit Leadership (Hindley, 1961)
Donald Hindley's 1961 ANU PhD thesis on the Indonesian Communist Party under the Aidit leadership, 1951-1961, covering PKI strategy, party-building, finances, mass organisations and elections. Section 'Women' (pp. 422-448, esp. 'Gerwani', pp. 428-441) traces Gerwis from its founding on 4 June 1950 (about 500 members) t
FBIS, 12 September 1961: Indonesian women's delegation (to China)
FBIS-monitored Xinhua item (12 Sep 1961): an Indonesian women's delegation left Jakarta for China at the invitation of the PRC Women's Federation, led by Mme Rusiah Sardjono (Persatuan Wanita Republik Indonesia) and including MP Mme Salawati of the Indonesian Women's Movement (Gerwani), MP Mme Wahid Hasjim, Mme Sulardi
Dilemmas of Indonesian Communism (van der Kroef, 1962)
Article by Justus M. van der Kroef (Pacific Affairs, summer 1962) on the PKI's dilemmas under Guided Democracy: dependence on Sukarno, the July 1960 'Evaluation' clash with the army, and the party's use of mass fronts. Gerwani is named as the PKI's women's front: its organ was aggressive without censure in 1961, and in
US Embassy Weekly Situation Telegrams, April 1962
Two US Embassy Djakarta weekly situation telegrams (JOINT WEEKA 14 and 15), 6 and 13 April 1962, on the West New Guinea dispute, PKI-Sukarno friction, Partindo, wage demands and military matters. Gerwani appears only once: it joined SOBSI and others in protesting the 'undemocratic' draft election bill providing for pop
Gerwani vice-chair Mudigdio and party arrive in Beijing (snippet)
Snippet-only Renmin Ribao item (6 Aug 1963, p. 3) reporting that Gerwani vice-chair Mudigdio, a DPR-GR member and delegate to the World Congress of Women, with delegates Mrs Muningar and another, arrived in Beijing after visiting North Korea. The snippet is cut off; the full text is in GA-01894.
Gerwani vice-chair Mudigdio and party arrive in Beijing
Xinhua report in Renmin Ribao (6 Aug 1963, p. 3): Gerwani vice-chair Mudigdio, a DPR-GR member and World Congress of Women delegate, with Mrs Muningar and another Indonesian delegate, arrive in Beijing from North Korea; Hu Naiqiu and Guo Jian of the All-China Women's Federation welcome them. Documents Gerwani's post-Co
D.N. Aidit, 'Some problems of the Indonesian revolution and the PKI': Beijing report, 4 September 1963
Full Renmin Ribao text (5 Sept 1963, p. 3) of D.N. Aidit's 4 September Beijing rally report on the Indonesian revolution and PKI: semi-colonial, semi-feudal analysis, national united front, Nasakom, state power's 'two aspects', and party building. Gerwani appears only once, in a membership tally (1.5 million, alongside
FBIS-monitored VNA report (16 Sep 1963): the Indonesian parliamentary delegation headed by Deputy Speaker M.H. Lukman (PKI) arrived in Hanoi to a welcome of nearly 3,000 people; DRV leaders spoke of solidarity; Vietnamese and Indonesian women presented bouquets. Gerwani not named; context for PKI-linked parliamentary d
Indonesia launches 'smash Malaysia' movement: Sukarno, Aidit and women's support
Xinhua dispatches in Renmin Ribao (19 Mar 1964, p. 3) on Indonesia's 'smash Malaysia' campaign: Sukarno orders the armed forces to contribute, Aidit swears in Pemuda Rakyat volunteers, and DPR-GR members back the President. Umi Sardjono, representing women and a Gerwani leader, pledges that Indonesian women will carry
CIA Special Report SC 00642/64A, 23 October 1964: Sukarno and the Communists
CIA Office of Current Intelligence Special Report SC 00642/64A, 'Sukarno and the Communists' (23 Oct 1964, Secret; declassified 1975). Analyses Sukarno's mutual exploitation with the PKI and Aidit's strategy; lists PKI front membership claims, including Gerwani at almost two million, beside BTI, SOBSI, Pemuda Rakjat an
FO 371/180312: Internal Political Situation, Attempted Coup against Sukarno [3] (1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180312 (1965), 'Internal political situation, Attempted coup against Sukarno [3]', a volume of Embassy letters and telegrams from Djakarta (Ambassador Gilchrist, S.J.G. Cambridge), February to April 1965. It includes Gilchrist's character notes on Subandrio, Aidit and the generals, the tak
D.N. Aidit, 'Step up the revolutionary offensive on all fronts': political report to PKI plenum
Long Xinhua summary in Renmin Ribao (12 June 1965, p. 3) of D.N. Aidit's political report to the enlarged PKI Central Committee plenum, 'Step up the revolutionary offensive on all fronts': Nasakom, bureaucratic capitalists, takeovers of US firms, the Murba/BPS ban, Vietnam, the UN exit, Khrushchev's fall; PKI over 3 mi
The Irish Times, 9 Nov 1965, p.44: Sukarno tells his Cabinet communism should not be suppressed but the PKI need not be kept; 102 MPs are listed for investigation; Malaya's Tunku accuses Subandrio of involvement in the coup. About 10,000 housewives and women students marched in Jakarta led by drum majorettes, demanding
The Persatuan Islam, Islamic Union (Federspiel, 1966)
Howard Federspiel's PhD thesis (McGill, 1966) on the Persatuan Islam (Persis), the modernist Muslim organisation founded in Bandung in 1923, covering its beliefs, polemics and politics to 1963. Chapter 10 treats Persis views on women's role, veiling and polygamy. It never mentions Gerwani or Gerwis; the only link is a
Politics in Simalungun: A Study in Political Integration (Liddle, 1967)
PhD dissertation (Yale, 1967) by R. William Liddle, a political-science study of local parties and political integration in Simalungun regency and Pematangsiantar, North Sumatra, based on 1963-64 fieldwork. Gerwani appears in a few brief passages in ch. VI: listed among PKI mass organizations (p. 190), given no members
The Political Role of Southeast Asian Women (Raksasataya, 1968)
Chapter 'The Political Role of Southeast Asian Women' by Amara Raksasataya in The Annals of the American Academy (Jan. 1968, 'Women Around the World'). Surveys Burma, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam: equal legal rights but modest office-holding; Thailand as case study of indirect influence. For