First anniversary of SOBSI
Short Het Dagblad (Batavia) item (2 Dec 1947, p.2) on the first anniversary of SOBSI, attended by President Sukarno, premier Amir Sjarifuddin and labour minister Mrs S.K. Trimurti. Sukarno's message said workers have a strong ideology and must avoid anarchy and capitalism. Context on Trimurti's labour role; no Gerwani
August detainees: SOBSI wants mass demonstration in Surabaya
Algemeen Indisch Dagblad (1952-08-28, p. 2): at a Surabaya press conference the committee for victims of the August 1951 raids, with SOBSI, plans a 7 September mass demonstration outside the governor's and Brawijaya commander's residences demanding release of all arrestees. Committee secretary Miss Sulami blames the RT
Elections with symbols: preparations for Indonesia's first general election
De Waarheid, 22 Jan 1955, p. 5: feature on preparations for Indonesia's first general elections, with voter registration, party symbols for illiterate voters, the PKI-and-independents list and attacks on it from Masjumi and PSI. It names independent candidates, among them Salawati (Daud), described as a guerrilla leade
45 members in total: National Council definitively formed by president and cabinet
Algemeen Indisch Dagblad (1957-06-15, p. 1): announcement of the 45-member National Council (Dewan Nasional) under Sukarno, with Roeslan Abdulgani as vice-chair and secretary-general. Functional-group seats include workers (SOBSI's Munir), youth (Sujono Atmo, PKI) and women's organisations: Mrs. S.K. Trimurti and Mrs.
Composition of national council completed (Sukarno chair)
Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (15 Jun 1957, p.1): the 45-member National Council is announced, chaired by Sukarno with Roeslan Abdulgani as vice-chair. Members include Munir (SOBSI workers), Sardjono (peasants), Henk Ngantung (artists), and S.K. Trimurti and Rasuna Said for the women's movements; Mrs Towoliu represents C
SOBSI and price rise
Short Algemeen Indisch Dagblad item (1957-07-10, p. 2): on 6 July a SOBSI National Council delegation led by Setiati Surasto met Labour Minister Samjono about rising prices of daily necessities, suggesting that labour unions be involved in solving the problem; the minister promised attention and SOBSI will meet other m
Installation and swearing-in of National Council does not undermine authority of cabinet and parliament
Algemeen Indisch Dagblad (1957-07-13, p. 1): Sukarno installs the 45-member National Council (Dewan Nasional) at the Istana Negara, swearing in 32 members, and stresses it does not undermine cabinet or parliament but assists, lends authority and bridges society and government. The full list names S.K. Trimurti and Rasu
40 Years of the PKI
'40 Tahun PKI', compiled by the PKI History Institute (Lembaga Sejarah PKI) for the party's 40th anniversary, Yayasan Pembaruan, Jakarta 1960, following D.N. Aidit's 'Lahirnya PKI dan perkembangannya'. A party-line history from the 1920 founding through the 1926 uprising, Japanese occupation, revolution and the VI Cong
Documents of the Sixth National Congress of the PKI, Jakarta, 1-14 September 1959, Vol. I
Bintang Merah special issue, vol. 1: documents of the VI National Congress of the PKI, Jakarta 7-14 September 1959 (Yayasan Pembaruan, 1960). Contains Aidit's opening speech, the Central Committee's General Report, and Programme and Constitution changes. Gerwani is not named; on women it records growing women's members
Aidit's general report to the PKI Seventh Congress, part 2 (Renmin Ribao, 11 May 1962)
Renmin Ribao, 11 May 1962, pp. 4-5: Part 2 of D.N. Aidit's abridged general report to the PKI's Seventh Congress, covering finance for the eight-year plan, the international situation, PKI relations with the communist movement, and mass work. One paragraph says Gerwani, a 'revolutionary women's mass organisation', expa
Aidit's general report to the PKI Seventh Congress, part 2 (Renmin Ribao, 11 May 1962)
Renmin Ribao, 11 May 1962, pp. 4-5: Part 2 of D.N. Aidit's abridged general report to the PKI's Seventh Congress, covering finance for the eight-year plan, the international situation, PKI relations with the communist movement, and mass work. One paragraph says Gerwani, a 'revolutionary women's mass organisation', expa
West Irian struggle for a healthier economy
Nieuw Guinea Koerier, 23 June 1962, p. 3: Setiati Surasto, an Indonesian delegate at the ILO conference in Geneva, says all progressive forces in Indonesia are uniting against Dutch colonial stubbornness in West Irian and that Indonesia will use other means if peaceful liberation fails, framing it as part of workers' s
Book by PKI chairman D.N. Aidit (Demos, 1963) collecting his writings on the Indonesian revolution. Beyond the opening chapters, a passage on the Madiun affair (p. 128) records that Mrs Mudigdio and A.M. Tambunan put parliamentary questions on 9 December 1950 about the 1948 killing of Amir Sjarifuddin and ten comrades.
