National and Foreign News in Brief (Daily Mirror, 18 December 1953)
Daily Mirror (Sydney), 18 December 1953, p. 11, a page of national and foreign news briefs. Only one item concerns Indonesia: a short AP report from Jakarta that 2,000 sarong-clad Indonesian women jammed the capital's streets demanding a government ban on polygamy and child marriage. No organisation is named. The other
Marriage Stir in Indonesia (Sydney Morning Herald, 21 September 1954)
Sydney Morning Herald, 21 Sep 1954, p. 1 (AAP-Reuter): a deputation from 30 Indonesian women's organisations, headed by Mrs Katowijono of Perwani, protested to Sukarno over his marriage to a second wife, Mrs Suwondo, without the first wife's consent. Press debate; women leaders say it dealt the women's movement a bad b
Gerwani member Sansia arrested during Dulles visit to Jakarta (Kankakee Daily Journal, 12 March 1956)
Full 20-page issue of the Kankakee Daily Journal (Illinois), 12 March 1956. Front-page AP/UP report on US Secretary of State Dulles's visit to Jakarta (talks with Sukarno) says police arrested a woman named Sansia, who said she was a member of Gerwani, 'a leftist women's organization founded in 1954', over a banner pro
Dulles on Trip to Indonesia (Toowoomba Chronicle, 13 March 1956)
Toowoomba Chronicle, 13 Mar 1956, p. 3 (AAP-Reuters): US Secretary of State Dulles visits Jakarta after the SEATO conference; demonstrators shout 'Abolish SEATO' and 'We want peace, not war'. A young girl arrested for throwing a pamphlet says she is a Gerwani member; Gerwani had earlier protested the visit.
Dulles on Trip to Indonesia (Toowoomba Chronicle, 13 March 1956), duplicate
Toowoomba Chronicle, 13 Mar 1956, p. 3 (AAP-Reuters): US Secretary of State Dulles visits Jakarta after the SEATO conference; demonstrators shout 'Abolish SEATO' and 'We want peace, not war'. A young girl arrested for throwing a pamphlet says she is a Gerwani member; Gerwani had earlier protested the visit.
Communist Campaign in Indonesia (OIR report, July 1956)
State Department intelligence report (17 July 1956) on the Soviet and Chinese communist campaign in Indonesia after the 1956 visits, with a chronology of Indonesia-China exchanges. Gerwani features only in the chronology: a May 1956 Gerwani protest against US H-bomb tests, plus Indonesian delegations to the WIDF meetin
FBIS, 6 May 1958: Gerwani message to the UN Secretary General protesting American intervention
FBIS Daily Report (6 May 1958), HathiTrust scan p.430: Xinhua report that Indonesian mass organisations endorsed Premier Djuanda's denunciation of US intervention (PRRI crisis). Gerwani sent a message to the UN Secretary-General strongly protesting American intervention and urging the UN to warn the US and expel the Ch
Page 564 of the US State Department's Monthly Indonesian Press Survey (nos. 33-44, 1958), summarising the 25 Sept 1958 Nusantara. Suwardiningsih, PKI East Java committee and Constituent Assembly member, entered Kalisosok prison, Surabaya, on 22 Sept to serve a month (cut from six) for remarks about Hatta in 1953; thous
Weekly Situation Reports, Indonesia, January 1960 (State Department Central Files)
Compilation of Djakarta embassy weekly political, economic and military situation telegrams to the State Department, January 1960. One item (21 Jan) reports labour union and women representatives picketing the Trade Minister's office over prices despite an army ban, with a newspaper identifying many women as members of
Communism and the PKI, Despatch of January 1961
US embassy Djakarta despatch compilation (Jan 1961) analysing communism and the PKI, including its front organisations. The overview describes Gerwani as the communist women's organisation used for price and anti-bomb demonstrations, affiliated with the WIDF (which funds trips abroad for prominent members), and contras
US Embassy Weekly Situation Telegrams, April 1962
