US Embassy Airgram A-300 (Johnson Library copy): The September 30 Affair - background to the coup
Second, noisier OCR copy of the same US Embassy Djakarta airgram A-300 of 22 October 1965 (Masters), from the Johnson Library country file, 46 pages. Covers Sukarno-PKI offensive, the coup, PKI and Sukarno roles, army prospects. Gerwani is mentioned only as PKI women taunting the generals at Lubang Buaya (p.14) and as
FO 371/180317: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [8] (2-9 Oct 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180317 (2-9 Oct 1965): Jakarta embassy and Foreign Office telegrams on the 30 September coup, Suharto's takeover, Sukarno and Omar Dani, Soviet press silence, and a Singapore proposal for unattributable propaganda to blacken the PKI. Gerwani is named in Suharto's 4 Oct statement and a 6 Oc
LBJ National Security File: Indonesian Military Coups, Oct-Nov 1965 (Airgram A-300 'The September 30 Affair')
Supplement to the LBJ National Security File (cables, Oct-Nov 1965), centred on the long Djakarta embassy airgram A-300 'The September 30 Affair' plus telegrams. A-300 repeats the Lubang Buaya account that the generals were 'taunted and humiliated' by Gerwani women before being killed, and says Gerwani members were pla
FRUS 1964-68 vol. XXVI, doc. 149: Intelligence memorandum, The Upheaval in Indonesia (6 October 1965)
FRUS 1964-68 vol. XXVI, doc. 149: CIA/OCI Intelligence Memorandum 'The Upheaval in Indonesia' (6 Oct 1965). Describes the 30 September Movement, Suharto's takeover and Sukarno's manoeuvres, and says GERWANI (the 'Communist women's front group') was reportedly involved. Quotes Suharto's 4 Oct statement that an area near
Furious: Suharto's statement on the generals' bodies near the Halim training base
De Telegraaf item (7 Oct 1965) on General Suharto's television statement: the generals' bodies were found near the air-force base where Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani volunteers were trained, and an arrested female volunteer in Cirebon reportedly said volunteers came from Central Java. An early press link of Gerwani to the
Dramatic funeral in Jakarta: lieutenant saved Nasution's life
Leeuwarder Courant, 7 October 1965, p. 1: report on the exhumation of the seven murdered army officers from the Lubang Buaya well and the generals' funeral, with Nasution's escape and Lt Tendean's death. It relays Suharto's televised claim that the bodies lay next to a base where the air force trained Pemuda Rakjat and
Jakarta saw gruesome TV film of exhumation of generals' bodies
Twentsch Dagblad Tubantia (7 Oct 1965): Jakarta TV shows exhumation of the generals' mutilated bodies from the Lubang Buaya well; Suharto says they were found near the air-force base where Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani volunteers were trained, citing an arrested female volunteer from Cirebon. Also the generals' funeral and
Torture squads in Djakarta: how Indonesian generals died (South China Morning Post, 15 October 1965)
South China Morning Post, 15 Oct 1965, p.12, 'Torture squads in Djakarta: how Indonesian generals died', by a special correspondent. A lurid account of the 1 October killings: it says 'frenzied members of the Gerwani women's organisation' chanted insults and danced naked while Pemuda Rakjat youths emasculated six gener
Jakarta women danced as generals were murdered (The Hindustan Times, 15 October 1965)
The Hindustan Times, 15 Oct 1965: report of a police witness's account at Lubang Buaya that Communist women danced naked in a circle while six generals and a lieutenant (mistaken for Nasution) were tortured to death, with torn-out fingernails and faces mutilated. Gerwani is not named, but this is an early instance of t
US Embassy Djakarta Airgram A-300, 22 October 1965: The September 30 Affair - history and interpretation of the attempte
US Embassy Djakarta airgram A-300 (22 Oct 1965, Edward Masters), a 46-page analysis of the 30 September Movement, the PKI, Sukarno, Air Force and army prospects. Gerwani appears only twice: as members of PKI paramilitary TIK units trained at Halim, and as PKI women said to have taunted and humiliated the generals at Lu
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 25 October 1965: WIDF 20th anniversary, Gerwani and the 30 September Movement
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 25 Oct 1965, calendar and background on the 30 September coup. It notes WIDF's 20th anniversary (26 Nov), lists GERWANI among PKI women's fronts (p.21), and repeats that about 3,000 PKI youth and women's group cadres were trained at Halim air base in September, with Gerwani and Pemuda
CIA, Press information relating to insurgency and counterinsurgency: South and East Asia (217), 28 October 1965
CIA Foreign Documents Division compilation of Indonesian, Malaysian, Burmese and Cambodian press, 28 Oct 1965. Djakarta's Angkatan Bersendjata (early Oct) is quoted on the 30 September Movement and the Lubang Buaya killings: bodies found near a bivouac of Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat volunteers, Suharto's remark about a G
The Anti-Communist Campaign in Indonesia: A Chronology (USIA R-158-65), Nov 1965
USIA Research and Reference Service report R-158-65 (November 1965), a chronology of the anti-Communist campaign in Indonesia, 1-20 October 1965, built on Indonesian and foreign radio and press. Gerwani entries: Suharto's 4 Oct TV statement linking the generals' murders to Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwani training grounds; NU
CIA, Press information relating to insurgency and counterinsurgency: South and East Asia (Summary 6897), 4 November 1965
CIA Foreign Documents Division weekly digest (Summary No. 6897, 4 Nov 1965) of press on insurgency in South and East Asia. Its Indonesia section reproduces Army-controlled press (Angkatan Bersendjata, Duta Masjarakat) on the 30 September Movement, including claims that Gerwani volunteers trained at Lubang Buaja and moc
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
Atrocities: account of the generals' killing and alleged Gerwani role
De Tijd article "Gruwelen" (23 Apr 1966) recounting the 1 Oct 1965 killings of the generals, claiming a hundred Gerwani women at Halim took part in torturing them with knives and razor blades after "training" including sexual orgies and blood oaths, citing a 15-year-old "Miss Djamilah" and the Djakarta Mail of 5 Nov. A
Atrocities: account of the generals' killing and alleged Gerwani role (duplicate record)
De Tijd article "Gruwelen" (23 Apr 1966) recounting the 1 Oct 1965 killings of the generals, claiming a hundred Gerwani women at Halim took part in torturing them with knives and razor blades after "training" including sexual orgies and blood oaths, citing a 15-year-old "Miss Djamilah" and the Djakarta Mail of 5 Nov. D
Sinar Harapan, 6 Dec 1966: 'Night of Terror, Dawn of Hope' (V), Clarence Hall serial
Sinar Harapan, 6 Desember 1966: 'Malam Teror Fajar Harapan' (V). Serial translation of Clarence Hall's 'Indonesia: Night of Terror, Dawn of Hope' ends with the claim that the kidnapped generals were 'handed over to about 100 screaming Gerwani members'; also an essay on education as protection against betrayal.
Berita Yudha, 13 March 1982: 'Latent danger of extreme left and right in Indonesia' (4)
Berita Yudha, 13 Mar 1982, p. 1: final part of a series retelling the official PKI chronology to 30 September 1965 and asserting that 3,000 'youth and Gerwani' trained at Lubang Buaya.
Tempo.co, 9 May 2010: Defending Gerwani from New Order slander (Wieringa book)
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, 17 May 2010: Defending Gerwani from New Order slander (Wieringa book, second version)
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