Remaining 29,000 follow: Indonesia releases 2,650 communists after 11 years
Limburgsch Dagblad, 2 December 1976, p. 1: Jakarta announces release of 2,650 communist prisoners held since 1965 without trial, with a promise to free the remaining 29,000 within three years. At a ceremony 150 swore loyalty to Suharto; among them were students, former civil servants and members of the banned women's m
Jakarta releases 2,650 political prisoners
Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, 2 December 1976: Reuter report that Indonesia released 2,650 prisoners held since 1965 without trial. At a ceremony 150 swore loyalty to Suharto, among them students, former civil servants and members of the banned leftist women's movement Gerwani; 29,000 remain, with a promise to free them
Indonesia releases prisoners
Nederlands Dagblad, 3 December 1976, p. 3: Jakarta announces release of 2,650 communist prisoners held since 1965 without trial, repeats the promise to free the remaining 29,000 within three years. At a ceremony 150 swore loyalty to Suharto; they included students, ex-civil servants and members of the banned women's mo
Tempo, 11 December 1976: Political prisoners released
Tempo brief (11 Dec 1976) on release of another 2,500 G30S/PKI prisoners; all 540,000 Group C released, leaving 1,821 Group A, 27,132 Group B, 2,041 Group X. Sudomo says about 500,000 were killed 'but by the people'. Mentions 10 middle-aged women among 319 Group B freed in Jakarta; no Gerwani named.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 19, January 1977. Leads on 'release equals transmigration': Sudomo's 1 Dec 1976 release of 2,500 B-category tapols into 'transmigration centres' and Buru. Reports that women tapols at Plantungan (since 1971) were moved to Bulu prison, Semarang, apparently for transfer to a 'hard-core' women's camp at
TAPOL Bulletin no. 20, February 1977. Leads on East Timor massacres and torture; also a Jakarta detention-centre riot, US and Dutch aid, a Sulawesi tapol interview, 'double counting' of releases and non-involvement certificates. Item 'Plantungan to Close?' (p.4) reports about 100 women tapols moved to Bulu Prison, Sema
TAPOL Bulletin no. 25, December 1977 (London). Focuses on the 20 December releases from Buru and Tanjung Kasau, new 'resettlement' labour camps, the Amnesty report and Sudomo interview, the Sawito trial, student protests, and press reports (Newsweek, Economist, Age, Asahi, De Telegraf, FEER) on Buru. Page 11 rebuts Jen
Daily World, 21 December 1977: Indonesia prisoner release, PKI statement
Daily World, 21 Dec 1977, p. 8: short item that the PKI analysed the Indonesian government's release of 10,000 Communist political prisoners, saying perhaps 60,000-70,000 remain jailed, many since 1965, at least 15,000 died in Palembang and Surabaya camps, and new arrests roughly offset releases. Surrounded by unrelate
Dutch Parliament Written Question 605 (1978): Release of Political Prisoners in Indonesia
Dutch Second Chamber written question no. 605 (Jan 1978) by Henk Waltmans on the Dutch ambassador attending a political prisoner release in Medan, with Minister Van der Klaauw's answer citing Indonesia's end-1979 timetable. Context on release of post-1965 prisoners.
Immediate Release of All Political Prisoners (Komitee Indonesie Poster, c. 1978)
Komitee Indonesie (Amsterdam) campaign poster, c. 1978, demanding immediate release of all political prisoners, with silhouettes of three prisoners behind barbed wire. Dutch solidarity material on post-1965 detainees.
