Tempo, 1 October 2012: Bodies floating far away (Bacem bridge, Bengawan Solo)
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on the Bacem bridge over Bengawan Solo (Sukoharjo), an execution site where bodies were thrown into the river in Oct 1965 and for months after. Local witnesses (Mbah Wiryo, Bibit, Supeno) and historian Sudharmono; dispute over whether Banser NU took part. Gerwani is not mentioned.
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Because of the general's authority (why West Java escaped the killings)
Tempo piece (1 Oct 2012) explaining why West Java saw no mass killings: Siliwangi commander Ibrahim Adjie ordered detentions without violence (per Benedict Anderson via Umar Said), and RPKAD, whose arrival triggered killings elsewhere (Cribb, Anderson), did not enter. Notes Suharto's 2 Oct 1965 letter claiming to preve
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Doomsday born of grudges (Banyuwangi massacre)
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on Banyuwangi: the 'Gagak Hitam' force of NU/PNI members hunted communists after 62 Ansor were killed at Cemethuk (commemorated at the Pancasila Jaya monument, called Lubang Buaya Cemethuk). Testimony of Baidawi and ex-Lekra secretary Andang Chatif Yusuf; bodies thrown into Jurang Tangis. Gerw
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Operations Command, the God of Maumere
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on the Komop-run killings in Sikka, Flores (from March 1966): testimony of 'Bapa Peter' forced to dig pits at Wairita, and research by Pater Hubert Hasulie (about 30 pits, 1,000-1,500 victims, witnesses drawn from Catholic, Parkindo and NU delegates). Priest Romo Pede was threatened and transf
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Taking quotas in the red zone (Boyolali and Klaten)
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on the killing fields of Boyolali and Klaten at the foot of Merapi from 22 Oct 1965, with RPKAD and Kodam Diponegoro. Testimony of Soepomo (Pemuda Rakyat, now head of the 1965 victims research foundation) and Gito Sudarmo, who 'took quotas' of suspected PKI for execution at sites such as Sonol
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Mass killings 1965-1966 - vendetta and jingoism
Tempo historiography essay (1 Oct 2012) on the 1965-66 mass killings, outlining three phases of writing about 1965 and proposing 'jingoism' and 'vendetta' (macho, anomie-driven local score-settling) as cultural explanations, with the label 'PKI lu' as a channel for hatred. Argues history is interpretation and need not
Tempo, 1 October 2012: The Tulungagung fighter in shackles
Tempo profile (1 Oct 2012) of Supardi, 71, a Tulungagung silat fighter recruited by Ansor as an executioner in 1965, who later developed a mental disorder and has been shackled by his family for about 30 years. Account from his brother Marjuni and sister. Gerwani is not mentioned.
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Graves above wells (Lumajang and Magetan)
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on killing sites in Lumajang (Pandanwangi, Curah Mayit, Srebet) and Magetan (Puhrancang well, Gangsiran forest), with testimony from Ansor/Banser participants and villagers. Notes NU leaders called it jihad, army backing, and that many victims were not PKI. Gerwani is not mentioned.
