FCO 24/1701: Political Detainees in Indonesia (1973)
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office file FCO 24/1701 (1973), a TNA volume on political detainees in Indonesia. It holds briefing notes, minutes and parliamentary questions on the 1973 State Visit, the Budiardjo case and Amnesty International's campaign, plus a bound copy of Amnesty's 1973 'Indonesia Special'. In that re
FCO 15/1941: Political Detainees in Indonesia (1974-75)
British Foreign and Commonwealth Office file FCO 15/1941 (1974-75), 'Political detainees in Indonesia': ministerial letters on the National Peace Council and TAPOL campaigns, Research Department notes on Carmel Budiardjo, UN human-rights briefing, ICRC/Buru material and TAPOL Bulletin extracts. Gerwani features in the
TAPOL Bulletin no. 6, August 1974. Covers the Hariman Siregar (Malari) trial, tapol forced labour on the Cilacap oil pipeline and Nusakambangan cement works, prison conditions, Australian and British military links and trials of 1965 detainees. It reports on Plantungan women's camp (food, commander Major Prayoga, death
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
TAPOL Bulletin no. 16, June 1976, issued before the IGGI meeting. Contents: smuggled letter on prison torture including sexual torture of women (some miscarried), Fraser congressional hearings with Benedict Anderson, Sudomo interview on categories A/B/C and Buru, analysis of Oei Tju Tat's trial, Papuan killings, Amnest
TAPOL Bulletin no. 19, January 1977. Leads on 'release equals transmigration': Sudomo's 1 Dec 1976 release of 2,500 B-category tapols into 'transmigration centres' and Buru. Reports that women tapols at Plantungan (since 1971) were moved to Bulu prison, Semarang, apparently for transfer to a 'hard-core' women's camp at
TAPOL Bulletin No. 133, February 1996
TAPOL Bulletin no. 133 (February 1996), London human rights newsletter on East Timor, West Papua hostage crisis, British investment, street children, Suharto's cabinet rifts, SBSI union harassment, Sri-Bintang's trial and AJI. Gerwani appears only in the review of Carmel Budiardjo's 'Surviving Indonesia's Gulag' (p.19-
TAPOL Bulletin No. 186, Apr 2007: Sulami's exhumation campaign; review of Kembang-kembang Genjer
TAPOL Bulletin no. 186 (April 2007). A feature (p. 19) notes Sulami's exhumation campaign and that Gerwani, before 1965 'the most active women's organisation', was banned and its members singled out. A review (pp. 21-24) of the book Kembang-kembang Genjer (foreword by Saskia Wieringa) summarises Sumilah, Tami (Njoto's
Tempo, 7 March 2011: A critique of Plantungan (documentary review)
Tempo review (7 Mar 2011) by Martin Aleida of Putu Oka Sukanta's documentary 'Plantungan', screened at GoetheHaus, finding it under-researched. It features former Plantungan prisoners Siti Suratih, Suci Danarti, Pujiati, Mujiati and Sp. Tican and rebuts the Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI film's slander of women; Aleida adds Ta
State actions regarding G30S: Gadamerian study of survivors (Atmaja, 2012)
2012 article by Hamdan Tri Atmaja using Gadamerian hermeneutics and interviews with seven survivors (two women held at Plantungan) on how they interpret state actions after G30S: readings of the coup, groundless arrests and interrogation.
Generating History: Violence and the Risks of Remembering for Families of Former Political Prisoners (Conroe, 2012)
PhD dissertation (University of Michigan, 2012) by Andrew Conroe: an ethnography of former political prisoners (eks-tapol) and their children and grandchildren in Yogyakarta, centred on the group Fopperham, on memory, silence and uncertain family histories. Gerwani appears through family accounts and events: Bu Marni,
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Gulag on the bank of the Lampir river (Plantungan camp)
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on the Plantungan camp (Kendal) for women Group B political prisoners, opened 1971 in a former leprosarium. Names Gerwani activists and others held there: Sumiyarsi Siwirini ('Lubang Buaya doctor'), Siti Suratih, Mia Bustam, Pujiati, C.H. Sumarmiyati, Mujiati. Covers conditions, 'santi aji' in
Tempo, 1 October 2012: 'I often carried a long axe' - introduction to the special edition on 1965 executioners
Editor's introduction (Tempo, 1 Oct 2012) to the special edition on 1965 executioners, prompted by The Act of Killing and Anwar Congo. It sets out the aims (view from perpetrators, Banality of Evil, verification of sources), mentions Sikka, Palembang and the camps at Buru, Plantungan and Moncongloe as an Indonesian Gul
Koran Memo, 1 October 2014: Confession of a former Gerwani member in Blitar
Koran Memo (Kediri), 1 Oct 2014, p. 5: interview with Putmainah (86), former chair of Gerwani in Blitar regency and PKI member of the DPR-GR, ten years in Plantungan; recalls PKI and NU as allies in local parliament.
