Indonesian Communism since the 1965 Coup (van der Kroef, 1970)
Article by Justus M. van der Kroef (Pacific Affairs, spring 1970) on the PKI underground and army counter-campaign after 1965, from the Blitar and Purwodadi operations to political prisoners and Moscow/Beijing exile factions. Gerwani appears once (p.50): arrests of former Communists 'including members of Gerwani (the P
Rape case may fully restore rule of law: the Sum Kuning case (Hugh Mabbett, Straits Times, 1970)
The Straits Times, 31 December 1970, p. 10, by Hugh Mabbett: Yogyakarta court acquits 17-year-old egg seller Sum Kuning (Sumarijem), who reported rape by youths from powerful families and was charged with a false report. Police tortured a noodle seller, Trimo, and threatened her with electric torture and an accusation
Resolution closing the NVB congress of 1971: lift the ban on Gerwani
De Waarheid, 1 Nov 1971, p. 6: report on the close of the NVB's 25th-anniversary congress, which adopted a resolution on education, equal rights and government policy and urged support for the Vietnamese NLF. The congress also demanded lifting of the ban on Gerwani and freedom for Angela Davis; G. van der Laan succeede
FCO 24/1701: Political Detainees in Indonesia (1973)
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office file FCO 24/1701 (1973), a TNA volume on political detainees in Indonesia. It holds briefing notes, minutes and parliamentary questions on the 1973 State Visit, the Budiardjo case and Amnesty International's campaign, plus a bound copy of Amnesty's 1973 'Indonesia Special'. In that re
Not a bit of butter: press freedom and imprisoned writers in Indonesia
Fragment of a De Volkskrant piece (2 Apr 1973) on press freedom in Suharto's Indonesia, listing imprisoned writers and journalists (Bandaharo Harahap, Oei Hay Djun, Mrs. Sugiarti Siswadi, Mrs. Rusijati, Mrs. Lies Sukatno and others) and rebutting H.B. Jassin's claim of press freedom. Gerwani is not named.
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.
Ten torture cases to be used by Amnesty (The Guardian, 11 October 1973)
The Guardian, 11 Oct 1973, p.8, Peter Cole: Amnesty International launches Prisoner of Conscience Week with ten emblematic torture cases. One is an Indonesian woman, Mrs Sri Ambar[...] (surname cut off in OCR), head of the women's department of the SOBSI trade union federation, who after arrest in 1966 was stripped nak
Swiss press, 12 Oct 1973: Amnesty torture campaign, Sri Ambar hung by her wrists
Swiss Thurgauer Zeitung, 12 October 1973, a dpa wire report on Amnesty International's 'Week of the Political Prisoner' campaign against torture, naming ten torture victims. The Indonesian Sri Ambar (Sri Ambar Rukmiati per the sweep log) is said to have been beaten stripped and hung naked by her wrists a whole night. H
Swiss press, 12 Oct 1973: Amnesty torture campaign, Sri Ambar hung by her wrists
Swiss newspaper page (Walliser Bote, 12 Oct 1973) of agency news, mostly German Ostpolitik and Swiss matters. A short item on Amnesty International's anti-torture campaign says that the Indonesian woman Sri Ambar was beaten naked and hung by her wrists for a whole night; the catalogue identifies her as Sri Ambar Rukmia
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), r
Daily World, 16 May 1975: Connecticut towns hear peace delegates (WILPF-WIDF seminar)
Page 9 of the Daily World (New York, 16 May 1975) with a Connecticut report on delegates to a WILPF-WIDF disarmament seminar. They included British woman Carmel Budiardjo, who was in Djakarta in 1965 and imprisoned for three years while her husband remained jailed after ten years; she says over a million were killed an
Stop support for the Suharto regime
De Waarheid, 21 Jun 1975, p. 5: boxed text 'Stop support for the Suharto regime' from the NVB monthly 'Vrouwen': the IGGI group (US, Japan, West Germany, Netherlands) gives up to 880 million dollars yearly to the regime; its April meeting was postponed amid confusion over Indochina; Suharto fears liberation victories.
Literature imprisoned
De Waarheid, 20 Sep 1975, p. 3: fragment of an article on a visiting Indonesian parliamentary 'delegation' asking whether they discussed Indonesian literature; it lists imprisoned writers (Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Bujung Saleh, Sitor Situmorang, Rivai Apin, Hadi Soesastro, Benny Tjung, Mrs. Sugiarti Siswadi, Samandjaja,
TAPOL Bulletin no. 15, April 1976. Editorial links East Timor killings to the 1965-66 massacres; the issue devotes pages to a mimeographed East Java massacre report and to translated fictional accounts (Gestapu: Indonesian Short Stories, ed. Harry Aveling). Gerwani appears incidentally: victims included members of the
TAPOL Bulletin no. 16, June 1976, issued before the IGGI meeting. Contents: smuggled letter on prison torture including sexual torture of women (some miscarried), Fraser congressional hearings with Benedict Anderson, Sudomo interview on categories A/B/C and Buru, analysis of Oei Tju Tat's trial, Papuan killings, Amnest
TAPOL Bulletin no. 18, October 1976. Editorial 'Eleven Years' and reports on Sudomo's reneged release pledges, new arrests, IGGI's $2,400m credit, the death sentence on Sgt-Maj Marsudi for the generals' killings (with testimony that Lubang Buaya training was officially organised by the Air Force), an inside account of
New Internationalist, Oct 1976: 'Journalists in Jail' (Indonesia entries incl. Sudjinah, Lies Sukatno)
Two-page Amnesty-based list of journalists detained or missing as of 23 April 1976, in New Internationalist (October 1976). Its Indonesia entries include 'Mrs Rusijati '65', 'Miss Sudjinah '66' and 'Lies Sukatno '66', giving only arrest years; no Gerwani link is stated. OCR is rough and the layout mixes countries.