Two US Embassy Djakarta weekly situation telegrams (JOINT WEEKA 14 and 15), 6 and 13 April 1962, on the West New Guinea dispute, PKI-Sukarno friction, Partindo, wage demands and military matters. Gerwani appears only once: it joined SOBSI and others in protesting the 'undemocratic' draft election bill providing for pop
FBIS, 25 July 1962: Australian, Indonesian women (messages to Vietnam Women's Union)
FBIS-monitored Hanoi VNA item (25 Jul 1962): the Union of Australian Women and Gerwani sent messages to the Vietnam Women's Union on the eighth anniversary of the Geneva agreements. Gerwani protested US armed aggression and 'mass massacre and persecution of women and innocent children' in South Vietnam, demanded troop
FBIS Daily Report, 26 July 1962: Gerwani protest against US aggression in South Vietnam (Hanoi VNA)
FBIS Daily Report (26 Jul 1962), HathiTrust scan pp.235-236: North Vietnam section carrying a Korean message of solidarity, a Moscow resolution on the Geneva anniversary, and VNA's 25 July item that Gerwani and the Union of Australian Women sent messages to the Vietnam Women's Union. Gerwani protests US aggression and
Indonesia Protest at Mass Arrests (News-Mail, 6 February 1963), duplicate OCR
News-Mail (Bundaberg), 6 February 1963, p. 7, AAP-Reuter wire from Jakarta (duplicate OCR of GA-00265, with scrambled columns). SOBSI cabled protest to Singapore over mass arrests of leftists on 2-3 February; Partindo and Gerwani also protested. Also reports Brunei's Sultan warning against Indonesian volunteers and Gen
Indonesia Protest at Mass Arrests (News-Mail, 6 February 1963)
News-Mail (Bundaberg), 6 February 1963, p. 7, AAP-Reuter wire from Jakarta (clean OCR). The SOBSI federation, claiming three million members, cabled Singapore condemning its mass arrests of leftists as a move to quell opposition to Malaysia, and Partindo and Gerwani also protested. The Sultan of Brunei warned against a
Straits Times, 6 Feb 1963: SOBSI protests to Singapore Government over mass arrests
Straits Times, 6 Feb 1963 (lead only). SOBSI cabled a protest to the Singapore government over mass arrests of leftists, speaking for three million Indonesian workers. Matched on Gerwani; the companion Berita Harian item reports Gerwani joined the protest.
SOBSI protest to Singapore government over mass arrests (Straits Times, 1963)
The Straits Times, 6 February 1963, p. 10, Reuters: SOBSI cables the Singapore government protesting the mass arrests of left-wing people the previous weekend and demanding release of detainees; Partindo and the Gerwani Women's Movement 'have also protested'. Brief mention of Gerwani among Indonesian left organisations
Straits Times, 25 Mar 1963: Java Reds in protest march (Purwokerto)
Straits Times, 25 Mar 1963 (lead only). 1,500 Communists demonstrated in Purwokerto, Central Java, against the high cost of living (Antara), involving PKI members and affiliates including Pemuda Rakyat; Gerwani likely among the affiliates though the lead is cut.
Java Reds in protest march, Purwokerto (Straits Times, 1963)
The Straits Times, 25 March 1963, p. 2, UPI/Antara: 1,500 communists demonstrate in Purwokerto, Central Java, against high prices and the cost of living; participants came from the PKI and affiliates including Pemuda Rakyat, Gerwani, BTI and Lekra. They petition for lower prices and the inclusion of communists in the C
Sukarno rejects demand for ban on Sukarnoism (South China Morning Post, 14 December 1964)
South China Morning Post, 14 Dec 1964, p.28 (Jakarta, 13 Dec; fragmentary OCR): Sukarno rejects a demand to ban 'Sukarnoism', and the item notes that Antara reported hundreds of members of Gerwani, 'the Communist women's organisation', demonstrated outside government offices in Medan the previous Wednesday with signs d
Straits Times, 14 Dec 1964: communist women's organisation demonstrates in Medan
Straits Times, 14 Dec 1964 (lead only). A communist women's organisation, Gerwani, held a demonstration against the government in Medan, North Sumatra, the previous Wednesday, urging lower prices of common goods; Antara reported 'hundreds' of members took part.