Tempo, 1 October 2012: A camp in the middle of the river (Pulau Kemaro, Palembang)
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on Pulau Kemaro, Palembang, used as a military concentration camp in the 1960s-70s; Komnas HAM heard of about 30,000 killed or disappeared in South Sumatra. Testimony of Suwandi and Mochtar Effendy on torture, starvation and mass killing in Sept-Oct 1966 when prisoners dropped to 17. Gerwani i
Tempo, 1 October 2012: A confession from the clump of kapok trees (Palu)
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on Palu, Central Sulawesi: ex-soldier Ahmad Bantam confesses to digging the grave for three PKI leaders executed in May 1967 and tells their families; Solidaritas Korban documents 1,000+ victims; Mayor Rusdi Mastura publicly apologises (24 Mar 2012) and promises health care, scholarships, a mo
Tempo, 1 October 2012: After 'God died' at Mlancu
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on the Mlancu massacre (Kediri-Jombang border), where about 700 alleged PKI were killed in November 1965, drawing on Hermawan Sulistyo's research and witnesses. Presents PKI land reform, ludruk plays and 'Seven Village Demons' lists as roots of tension with kiai and NU/Ansor. Mentions the Peng
Tempo, 1 October 2012: After the pistol fired at Tegalbadeng (killings in Bali)
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on how mass killing began in Bali from Tegalbadeng, Jembrana, after a shooting on 30 Nov 1965; PNI 'Tameng Marhaenis' squads, trucks and beach executions, with RPKAD arrival in Dec (Geoffrey Robinson). Testimony from Ida Bagus Raka Negara and others on the Toko Wong detention site. Gerwani is
Tempo, 1 October 2012: The question of victim statistics
Tempo explainer (1 Oct 2012) on victim statistics for 1965-66 (estimates 200,000 to 3 million; most likely about half a million), weighing the Oei Tjoe Tat commission's 78,000, Kopkamtib's 1 million, Sarwo Edhie's 3 million and census evidence. It notes army propaganda about torture of the generals at Lubang Buaya was
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.
The Cold War in the City of Heroes: US-Indonesian Relations and Anti-Communist Operations in Surabaya (Setiyawan, 2014)
PhD dissertation in History (UCLA, 2014) by Dahlia Gratia Setiyawan on U.S. anti-communist operations and the 1965-66 purge in Surabaya. Gerwani appears in context: as the PKI's women's affiliate (ch. 1), through the Surabaya women's coalition GOWS in the 27 September 1965 Grahadi demonstration (ch. 4), and in the Army
Janda PKI: stigma and sexual violence against communist widows (Pohlman, 2015)
Pohlman (2015) on 'janda PKI': women widowed in 1965-66 were doubly stigmatised as widows and as 'PKI' women demonised by Gerwani propaganda; four testimonies show sexual violence and exploitation. Gendered stigma analysis.
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book no. 607 (17 Oct 2017) presenting 39 declassified US Embassy Jakarta documents (1964-68) showing detailed US knowledge of and support for the army's mass killing of PKI members. Finding aid for the telegram series in this corpus.
Wieringa and Katjasungkana's 2019 Routledge monograph, from the IPT 1965 prosecution report, arguing the 'real coup' was the ousting of Sukarno through about a million killings enabled by propaganda about Gerwani's alleged sexual perversion; chapter 6 treats two sexual moral panics. Key analysis.
Zulbainar, a woman fighter for marginal communities as Gerwani activist (1961-1977)
Journal article (2020) by Agustina and Fatimah, a biography of Zulbainar (b. 1939, West Sumatra), who joined Gerwani c. 1954, became treasurer of Gerwani Padang Pariaman, lost her husband to a mob in 1965 and was held 12 years without trial until 1977. Regional Gerwani life history.
Buried Histories: The Anticommunist Massacres of 1965-1966 in Indonesia (Roosa, 2020)
John Roosa's 2020 book, from nearly 400 interviews, arguing the typical 1965-66 killing was army execution of detainees (hence mass disappearance); dissects army propaganda including how Gen. Sugandhi sexualised Lubang Buaya from 9 Oct 1965. Key scholarship.
Tempo, 2 October 2021: Black propaganda against Gerwani (Ita Fatia Nadia)
Op-ed by Ita Fatia Nadia in Tempo (2 Oct 2021) tracing the army-controlled press campaign from 7 Oct 1965 that cast Gerwani as sexually sadistic, contradicted by the military doctors' autopsy (Roebiono Kertapati). It links the slander to the mass killings, Kowani's expulsion of Gerwani (29 Oct 1965), Lubang Buaya volun
Tempo English, 4 October 2021: Traumatic burden of 1965 (Umi Sardjono's last years)
Tempo English cover story 'Traumatic Burden of 1965' (4 Oct 2021, Dini Pramita) on Umi Sardjono's silence and guilt after release in 1978. Ita Fatia Nadia read her a Medan woman's testimony of gang rape and public parading, and showed Sudjinah's X-ray; Umi wept, saying it was her responsibility. It covers her life in t