The arrest of Mrs Trimurti (full page, 21 Sept 1951)
Full page of De Nieuwsgier, 21 Sept 1951, with the same PIA report on S.K. Trimurti's arrest: Gerwis, whose chair she is, relays the Attorney General's explanation that it was decided in mid-August and carried out at the immigration office by coincidence. Other items on the page (British elections, desawacht, Kendal ho
Merdeka, 21 September 1951: On the arrest of S.K. Trimurti
Merdeka, 21 September 1951 (hlm. 2): 'Sekitar penangkapan S.K. Trimurti': Gerwis central board communiqué relaying in nine points the Attorney General's answers on the arrest of its vice-chair; ordered mid-August, letters found, detention depending on her statements.
Abuses in Indonesian prisons: conditions of the August 1951 detainees
De Waarheid, 27 Oct 1951, p. 3: correspondent's article on poor food, medical care and conditions of those arrested in Indonesia since August 1951 under the Sukiman government (Cipinang prison, Malang, Banten), including named detainees. Ends with a Gerwis statement calling the arrest of its leader (S.K.) Trimurti and
Comrade Sri Panggihan has died (Harian Rakjat, 9 January 1952)
Harian Rakjat, 9 Jan 1952 (four-page issue; p.4), carries a notice from the Gerwis national board (Pengurus Besar, Jakarta, 5 Jan 1952) mourning Sri Panggihan, who died 26 Dec 1951 at Kadipolo hospital, Solo. It calls her one of the promoters of Gerwis, active in organising the 1950 fusion congress in Semarang. Rest of
Mrs Salawati Daud reports on meeting with Kahar Muzakar (Harian Rakjat, 10 April 1952)
Harian Rakjat, 10 Apr 1952, p.4 (Antara, Makassar 9 April): Nyonya Salawati Daud's report after meeting rebel leader Kahar Muzakar in the mountains is receiving government attention; Kahar's demands are said to disappoint the governor and cannot be met. The issue also reports a Gerwis role in the national child-defence
Open letter of Pemuda Rakyat to Chinese youth, Francisca Fanggidaej (Harian Rakjat, 5 May 1952)
Harian Rakjat, 5 May 1952. On p. 4 the open letter of Pemuda Rakyat's central leadership (DPP) to Chinese youth for the 4 May anniversary, signed by deputy chair Francisca Fanggidaej, praises the May Fourth tradition and anti-imperialist, anti-fascist solidarity. The same page mentions Gerwis's Rawasari branch kinderga
S.K. Trimurti (Gerwis) on National Awakening Day, 20 May (Harian Rakjat, 20 May 1952)
Harian Rakjat, 20 May 1952. A front-page item quotes S.K. Trimurti of Gerwis telling the paper that 20 May should truly become a day of unity in the struggle for independence; she recalls the 1948 Yogyakarta commemoration and the unrealised National Program, blaming organisational fragmentation. The issue also covers S
Mrs Salawati threatened
Short item, Java-Bode, 24 May 1952, p. 2: Salawati, ex-mayor of Manado, tells student ex-soldiers that Kahar Muzakkar ordered his followers to arrest and kill her.
Mrs Salawati threatened
Short item, Indische Courant voor Nederland, 31 May 1952, p. 2: Salawati, ex-mayor of Manado, tells student ex-soldiers that Kahar Muzakkar ordered followers to arrest and kill her.
