US Embassy Singapore cable, 6 Oct 1977: was Dr Sutanti Aidit a PKI Central Committee member?
Confidential cable from the US Embassy Singapore (Ingraham) to State, 6 Oct 1977, declassified 2009. It debates whether Dr Sutanti Aidit was a PKI Central Committee member, prompted by Congressman Koch's queries. He recalls a 1974-75 Jakarta message saying she was a Class A prisoner whom the Indonesian government claim
US Embassy Singapore cable, 6 Oct 1977: was Dr Sutanti Aidit a PKI Central Committee member?
Confidential cable from the US Embassy Singapore (Ingraham) to State, 6 Oct 1977, declassified 2009. It debates whether Dr Sutanti Aidit was a PKI Central Committee member, prompted by Congressman Koch's queries. He recalls a 1974-75 Jakarta message saying she was a Class A prisoner whom the Indonesian government claim
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
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
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
Lubis' Land under the Rainbow: history with sloppiness, errors and bias
Joop Morriën's critical review in De Waarheid (6 June 1979, p.5) of Mochtar Lubis's illustrated history 'Het land onder de regenboog'. He faults its errors and 'virulent anti-communism', says it adopts Suharto's version of 1965, and notes the Madiun 1948 and 1965 killings of communists and Lekra artists' imprisonment.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 47 (London, September 1981): East Timor offensive and the East Timor assembly's report, West Papuan refugees, Pramoedya's re-arrest, the new Procedural Code, and rape and lesbianism cases. Its new 'Spotlight on a Prisoner' profiles Suwardiningsih, the only woman full member of the PKI Central Committ
Berita Yudha, 13 March 1982: 'Latent danger of extreme left and right in Indonesia' (4)
Berita Yudha, 13 Mar 1982, p. 1: final part of a series retelling the official PKI chronology to 30 September 1965 and asserting that 3,000 'youth and Gerwani' trained at Lubang Buaya.
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
Ties (Joop Morrien on ties between CPN and PKI)
De Waarheid profile (11 Nov 1985, p.15) of CPN's Joop Morriën, who spent eight months in Indonesia in 1954 (Java tour, Yogyakarta artists' colony, meetings with unionists and Gerwani members) and planned Dutch-language book publication. He recalls being treated as PKI representative on the Prague journal 'Problems of P
People's Daily World, 4 November 1986: Indonesia executes communists
People's Daily World, 4 Nov 1986, p. 7-A: short item on worldwide protests against the execution of nine Communist political prisoners in Indonesia under Suharto, several jailed for years; a PKI representative links the executions to the 45% rupiah devaluation. Readers urged to write to Suharto. Surrounded by Haiti and
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
Former Golkar Official Linked to PKI (FBIS, 22 Oct 1988)
FBIS item (AFP via Hong Kong, 22 Oct 1988): security forces accused Akhmad Syabrun Caropeboka, 56, former South Sumatra Golkar treasurer, of past links to the banned PKI, hiding past membership of a PKI-related organisation. Other Golkar officials were similarly accused that year. Gerwani is not named; the listed perso
Harian Neraca serial 'Siapa menabur angin akan menuai badai' (20): PKI in 1954-55
Harian Neraca, 24 Jan 1989, p. 10: instalment 20 of Soegiarso Soerojo's anti-communist history on the PKI in 1954–55 (Fifth Congress, Bandung Conference); Gerwani mentioned in passing.
