Last year: Amnesty frees 1,688 political prisoners
Amigoe di Curaçao, 10 Apr 1976: the Curaçao branch of Amnesty International adopts three prisoners, including Sri Kusnapsiah, 67, imprisoned in Indonesia for over ten years. No organisation is named in the text, but the case is of interest as a long-term woman political prisoner from 1965. Also reports 1,688 releases i
Constitution (Amnesty press conference on Indonesian prisoners)
Nederlands Dagblad, 6 October 1976, p. 5: partly missing report on an Amnesty International press conference in the Netherlands about Indonesian political prisoners. It states that the women in the women's camps are for the most part members of the militant Gerwani, discusses church relief for prisoners' families, and
Suharto's answer (Lekra artists persecuted)
De Waarheid, 6 Nov 1976, p. 2: fragment on Suharto's destruction of the Lekra cultural movement in 1965 (book burnings, banned art), with a long list of murdered or imprisoned artists, including Pramoedya, Henk Ngantung, Bujung Saleh and writer Sugiarti Siswadi, noted as sentenced to 12 years (OCR garbled). Also an unr
Riek Hoogkamp: international solidarity high on the banner
De Waarheid, 15 Nov 1976, p. 1: report on an NVB meeting opened by chair Riek Hoogkamp, who stressed the role of international solidarity in NVB history and said the thoughts of the meeting went out to the women of the Indonesian sister organisation Gerwani, to women in Chile and Namibia. The NVB reports growth and 31
Remaining 29,000 follow: Indonesia releases 2,650 communists after 11 years
Limburgsch Dagblad, 2 December 1976, p. 1: Jakarta announces release of 2,650 communist prisoners held since 1965 without trial, with a promise to free the remaining 29,000 within three years. At a ceremony 150 swore loyalty to Suharto; among them were students, former civil servants and members of the banned women's m
Jakarta releases 2,650 political prisoners
Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, 2 December 1976: Reuter report that Indonesia released 2,650 prisoners held since 1965 without trial. At a ceremony 150 swore loyalty to Suharto, among them students, former civil servants and members of the banned leftist women's movement Gerwani; 29,000 remain, with a promise to free them
Indonesia releases prisoners
Nederlands Dagblad, 3 December 1976, p. 3: Jakarta announces release of 2,650 communist prisoners held since 1965 without trial, repeats the promise to free the remaining 29,000 within three years. At a ceremony 150 swore loyalty to Suharto; they included students, ex-civil servants and members of the banned women's mo
Dutch Parliament Written Question 605 (1978): Release of Political Prisoners in Indonesia
Dutch Second Chamber written question no. 605 (Jan 1978) by Henk Waltmans on the Dutch ambassador attending a political prisoner release in Medan, with Minister Van der Klaauw's answer citing Indonesia's end-1979 timetable. Context on release of post-1965 prisoners.
Dutch Parliament Written Question 614 (1978): Political Prisoners in Indonesia (CDA)
Dutch Second Chamber written question no. 614 (Jan 1978) by three CDA members after the British ambassador criticised conditions for Buru prisoners; Minister Van der Klaauw says concern has repeatedly been voiced. Context on Buru detainees.
Immediate Release of All Political Prisoners (Komitee Indonesie Poster, c. 1978)
Komitee Indonesie (Amsterdam) campaign poster, c. 1978, demanding immediate release of all political prisoners, with silhouettes of three prisoners behind barbed wire. Dutch solidarity material on post-1965 detainees.
The NVB (International Women's Day 1978)
De Waarheid, 4 Mar 1978, p. 5: article on the NVB's record around International Women's Day, listing its causes since the war: disarmament, anti-nuclear action, opposition to wars in Korea and Vietnam, international solidarity with Gerwani in Indonesia and anti-apartheid women, and women's rights at home. Contrasts the
NVB on International Women's Day: no support for Suharto (Van Heutsz monument wrapped)
De Waarheid, 9 Mar 1978, p. 1: report that NVB women on International Women's Day wrapped the Van Heutsz monument in Amsterdam in white cloth marked 'Gerwani'. The item summarises Gerwani's pre-1965 work (clinics, crèches, kindergartens, courses, anti-polygamy campaigns) and the 1975 trials: Sulami life, Suharti, Sudji
Trial against Tanti Aidit
De Waarheid, 25 Jul 1978, p. 2: report that the army paper Berita Yudha says a charge has been drawn up against Tanti (Soetanti) Aidit, physician and widow of PKI chair D.N. Aidit, arrested after 1965; she will be tried on allegations that as a board member of Gerwani she was involved in the '30 September Movement'. Th
Indonesian Cultural Evening for Political Prisoners (Poster, Amsterdam, 1979)
Poster for an Indonesian cultural evening to benefit political prisoners, 30 Nov 1979, at PH'31 Amsterdam, organised by PH'31 and Komitee Indonesie, with meal, music, poetry and film. Dutch solidarity campaign material.
