Abrupt change in Indonesia's political situation: Suharto takes control, mass arrests, PKI offices burned
Xinhua survey in Renmin Ribao (20 Oct 1965, p. 1) of Indonesia's first three weeks after 30 September, from Chinese-side sources: Suharto takes control, mass arrests (3,000 by 17 October), PKI headquarters burned, Harian Rakjat closed, universities shut, anti-Chinese incidents. Gerwani appears in the NU demand to disso
US Embassy Djakarta Airgram A-300, 22 October 1965: The September 30 Affair - history and interpretation of the attempte
US Embassy Djakarta airgram A-300 (22 Oct 1965, Edward Masters), a 46-page analysis of the 30 September Movement, the PKI, Sukarno, Air Force and army prospects. Gerwani appears only twice: as members of PKI paramilitary TIK units trained at Halim, and as PKI women said to have taunted and humiliated the generals at Lu
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 25 October 1965: WIDF 20th anniversary, Gerwani and the 30 September Movement
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 25 Oct 1965, calendar and background on the 30 September coup. It notes WIDF's 20th anniversary (26 Nov), lists GERWANI among PKI women's fronts (p.21), and repeats that about 3,000 PKI youth and women's group cadres were trained at Halim air base in September, with Gerwani and Pemuda
The Anti-Communist Campaign in Indonesia: A Chronology (USIA R-158-65), Nov 1965
USIA Research and Reference Service report R-158-65 (November 1965), a chronology of the anti-Communist campaign in Indonesia, 1-20 October 1965, built on Indonesian and foreign radio and press. Gerwani entries: Suharto's 4 Oct TV statement linking the generals' murders to Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwani training grounds; NU
CIA, Press information relating to insurgency and counterinsurgency: South and East Asia (Summary 6897), 4 November 1965
CIA Foreign Documents Division weekly digest (Summary No. 6897, 4 Nov 1965) of press on insurgency in South and East Asia. Its Indonesia section reproduces Army-controlled press (Angkatan Bersendjata, Duta Masjarakat) on the 30 September Movement, including claims that Gerwani volunteers trained at Lubang Buaja and moc
The Times of India, 8 Nov 1965, p.1 (Jakarta, 7 Nov): the PKI and affiliated mass organisations in Bali, including Gerwani (Women's Movement), Pemuda Rakjat, Lekra, BTI, student, teachers' (PGRI) and SOBSI unions, have been suspended; leaders must report daily and a curfew applies. Sukarno says he is considering bannin
Indonesia: slap for Omar Dhani
Algemeen Handelsblad column (1965-11-18) on post-coup Indonesia: Suharto slaps Omar Dhani, rumours of poisoning, false communist accusations, and an RPKAD anecdote. Reports that Mrs. Subandrio, chair of Kowani, announced Gerwani had been expelled from the federation; Berita Yudha mocked her, and Mrs. Nasution reportedl
Izvestiia, 22 Nov 1965: Sukarno meets commanders; anti-communist campaign continues
Izvestiia, 22 Nov 1965, p. 1, TASS: Sukarno at Bogor condemns journalists spreading 'fables' about 'atrocities' of the 30 September movement, orders a civil-service purge under Subandrio; a second item gives arrests (1,600 in South Kalimantan), citing Antara that all those arrested are members of PKI, Gerwani, Pemuda R
Army plans to kill P.K.I. for ever (The Scotsman, 8 December 1965)
The Scotsman, 8 Dec 1965, Dennis Bloodworth, 'Army plans to kill PKI for ever': Suharto and Nasution press to destroy the PKI while Sukarno refuses to ban it; the article analyses the PKI's miscalculations. It repeats the slander that six generals were mutilated by 'doe-eyed girls' of the PKI's 'Gerwani' women's moveme
Indonesia, a new Vietnam (Drammens Tidende og Buskeruds Blad, 13 December 1965)