Harian Neraca serial 'Siapa menabur angin akan menuai badai' (34): 1962-64, SOKSI and Gerwasi
Harian Neraca, 9 Feb 1989, p. 10: instalment 34 covering 1962–64; notes the army-initiated SOKSI and its onderbouw bodies, including 'GERWASI to counterbalance GERWANI'.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 94 (London, Aug 1989), mostly on East Timor (new arrests, Prabowo-led operations, Bishop Belo's UN letter, asylum seekers), student trials in Yogyakarta, Kedung Ombo, Lampung evictions, forestry and population control. Gerwani is not mentioned. Relevant context: ex-tapols' 'ET' identity cards and 'cl
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
Pravda, 30 Oct 1990: 'Indonesia: strokes to a tragedy of 35 years ago' (V. Shurygin)
Pravda, 30 October 1990 (No. 303), p. 5: V. Shurygin's retrospective 'Indonesia: strokes to a tragedy of 35 years ago' on the 1965 coup, Suharto's rise and the destruction of the PKI by a Pravda correspondent who was in Indonesia. Gerwani appears once, listed as the PKI's women's organisation alongside SOBSI, BTI, Pemu
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. 101 (London, Oct 1990), covering West Papuan border raids, Suharto's 'de-Suharto-ization', new litsus screening rules, Petisi 50 and East Timor at the UN. A page on US embassy collusion reproduces Kathy Kadane's May 1990 interview with ex-deputy chief Jack Lydman about embassy-compiled PKI name lists
TAPOL Bulletin No. 132, December 1995
TAPOL Bulletin no. 132 (December 1995), London-based human rights newsletter, mostly on East Timor (Xanana Gusmao interview, embassy asylum bids), Sri-Bintang Pamungkas's trial, labour unrest and Freeport. Relevant to 1965: 'The spectre haunting Suharto' on the regime's 'formless organisations' communist myth (p.13-16)
Minister Warns of Communist Penetration in Press (FBIS, 7 Aug 1996)
FBIS translated excerpt (Suara Pembaruan, 7 Aug 1996): at a meeting of senior journalists, Information Minister Harmoko warned of PKI penetration of the press and propaganda, praising the New Order. Mrs S.K. Trimurti, 84, was among those given accident insurance cards. Gerwani is not named.
Chaos at Crocodile Hole (The Guardian, 23 May 1998)
The Guardian, 23 May 1998, p.24, Martin Woollacott, 'Chaos at Crocodile Hole': comment on Suharto's fall, arguing it is no triumph and that his legacy of division (military vs Islamists, rich vs poor, ethnic and religious tensions) leaves the country fragile. It opens with the Crocodile Hole (Lubang Buaya) shrine, whos
Tempo, 1 October 2007: Aidit's face on celluloid
Tempo feature (1 Oct 2007) on how D.N. Aidit was portrayed in the New Order film Pengkhianatan G-30-S/PKI, via interviews with Syu'bah Asa, Danarto, Amarzan Ismail Hamid and Jajang C. Noer. Notes thin research and an invented chain-smoking Aidit; context for film propaganda.
The last night: after the headlights went out (Aidit's last night at home, Tempo, 2007)
Tempo piece (1 October 2007) reconstructing D.N. Aidit's last night at home, 30 September 1965, from his son Ilham and brother Murad. His wife Dr Soetanti Aidit angrily quarrels with him and urges him not to leave; he goes anyway. The article sets out the contested versions of where he went that night. Soetanti appears
Tempo, 1 October 2012: AM - 'We never buried them...' (Ansor member's testimony)
Tempo testimony (1 Oct 2012) of 'AM', 70, a former Ansor/Banser member who took part in night-time 'drop-dropan' killings of village-level PKI leaders in Badas and Pare (Jombang-Kediri), Oct-Nov 1965. He says he felt no pity and left bodies unburied, justifying his hatred by PKI land reform actions. Gerwani is not ment
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Burhan Zainuddin Rusjiman - 'I had a licence to kill'
Tempo testimony (1 Oct 2012) of Burhan Zainuddin Rusjiman, 72, 'Burhan Kampak', a former HMI/KAMI/Laskar Ampera member in Yogyakarta given a pistol and 'license to kill' from Nov 1965, who hunted PKI with Kostrad/RPKAD in Yogyakarta, Gunungkidul and Klaten. Motivated by anti-communism and CGMI conflict; Gerwani not men
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Chambali - 'He recited the creed fluently...'
Tempo testimony (1 Oct 2012) of Chambali, 70, former Banser chief of Rengel, Tuban, who describes beheading PKI members at Jurang Watu Rongko in 1965-66 on lists from the district office and military, encouraged by NU leader Kiai Murtadji. Recalls sparing one man who recited the creed. Tempo adds a note on the ravine's
Tempo, 1 October 2012: From the confessions of 1965 executioners
Tempo column (1 Oct 2012) arguing that reconciliation must start from perpetrators' confession. Discusses victim-count disputes (78,000 to 3 million), The Act of Killing and Anwar Congo, Gus Dur's apology versus NU refusals, the Palu mayor's apology, and calls for lifting the ban on Marxism. Gerwani is not mentioned.