Claim of landing by Malaysians
Toowoomba Chronicle, 31 Dec 1964, p. 1 (AAP-Reuters): Sukarno claims Indonesian police arrested two groups of armed Malaysian infiltrators and says 'Malaysia does not exist'. Second item: about 500 housewives, including Mrs Subandrio, protest rising prices in Jakarta in a demonstration organised by the Indonesian Women
CIA, The Indonesian Situation, report 61, 14 November 1965
CIA 'Indonesian Situation' report no. 61, 14 November 1965: continuing anti-communist action and mass killings, Aidit's presumed whereabouts, and 1,000 women demonstrating in Jakarta for permanent dissolution of the PKI women's auxiliary. Records an early anti-Gerwani mobilisation.
FO 371/180337: Bilateral Relations with the US [3] (1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180337 (Mar-Nov 1965): telegrams and letters on US-Indonesian relations: Bunker mission, Peace Corps withdrawal, anti-American demonstrations, Ambassador Green, Palmer affair, then Anglo-American talks on aid to the generals after 1 October. No mention of Gerwani; 'women' appear only among
Women of the Whole World, May 1965: 20th anniversary of victory over fascism
Full May 1965 issue of Women of the Whole World (WIDF), a commemorative number for the 20th anniversary of victory over Nazism: women in the resistance, wartime memoirs and Sholokhov's story, Coventry, Leningrad, Warsaw, Lidice-type massacres, Dresden and Hiroshima, plus peace, Vietnam and anticolonial pieces. Indonesi
FBIS-monitored ANTARA report (27 Oct 1965) on a demonstration by the Action Coordinating Body to Crush the 30 September Movement at the Foreign and Home Affairs departments, demanding dissolution of the PKI and sister organisations, purges of subdistricts and the Labour Ministry, and regretting China's attitude on the
LBJ National Security File: Indonesia, Communist Parties and Internal Politics, Nov 1965-May 1966
LBJ Library National Security File, Indonesia country file (vol. VI): US Embassy Jakarta cables and withdrawal sheets, mainly December 1965 to May 1966, on the army's moves against the PKI, Sukarno's speeches, student demonstrations and Suharto's rise. Gerwani appears twice. Embtel 2077 (17 Jan 1966) reports Bogor wall
Women Demonstrate for PKI and Affiliates Ban, Condemn Gerwani (FBIS, 9 Nov 1965)
FBIS Daily Report pages (9 Nov 1965; HathiTrust scans pp.155-157): after a Sukarno-era Heroes Day speech text, ANTARA reports a 30,000-strong demonstration by housewives and girl students from about 30 women's organisations (NU, Perti, Muslim, Christian, Catholic) received by Suharto and Sudibjo. They demanded a PKI an
Women Demonstrate for PKI, Affiliates Ban (FBIS, 8 Nov 1965)
FBIS item from Jakarta ANTARA, 8 Nov 1965: about 30,000 housewives and girl students from some 30 women's organisations demanded dissolution of the PKI and Gerwani. They petitioned Maj. Gen. Suharto and National Front secretary-general Sudibjo, condemned Gerwani for the generals' killing, asked that Gerwani schools be
Sukarno given list of suspected MPs; women demonstrate against Communists (South China Morning Post, 9 November 1965)
South China Morning Post, 9 Nov 1965, p.20 (Jakarta, 8 Nov): Sukarno is given a list of suspected PKI members of parliament; about 10,000 housewives, girl students and actresses marched to Suharto's HQ and the National Front office shouting support for Sukarno and the armed forces, denounced Gerwani, 'the PKI's women's