FCO 15/2701: Political Detainees in Indonesia (1980)
British FCO file FCO 15/2701 (1980), 'Political detainees in Indonesia': Amnesty International's April 1980 letter and memorandum to the UK government before the IGGI meeting, on release of B-category prisoners, restrictions on ex-detainees, missing persons and unfair A-category trials, plus TAPOL Bulletin extracts (No
New objectives at 11th NVB congress
Front-page De Waarheid report (12 Feb 1980) on the 11th congress of the Nederlandse Vrouwenbeweging (NVB), which re-elected Riek Hoogkamp. The congress adopted a declaration asking Dutch ministers to press Indonesia to restore civil rights of released political prisoners, grant amnesty to women independence fighters, a
JPRS 75238, 3 Mar 1980: release of 22 prisoners incl. Dr Sutanti Aidit and Pramoedya (Indonesian press reports)
JPRS translation volume (3 March 1980). Its Indonesia section reprints Indonesian press reports (Sinar Harapan, Pelita, 21 Dec 1979) on the release of Category B prisoners, including Pramoedya Ananta Toer. At the Jakarta ceremony 22 prisoners including Dr Sutanti Aidit were freed; she wept and said she would follow Isl
JPRS 75238, 3 Mar 1980: release of 22 prisoners incl. Dr Sutanti Aidit and Pramoedya (Indonesian press reports)
JPRS translation volume (3 March 1980). Its Indonesia section reprints Indonesian press reports (Sinar Harapan, Pelita, 21 Dec 1979) on the release of Category B prisoners, including Pramoedya Ananta Toer. At the Jakarta ceremony 22 prisoners including Dr Sutanti Aidit were freed; she wept and said she would follow Isl
Trial will not go ahead (Tanti Aidit)
Short De Waarheid item (6 Mar 1980, p.9): the planned trial of Tanti Aidit after twelve years' detention will not go ahead. It argues she had nothing to do with the 'CIA-organised coup' and her only offence was Gerwani board membership, naming Suharti, Sudjinah and Shri Ambar as fellow Gerwani women who also paid.
TAPOL Bulletin No. 41/42, Sep/Nov 1980: restrictions on ex-prisoners, doctors barred from practice
Double issue of TAPOL Bulletin (London), no. 41/42, September/November 1980. An article on ex-prisoners' continuing restrictions says many doctors are still refused permission to practise, naming Dr Sutanti Aidit with Drs Sumanto, Sumiarsih and Djajus; ex-tapols also cannot testify in court without a 'certificate of no
TAPOL Bulletin no. 44 (London, March 1981): army takeover of the legal sector, Free-Aceh trials, Pramoedya's Buru novels harassed, East Timor, US human rights report. A short item (p.4) reports that eight women political prisoners long held in Bukit Duri were moved to Tangerang women's prison: Sulami (20 years), Sudjin
Ostlendingen, 13 Oct 1981: prisoners of conscience in half the UN's member states (Sudjinah profiled)
Page of the Norwegian regional daily Ostlendingen (13 October 1981) with an article on Amnesty International's Prisoners of Conscience Week. It profiles three prisoners, including Sudjinah, 47, described as active in what was once Indonesia's largest women's movement, arrested early 1967, held eight years before trial
Asker og Baerums Budstikke, 14 Oct 1981: Prisoners of Conscience Week, Sudjinah (18 years)
Norwegian local newspaper (14 October 1981) reporting Amnesty groups' stand at Sandvika during 'Prisoners of Conscience Week'. The week's focus is three prisoners, including the Indonesian woman Sudjinah, sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment for 'subversive activity'. The rest of the page is church lists and adverts; OC
Asker og Baerums Budstikke, 14 Oct 1981: Prisoners of Conscience Week, Sudjinah (18 years)
Norwegian local newspaper (14 October 1981) reporting Amnesty groups' stand at Sandvika during 'Prisoners of Conscience Week'. The week's focus is three prisoners, including the Indonesian woman Sudjinah, sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment for 'subversive activity'. The rest of the page is church lists and adverts; OC