Ripples, Echoes, and Reverberations: 1965 and Now in Indonesia (Stroud, 2015)
Martha Stroud's 2015 UC Berkeley/UCSF medical-anthropology dissertation, based on fieldwork in Yogyakarta (2010-12), examines how the 1965-66 killings shape daily life through propaganda, surveillance, stigma, silence and justice. Gerwani appears mainly as the object of New Order propaganda: the Lubang Buaya mutilation
Surviving in Impunity: Stories of Women Survivors Still Denied Justice (AJAR/Komnas Perempuan, 2015)
Book by AJAR with Komnas Perempuan (Oct 2015) from participatory research with women survivors. In the 1965 context chapter (pp. 39-40) it describes false rumours about Gerwani and the sexual slander of the generals, with violence against Gerwani members. Survivor testimonies name Christina Sumarmiyati (arrested again
Surviving in Impunity: Stories of Women Survivors Still Denied Justice (AJAR/Komnas Perempuan, 2015)
Book by AJAR with Komnas Perempuan (Oct 2015) from participatory research with women survivors. In the 1965 context chapter (pp. 39-40) it describes false rumours about Gerwani and the sexual slander of the generals, with violence against Gerwani members. Survivor testimonies name Christina Sumarmiyati (arrested again
Free English-language magazine issue edited by Soe Tjen Marching (Bhinneka Nusantara, Surabaya), October 2015, of victim testimonies. Ex-women prisoners Hartiti, Maria Goretti Sumilah and Theresia Kadmiyanti describe Gerwani-related interrogation: nude-dance and genital-mutilation accusations, searches for a 'Gerwani m
Free English-language magazine issue edited by Soe Tjen Marching (Bhinneka Nusantara, Surabaya), October 2015, of victim testimonies. Ex-women prisoners Hartiti, Maria Goretti Sumilah and Theresia Kadmiyanti describe Gerwani-related interrogation: nude-dance and genital-mutilation accusations, searches for a 'Gerwani m
Bhinneka, October 2015: Half a Century of the 1965 Genocide (Indonesian edition, women ex-prisoners' testimonies)
Bhinneka, October 2015 (Surabaya; ed. Soe Tjen Marching), a 1965 anniversary issue. Women ex-prisoners testify: Hartiti, a Gerwani member, was asked whether she joined the 'naked dance' and castrated the generals; Maria Goretti Sumilah was beaten and burned to confess she was Gerwani; Theresia Kadmiyanti ran a TK Melat
Bhinneka, October 2015: Half a Century of the 1965 Genocide (Indonesian edition, women ex-prisoners' testimonies)
Bhinneka, October 2015 (Surabaya; ed. Soe Tjen Marching), a 1965 anniversary issue. Women ex-prisoners testify: Hartiti, a Gerwani member, was asked whether she joined the 'naked dance' and castrated the generals; Maria Goretti Sumilah was beaten and burned to confess she was Gerwani; Theresia Kadmiyanti ran a TK Melat
Seven women political prisoners at Plantungan camp (Historia, 2017; preview)
Historia article (4 Oct 2017, preview only) on seven women political prisoners at Plantungan, the women's 'Pulau Buru' at the foot of Mount Prau, with historian Amurwani Lestariningsih on the inmates (Gerwani, CGMI, PKI sympathisers, some arrested by mistake). Partial text.
Tempo.co, 28 December 2018: A look inside the Gerwani book seized by the TNI as 'PKI'
Tempo.co report (28 Dec 2018) on the seizure by TNI and police in Kediri of 19 books from a bookshop owner, including Amurwani Dwi Lestariningsih's 'Gerwani: Kisah Tapol Wanita dari Kamp Plantungan' (Gramedia 2011), which describes torture and sexual violence against women prisoners. The owner says the books are mainst
Eid al-Adha at Plantungan camp (Historia, 2019)
Historia vignette (2019) on Eid al-Adha at Plantungan camp, drawing on Lestariningsih's book and Mia Bustam's memoir: prisoners allowed to pray with villagers, the camp's livestock unit, and Bustam giving away her meat. Camp daily life.
Tempo, 2 October 2021: Umi Sardjono and the annual PKI ghost
Tempo column (2 Oct 2021, Budi Setyarso) using Umi Sardjono's life to argue that 1965 history is still painted in black and white. It notes her arrest without trial, Bukit Duri and Plantungan until 1979, Gerwani's origins in Gerwis, about 1.5 million members by 1960, literacy courses, her immigration and marriage-law w
Tempo English, 4 October 2021: Opinion - Umi Sardjono and communism phobia (the annual ghost)
English edition of the Tempo column 'Umi Sardjono and the Annual Ghost' (4 Oct 2021) arguing that 1965 history is still black and white. It uses Umi Sardjono's life (arrest without trial, Bukit Duri, Plantungan to 1979), Gerwani's Gerwis origins, a mid-1960s membership of 1.5 million, literacy classes, her immigration
Tempo.co, 10 December 2024: Pearls of Mia Bustam's tetralogy - first love, divorce and prison
Tempo.co report (10 Dec 2024, Istiqomatul Hayati and Ihsan Reliubun) on Mia Bustam's four memoirs: 'Sudjojono dan Aku' (written from 1985, on her marriage and divorce, edited by Hersri Setiawan), 'Dari Kamp ke Kamp' (13 years' detention), 'Kelindan Asa dan Kenyataan' and 'Mutiara Kisah Masa Lalu'. Her children explain
Tempo.co, 11 December 2024: Human Rights Day - how Dialita fights the stigma of the 1965 tragedy
Tempo.co report (11 Dec 2024, Ihsan Reliubun and Reza Maulana) on the Dialita choir at Human Rights Day and Mia Bustam's book launch. Chair Uchikowati's mother Hartati was a Gerwani member; her parents were arrested on 1 Nov 1965 (mother freed 1973). Dialita was founded in 2011 by ex-prisoners from Bukit Duri, Ambarawa
From the Men They Took Their Labor, from the Women They Took Everything (Sarbinatun, transl. Florida, 2025)
Nancy Florida's annotated English translation (Indonesia, Oct 2025) of Sarbinatun's testimony: Lekra dancer and IPPI president, married at 17 to a PKI Special Bureau man, tortured in Solo and Semarang, held at Plantungan until 1979 and accused as Gerwani though never a member.