RAND paper P-2690 by Guy J. Pauker (Jan 1963, for Asian Survey), 'Indonesia: Towards Development or Expansionism?'. Surveys the West New Guinea settlement, the lifting of the state of emergency, PKI strength (Aidit versus Lukman factions), inflation, Soviet arms debt and the Brunei revolt. Mentions Gerwani once, as a P
D.N. Aidit, 'Some problems of the Indonesian revolution and the PKI': Beijing report, 4 September 1963
Full Renmin Ribao text (5 Sept 1963, p. 3) of D.N. Aidit's 4 September Beijing rally report on the Indonesian revolution and PKI: semi-colonial, semi-feudal analysis, national united front, Nasakom, state power's 'two aspects', and party building. Gerwani appears only once, in a membership tally (1.5 million, alongside
JPRS 1964: Committee of the SOBSI Fourth National Congress (Setiati Surasto, Sri Ambar)
JPRS translation page (Translations on South and East Asia, no. 66-80, 1964-65, seq 266) listing the committee of SOBSI's Fourth National Congress. The Central Bureau has Moch. Munir as chairman and Mrs Setiati Surasto among the deputy chairmen; Sri Ambar is among the secretaries. Both are women named in the catalogue
History of the Indonesian Youth Struggle (Youth Bureau, Ministry of Education and Culture, 1965)
Official history of the Indonesian youth movement (1908-1960) compiled by the Youth Bureau of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Balai Pustaka, Jakarta 1965 (prefaces dated Dec. 1963), in five periods. Gerwani appears only briefly: it is listed among organisations demanding action against the 1957-58 PRRI separatis
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 24 April 1965: Aidit and Indonesian communism - on the springboard to power
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 24 April 1965, long analytical article 'Aidit and Indonesian Communism: on the springboard to power'. It reviews the Indonesian crisis, PKI history from 1920 through Madiun 1948, Aidit's rise and biography. Gerwani appears once, as a PKI front organisation with 1.5 million members, alongside SOBSI
Aidit's political report to the PKI Fourth Plenum (snippet)
Snippet-only Renmin Ribao extract (12 June 1965, p. 3) from Aidit's political report to the PKI's enlarged Fourth Plenum, 'Intensify the revolutionary offensive on all fronts'. The visible sentence says SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakyat, Gerwani, Lekra and CGMI are beginning to give Marxist education to their membership; trunc
D.N. Aidit, 'Step up the revolutionary offensive on all fronts': political report to PKI plenum
Long Xinhua summary in Renmin Ribao (12 June 1965, p. 3) of D.N. Aidit's political report to the enlarged PKI Central Committee plenum, 'Step up the revolutionary offensive on all fronts': Nasakom, bureaucratic capitalists, takeovers of US firms, the Murba/BPS ban, Vietnam, the UN exit, Khrushchev's fall; PKI over 3 mi
Guests from eighty countries celebrate China's National Day on the eve of the 1965 coup
Xinhua report in Renmin Ribao (1 Oct 1965, p. 3) on 2,000+ guests at China's 16th National Day, dated the eve of the 1965 coup. Only Indonesian items are translated: MPRS and economic delegations, a PKI delegation under Sidik Kertapati, SOBSI, Harian Rakjat and a Gerwani puppet-art study delegation (leader's name uncer
Dutch woman sole defender
ANP report in Algemeen Dagblad (1966-02-15) on Dutch-born lawyer Trees Sunito-Heyligers, the only Indonesian jurist willing to defend PKI/SOBSI leader Njono before the special military tribunal. Her husband Sunito was jailed after the coup and she was dismissed from the state bank. No Gerwani mention; context for the 1
Dutch woman lawyer arrested in Jakarta on suspicion of HSI membership
De Nieuwe Limburger, 5 Jan 1968 (Reuters): Jakarta police arrest Dutch lawyer Mrs Mr Trees Soenito-Heyligers, from Zwolle, on suspicion of membership of the banned communist scholars' association HSI. Two years earlier she had defended trade union leader Njono, sentenced to death for the 1965 coup.
The United States and the 'New Order' in Indonesia (Sullivan, 1969)
John H. Sullivan's 1969 American University PhD in international relations traces US-Indonesian relations c. 1963-68 and the emergence of the New Order, covering the anti-American period, the 30 September Movement and its aftermath, and regional, communist-bloc and economic relations. It is diplomatic and political his
RAND memorandum RM-5753-PR (Feb 1969), Guy J. Pauker, 'The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Indonesia'. Argues, from trial records, that Aidit planned the 30 September action against the generals and traces PKI strategy, the Chinese turn, the agrarian 'unilateral actions' and the killings (up to 300,000), and th
The revolution passes Indonesia by: interview with Ernst Utrecht
Second half of a De Volkskrant interview (29 Aug 1970) with Prof. Ernst Utrecht on his book on Indonesia ahead of Suharto's Dutch visit. Utrecht says the Jakarta branches of Gerwani and Pemuda Rakyat "wanted to take part and did take part" in the 1965 coup, that the PKI leadership said these were independent organisati
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
Ten torture cases to be used by Amnesty (The Guardian, 11 October 1973)
The Guardian, 11 Oct 1973, p.8, Peter Cole: Amnesty International launches Prisoner of Conscience Week with ten emblematic torture cases. One is an Indonesian woman, Mrs Sri Ambar[...] (surname cut off in OCR), head of the women's department of the SOBSI trade union federation, who after arrest in 1966 was stripped nak
Social Conditions Leading to Military Dominance: the case of Indonesia (Kahane, 1974)
Journal article by Reuven Kahane (Contributions to Asian Studies, vol. 5, 1974) giving a structural-sociological explanation of the 1965 coup and army dominance in Indonesia: religious-class polarisation, failing Sukarno-era control mechanisms, and the army's rise. Gerwani appears only in a footnote listing PKI-affilia
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