Nasakom for now without 'kom': communists frozen but not yet eliminated
Twentsch Dagblad Tubantia (21 Oct 1965), H.L. Leffelaar from Jakarta: the freezing of the PKI is an army victory over Sukarno; Nasakom 'without kom'. A poster targets Mrs Subandrio, head of the women's federation (Kowani), for not yet suspending Gerwani. Hatta criticises communist land seizures; a minister recounts Unt
Nasakom for now without 'kom'; Subandrio increasingly cornered
Twentsch Dagblad Tubantia (21 Oct 1965), H.L. Leffelaar from Jakarta: the freezing of the PKI is an army victory over Sukarno; Nasakom 'without kom'. A poster targets Mrs Subandrio, head of the women's federation (Kowani), for not yet suspending Gerwani. Hatta criticises communist land seizures; a minister recounts Unt
Reorganisation of the PKI?
Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, 22 October 1965: correspondent's Jakarta report. A poster targets Mrs Subandrio, head of the women's organisations federation (Kowani), for not yet suspending the communist women's league Gerwani. Also Njoto and Lukman reportedly at Subandrio's house, and Hatta describing communist infiltrat
Suara Merdeka, 23 October 1965, pp. 2-3: PNI women ask Kowani to take a stand on G30S
Suara Merdeka (Semarang), 23 Oktober 1965, hlm. 2–3. Three Gerwani items: PNI women ask Kowani (Hurustiati Subandrio) to take a position on G30S, opening the move toward Gerwani's exclusion; a businesswoman declares she is not Gerwani; a rally of 67 East Java organisations.
Berita Yudha, 2 November 1965. Kowani expelled Gerwani from membership as of 29 October 1965 for being 'clearly involved' in G30S; Muslimat NU chair Mahmudah Mawardi demands action against it.
Anti-communist
Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, 3 November 1965: reports a 100,000-strong demonstration at the Chinese consulate in Medan demanding Subandrio's resignation, and, per Antara, that the PKI's women's organisation Gerwani has been expelled from the Indonesian women's congress (Kowani), chaired by Mrs Hurustiati Subandrio, the
Sukarno: my life is in danger
Trouw (3 Nov 1965), wire report: Sukarno tells ministers his life is in danger; demonstrations in Medan demand Subandrio's removal; a Muslim leader urges dissolving the PKI. Reports that Gerwani was expelled from the women's congress Kowani, chaired by Mrs Subandrio. Early evidence of Gerwani's isolation weeks after 30
Sukarno: my life is in danger
Twentsch Dagblad Tubantia (3 Nov 1965): Sukarno tells cabinet his life is in danger; 100,000 demonstrate at the Chinese consulate in Medan demanding Subandrio's dismissal; army purge in Central Java hampered by unreliable troops; Gerwani expelled from the women's congress Kowani, chaired by Mrs Subandrio; soldiers kill
Straits Times, 3 Nov 1965: Subandrio's wife expels women Reds
Straits Times, 3 Nov 1965 (lead only). The Indonesian Women's Congress (Kowani), headed by Foreign Minister Subandrio's wife Hurustiati Subandrio, expelled the PKI women's auxiliary (Gerwani), per Antara; a consultative board statement addressed to President Sukarno. Shows Gerwani's isolation after the coup.
Neue Berner Zeitung, 3 November 1965: Anti-communist demonstration in Sumatra; Kowani expels Gerwani
Neue Berner Zeitung, 3 Nov 1965 (UPI/AFP): anti-communist demonstration in Sumatra; Sukarno tells ministers to act 'bravely'; 100,000 demonstrators at the Chinese embassy in Medan; gold and silver mines nationalised; 57 PKI parliamentarians removed. Key for Gerwani research: the Indonesian women's congress (Kowani, OCR
Izvestiia, 4 Nov 1965: In Indonesia (Kowani expels Gerwani)
Izvestiia, 4 Nov 1965, p. 2, international commentary: Antara reports the Congress of Indonesian Women (Kowani) expelled the CPI's women's organisation Gerwani; also Supreme Court dismissals, 57 PKI deputies suspended (Lukman, Njoto), about 3,000 arrested near Yogyakarta, and books of 'implicated' authors removed from
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
National Front Head Briefs Women's Congress (FBIS, 14 Nov 1965)
FBIS item (Jakarta radio, 14 Nov 1965): National Front secretary-general Sudibjo briefed Kowani leaders and affiliated organisations, saying the 30 September Movement, especially PKI elements and mass organisations, split revolutionary unity and weakened the Dwikora offensive. He urged mass action consolidated under Su
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
Fighting in Jakarta: students storm Sukarno's palace
De Nieuwe Limburger, 25 Feb 1966: students storm Sukarno's palace after the swearing-in of the new cabinet; Sukarno calls them 'madmen' and the cabinet is derided as a 'Gestapu cabinet'. A photo caption notes that KOWANI members also joined the mass gathering at the palace. Gerwani is not named.