Harian Rakjat, 26 June 1952: Fanggidaej in nine-organisation delegation; Gerwis Semarang Froebel school
Harian Rakjat, Jakarta, 26 June 1952 (full issue; p. 1 relevant). Francisca Fanggidaej speaks to the paper as one of 17 members of a delegation of nine organisations (peace committee, workers, students, women's, youth and ex-combatant groups) concerning protests over the Korean war and germ warfare. Also a report that
Harian Rakjat, 17 July 1952: Mrs Salawati Daud awarded a bicycle (South Sulawesi guerrilla)
Harian Rakjat, Jakarta, 17 July 1952 (full issue; p. 3 relevant). Reports that Ny. Salawati Daud received a motorised bicycle (bromfiets) as a token of honour for her role as an active woman guerrilla in South Sulawesi since the Japanese occupation. Elsewhere, Perwari and other women's groups reject Government Regulati
Manifesto on Tunisia: committee backs Tunisian independence struggle
De Nieuwsgier, 17 Sept 1953: the Committee to Support Tunisia issues a manifesto backing Tunisia's freedom struggle against French policy, signed by many party leaders and organisations. S.K. Trimurti signs on behalf of Gerwis, with Maria Ulfah Santoso for Kowani and others for PNI, Masjumi, PSI, Parkindo. Shows Gerwis
Indonesia evening of the Dutch Women's Movement announced
De Waarheid, 15 Jan 1954, p. 2: brief notice that, in view of an upcoming Gerwis congress, the NVB organises an 'Indonesia evening' on 27 January in the Doelenzaal, Amsterdam, with a speech by Annie Averink, a reading from Max Havelaar by Bep van Geel and a film on Indonesian women's lives.
Warmth despite cold on the Indonesian evening: NVB Amsterdam event report
De Waarheid, 28 Jan 1954, p. 2: report on the NVB Amsterdam 'Indonesia evening' attended by about 200 women, with krontjong music, a reading from Multatuli, a film from the High Commission, and Annie Averink's speech on Indonesia's colonial past and on Gerwis's tens of thousands of members campaigning for a democratic
Ensiklopedia Indonesia, part II: important contribution to knowledge of this country
Algemeen Indisch Dagblad review (1955-12-19, p. 2) of volume II (F-M) of the Ensiklopedia Indonesia. The reviewer praises it but objects to terminology on the Madiun affair and states it is wrong to list the Gerakan Revolusi Rakjat or the Gerwis as communist organisations, proposing the Ministry of Information's 'Kepar
Birth and Growth of the Indonesian Women's Movement, Part III (Sulami, 1959)
Part III of Sulami's 1959 history: KOWANI conflicts and 1948 Solo congress, founding of Gerwis at Semarang (4 June 1950), its 1954 renaming as Gerwani, structure with six commissions, membership growth (6,000 Java 1951; 642,460 in January 1957; 700,000 at the Third Congress, Solo, Dec 1957), 1955 election results (5 MP
Biographic Data on Members of the Gotong Royong Parliament (US Embassy despatch, July 1960)
US State Department Central Files despatch from Embassy Djakarta (July 1960, chargé Rolland Buchner): biographic data, with alphabetical index, on about 110 former members of parliament appointed to the Gotong Royong parliament, grouped by party. Biographies of women MPs include Gerwani figures. Mrs Mudigdio (Gerwis/Ge
Biographical Profiles of DPR-GR Members, Aug 1960
Compilation of US embassy Djakarta biographical despatches (2 Aug 1960) on members of the new Gotong Royong parliament. Contains profiles of Gerwani figures: Umi Sardjono (Gerwis then Gerwani chairwoman, WIDF delegate 1960), Francisca Fanggidaej (PKI women's group Gerwani board), Setiati Surasto (SARBUPRI, Gerwani link
A Little about the Indonesian Women's Movement