Drammens Tidende og Buskeruds Blad (Norway), 13 Dec 1965, p. 4 (page image): Albert Henrik Mohn's Jakarta report 'Indonesia - a new Vietnam', surveying the PKI's history from 1920 and Aidit's leadership. It lists PKI mass organisations, including SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakyat and the women's organisation 'Gerwani' with rou
Indonesia, a new Vietnam (Drammens Tidende og Buskeruds Blad, 13 December 1965), OCR text
Drammens Tidende og Buskeruds Blad (Norway), 13 Dec 1965, p. 4 (OCR text): Albert Henrik Mohn's Jakarta report 'Indonesia - a new Vietnam', surveying the PKI's history from 1920 and Aidit's leadership. It lists PKI mass organisations, including SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakyat and the women's organisation 'Gerwani' with rough
Indonesia, a new Vietnam? (Haugesunds Avis, 17 December 1965)
Haugesunds Avis (Norway), 17 Dec 1965, p. 8 (page image): Albert Henrik Mohn's Jakarta article 'Indonesia, a new Vietnam?' on PKI history, Aidit's rise and party growth to 3 million. It names PKI mass organisations (SOBSI, peasant front, Pemuda Rakyat, and the women's organisation Gerwani with about 1.5 million members
Indonesia, a new Vietnam? (Haugesunds Avis, 17 December 1965), OCR text
Haugesunds Avis (Norway), 17 Dec 1965, p. 8 (OCR text): Albert Henrik Mohn's Jakarta article 'Indonesia, a new Vietnam?' on PKI history, Aidit's rise and party growth to 3 million. It names PKI mass organisations (SOBSI, peasant front, Pemuda Rakyat, and the women's organisation Gerwani with about 1.5 million members)
Dossier of the Indonesian Drama (Lucien Rey, New Left Review, 1966)
Article by Lucien Rey (New Left Review no. 36, March 1966) reconstructing the 1 October 1965 events as a plot by dissident Central Java officers, plus a translated Asahi Shimbun interview with PKI deputy chair Njoto. Says People's Youth and Gerwani auxiliaries trained at Halim took part in the generals' executions in r
Unrest in Jakarta, Untung in court: strike force included Gerwani members
De Volkskrant report (24 Feb 1966) on unrest in Jakarta and the opening of Untung's trial. The prosecutor said his strike force of 5,000 included 2,000 communists, "men and women, of the organisations Gerwani, Pemuda Rakjat and the BTI". No claims of torture or sexual misconduct appear in this item.
Angkatan Bersendjata, 15 October 1966
Angkatan Bersendjata, 15 Oktober 1966. 'Urap sari Mahmillub': at the Subandrio trial the court screened a documentary film of Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani training at Lubang Buaya, with Gerwani described as having 'lost their sense of womanliness' carrying weapons in slacks.
Sinar Harapan, 5 Nov 1966: digest of the Subandrio Mahmillub verdict (VI)
Sinar Harapan, 5 November 1966: ringkasan vonis Mahmillub Subandrio (VI). Serial digest of the Subandrio verdict: the court finds AURI personnel trained Pemuda Rakyat, CGMI and Gerwani as a 'militant PKI mass', and Subandrio did nothing though informed.
FCO 15/155: Indonesia, Arrests and Trials (1967-1968)
UK Foreign Office file FCO 15/155 (Feb 1967 to June 1968) of Jakarta embassy letters, press cables and an air attache's report on the Mahmilub trials of Supardjo and Omar Dani, plus a June 1968 note on a Soviet protest over PKI prisoners. Gerwani appears only in the Omar Dani report, as female youth trained at Lubang B
The Politico-Military Role of the Indonesian Armed Forces, October 1965-1968 (Fox, 1968)
Edward J. Fox, University of Chicago MA dissertation (1968; the catalogue title says PhD) on the Indonesian armed forces' control programme and the pattern of violence from October 1965 to early 1968. Gerwani appears only in passing: a footnote cites 1.75 million members and notes its self-dissolution (p.32), and one u
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
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