WIDF appeal: release of arrested Indonesian women demanded
De Waarheid, 23 Jul 1966, p. 6: report that the WIDF Bureau, meeting in Berlin in June 1966, adopted an appeal for solidarity with Indonesian women and the progressive organisation Gerwani, demanding immediate release of arrested Gerwani members and leaders and restoration of legality for all Indonesian women's organis
Indonesian AAPSO secretary-general appeals to stop massacre of 300,000 patriots (snippet)
Snippet-only Renmin Ribao extract (9 Dec 1966, p. 6): Ibrahim Isa, secretary-general of the Indonesian Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation (AAPSO), appeals to stop Suharto and Nasution from massacring 300,000 Indonesian patriots; truncated. Gerwani not named. Full text is GA-01994.
Indonesian AAPSO secretary-general urges world solidarity against Suharto-Nasution regime
Xinhua report in Renmin Ribao (9 Dec 1966, p. 6) of a statement by Ibrahim Isa, secretary-general of Indonesian AAPSO, urging world solidarity against the Suharto-Nasution regime, said to hold 300,000 prisoners including women's organisation cadres and to have slaughtered hundreds of thousands. It also attacks Soviet '
Five Chinese bodies back appeal to save 300,000 Indonesian patriots (snippet)
Snippet-only Renmin Ribao front-page extract (14 Dec 1966): five Chinese bodies including the All-China Women's Federation issue a joint statement condemning the mass slaughter of Indonesian patriots; truncated. Gerwani not named. Full text is GA-01996.
Five Chinese organisations condemn Indonesian military regime's mass slaughter and detention
Xinhua report in Renmin Ribao (14 Dec 1966, p. 1): five Chinese organisations, including the All-China Women's Federation, jointly condemn Indonesia's 'right-wing military regime' for mass slaughter and detention of 300,000, support the Indonesian AAPSO appeal, and attack Soviet 'revisionists' and Adam Malik's Moscow v
Indonesia and the Wertheim Committee: Nijmegen congress and Dutch aid to Suharto
Long De Tijd opinion piece by Arie Kuiper (24 Apr 1969) on the Nijmegen student congress and the Wertheim Indonesia Committee's call to halt Dutch aid to Suharto's regime. It acknowledges hundreds of thousands killed and many political prisoners but blames Muslim hatred and defends Suharto; it repeats that generals wer
The forgotten massacre: 'More killed than in Vietnam so far'
Tribune (Sydney), 21 Jan 1970, p. 8: extract from Hong Kong's Eastern Horizon of letters by an Indonesian writing as 'Barbro Karabuda' on the 1965-66 massacre and prisoners (official 86,000 detainees; torture; Army extortion). The writer finds Tanti Aidit in Bukit Duri women's prison in Jakarta with Aidit's mother-in-l
The forgotten massacre: 'More killed than in Vietnam so far'
Tribune (Sydney), 21 Jan 1970, p. 8: extract from Hong Kong's Eastern Horizon of letters by an Indonesian writing as 'Barbro Karabuda' on the 1965-66 massacre and prisoners (official 86,000 detainees; torture; Army extortion). The writer finds Tanti Aidit in Bukit Duri women's prison in Jakarta with Aidit's mother-in-l
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
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
Women round the World: Indonesian Women (Kinesis, June 1977)
Kinesis (Vancouver feminist paper), June 1977, p.10, 'Women round the World': a section on Indonesian women. It says Gerwani, the largest women's organisation (over one million members), was banned for alleged complicity in the 1965 coup and blamed for atrocities; many members suffered torture and sexual abuse in inter
Youth club Chi Chi: Amnesty evening on Indonesia
Nieuwe Winterswijksche Courant, 12 January 1979, p. 9: youth-club notice of an information evening with Amnesty International Winterswijk, screening a film on political prisoners in Indonesia. It states that after six generals were murdered in October 1965, the army killed half a million people in four months and arres
'Children are tortured' (The Observer, 14 October 1979)
The Observer, 14 Oct 1979, p.2, Ian Mather, 'Children are tortured': on an Amnesty International report on torture of children in many countries. For Indonesia it reports that the daughter of Sri Ambar, a woman trade unionist, was tortured in her mother's presence and disappeared, that many children arrested in 1965 re
Harian Neraca serial 'Siapa menabur angin akan menuai badai' (64): arrests in Bekasi and Njono's confession
Harian Neraca, 17 Mar 1989, p. 10: instalment 64 saying 'hundreds' of Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani members were arrested in Bekasi, and listing 'Gerakan Wanita Indonesia' among organisations Aidit planned to deploy per Njono's confession.
Murders (Suharto and the mass killings of 1965-66)
De Waarheid piece (2 Sep 1989, p.16) criticising Suharto's silence on the 1965-66 massacres, quoting Stanley Karnow and C.L. Sulzberger on the killings and estimates of 300,000 to one million dead. It notes mass arrests without trial of hundreds of thousands, including members of SOBSI, Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat, and t
The Year That Never Ended: Understanding the Experiences of 1965 Victims (Roosa, Ratih and Farid, eds., 2004)
2004 Elsam/ISSI/TRuK volume distilling an oral history project of 260 victims, with essays including on women political prisoners (Josepha Sukartiningsih), rape in Central Java, survival strategies and Blitar Selatan. Introduction defends oral history against the Lubang Buaya myth.
Testimonio and Telling: Women's Narratives of Genocide, Torture and Imprisonment (Pohlman, 2008)
Annie Pohlman's 2008 article adopting the Latin American genre of testimonio to analyse women's narratives of genocide, torture and detention in the absence of official inquiry; examines collective voice and discursive strategies around sexual violence.
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Bangsawan Karaeng Lira - 'Crushing one's own family'
Tempo testimony (1 Oct 2012) of Bangsawan Karaeng Lira, 72, who led the mob that destroyed the BTI leader's house in Bontolanrang, Takalar (South Sulawesi), in late 1965. Describes forced labour (irrigation, roads) by detained PKI/BTI members, with a BTI survivor, Kamaruddin Bella, who lost relatives. Gerwani not menti
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Erwin's rice and tajin porridge (1965 detention in Jakarta)
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, 1 October 2012: From the rice warehouse to the banana grove (Grobogan massacre)
Tempo reconstruction (1 Oct 2012) of army-directed killings of PKI members in Grobogan/Purwodadi, 1967-68 (Operasi Kikis), centred on a rice-warehouse detention camp at Kuwu. Draws on Poncke Princen's 1969 exposure, Henk Kolb's list of mass graves, Hanra Inti militia and Kodam Diponegoro intelligence figures. Gerwani i
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Under Kopkamtib's grip
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, 1 October 2012: The irony of Gandhi Street in Medan (detention house)
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on the Jalan Gandhi detention house in Medan, a former Baperki school used by Kopkamtib for over a decade; Komnas HAM names it a torture site (beatings, confinement in toilets with faeces). Testimony from Astaman Hasibuan (Lekra) and soldier Eddy Sartimin. Gerwani is not mentioned.
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: 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
Child-raising, Childbirth and Abortion In Extremis: women's stories 1965-1966 (Pohlman, 2013)
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.
Truth Will Out: Indonesian Accounts of the 1965 Mass Violence (Wardaya, ed., 2013)
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
Forbidden Memories: Women's Experiences of 1965 in Eastern Indonesia (Kolimon et al., 2015)
English translation (Monash, 2015) of Memori-memori terlarang, research by women pastors and theologians of the JPIT network on women survivors, witnesses and perpetrators across East Nusa Tenggara (Sabu, Kupang, Timor, Alor, Sumba). Regional women's testimony on 1965.
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.