Ten-page digest (in Komnas Perempuan's 2010 compilation) of Wieringa's Kuntilanak Wangi, tracing Indonesian women's movements from Kartini and Poetri Mardika to Gerwani, its rivalry with Perwari, the 1965 slander and New Order corporatism (Dharma Wanita, PKK). Concise overview.
Tempo.co book notice (9 May 2010) on Saskia Wieringa's Indonesian edition of 'Penghancuran Gerakan Perempuan' (Galangpress 2010, transl. Harsutejo). Recounts the military propaganda of naked dancing, razor-cutting and castration at Lubang Buaya, Wieringa's rebuttal from 1982-85 interviews and autopsy results, and Siti
Tempo.co book notice (17 May 2010) (second Tempo.co version, with a lead on the penis-cutting allegation) on Saskia Wieringa's Indonesian edition of 'Penghancuran Gerakan Perempuan' (Galangpress 2010, transl. Harsutejo). Recounts the military propaganda of naked dancing, razor-cutting and castration at Lubang Buaya, Wi
Okezone feature (1 Oct 2011) on Putmainah, then 83, former Gerwani chair for Blitar Regency and PKI legislator, covering her Islamic and leftist family background, Pesindo past, flight after the 1965 coup and later life. Biographical testimony of a regional Gerwani leader.
Wieringa's 2011 article condensing her research: the army's sexual slander of Gerwani was the spark without which the genocide would not have happened; reconstructs the Lubang Buaya night (about 70 women and girls, mostly Pemuda Rakyat volunteers) and reads the monument mural. Programmatic synthesis.
Lilik HS's IndoPROGRESS obituary of Umi Sardjono (born Suharti Sumodiwiryo, Gerwani chair 1954-65, d. 11 March 2011): her funeral at Matraman, a visit to the Waluya Sejati elderly home founded on Sulami's initiative, and former leaders' memories. Literary-journalistic portrait.
Tempo review (31 Jan 2011) of 'Tjap Merah', a dance piece by Yosep Prihantoro Sadsuitubun (grandson of K.S. Tubun) at GoetheHaus, Jakarta, closing the exhibition 'Indonesia and the World 1959-1966'. It stages the stigma on Gerwani women (Lubang Buaya dancing and castration myth, 'ET' label, Genjer-genjer); he says most
Mursidah's 2012 survey of Indonesian women's organisations as a 'feminist movement', from Kartini to the New Order and left activism today; about two pages on Gerwani. Thin general overview.
Overview essay by Francisca de Haan (Women and Social Movements International database, c. 2012) on WIDF's origins, agenda, UN role and Cold War marginalisation, 1945-1991. Gerwani is listed once as a large, influential WIDF member organisation (with footnotes to Wieringa and to McGregor on Indonesian women and WIDF);
Katharine McGregor's 2012 article on Indonesian women's ties with the WIDF 1946-65: the federation gave Gerwani a 'political compass', and Gerwani used it to win support for anti-imperialist domestic struggles and by the early 1960s shaped WIDF priorities. Core source on Gerwani and the WIDF.
Merdeka.com feature (24 Sep 2012) on Gerwani's dilemma over Sukarno's polygamy: it fought for a marriage law banning polygamy from 1950 but set the issue aside when Sukarno married Hartini, Dewi and Yurike Sanger, following the PKI line. Concise account of the polygamy contradiction.
Anett Keller's 2012 reportage (südostasien, German) on Lestari, an 80-year-old Gerwani co-founder in a Jakarta house of ex-prisoners: Gerwani's literacy and kindergarten work, her husband a PKI East Java leader, flight, arrest in Malang, 1979 release and life as an 'ET' domestic worker. Life-history portrait.
