Release of Indonesian women demanded: Women's Action Day 1975 protest letter
De Waarheid, 2 Jun 1975, p. 1: report that the NVB's Women's Action Day '75 sent a protest letter to the Suharto regime (copy to minister Pronk) demanding release of four Gerwani women: life imprisonment demanded against Sulami, secretary of Gerwani, and 20 years each against Sri Ambar Rukmijati, Sudjinah and Suharti H
Jakarta (Reuter): female communist leader sentenced
Trouw (12 Jun 1975), short Reuter dispatch via Antara: Sutinah Wiryosutejo (Sutinah Wiryosutedjo), a former member of the banned women's organisation Gerwani, sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for involvement in the 1965 'coup'. The court found her role proven the week before. Names a Gerwani member tried long after
NVB demands freedom for Gerwani women (full newspaper page, 21 Jun 1975)
Full De Waarheid page, 21 Jun 1975 (p. 5), mostly unrelated (Mokum 700 festival, EEC steel output, farmers' protests). The relevant article reports the NVB's call to protest the Jakarta trial of four Gerwani women: life demanded for Sulami (about 50), 20 years for Suharti Harsono, Sri Ambar Rukmijati and Sudjinah, accu
Trial (four Gerwani women in Jakarta)
De Waarheid, 21 Jun 1975, p. 5: boxed text on the Jakarta trial of four Gerwani women: life demanded against Gerwani secretary Sulami (aged 50) for helping reorganise the PKI after 1965; with Suharti Harsono, Sri Ambar Rukmijati and Sudjinah accused of typing and passing on pamphlets, forging ID papers and aiding priso
Berkhouwer (also for socialists) goes too far
De Waarheid, 11 Jul 1975, p. 1: report that the four women tried in Jakarta (aged 50-60, arrested 1966, nine years' detention not deducted) rejected all charges; Sri Ambar had earlier refused to testify at the 1967 trial of PKI leader Sudisman unless she could show her torture injuries. The verdict notes no sign of rem
Brave stance before tribunal: 'No regret for activities': heavy sentences against Indonesian women
De Waarheid, 11 Jul 1975, p. 1: report that the Jakarta tribunal sentenced four women: Sulami, secretary of the banned Gerwani, to twenty years; Sudjinah, editor of the organisation's paper, 18 years; Sri Ambar, SOBSI board member, and Suharti, BTI board member, 15 years each. Headlined as courageous conduct before the
Berkhouwer (also for socialists) goes too far (reprint 12 Jul 1975)
De Waarheid, 12 Jul 1975, p. 1: report that the four women tried in Jakarta (aged 50-60, arrested 1966, nine years' detention not deducted) rejected all charges; Sri Ambar had earlier refused to testify at the 1967 trial of PKI leader Sudisman unless she could show her torture injuries. The verdict notes no sign of rem
Brave stance before tribunal: heavy sentences against Indonesian women (reprint 12 Jul 1975)
De Waarheid, 12 Jul 1975, p. 1: reprint of the report that the Jakarta tribunal sentenced four women: Sulami, secretary of the banned Gerwani, to twenty years; Sudjinah, editor of the organisation's paper, 18 years; Sri Ambar (SOBSI board) and Suharti (BTI board) 15 years each. Headlined 'courageous conduct before the
Daily World, 26 July 1975: Women leaders jailed by Indonesian junta
Daily World (New York), 26 July 1975, p. 9: Foreign Department report that a Jakarta court on 16 June 1975 sentenced four women after a five-month trial: Sulami (general secretary of the Indonesian Women's Movement, 20 years), Sudjinah (magazine editor, 18), Sri Ambar (SOBSI women's section, 15) and Suharti Alimarkaban
Indonesian Women (Tharunka, 30 July 1975)
Tharunka (UNSW student paper), 30 July 1975, p. 8, article 'Indonesian Women' on women political prisoners after 1965. It describes Gerwani as the largest left women's organisation, targeted by a press campaign depicting members as sex-maniacs and Lubang Buaya participants, and banned in October 1965. It reports at lea
