US Embassy Jakarta cable, 30 Dec 1974: Sutanti Aidit confirmed as 'Class A' detainee
Confidential US Embassy Jakarta cable to the State Department, 30 December 1974 (declassified), reporting that Indonesian government sources confirm Sutanti Aidit is a 'Class A' detainee, i.e. slated for trial over the 1965 'coup attempt'. They describe her as a PKI central committee member, leading supporter of husban
US Embassy Jakarta cable, 30 Dec 1974: Sutanti Aidit confirmed as 'Class A' detainee
Confidential US Embassy Jakarta cable to the State Department, 30 December 1974 (declassified), reporting that Indonesian government sources confirm Sutanti Aidit is a 'Class A' detainee, i.e. slated for trial over the 1965 'coup attempt'. They describe her as a PKI central committee member, leading supporter of husban
Jakarta trial for women (South China Morning Post, 4 February 1975)
South China Morning Post, 4 Feb 1975, p.22 (AFP, Jakarta, 3 Feb): four leading women of the outlawed PKI went on trial in Jakarta District Court charged with conspiracy to topple the Government. Miss Sulami was secretary general and the other three were board members of the 'defunct communist women's movement' (Gerwani
Ford Questioned on CIA Activity in Indonesia (FBIS, 16 Oct 1975)
FBIS item: Radio Peace and Progress (Moscow, in Indonesian, 16 Oct 1975) commentary on Ratna Sari Dewi's letter asking President Ford to explain the CIA's role in 1965. She cites hundreds of thousands killed and tens of thousands jailed without trial. A Dutch editor is quoted saying PKI, SOBSI, Gerwani and Pemuda Rakya
South China Morning Post, 26 Nov 1975, p.22, Kenneth Whiting (AP), 'Indonesia: a fresh start': ten-year retrospective on the 1965 coup and 'bloodbath' (about 300,000 killed, 100,000 jailed, 20,000 political detainees still held), with oil-led economic recovery. A short passage says women were killed if believed to be p
The 1965 Coup in Indonesia: The CIA's Version (van der Kroef, 1976)
Critical review by Justus M. van der Kroef (Asian Affairs, Nov 1976) of the CIA's declassified 1968 report 'Indonesia-1965: The Coup That Backfired'. Takes issue with the CIA's claim that Lubang Buaya victims were not mutilated and that Gerwani/Pemuda Rakyat confessions were Army-contrived, quoting Gerwani member Djami
A Traditional Leader in a Time of Change: the Kijaji and Ulama in West Java (Horikoshi, 1976)
Hiroko Horikoshi's 1976 University of Illinois anthropology PhD thesis on kijaji and ulama as traditional leaders in a West Java (Priangan, Cipari) Islamic village, covering kinship, rural economy, the life cycle, the ulama as educators and legal experts, and kijaji charisma. It has almost nothing on Gerwani: a single
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
After 12 Years Freedom (Post-Courier, 19 January 1978)
Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, 19 January 1978, p. 5, feature by George Oliver on the release of 10,000 political prisoners held since the 1965 coup, with PKI members forced to swear loyalty. It describes the Category A, B, C system, the 1965-66 massacres (estimates up to half a million killed), Amnesty International's
After 12 Years Freedom (Post-Courier, 19 January 1978), clean OCR
Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, 19 January 1978, p. 5, clean OCR of George Oliver's feature on the release of 10,000 political prisoners held since the 1965 coup (same article as GA-00267). It covers the official and alternative accounts of 30 September, killings of perhaps half a million, half to three-quarters of a mi
Jakarta releases 8,000 political prisoners (The Times, 27 July 1978)
The Times, 27 July 1978, p.6, whole page of overseas news; the relevant item reports (Bandung, 26 July) that more than 8,000 political prisoners, communists jailed since the 1965 coup attempt, were released across Indonesia, about 4,000 in Bandung. They were 'B'-class prisoners who could have been tried; Colonel Sardjo
TAPOL Bulletin no. 29 (London, August 1978): assessment of the 1977–78 prisoner releases, resettlement camps, ILO criticism, Wertheim on Suharto and the Latief trial, ex-tapol discrimination, and trials. Page 11 reports that Dr Tanti Aidit, widow of D.N. Aidit and a Gerwani member who ran a Gerwani clinic, is to be tri
US Embassy Jakarta cable, 2 Aug 1978: coup plotter Latief sentenced; Mrs Sutanti Aidit to be tried next
US Embassy Jakarta cable to State (2 August 1978) on the life sentence given to ex-colonel Abdul Latief for the 1965 coup attempt. Paragraph 3 says trials of other Category A detainees continue and that the next major figure to be tried is reported to be Mrs Sutanti Aidit, widow of the former PKI chief.
US Embassy Jakarta cable, 2 Aug 1978: coup plotter Latief sentenced; Mrs Sutanti Aidit to be tried next
US Embassy Jakarta cable to State (2 August 1978) on the life sentence given to ex-colonel Abdul Latief for the 1965 coup attempt. Paragraph 3 says trials of other Category A detainees continue and that the next major figure to be tried is reported to be Mrs Sutanti Aidit, widow of the former PKI chief.
