Night Walk of the Ghosts (Canberra Times, 14 April 1966)
Canberra Times, 14 Apr 1966, p. 2: first part of an anonymous Jakarta writer's anti-PKI reconstruction of 30 Sep-1 Oct 1965, casting Aidit and Untung as plotters and describing the murder of generals, with young Communist 'gangs of youths and girls' trained in camps. Gerwani not named; story continues next day. Cold Wa
Bloody Orgy at Halim Air Base (Canberra Times, 15 April 1966)
Canberra Times, 15 Apr 1966, p. 10: concluding part of a 'Special Correspondent' account repeating the Lubang Buaya slander. Claims 100 Gerwani women at Halim took razor blades, tortured and mutilated the generals, citing 'Mrs Djamilah' via the Djakarta Mail (15 Nov), singing 'People's Blood'. Adds Nasution escape narr
Bloody Orgy at Halim Air Base (Canberra Times, 15 April 1966), duplicate
Canberra Times, 15 Apr 1966, p. 10: concluding part of a 'Special Correspondent' account repeating the Lubang Buaya slander. Claims 100 Gerwani women at Halim took razor blades, tortured and mutilated the generals, citing 'Mrs Djamilah' via the Djakarta Mail (15 Nov), singing 'People's Blood'. Adds Nasution escape narr
Atrocities: account of the generals' killing and alleged Gerwani role
De Tijd article "Gruwelen" (23 Apr 1966) recounting the 1 Oct 1965 killings of the generals, claiming a hundred Gerwani women at Halim took part in torturing them with knives and razor blades after "training" including sexual orgies and blood oaths, citing a 15-year-old "Miss Djamilah" and the Djakarta Mail of 5 Nov. A
Atrocities: account of the generals' killing and alleged Gerwani role (duplicate record)
De Tijd article "Gruwelen" (23 Apr 1966) recounting the 1 Oct 1965 killings of the generals, claiming a hundred Gerwani women at Halim took part in torturing them with knives and razor blades after "training" including sexual orgies and blood oaths, citing a 15-year-old "Miss Djamilah" and the Djakarta Mail of 5 Nov. D
Vilification of Sukarno after loss of 'president for life' title
Commentary by C.H. Schaap in De Tijd (10 Sep 1966) on the campaign to vilify Sukarno after he lost the "president for life" title, including his private life and wives (Fatmawati, Hartini, Ratna Sari Dewi, Haryati). It says this is "a slap in the face for the Indonesian women's movement, which strives for monogamy"; Ge
Straits Times, 15 Sep 1966: students open new assault on Hartini
Straits Times, 15 Sep 1966 (lead only). The Bandung and Jakarta chapters of the Indonesian Action Front (KAMI) demanded that President Sukarno resign and answer before a special military tribunal, with an attack on Hartini. Matched on Gerwani; lead does not mention it.
Still three wives
Brief Amigoe di Curaçao item, 17 Sept 1966, on Sukarno's wives. It states Hartini, his 42-year-old second wife, is a 'leading member' of Gerwani, which was banned after the failed coup. Also recalls Mochtar Lubis's 1957 imprisonment for criticising the marriage. Claim of Hartini's Gerwani leadership is made without evi
Press (Christchurch), 8 Oct 1966, short item with photo: anti-Communist students demonstrating in Jakarta demand the arrest and trial of Hartini Sukarno, the President's second wife, for economic deviation, affiliation with Communist leaders and patronage of Gerwani, whose members are said to have played a major role i
Students Demand Trial for Mrs Hartini Sukarno (Press, Christchurch, 8 October 1966), photograph clipping
Photograph-only clipping from the Press (Christchurch), 8 Oct 1966: demonstrators with banners and flags in Jakarta, one banner partly legible; illustrates the students' demand to try Hartini Sukarno for patronage of Gerwani. No caption text in this clipping.
Students Demand Trial for Mrs Hartini Sukarno (Press, Christchurch, 8 October 1966), caption clipping
Caption clipping from the Press (Christchurch), 8 Oct 1966: anti-Communist students in Jakarta demand Hartini Sukarno's arrest and trial for economic deviation, affiliation with Communist leaders and patronage of Gerwani, 'whose members are said to have played a major role' in the killing of six Army generals in Octobe
Not the old Subandrio (The Scotsman, 29 October 1966)
The Scotsman, 29 Oct 1966, 'Not the old Subandrio': profile of Sukarno's former foreign minister, condemned to death by a military tribunal for treason and bearing 'heavy responsibility for the rise of the PKI'. It traces his career and notes he is a scapegoat the Suharto regime can blame while Sukarno is retained for
Military Trial: Woman Named (Suwarti, PKI Central Committee), The Press, 19 Nov 1966
Short NZPA-Reuter dispatch in The Press (Christchurch), 19 Nov 1966, citing Antara: the first woman member of the banned PKI to face trial will appear before a special military court in South Sumatra. She is named only as Suwarti, a Central Committee member. The sweep tentatively identifies her as Suwarti Bintang Surad
Toronto Daily Star, 20 Dec 1966: Indonesian Red's wife (arrest of Mrs Aidit)
Page 17 of the Toronto Daily Star (20 Dec 1966), a general world-news page. A short wire item headed 'Indonesian Red's wife' reports, citing the army paper Berita Yudha, the arrest of Mrs Aidit, a doctor and chairman of the Communist women's organization, accused of propaganda after the coup. The OCR is badly garbled;
Vancouver Sun, 20 Dec 1966: 'Family Captured' (wife and daughter of D.N. Aidit)
Reuters item on a Vancouver Sun 'Names in the News' page (20 December 1966): the wife and daughter of D.N. Aidit, former Indonesian Communist leader, 'have been captured' in Jakarta; Mrs Aidit, a doctor, is described as chairman of the Communist women's (movement, text cut off). The wife is Sutanti Aidit, presented as
Berita Harian, 21 Dec 1966: Aidit's wife arrested
Berita Harian, 21 Dec 1966 (UPI, lead only). Reports the arrest of D.N. Aidit's wife, described as a leader of the women's wing Gerwani, who had been under intelligence watch since the coup and was a very active communist.