Indonesian Women: The Banned Women's Organisation (Tharunka, 30 July 1975)
Tharunka (UNSW student paper), 30 July 1975, p. 8, clean OCR of the article 'Indonesian Women: The Banned Women's Organisation' (same article as GA-00274). It presents Gerwani as unaffiliated with the PKI, then attacked in 1965 by press stories of 'Gerwani prostitutes', 'obscene sex-dancing' and genital mutilation of g
TAPOL Bulletin no. 11, August 1975, on the 'show trials' ahead of the tenth anniversary. Key item (p.3): four women, including Gerwani General Secretary Sulami, sentenced after a five-month trial to 15-20 years for subversion (helping the PKPS movement, illegal cells, alleged recruitment of cooks and seamstresses for L
Women, mothers (what Suharto's envoys kept silent about)
De Waarheid, 20 Sep 1975, p. 3: article asking what the Indonesian parliamentary delegation did not mention: Plantungan women's camp in Central Java (386 women), Bukit Duri and Semarang prisons, and named women prisoners: Umi Sardjono, chair of the underground Gerwani, vice-chairs Salawati Daud and Mudigdio, Maasje Siw
[MORE] Jan 1976: Writers in Prison (Barbara Sproul), with entry on Sudjinah
Issue of the New York media magazine [MORE] (January 1976) with Barbara Sproul's Amnesty-linked article on writers jailed by repressive regimes. Its Indonesia list describes Sudjinah as a writer who contributed short stories to Harian Rakjat and worked on the editorial staff of Api Kartini, journal of Gerwani; arrested
[MORE] Jan 1976: Writers in Prison (Barbara Sproul), with entry on Sudjinah
Issue of the New York media magazine [MORE] (January 1976) with Barbara Sproul's Amnesty-linked article on writers jailed by repressive regimes. Its Indonesia list describes Sudjinah as a writer who contributed short stories to Harian Rakjat and worked on the editorial staff of Api Kartini, journal of Gerwani; arrested
Interview with Maria Ulfah Santoso: PKI and Gerwani tried to control Kowani (Tempo, c. 1977; JPRS)
JPRS translation of a Tempo profile (c. early 1977) of Maria Ulfah Santoso (b. Serang 1911): her marriage to political prisoner Soebadio Sastrosatomo with Subandrio's help (Jan 1964), early women's-movement work, Perwari and Kowani, and the PSI. She says that during her 11 years leading Kowani from 1952, 'PKI and Gerwa
Unclassified US State Department cable (7 Sep 1977) reporting Amnesty International's list of 62 imprisoned or disappeared former legislators; Indonesia has the longest list (21). Among the Indonesians named are Kartinah Kurdi and 'Umiharti Sardjono' (Umi Sardjono), both former Gerwani leaders, still detained 12 years
US Embassy Singapore cable, 1 Sep 1977: Dr. Sutanti Aidit, head of Gerwani 1962-65
Declassified US cable (Singapore 3809, 1 Sep 1977) from Embassy Singapore's Ingraham answering a State query on Dr. Sutanti Aidit. He recalls that in 1962-65 she was widely known as head of Gerwani and its representative on the PKI Central Committee, calls Gerwani 'an integral part of the PKI', and suggests Amnesty's i
US Embassy Singapore cable, 1 Sep 1977: Dr. Sutanti Aidit, head of Gerwani 1962-65
Declassified US cable (Singapore 3809, 1 Sep 1977) from Embassy Singapore's Ingraham answering a State query on Dr. Sutanti Aidit. He recalls that in 1962-65 she was widely known as head of Gerwani and its representative on the PKI Central Committee, calls Gerwani 'an integral part of the PKI', and suggests Amnesty's i
US State Department weekly status cable, 13 Jul 1978: 'Mrs Aidit to face trial'
Declassified State Department weekly status cable (13 Jul 1978). Citing FBIS and Kuala Lumpur radio, it reports that Dr Sutanti Aidit, widow of D.N. Aidit, will be tried for complicity in the 1965 coup attempt. It describes her as a member of the Central Committee of Gerwani, the PKI women's affiliate, and an Amnesty I