After 12 Years Freedom (Post-Courier, 19 January 1978)
Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, 19 January 1978, p. 5, feature by George Oliver on the release of 10,000 political prisoners held since the 1965 coup, with PKI members forced to swear loyalty. It describes the Category A, B, C system, the 1965-66 massacres (estimates up to half a million killed), Amnesty International's
After 12 Years Freedom (Post-Courier, 19 January 1978), clean OCR
Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, 19 January 1978, p. 5, clean OCR of George Oliver's feature on the release of 10,000 political prisoners held since the 1965 coup (same article as GA-00267). It covers the official and alternative accounts of 30 September, killings of perhaps half a million, half to three-quarters of a mi
Jakarta releases 8,000 political prisoners (The Times, 27 July 1978)
The Times, 27 July 1978, p.6, whole page of overseas news; the relevant item reports (Bandung, 26 July) that more than 8,000 political prisoners, communists jailed since the 1965 coup attempt, were released across Indonesia, about 4,000 in Bandung. They were 'B'-class prisoners who could have been tried; Colonel Sardjo
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
Military Releases 22 Political Prisoners (FBIS, 8 Dec 1978)
FBIS item (ANTARA, 8 Dec 1978): the Jakarta military released 22 'B' category Gestapu/PKI detainees, bringing Jakarta releases to about 380. Siswani, 50, was the only woman, with five children, the youngest aged 5 at detention. Another 1,300 Buru detainees from Jakarta were due for release on 29 December. Gerwani is no
TAPOL Bulletin no. 34 (London, June 1979, 20 pp.): exposes inconsistencies in KOPKAMTIB release figures, resettlement camps in Kalimantan and Buru, the student trials, release oath and ex-tapol discrimination, the Nijmegen psycho-test cover-up, TAPOL's research on 366 1965 trials, IGGI aid. Gerwani is not named; one it
Daily World, 11 October 1979: 2,000 Indonesian political prisoners released
Daily World, 11 Oct 1979, p. 7: world-news column; the Indonesia item reports that 2,000 political prisoners were released from 'special camps' in Jakarta-reported news, most held since 1965-66, with another 2,000 from Buru to follow. Indonesian democratic sources call it positive but note ex-prisoners lose civil right
Released from detention (Sutanti Aidit), Tempo, 5 Jan 1980
Short Tempo item, 5 January 1980, on the release of Dr Soetanti Aidit, 57, widow of PKI chairman D.N. Aidit, from detention on 20 December 1979. Held from 1966 in Bukit Duri women's prison and never moved, she was separated from her five children for 13 years, declines to talk about the past and hopes to practise medic
JPRS 75238, 3 Mar 1980: release of 22 prisoners incl. Dr Sutanti Aidit and Pramoedya (Indonesian press reports)
JPRS translation volume (3 March 1980). Its Indonesia section reprints Indonesian press reports (Sinar Harapan, Pelita, 21 Dec 1979) on the release of Category B prisoners, including Pramoedya Ananta Toer. At the Jakarta ceremony 22 prisoners including Dr Sutanti Aidit were freed; she wept and said she would follow Isl
JPRS 75238, 3 Mar 1980: release of 22 prisoners incl. Dr Sutanti Aidit and Pramoedya (Indonesian press reports)
JPRS translation volume (3 March 1980). Its Indonesia section reprints Indonesian press reports (Sinar Harapan, Pelita, 21 Dec 1979) on the release of Category B prisoners, including Pramoedya Ananta Toer. At the Jakarta ceremony 22 prisoners including Dr Sutanti Aidit were freed; she wept and said she would follow Isl
Letters: Suharto's murderous fear of old, loyal communists
Reader's letter in NRC Handelsblad (6 Jul 1985) answering a plea for clemency for old communists. The writer asserts the Lubang Buaya generals' murder was 'historically' the PKI's work, 'assisted by the communist women of the Gerwani', cites televised exhumation, and attacks Pramoedya's Nobel candidacy. Repeats the New
Not guilty (close of Mohammad Munir's plea)
Continuation of De Waarheid's excerpt of Mohammad Munir's 1973 defence plea (30 Sep 1985, p.5). He denies the PKI attempted a coup, criticises Suharto's economic policy, and demands release of all 30 September prisoners including those in Buru, Nusakambangan and the women's camp Plantungan. A footnote glosses Gerwani a
Indonesian communist free after 20 years in prison (Sundari Abdulrachman)
Front-page De Waarheid report (23 Aug 1989) on the release on 17 August of Sundari Abdulrachman, PKI central committee member and former MP, after over twenty years' imprisonment (arrested Lampung Nov 1968; life sentence 1976, commuted 1982). Notes 51 PKI members still held, fourteen under death sentence, and fourteen
Army Spokesman on Release of Gerwani Ex-Chairwoman Sundari Abdulrahman (FBIS, 23 Aug 1989)
FBIS item (ANTARA, 23 Aug 1989): armed forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Nurhadi Purwosaputro said the release of Sundari Abdulrahman, 68, former chairwoman of Gerwani, followed completion of her term and presidential remission. She had been sentenced to life in 1976 in Tanjungkarang and held in Tangerang Women's Prison. He
Mami, no longer discussed: Sundari Abdulrachman released (Tempo, 2 Sep 1989)
Tempo, 2 Sep 1989. Reports the release from Tangerang women's prison on 17 August 1989 of Sundari Abdulrachman (68), former chair of Gerwani Pusat and PKI member of DPRGR, sentenced to life at Tanjungkarang on 16 Oct 1976 (commuted 1982) for organising Gerwani in Lampung. Officials deny that Inter-Parliamentary Union p
TAPOL Bulletin No. 95, Oct 1989: IPU pressure wins release of jailed MP Siti Sundari Abdulrachman
TAPOL Bulletin no. 95 (October 1989). Under 'IPU pressure wins release for jailed MP' (pp. 12-13) it reports the release on 17 August 1989 of Siti Sundari Abdulrachman, Indonesia's longest-serving woman political prisoner, then 68. A founding member of Gerwis, which became Gerwani, she sat on Gerwani's Executive Counci
My Testimony about G30S (Soebandrio, c. 2000)
Testimony of Dr Soebandrio, Sukarno's deputy prime minister, written after his 1995 release, arguing the 30 September Movement was a provocation exploited by Suharto's circle. Elite memoir; Gerwani is peripheral context.