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
Gerwani (Annie van Ommeren on Tanti Aidit and the witch-hunt against Gerwani)
De Waarheid, 24 Mar 1979, p. 8: excerpt from Annie van Ommeren on Tanti Aidit, board member of Gerwani, sister organisation of the NVB. She says Gerwani had one million members, was the target of a huge smear campaign during and after the 1965 coup, with women accused of atrocities, which found fertile ground among rea
Clinic (Gerwani polyclinic 1958, Tanti Aidit)
De Waarheid, 24 Mar 1979, p. 8: sidebar on the clinic Gerwani opened on International Women's Day, 8 March 1958, a polyclinic and advice bureau for women in its building (destroyed in 1965), run by Tanti Aidit, now 12 years in pre-trial detention. Annie van Ommeren recalls the 1975 trial of Sulami (life), Suharti Harso
'IGGI aid is howling with Suharto's hangmen' (picket Amstel Hotel)
De Waarheid, 4 Apr 1979, p. 1: report on a picket line at Amsterdam's Amstel Hotel against the IGGI conference where donors and Suharto regime ministers set aid for the year; organisations including CPN, PPR, PvdA Amsterdam, Komitee Indonesie, ANJV and NVB carried boards demanding 'Sulami, Suharti, Sudjinah, Sri Ambar,
Books restrained, writers in cell: Bandar Harahap, 'Sarinah and I' (BZZLLETIN)
De Waarheid, 24 Apr 1979, p. 4: review of the BZZLLETIN issue on 'books under restraint', arguing that Indonesian literature is little translated while many writers are jailed under Suharto: Pramoedya on Buru, Bandar Harahap, Buyung Saleh and writer Sudjinah, held since 1966 in Bukit Duri women's prison. Covers Rendra
Lubis' Land under the Rainbow: history with sloppiness, errors and bias
Joop Morriën's critical review in De Waarheid (6 June 1979, p.5) of Mochtar Lubis's illustrated history 'Het land onder de regenboog'. He faults its errors and 'virulent anti-communism', says it adopts Suharto's version of 1965, and notes the Madiun 1948 and 1965 killings of communists and Lekra artists' imprisonment.
New objectives at 11th NVB congress
Front-page De Waarheid report (12 Feb 1980) on the 11th congress of the Nederlandse Vrouwenbeweging (NVB), which re-elected Riek Hoogkamp. The congress adopted a declaration asking Dutch ministers to press Indonesia to restore civil rights of released political prisoners, grant amnesty to women independence fighters, a
Woman and the Okto (reader's letter on the NVB congress)
Reader's letter in De Waarheid (15 Feb 1980, p.8) from NVB Groningen delegates, complaining that the report on the NVB's 11th congress omitted Groningen women's role in the Okto and Philips labour actions. It welcomes the coverage of the declaration on Indonesian political prisoners and 'our sister organisation Gerwani
Trial will not go ahead (Tanti Aidit)
Short De Waarheid item (6 Mar 1980, p.9): the planned trial of Tanti Aidit after twelve years' detention will not go ahead. It argues she had nothing to do with the 'CIA-organised coup' and her only offence was Gerwani board membership, naming Suharti, Sudjinah and Shri Ambar as fellow Gerwani women who also paid.
Indonesian women (lecture by Mieke Lokkerbol)
De Waarheid report (2 May 1980, p.5) of a talk by Mieke Lokkerbol of Komitee Indonesië on the Indonesian women's movement from Kartini to Gerwani. It describes Gerwani's programme (marriage law, rape penalties, labour law, schooling, health, price control), claims 1.5 million members in 1963, its ban after 1965, and ma
Women of Indonesia (review of the Komitee Indonesie women's group booklet)
De Waarheid review (4 Mar 1981, p.8) by Joop Morriën of a Vrouwengroep Komitee Indonesië booklet 'Vrouwen van Indonesië: strijd om bestaan'. It covers women's position under colonialism, adat and Islam, rural-urban migration and prostitution after 1965, and ends with a chapter on NVB–Gerwani solidarity with recollectio
Imprisonment: Wertheim on continued prosecution of Gerwani women
Closing section of a Wertheim piece in De Volkskrant (28 Apr 1981). It states that women active in Gerwani are still prosecuted: in 1979 two were given extremely heavy sentences without credit for detention since 1965, and with six other Gerwani women were moved to Tangerang. The rest concerns ex-CIA officer McGehee an
Conversation on the 35th anniversary of the Dutch Women's Movement (Annie van Ommeren-Averink)
De Waarheid interview (20 Oct 1981, p.5) with Annie van Ommeren-Averink, CPN politician and NVB board member, on the NVB's 35th anniversary. She recalls labour and women's struggles; a photo of Umi Sardjono, freed after years of imprisonment, hangs in her home, last seen in March 1965, and she works for the CPN's Indon
'Don't go - don't go - peace with Indonesia' (Annie Gelok on the Schoonhoven refusers)
De Waarheid feature (19 Aug 1982) in which Annie Gelok recalls NVB women's solidarity with Dutch conscripts who refused service in Indonesia (Schoonhoven refusers, 1949), the Zuiderkruis embarkation, Heiltje de Vos's 'Vrede met Indonesië' banner, and campaigns for Piet van Staveren and Ratio Koster. It touches an IDFF/
Population movement hits Papuans
De Waarheid report (23 Mar 1985, p.3) on a Dutch parliamentary committee debate criticising Indonesia's transmigration to West Papua. CPN MP Ina Brouwer, pressing minister Schoo on freedom of organisation, states that Gerwani, 'the progressive Indonesian women's movement' that once did much for women, is banned; Schoo
Despite executions... generals can count on continued support
Front-page De Waarheid report (5 Jun 1985) on Dutch minister Schoo's opening speech at the 28th IGGI conference in Amsterdam, urging donors to continue backing Suharto's regime without mentioning executions. A Komitee Indonesië spokeswoman says she was shocked that Schoo ignored the ban on Gerwani and that existing wom