TAPOL Bulletin no. 52 (London, July 1982, 20 pp.): East Timor famine and the Nordland report, West Papua and transmigration, Dutch arms sales, Muslim political trials and torture, press bans (Tempo, Pelita), student repression, and an Atmakusumah book review noting that 46 of 163 newspapers were banned in October 1965.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 53 (London, September 1982, 24 pp.): new Army 'Board' to monitor ex-tapols and Sudomo's remarks on 33,000 B and 540,000 C category people under supervision, an editorial against 65 pending death sentences (Munir, Ruslan Wijayasastra), West Papua testimonies, East Timor resettlement, arms sales, Sunar
Gjengangeren, 9 Mar 1984: Amnesty women's day appeal naming Sudjinah
Gjengangeren (Horten, Norway), 9 Mar 1984: a column on women prisoners of conscience for International Women's Day, from the Horten/Borre Amnesty group. It cites Sudjinah, 'formerly active in what was then Indonesia's largest women's movement' (presumably Gerwani; not named), held eight years before a 1975 trial and a
Gjengangeren, 9 Mar 1984: Amnesty women's day appeal naming Sudjinah
Gjengangeren (Horten, Norway), 9 Mar 1984: a column on women prisoners of conscience for International Women's Day, from the Horten/Borre Amnesty group. It cites Sudjinah, 'formerly active in what was then Indonesia's largest women's movement' (presumably Gerwani; not named), held eight years before a 1975 trial and a
Despite executions... generals can count on continued support
Front-page De Waarheid report (5 Jun 1985) on Dutch minister Schoo's opening speech at the 28th IGGI conference in Amsterdam, urging donors to continue backing Suharto's regime without mentioning executions. A Komitee Indonesië spokeswoman says she was shocked that Schoo ignored the ban on Gerwani and that existing wom
Swiss press, 14 May 1987: violations of human rights against parliamentarians (IPU; Sundari)
Courrier de Geneve report (by Angelica Roget, 14 May 1987) on 100 cases of abuse of parliamentarians raised at the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Managua. For Indonesia it says only that 'M. Sundari', a former parliamentarian aged 70, has been detained since 1965. The identification with Siti Sundari Abdul Rah
Swiss press, 14 May 1987: violations of human rights against parliamentarians (IPU; Sundari)
Swiss paper L'Express, 14 May 1987, on the 77th Inter-Parliamentary Union conference (Managua, 27 April-2 May 1987), which denounced about 100 cases of abuse against MPs in Chile, Turkey, Vietnam, Somalia, Colombia, Indonesia and Swaziland. For Indonesia it names only 'M. Sundari', a 70-year-old former MP detained sinc
For a free Indonesia (founding of the Wertheim Foundation)
De Waarheid report (30 Nov 1987, p.4) on the launch of the Wertheim Foundation, where W.F. Wertheim praised a Hendra painting of a male and female guerrilla. He argued that the Suharto regime rests on mass murder and falsified history, and that one task is to write the real history of Gerwani, Lekra, SOBSI and the PKI.
East is East and West is West (Kousbroek)
Rudy Kousbroek's column 'Oost is Oost en West is West' in NRC Handelsblad (19 Feb 1988): an anecdote of a Minahasan surveyor in Maluku shocked by his atheism, with remarks on Indonesian attitudes to feminism and childlessness. Ends as the surveyor asks whether they are communists. No mention of Gerwani; background colo
Hundreds of Indonesia refusers recalled memories (reunion in Dronten)
De Waarheid report (17 Oct 1988, p.2) on the reunion of hundreds of Dutch Indonesia refusers in Dronten, organised by Jan Maassen, with historian Ger Harmsen speaking and a 'comité eerherstel' formed to explore rehabilitation. Trees Soenito-Heyligers is honoured as defender of many refusers; supporting bodies include t