Straits Times, 7 Nov 1965: suicide squad women crushed by army tanks
Straits Times, 7 Nov 1965 (world round-up, lead only). An army bulletin claimed a 'suicide squad' of Communist women, nine 'suicide members' of Gerwani, were killed trying to block army tanks in a Central Java town. Army-sourced propaganda framing of Gerwani women.
Women Denounce Reds (Sunraysia Daily, 10 November 1965)
Sunraysia Daily (Mildura), 10 November 1965, p. 14, AAP/UPI report from Jakarta that 10,000 women (housewives, students, actresses) denounced Gerwani as 'a disgrace to Indonesian womanhood' and demanded its dissolution. They marched from Suharto's headquarters to the National Front with bands and batons and handed a pe
Women Denounce Reds (Sunraysia Daily, 10 November 1965), duplicate
Sunraysia Daily (Mildura), 10 November 1965, p. 14, AAP/UPI report from Jakarta that 10,000 women (housewives, students, actresses) denounced Gerwani as 'a disgrace to Indonesian womanhood' and demanded its dissolution. They marched from Suharto's headquarters to the National Front with bands and batons and handed a pe
Evening Post (Wellington), 10 Dec 1965, commentary on the Indonesian Communists after the 30 September coup. It repeats the Lubang Buaya atrocity claim that six generals were 'horribly mutilated by doe-eyed girls' of the PKI's 'Gerwani' women's movement and thrown into a well, with Communist youth dancing at Halim; als
Sukarno the Key to Any Revolution in Indonesia (Evening Post, 10 December 1965), clipping on Gerwani claim
Clipping from the Evening Post of 10 Dec 1965: says Sukarno could not back the coup because of its brutality, and that six generals were 'horribly mutilated by doe-eyed girls' of the PKI's 'Gerwani' women's movement and thrown into a well, while Communist youth danced at Halim. This is the Lubang Buaya sexual-atrocity
Bloody Orgy at Halim Air Base (Canberra Times, 15 April 1966)
Canberra Times, 15 Apr 1966, p. 10: concluding part of a 'Special Correspondent' account repeating the Lubang Buaya slander. Claims 100 Gerwani women at Halim took razor blades, tortured and mutilated the generals, citing 'Mrs Djamilah' via the Djakarta Mail (15 Nov), singing 'People's Blood'. Adds Nasution escape narr
Bloody Orgy at Halim Air Base (Canberra Times, 15 April 1966), duplicate
Canberra Times, 15 Apr 1966, p. 10: concluding part of a 'Special Correspondent' account repeating the Lubang Buaya slander. Claims 100 Gerwani women at Halim took razor blades, tortured and mutilated the generals, citing 'Mrs Djamilah' via the Djakarta Mail (15 Nov), singing 'People's Blood'. Adds Nasution escape narr
Press (Christchurch), 8 Oct 1966, short item with photo: anti-Communist students demonstrating in Jakarta demand the arrest and trial of Hartini Sukarno, the President's second wife, for economic deviation, affiliation with Communist leaders and patronage of Gerwani, whose members are said to have played a major role i
Students Demand Trial for Mrs Hartini Sukarno (Press, Christchurch, 8 October 1966), caption clipping
Caption clipping from the Press (Christchurch), 8 Oct 1966: anti-Communist students in Jakarta demand Hartini Sukarno's arrest and trial for economic deviation, affiliation with Communist leaders and patronage of Gerwani, 'whose members are said to have played a major role' in the killing of six Army generals in Octobe
Archive of the Event of 1965 in Indonesia (compilation incl. Anderson and McVey, Preliminary Analysis of the October 1,
Internet Archive compilation on the 1965 events whose main text is Anderson and McVey's Cornell 'Preliminary Analysis of the October 1, 1965 Coup' (1971), with source documents. It says Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat trainees at Lubang Buaya were drawn into the killings (pp. 22-23) while stressing the army-fed 'orgy' storie
Archive of the Event of 1965 in Indonesia (compilation incl. Anderson and McVey, Preliminary Analysis of the October 1,
Internet Archive compilation on the 1965 events whose main text is Anderson and McVey's Cornell 'Preliminary Analysis of the October 1, 1965 Coup' (1971), with source documents. It says Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat trainees at Lubang Buaya were drawn into the killings (pp. 22-23) while stressing the army-fed 'orgy' storie
Eastern Sun, 13 Jan 1971: young woman tells court she gouged general's eyes
Eastern Sun, 13 Jan 1971 (lead only). A young woman told a special court she gouged an army general's eyes with a knife before he was shot, on the eve of the 1965 coup. A confession-style Lubang Buaya claim of the kind that fed the sexual-slander narrative, here from a trial under the New Order.
Straits Times, 13 Jan 1971: day woman gouged general's eyes with a knife
Straits Times, 13 Jan 1971 (lead only). Same story as the Eastern Sun item: a young woman told a special court she gouged an army general's eyes with a knife before he was shot, on the eve of the 1965 coup. A Lubang Buaya-style testimony from a New Order trial.