'Sentenced': life imprisonment for Siti Sundari Abdul Rahman (East German press, 20 Oct 1976)
East German daily Berliner Zeitung, 20 October 1976, p. 7, a news-in-brief item headed 'Verurteilt' reporting that an Indonesian military court sentenced Mrs Siti Sundari Abdul Rahman, arrested in October 1965, an active PKI leader and former MP, to life imprisonment. The rest of the page is unrelated. Gerwani is not m
'Sentenced': life imprisonment for Siti Sundari Abdul Rahman (East German press, 20 Oct 1976)
East German daily Berliner Zeitung, 20 October 1976, p. 7, a news-in-brief item headed 'Verurteilt' reporting that an Indonesian military court sentenced Mrs Siti Sundari Abdul Rahman, arrested in October 1965, an active PKI leader and former MP, to life imprisonment. The rest of the page is unrelated. Gerwani is not m
'Sentenced': life imprisonment for Siti Sundari Abdul Rahman (East German press, 20 Oct 1976)
Foreign-news page of the SED daily Neues Deutschland. A brief ('Kommunistin verurteilt') reports that an Indonesian military court sentenced Siti Sundari Abdul Rahman, a Communist Party leader and former member of parliament, to life imprisonment. The sweep names her as Sundari Abdulrachman; her Gerwani link is not sta
'Sentenced': life imprisonment for Siti Sundari Abdul Rahman (East German press, 20 Oct 1976)
Foreign-news page of the SED daily Neues Deutschland. A brief ('Kommunistin verurteilt') reports that an Indonesian military court sentenced Siti Sundari Abdul Rahman, a Communist Party leader and former member of parliament, to life imprisonment. The sweep names her as Sundari Abdulrachman; her Gerwani link is not sta
Suharto's answer (Lekra artists persecuted)
De Waarheid, 6 Nov 1976, p. 2: fragment on Suharto's destruction of the Lekra cultural movement in 1965 (book burnings, banned art), with a long list of murdered or imprisoned artists, including Pramoedya, Henk Ngantung, Bujung Saleh and writer Sugiarti Siswadi, noted as sentenced to 12 years (OCR garbled). Also an unr
Remaining 29,000 follow: Indonesia releases 2,650 communists after 11 years
Limburgsch Dagblad, 2 December 1976, p. 1: Jakarta announces release of 2,650 communist prisoners held since 1965 without trial, with a promise to free the remaining 29,000 within three years. At a ceremony 150 swore loyalty to Suharto; among them were students, former civil servants and members of the banned women's m
Jakarta releases 2,650 political prisoners
Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, 2 December 1976: Reuter report that Indonesia released 2,650 prisoners held since 1965 without trial. At a ceremony 150 swore loyalty to Suharto, among them students, former civil servants and members of the banned leftist women's movement Gerwani; 29,000 remain, with a promise to free them
Indonesia releases prisoners
Nederlands Dagblad, 3 December 1976, p. 3: Jakarta announces release of 2,650 communist prisoners held since 1965 without trial, repeats the promise to free the remaining 29,000 within three years. At a ceremony 150 swore loyalty to Suharto; they included students, ex-civil servants and members of the banned women's mo
TAPOL Bulletin no. 19, January 1977. Leads on 'release equals transmigration': Sudomo's 1 Dec 1976 release of 2,500 B-category tapols into 'transmigration centres' and Buru. Reports that women tapols at Plantungan (since 1971) were moved to Bulu prison, Semarang, apparently for transfer to a 'hard-core' women's camp at
TAPOL Bulletin no. 20, February 1977. Leads on East Timor massacres and torture; also a Jakarta detention-centre riot, US and Dutch aid, a Sulawesi tapol interview, 'double counting' of releases and non-involvement certificates. Item 'Plantungan to Close?' (p.4) reports about 100 women tapols moved to Bulu Prison, Sema
TAPOL Bulletin no. 21, April 1977 (London). Covers the ICRC mission to seven Indonesian detention sites, Carter and human rights, East Timor testimony, Kopkamtib detention legality, official denials and the May elections. It prints a smuggled letter from a Salemba tapol to the Red Cross describing starvation, beri-beri
US Embassy Singapore cable, 6 Oct 1977: was Dr Sutanti Aidit a PKI Central Committee member?
Confidential cable from the US Embassy Singapore (Ingraham) to State, 6 Oct 1977, declassified 2009. It debates whether Dr Sutanti Aidit was a PKI Central Committee member, prompted by Congressman Koch's queries. He recalls a 1974-75 Jakarta message saying she was a Class A prisoner whom the Indonesian government claim
US Embassy Singapore cable, 6 Oct 1977: was Dr Sutanti Aidit a PKI Central Committee member?
Confidential cable from the US Embassy Singapore (Ingraham) to State, 6 Oct 1977, declassified 2009. It debates whether Dr Sutanti Aidit was a PKI Central Committee member, prompted by Congressman Koch's queries. He recalls a 1974-75 Jakarta message saying she was a Class A prisoner whom the Indonesian government claim