US State Department weekly status cable, 13 Jul 1978: 'Mrs Aidit to face trial'
Declassified State Department weekly status cable (13 Jul 1978). Citing FBIS and Kuala Lumpur radio, it reports that Dr Sutanti Aidit, widow of D.N. Aidit, will be tried for complicity in the 1965 coup attempt. It describes her as a member of the Central Committee of Gerwani, the PKI women's affiliate, and an Amnesty I
Trial against Tanti Aidit
De Waarheid, 25 Jul 1978, p. 2: report that the army paper Berita Yudha says a charge has been drawn up against Tanti (Soetanti) Aidit, physician and widow of PKI chair D.N. Aidit, arrested after 1965; she will be tried on allegations that as a board member of Gerwani she was involved in the '30 September Movement'. Th
TAPOL Bulletin no. 29 (London, August 1978): assessment of the 1977–78 prisoner releases, resettlement camps, ILO criticism, Wertheim on Suharto and the Latief trial, ex-tapol discrimination, and trials. Page 11 reports that Dr Tanti Aidit, widow of D.N. Aidit and a Gerwani member who ran a Gerwani clinic, is to be tri
Clinic (Gerwani polyclinic 1958, Tanti Aidit)
De Waarheid, 24 Mar 1979, p. 8: sidebar on the clinic Gerwani opened on International Women's Day, 8 March 1958, a polyclinic and advice bureau for women in its building (destroyed in 1965), run by Tanti Aidit, now 12 years in pre-trial detention. Annie van Ommeren recalls the 1975 trial of Sulami (life), Suharti Harso
TAPOL Bulletin No. 37, January 1980: Indonesia's Political Trials
TAPOL Bulletin no. 37 (London, January 1980): editorial on the end of KOPKAMTIB's release plan, plus Julie Southwood's long study of 1,014 political trials since 1966. It notes the 1965 Lubang Buaya claim that communist women castrated the generals, and the 1975 subversion trial of Gerwani's Sulami and Sudjinah, with S
Imprisonment: Wertheim on continued prosecution of Gerwani women
Closing section of a Wertheim piece in De Volkskrant (28 Apr 1981). It states that women active in Gerwani are still prosecuted: in 1979 two were given extremely heavy sentences without credit for detention since 1965, and with six other Gerwani women were moved to Tangerang. The rest concerns ex-CIA officer McGehee an
Harian Rakjat, Daily Newspaper of the Communist Party of Indonesia (Groves, 1983)
Kerry Groves's ANU MA thesis (1983) on Harian Rakjat, the PKI daily: its stance on press freedom, administration, polemics (e.g. with Merdeka, 1964), content and treatment of leaders, drawing on Indonesian sources and interviews with ex-prisoners. Gerwani appears in Chapter VI (pp.142-149) on the paper's women's column
Population movement hits Papuans
De Waarheid report (23 Mar 1985, p.3) on a Dutch parliamentary committee debate criticising Indonesia's transmigration to West Papua. CPN MP Ina Brouwer, pressing minister Schoo on freedom of organisation, states that Gerwani, 'the progressive Indonesian women's movement' that once did much for women, is banned; Schoo
Untung (Djoko Untung and Gatot Sutarjo sentenced to death)
De Waarheid item (21 Aug 1985, p.3) profiling death-row PKI prisoners Djoko Untung and Gatot Sutarjo, sentenced at Blitar on 2 Jan 1976, with Suharto rejecting clemency. Untung's wife Natsia, a known East Java Gerwani member, was arrested in 1968 and still imprisoned; Sutarjo's wife Poedji Aswati was jailed for 15 year
TAPOL Bulletin no. 80 (London, April 1987) on East Timor, the 1987 elections, the Societies Law and ex-tapol rights. A short 'Gerwani members arrested' item reports a woman called 'Mrs Har', said to be a former Gerwani member, arrested with her three daughters in Tanjung Priok (14 Feb 1987), and another alleged Gerwani