The 30 September Movement: a political movement of the armed forces or an intelligence operation? (Holtzappel, 1979)
Journal article by Coen Holtzappel (Journal of Contemporary Asia, 1979) analysing the Untung and Njono trial records to argue the 30 September Movement was steered by Air Force and Army intelligence, with Sjam's Pringgodani group deliberately compromising the PKI and Aidit. Gerwani is mentioned only once, in a footnote
TAPOL Bulletin no. 34 (London, June 1979, 20 pp.): exposes inconsistencies in KOPKAMTIB release figures, resettlement camps in Kalimantan and Buru, the student trials, release oath and ex-tapol discrimination, the Nijmegen psycho-test cover-up, TAPOL's research on 366 1965 trials, IGGI aid. Gerwani is not named; one it
TAPOL Bulletin No. 37, January 1980: Indonesia's Political Trials
TAPOL Bulletin no. 37 (London, January 1980): editorial on the end of KOPKAMTIB's release plan, plus Julie Southwood's long study of 1,014 political trials since 1966. It notes the 1965 Lubang Buaya claim that communist women castrated the generals, and the 1975 subversion trial of Gerwani's Sulami and Sudjinah, with S
TAPOL Bulletin no. 52 (London, July 1982, 20 pp.): East Timor famine and the Nordland report, West Papua and transmigration, Dutch arms sales, Muslim political trials and torture, press bans (Tempo, Pelita), student repression, and an Atmakusumah book review noting that 46 of 163 newspapers were banned in October 1965.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 53 (London, September 1982, 24 pp.): new Army 'Board' to monitor ex-tapols and Sudomo's remarks on 33,000 B and 540,000 C category people under supervision, an editorial against 65 pending death sentences (Munir, Ruslan Wijayasastra), West Papua testimonies, East Timor resettlement, arms sales, Sunar
Issue no. 71 (September 1985) of TAPOL Bulletin, the British campaign for Indonesian political prisoners. It carries an anonymous ex-prisoner's article on the 'G30S/PKI' symbol, reports on death-row prisoners, the Gatot defence statement, harassment of ex-prisoners and military reorganisation. Gerwani appears only once
Losing a Revolution: The PKI versus the Army in Indonesia, 1949-1965 (Sutley, 1988)
Stewart K. Sutley's MA thesis (Political Science, McGill, 1988) applies Tilly and Aya's 'political conflict' model to the PKI-Army struggle of 1949-65, arguing the PKI's state-within-a-state depended on Sukarno and was destroyed after the army struck at the president. Gerwani is treated only as the PKI's 'women's front
TAPOL Bulletin no. 90 (London, Dec 1988): East Timor, Golkar congress, executions of two 1965 Cakrabirawa prisoners, Kopkamtib replaced by Bakorstanas, 'clean-self/clean-environment' screening, and Suharto's role in the G30S. In the G30S article, a section on a 'myth coming unstuck' says the 1965 press claims that Gerw
Human Rights Watch World Report 1990 chapter on Indonesia and East Timor: Aceh and Irian Jaya abuses, execution of four 1965 palace-guard prisoners, 'screening' for 1960s leftists and the Bonar Tigor Naipospos subversion case. Background on continuing New Order repression.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 101 (London, Oct 1990), covering West Papuan border raids, Suharto's 'de-Suharto-ization', new litsus screening rules, Petisi 50 and East Timor at the UN. A page on US embassy collusion reproduces Kathy Kadane's May 1990 interview with ex-deputy chief Jack Lydman about embassy-compiled PKI name lists
Destruction of the Indonesian Communist Party: East Java and Bali compared (Sudjatmiko, 1992)
Iwan Gardono Sudjatmiko's 1992 Harvard sociology PhD thesis compares East Java and Bali to explain the PKI's destruction after 1965, arguing that it followed from the party's 1963 revolutionary strategy and that violence depended on public figures, army units and PKI size. It covers mobilisation, land reform and local
The Forgotten Years: Mass Slaughter in Jombang-Kediri 1965-1966 (Sulistyo, 1997)
Hermawan Sulistyo's 1997 Arizona State history PhD, 'The Forgotten Years', studies the 1965-66 killings in Jombang-Kediri, East Java, from interviews and documents, finding no single national pattern and stressing local conflict and military-backed operations. Gerwani appears in passing: its claimed 1.75 million member
Chaos at Crocodile Hole (The Guardian, 23 May 1998)
The Guardian, 23 May 1998, p.24, Martin Woollacott, 'Chaos at Crocodile Hole': comment on Suharto's fall, arguing it is no triumph and that his legacy of division (military vs Islamists, rich vs poor, ethnic and religious tensions) leaves the country fragile. It opens with the Crocodile Hole (Lubang Buaya) shrine, whos
Killing off the communists (South China Morning Post, 17 July 1999)
South China Morning Post, 17 July 1999, p.37, Marian Wilkinson (Sydney Morning Herald), 'Killing off the communists': newly released US embassy and CIA cables show US officials encouraging the army's anti-PKI campaign in Oct-Nov 1965, urging anti-PKI propaganda that links 'diabolical murder and mutilation of the genera
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.
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.