Eastern Sun, 21 Dec 1966: Wife of Aidit captured
Eastern Sun, 21 Dec 1966 (UPI, lead only). Aidit's wife, a leader of Indonesia's communist women's organisation, was captured; intelligence agents had watched her since the coup and described her as a dedicated Communist.
Straits Times, 21 Dec 1966: Mrs Aidit and daughter captured in Kebayoran
Straits Times, 21 Dec 1966 (lead only). Berita Yudha reported that Aidit's widow and her daughter were captured in Kebayoran, Jakarta; Aidit had been shot dead in an ambush in Solo a year earlier.
Army seizes Aidit's wife (Berita Harian, 1966)
Berita Harian, 21 December 1966, p. 1, UPI: the wife of D.N. Aidit, described as a leader of the communist women's section (Gerwani), is arrested; per the paper 'Harian Perang' she had been watched since the coup and stayed very active as a fugitive. Short item; she is not named in the text.
Mrs. Aidit Reported Seized (New York Times, 21 Dec 1966)
New York Times headline item, 21 December 1966, p. 16: 'Mrs. Aidit Reported Seized'. Per the sweep log it reports the arrest of Dr Soetanti Aidit, wife of PKI chairman D.N. Aidit. Only the citation header was captured, not the article text.
Action against Sukarno continues
Amigoe di Curaçao wire report, 22 Dec 1966: Indonesian chiefs of staff warn against illegal action as students demand Sukarno resign over the 1965 coup. A Mother's Day meeting of women's organisations at Sukarno's palace (organised by the PNI women's league) was boycotted by other groups including the women's action fr
Sukarno Will Explain His Actions (Canberra Times, 6 January 1967)
Canberra Times, 6 Jan 1967, p. 1 (AAP): Sukarno promises a written account of his policies and role in the 1965 coup within a week; Cabinet Presidium plans debt-rescheduling teams; Indonesia to hold West Irian plebiscite in 1969. A brief item says Mrs Tanti Aidit, wife of the dead PKI chairman, captured last month, wil
Sukarno Will Explain His Actions (Canberra Times, 6 January 1967), duplicate
Canberra Times, 6 Jan 1967, p. 1 (AAP): Sukarno promises a written account of his policies and role in the 1965 coup within a week; Cabinet Presidium plans debt-rescheduling teams; Indonesia to hold West Irian plebiscite in 1969. A brief item says Mrs Tanti Aidit, wife of the dead PKI chairman, captured last month, wil
ANP news report, 17 February 1967 (Indonesia: four PKI leaders arrested)
ANP radio bulletin, 17 Feb 1967: four prominent banned-PKI members arrested in Jakarta, three of them Central Committee members (Rachmat, 'Mrs Soedjimah' [Sudjinah] and Mrs Soelami [Sulami]). The last two were also leading figures in Gerwani. Documents the arrest of two top Gerwani leaders.
A Fighting Editor: Jogjakarta (Canberra Times, 3 April 1967)
Canberra Times, 3 Apr 1967, p. 2: Creighton Burns profiles Jussac Margo Rahardjo, editor of Pelopor Jogja, a former Radio Australia announcer turned anti-Communist propagandist. In 1965 local authorities, he says, used Gerwani, which then controlled the Jogjakarta federation of women's associations, as 'the lever' to p
A Fighting Editor: Jogjakarta (Canberra Times, 3 April 1967), duplicate
Canberra Times, 3 Apr 1967, p. 2: Creighton Burns profiles Jussac Margo Rahardjo, editor of Pelopor Jogja, a former Radio Australia announcer turned anti-Communist propagandist. In 1965 local authorities, he says, used Gerwani, which then controlled the Jogjakarta federation of women's associations, as 'the lever' to p
Behind the news: Chinese in Indonesia
Leeuwarder Courant, 24 May 1967, p. 1: front-page background column on the persecution of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia after 1965, citing camps in Medan, roundups in Borneo, closed Chinese schools in East Java, and the mass killings of communists and suspects in which Chinese families died. The tone is stereotyping. Ger
Straits Times, 22 Jun 1967: woman Red gets life sentence (Palembang)
Straits Times, 22 Jun 1967 (lead only). A special military tribunal in Palembang sentenced Mrs Suwardiningsih, a local communist leader, to life imprisonment for complicity in the 1965 coup attempt; she was the first woman tried by that tribunal.
Communist leader in West Java captured near Bandung: Gerwani members arrested (Berita Harian, 1967)
Berita Harian, 11 July 1967, p. 3, Reuters: the army announces capture near Bandung of Yakob Margolang, who allegedly tried to form a new Communist party in West Java; several women believed to be members of Gerwani, 'the secret organisation of Communist women', were also arrested. Context: army warnings against pro-Su
Red Cross gets new uniforms (note on arrest of Gerwani's former treasurer)
Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, 2 September 1967, p. 7: page-column item on new Red Cross uniforms, followed by a short wire note that Mrs Djoebaedah, former treasurer of the PKI women's movement (Gerwani), was arrested in Jakarta, per an Indonesian paper, accused of taking part in the torture and murder of six generals on