Api Kartini (late 1964) history of the Indonesian women's movement for Youth Pledge Day, tracing Kartini, Isteri Sedar, Perwari, wartime Fujinkai and Gerwis's founding on 4 June 1950 from the Gerakan Wanita Sedar, its name change to Gerwani after merging with railway workers' wives and Perwin Menado, joining Kowani and
TAPOL Bulletin no. 83 (London, Oct 1987) on East Timor at the UN, Kedung Ombo, labour unrest, Muslim trials and transmigration. A boxed item 'Serving 26 years for a 20-year sentence' profiles Siti Sundari, 66, a founding member of Gerwis and Gerwani, PKI candidate in 1955 and 1964 central committee candidate, jailed si
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
From politics to mysticism: S.K. Trimurti in her own words (Tempo, 21 Apr 1990)
Tempo profile (21 April 1990), in S.K. Trimurti's own first-person voice, of her life from teacher and Partindo cadre to labour minister and spiritualist. She says she co-founded Gerwis around 1950 (Ketua III, Yogyakarta), that Gerwis became Gerwani at its third congress under Umi Sardjono, and that in 1965 she quit Ge
TAPOL Bulletin No. 169/170, Jan/Feb 2003: obituary of Sulami (Gerwani deputy secretary-general)
TAPOL Bulletin no. 169/170 (Jan/Feb 2003), with Carmel Budiardjo's obituary of Sulami (pp. 13-15). Born Sragen 15 Aug 1926, she joined Gerwis (Gerwani from 1951), became East Java executive member (1954) and second deputy secretary-general (1957), attended WIDF meetings, and was deputy secretary-general in 1965. Arrest
Notes of Sulami, Former Gerwani Secretary-General (YPKP 1965, 2006)
Sulami's reflective essay (written 1992, posted 9 Nov 2006) on why revolutionary women founded Gerwis on 4 June 1950, its rejection of 'man-hating feminism', its actions such as Tanjung Morawa and International Women's Day. First-person account by a Gerwani secretary-general.
Gerwani and women's political struggle (Rio Apinino, IndoPROGRESS, 2013)
Rio Apinino's 2013 IndoPROGRESS review essay of the Indonesian edition of Wieringa's Gerwani study: the film's Lubang Buaya scenes, Gerwis's founding in Semarang on 4 June 1950, PKI influence and the persistent 'whore' stigma. Chapter-by-chapter summary.
History of Gerwis and the emergence of Gerwani (detikNews, 2013)
detikNews feature (2013) on Gerwis's founding on 4 June 1950 by six organisations (Rupindo, Persatuan Wanita Sedar, Istri Sedar, Gerwindo, Wanita Madura, PPRI) and founders Trimurti, Salawati Daud, Umi Sardjono, Tris Metty and Sri Panggihan, with I.G.A.A. Ratih. Concise account of origins.
Arjo Sutiyem, Activist and Victim of 65 (Jurnal Perempuan, 2014)
Jurnal Perempuan profile (10 Oct 2014) of Arjo Sutiyem, a Boyolali farmer who joined Gerwis in the early 1950s, founded the Musuk branch (2 Feb 1952), led Boyolali's organisation and ran women's literacy schools, then was handed to the army in 1965. Grassroots Gerwis/Gerwani testimony.
Suti, Gerwani Activist: In a Mother's Womb We Are All the Same (Jurnal Perempuan, 2016)
Jurnal Perempuan feature (Jan 2016) on a Jejer Wadon visit to Suti (Arjo Sutiyem), 96, in Musuk, Boyolali: her reasons for joining the women's movement, early life, chairing Gerwis Boyolali with 4,000 members from 1952. Adds biographical detail to the 2014 profile.
The Story of Suti, 96-Year-Old Gerwani Activist and 1965 Survivor (Rappler, 2016)
Rappler first-person account (2 Feb 2016) of Suti (Arjo Sutiyem), 96: born 1920 in Musuk, third wife in an arranged marriage, joined Gerwis in 1951, chaired Musuk and Boyolali Gerwani, then persecuted in 1965. Fullest of three texts on her.
S.K. Trimurti, Indonesian woman fighter (Jazimah, 2016)
Ipong Jazimah's 2016 biographical sketch of S.K. Trimurti (1912-2008): journalist, labour minister, Gerwis co-founder, Petisi 50 signatory. Pages 50-51 cover Gerwis's founding; relies on a few secondary sources.