PhD dissertation (University of Michigan, 2012) by Andrew Conroe: an ethnography of former political prisoners (eks-tapol) and their children and grandchildren in Yogyakarta, centred on the group Fopperham, on memory, silence and uncertain family histories. Gerwani appears through family accounts and events: Bu Marni,
Edited volume (KITLV Press, Leiden, 2012) by Jennifer Lindsay and Maya H.T. Liem on Indonesian culture and its international links, 1950-65. Gerwani appears only in passing: Michael Bodden's chapter on Lekra theatre says Gerwani, like Lekra and CGMI, was pressed by the PKI in 1964 to declare itself communist (p. 470, c
Edited volume (KITLV Press, Leiden, 2012) by Jennifer Lindsay and Maya H.T. Liem on Indonesian culture and its international links, 1950-65. Gerwani appears only in passing: Michael Bodden's chapter on Lekra theatre says Gerwani, like Lekra and CGMI, was pressed by the PKI in 1964 to declare itself communist (p. 470, c
Ariel Heryanto essay in Tempo (1 Oct 2012) on state terror, propaganda film and the 1965 wound, from Supersemar and the Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI film to post-1998 indie documentaries and The Act of Killing. One passage states Gerwani leaders were detained, raped, tortured and portrayed as immoral mutilators in army press
Tempo piece (1 Oct 2012) on conditions of 1965 political prisoners in Jakarta: torture and tiny rations at Cipinang, Salemba, Kalong HQ and Bukit Duri, with testimony of Eko Wardoyo, Bedjo Untung, Jawito. Includes Gerwani member and journalist Sri Sukatno, jailed years at Bukit Duri, describing electric torture at 'Gan
Tempo explainer (1 Oct 2012) on Kopkamtib, set up by Suharto on 2 Oct 1965 as the 'super organisation' that planned and drove the mass killings and detentions (Komnas HAM names it chief perpetrator). It notes army-controlled media showing Lubang Buaya photos with stories that Gerwani women tortured the generals, and ci
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on the Plantungan camp (Kendal) for women Group B political prisoners, opened 1971 in a former leprosarium. Names Gerwani activists and others held there: Sumiyarsi Siwirini ('Lubang Buaya doctor'), Siti Suratih, Mia Bustam, Pujiati, C.H. Sumarmiyati, Mujiati. Covers conditions, 'santi aji' in
Tempo piece (1 Oct 2012) on how Joshua Oppenheimer met perpetrators, from Matapao plantation workers to Anwar Congo and the Pasukan Kodok / Pemuda Pancasila in Medan. It cites Amir Hasan's pamphlet 'Embun Berdarah' on Teluk Mengkudu, which lists 702 PKI-linked villagers by affiliation, including Gerwani, and records an
2013 article by Taufik Ahmad on about 911 ex-political prisoners (BTI, Lekra, CGMI, Gerwani activists) held at Moncongloe, South Sulawesi: their 1975-77 release and post-release control through reporting, Pancasila courses, ET identity-card code and screening. Context on stigma.
Vannessa Hearman's 2013 article on memories 'under duress', from interviews with over thirty ex-prisoners: screening and stigma forced concealment, name changes and silence; Gerwani appears via 'Leila' and 'Tuti' and Sukarno-era WIDF internationalism. Oral history methodology.
Pohlman's 2013 article, from about 150 interviews, on women's stories of pregnancy, childbirth, raising, losing and aborting children during 1965-66 and detention, including cooperative childcare and a former Gerwani leader (Ibu Astuti). Gendered history of survival.
Wardaya's 2013 English edition of oral histories gathered 2008-11 by Sanata Dharma University's PUSdEP: witnesses from military, Muhammadiyah, Kejawen and Catholic backgrounds and survivors including women detained as alleged Gerwani; foreword summarises the Gerwani mutilation narrative and autopsy. Oral history source
Rachmi Larasati's 2013 introduction and chapter on how the New Order erased the dancing bodies of women labelled 'Gerwani' after 1965 and replaced them with state-trained 'clean' dancers performing the same traditions as national heritage. Autoethnographic study of dance and genocide.
Historia.id article (preview only) titled 'Gerwani dan Hak Anak'; the free preview covers only the New Order's National Children's Day (1984) and Decade of the Child (1986), not Gerwani. Little usable content.
Rio Apinino's 2013 IndoPROGRESS review essay of the Indonesian edition of Wieringa's Gerwani study: the film's Lubang Buaya scenes, Gerwis's founding in Semarang on 4 June 1950, PKI influence and the persistent 'whore' stigma. Chapter-by-chapter summary.
detikNews feature (2013) on Gerwis's founding on 4 June 1950 by six organisations (Rupindo, Persatuan Wanita Sedar, Istri Sedar, Gerwindo, Wanita Madura, PPRI) and founders Trimurti, Salawati Daud, Umi Sardjono, Tris Metty and Sri Panggihan, with I.G.A.A. Ratih. Concise account of origins.
Jurnal Perempuan profile (10 Oct 2014) of Arjo Sutiyem, a Boyolali farmer who joined Gerwis in the early 1950s, founded the Musuk branch (2 Feb 1952), led Boyolali's organisation and ran women's literacy schools, then was handed to the army in 1965. Grassroots Gerwis/Gerwani testimony.
Wieringa (2014) uses The Act of Killing to argue Indonesian indifference to the film reflects the enduring success of the military's sexual moral panic against communism; discusses a director's-cut scene and levels of silence about Gerwani. Memory and silence.