Thousands of Indonesian women still languish in Suharto's prisons
Tribune (Sydney), 20 May 1975, p. 7, abridged from the British magazine TAPOL (Mar 1975): thousands of women remain among about 100,000 political prisoners. Describes Gerwani's work, its banning, the sexual slander ('sex-maniacs', mutilation claims) as fuelling the massacres, torture and rape of women tapols, Plantunga
Thousands of Indonesian women still languish in Suharto's prisons
Tribune (Sydney), 20 May 1975, p. 7, abridged from the British magazine TAPOL (Mar 1975): thousands of women remain among about 100,000 political prisoners. Describes Gerwani's work, its banning, the sexual slander ('sex-maniacs', mutilation claims) as fuelling the massacres, torture and rape of women tapols, Plantunga
Indonesian Women (Tharunka, 30 July 1975)
Tharunka (UNSW student paper), 30 July 1975, p. 8, article 'Indonesian Women' on women political prisoners after 1965. It describes Gerwani as the largest left women's organisation, targeted by a press campaign depicting members as sex-maniacs and Lubang Buaya participants, and banned in October 1965. It reports at lea
Indonesian Women: The Banned Women's Organisation (Tharunka, 30 July 1975)
Tharunka (UNSW student paper), 30 July 1975, p. 8, clean OCR of the article 'Indonesian Women: The Banned Women's Organisation' (same article as GA-00274). It presents Gerwani as unaffiliated with the PKI, then attacked in 1965 by press stories of 'Gerwani prostitutes', 'obscene sex-dancing' and genital mutilation of g
Sexual Metaphors in the Change from Sukarno's Old Order to Suharto's New Order (Wieringa, 1996 working paper)
Wieringa's Nov 1996 ISS working paper, the first English version of her argument that the New Order was born from a sexualised propaganda campaign against Gerwani (Oct 1965-Mar 1967 an 'extended coup'), with an interview with a former Gerwani cadre. Early statement of the thesis.
The Birth of the New Order State in Indonesia: Sexual Politics and Nationalism (Wieringa, 2001)
Front matter only (title, contents, abstract) of Wieringa's ISS working paper 332 (Feb 2001) arguing the New Order legitimated itself through sexual politics, the military's 30-year slander of Gerwani. Body of the paper missing from the scan.
Annie Pohlman's 2004 article on what happened to Gerwani women and other tapol at arrest, trial, detention and release, using Sulami's and Sudjinah's memoirs and interviews; notes no woman arrested over Lubang Buaya was ever tried for it. Early study of women prisoners.
Drakeley's 2007 article analysing the army's Oct-Dec 1965 psywar 'Lubang Buaya horror story' as a misogynist attack on Gerwani and a driver of the killings, tracing escalating claims in Angkatan Bersendjata, Antara and others, including the 'confessions' of Djamilah, Sujati and Saina. Core analysis of the slander.
Incitement to Genocide against a Political Group: the anti-communist killings (Pohlman, 2014)
Pohlman's 2014 article arguing the 1965-68 killings were political genocide and that the military's post-coup propaganda, including fabricated stories, constituted incitement to genocide; critiques the exclusion of political groups from the Genocide Convention.
Saskia Wieringa essay (22 Aug 2015, IPT 1965 site) on the army's sexual slander of Gerwani, reconstructing how 'Jamilah, Srikandi of Lubang Buaya' appeared in near-identical newspaper confessions in Nov 1965 and how a teenage Jemilah was arrested in place of the Gerwani leader Atikah. Key analysis of slander as fabrica
Sexual Slander Revealed: the story of Jamilah-Jemilah and The Act of Killing (Wieringa, 2015)
Wieringa (Indonesian Feminist Journal, Aug 2015): the 'confession' of 'Jamilah, Srikandi of Lubang Buaya' printed identically in four army papers on 5-7 Nov 1965, and the real Jemilah (arrested by mistake for Gerwani leader Atikah, tortured, lost her baby), from Juki Ardi's Aku bukan Jamilah.
Free English-language magazine issue edited by Soe Tjen Marching (Bhinneka Nusantara, Surabaya), October 2015, of victim testimonies. Ex-women prisoners Hartiti, Maria Goretti Sumilah and Theresia Kadmiyanti describe Gerwani-related interrogation: nude-dance and genital-mutilation accusations, searches for a 'Gerwani m
Free English-language magazine issue edited by Soe Tjen Marching (Bhinneka Nusantara, Surabaya), October 2015, of victim testimonies. Ex-women prisoners Hartiti, Maria Goretti Sumilah and Theresia Kadmiyanti describe Gerwani-related interrogation: nude-dance and genital-mutilation accusations, searches for a 'Gerwani m
Purifying Indonesia, Purifying Women: Komnas Perempuan and the 1965-1968 Violence (van Doorn-Harder, 2019)
Nelly van Doorn-Harder's 2019 article on how Komnas Perempuan took up 1965 women survivors (2006 delegation, 2007 report), arguing the violence and stigma were justified as 'purification' and Gerwani women were cast as 'the most impure of all'. Gender and religious logic of impurity.
The Women and the Generals: Unraveling a Myth of Sexual Perversion (Wieringa, 2020)
Wieringa's five-page review (Archipel 99, 2020) of Maj Wechselmann's documentary The Women and the Generals, which shows the army fabricated the story that Gerwani seduced and castrated the generals at Lubang Buaya as the core of the propaganda campaign. Film review.