Subandrio Speech at International Women's Day Meeting (FBIS, 8 Mar 1966)
FBIS item (Jakarta radio, 8 Mar 1966): Subandrio's speech at the International Women's Day rally in Senayan, sponsored by the National Front and Kowani. He denied that Indonesia had veered right, urged solidarity with progressive states and Nasakom, and said women played an important role. Gerwani is not named.
Berita Yudha, 11 May 1966: Indonesian Women's Congress (Barindi)
Berita Yudha, 11 Mei 1966: 'Kongres Wanita Indonesia' (Barindi). Opinion article on the reorganisation of KOWANI after Subandrio's arrest: removal of coordinator Hurustiati Subandrio and the secretary, with a congress planned; accuses Hurustiati of dictating.
Berita Yudha, 4 October 1966
Berita Yudha, 4 Oktober 1966. Report of a rally of some 3,500 women of KOWANI, KAWI and BPOW at Lubang Buaya (3 Oct) where, led by Ibu Tien Soeharto, they swore to 'eradicate the gerwani/pki mentality'; Ibu Soeharto says they 'practised obscenities without limit'.
Indonesianizing Marxism-Leninism: Communist Polycentrism 1919-1966 (Silverman, 1967)
PhD dissertation in political science (Claremont, 1967) by Jerry Mark Silverman on national communism and polycentrism, 1919-1966, using the 'political community' framework with the PKI as case study (Section III, chs. 4-5 on PKI independence and ambivalence). It confines its Indonesian analysis to the period before 1
Angkatan Bersendjata, 27 April 1967. South Kalimantan governor Aberani Sulaiman says mothers must 'eradicate women of the Gerwani type, the Lubang Buaya type' to realise 'true Indonesian women'; KOWANI Kartini meeting.
Soviet Woman, 30 Apr 1967: 'Our Indonesian Friends Write'
Soviet Woman, 30 Apr 1967: Nina Voronina's 'Our Indonesian friends write' describes correspondence between the Soviet Women's Committee and Indonesian women (Asih Budi society in Bandung, journalist Sakti Alamsjah, pharmacist Salamah Adipura, Tulungagung teachers' club). Mentions Indonesia only through Kowani-era conta
Archive of the Event of 1965 in Indonesia (compilation incl. Anderson and McVey, Preliminary Analysis of the October 1,
Internet Archive compilation on the 1965 events whose main text is Anderson and McVey's Cornell 'Preliminary Analysis of the October 1, 1965 Coup' (1971), with source documents. It says Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat trainees at Lubang Buaya were drawn into the killings (pp. 22-23) while stressing the army-fed 'orgy' storie
Archive of the Event of 1965 in Indonesia (compilation incl. Anderson and McVey, Preliminary Analysis of the October 1,
Internet Archive compilation on the 1965 events whose main text is Anderson and McVey's Cornell 'Preliminary Analysis of the October 1, 1965 Coup' (1971), with source documents. It says Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat trainees at Lubang Buaya were drawn into the killings (pp. 22-23) while stressing the army-fed 'orgy' storie
The Women's Role in Development in Indonesia (National Committee for International Women's Year, 1975)
Indonesia's official country report for the 1975 International Women's Year World Conference in Mexico City, prepared by the Indonesian National Committee under the Suharto government (Jakarta, June 1975). It gives speeches by Suharto, Tien Suharto and ministers, then chapters on women's legal status, the 1974 Marriage
TAPOL Bulletin no. 44 (London, March 1981): army takeover of the legal sector, Free-Aceh trials, Pramoedya's Buru novels harassed, East Timor, US human rights report. A short item (p.4) reports that eight women political prisoners long held in Bukit Duri were moved to Tangerang women's prison: Sulami (20 years), Sudjin
Social system (on the Indonesian women's movement after 1949)
De Waarheid text (7 May 1988, p.6), apparently a speech/interview by an unnamed Indonesian woman, on the Indonesian women's movement. She says Gerwani, with about 1.5 million members after 1949, gave the movement its mass character defending peasant and working women, while Perwari led on polygamy; after 1965 Gerwani w
Bernas, 8 January 1992: 'Pluralism and Indonesian women'
Bernas (Yogyakarta), 8 Jan 1992, p. 4: essay by a UGM student on Indonesian women's organisations 1945–65, noting sharp Guided Democracy conflict between Gerwani and Kowani culminating in 1965, and criticising later homogenisation.
She Who Earns: The Politics of Prostitution in Java (Sunindyo, 1993)
Saraswati Sunindyo's PhD dissertation (Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1993) is a feminist study of prostitution in Java based on 1987-88 fieldwork in three brothel resorts (Samas, Bandungan, Tretes), with life stories and a history of state policy. Gerwani appears mainly in Chapter 2 (pp. 29-39): it outlin
Kuntilanak Wangi: women's organisations in Indonesia after 1950 (Wieringa, transl. Hersri Setiawan, 1999)
Hersri Setiawan's Indonesian translation (Kalyanamitra, Dec 1999) of Wieringa's 1988 working paper 'The Perfumed Nightmare' on Indonesian women's organisations after 1950, with a compact history of Gerwani and the Lubang Buaya slander. Accessible Indonesian-language Wieringa.