Documentary Photographs of Dioramas, Museum of PKI Treachery / Pancasila Sakti Monument, c. 1990-92
Fourteen prints from Edhi Sunarso's archive of Lubang Buaya dioramas, including 'Latihan sukarelawan P.K.I. di Lubang Buaya' and 'Penganiayaan dan pembunuhan di Lubang Buaya'. Titles match the Paseban dioramas opened in 1981. Visual material on the official narrative.
The Guardian (Weekend Guardian), 8 Sept 1990, p.A4, John Gittings, 'The black hole of Bali': long feature on the 1965 massacre (250,000 or more killed), how the killings were organised by the army under Suharto, the Aidit/PKI role, the US list of communists (Martens/Kadane) and US encouragement, survivors ('Tapols') an
President Suharto's Visit to the Museum of PKI Treachery, 1992
Three snapshots of President Suharto's visit to the Museum Pengkhianatan PKI at Lubang Buaya, probably at its 1 Oct 1992 inauguration. Shows him before dioramas made in Edhi Sunarso's workshop.
She Who Earns: The Politics of Prostitution in Java (Sunindyo, 1993)
Saraswati Sunindyo's PhD dissertation (Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1993) is a feminist study of prostitution in Java based on 1987-88 fieldwork in three brothel resorts (Samas, Bandungan, Tretes), with life stories and a history of state policy. Gerwani appears mainly in Chapter 2 (pp. 29-39): it outlin
Berita Yudha, 1 October 1993: 'Facts' (Suharto's speech of 15 October 1965)
Berita Yudha, 1 Oct 1993, p. 2: reprints Maj. Gen. Soeharto's 15 Oct 1965 speech to the Front Nasional from Alex Dinuth's document selection, narrating 1–4 October 1965; Gerwani mentioned.
Hari Kesaktian Pancasila is not only remembering a bloody event
Analisa (Medan), 4 Oct 1997, p. 7: commentary for Hari Kesaktian Pancasila repeating the official G30S account and invoking 'the barbarity of the PKI with its Gerwani and Pemuda Rakyat'.
Berita Yudha, 8 January 1998: 'PKI abducted, killed and dumped the bodies in Lubang Buaya' (M.T. Harjono)
Berita Yudha, 8 Jan 1998, p. 4: final instalment of a hero biography of M.T. Harjono stating PKI antecedents like Pemuda Rakyat, CGMI and Gerwani used volunteer training as a mask, as at Lubang Buaya.
South China Sunday Morning Post, 26 Apr 1998, p.8, Jenny Grant: report on the trial in Medan of the sorcerer Datuk (Achmad Suradji), accused of killing 42 young women. After first confessing he retracted and blamed 'an outlawed communist women's group known as Gerwani', claiming police forced his confession; the articl
South China Sunday Morning Post, 27 Sep 1998, p.8, Jenny Grant: after Suharto's fall, historians and politicians call for a reassessment of the 1965 coup and killings; the government has dropped compulsory screening of the New Order propaganda film. The article repeats that members of 'the communist women's organisatio
Tempo, 29 August 1999: 'Gulag' called the New Order (review of Carmel Budiardjo's memoir)
Tempo book review (29 Aug 1999) of Carmel Budiardjo's prison memoir on New Order detention (Likdam, Bukit Duri, 'bon' interrogations, ET stigma). It records her witness to teenage women political prisoners tortured to make the script of Gerwani's involvement in the Lubang Buaya killings work, and notes she founded Tapo
Remembering and Forgetting at Lubang Buaya (Schreiner, 2003)
Klaus Schreiner's 2003 chapter reading the Monumen Pancasila Sakti at Lubang Buaya as a 'site of memory' and founding shrine of the New Order, noting the 1998 end of the annual film broadcast; applies Halbwachs, Nora and trauma theory. Memory-studies framing.
Saskia Wieringa's Brill encyclopedia entry (2005) on women in Indonesia's revolutionary movements from Kartini to the New Order, noting the 1965 massacres spurred by accusations of sexual perversion against young communist women. Concise reference.
The Construction of History under Indonesia's New Order: the Lubang Buaya official narrative (Djakababa, 2009)
Yosef Djakababa's 2009 Wisconsin dissertation on how the New Order built the official Lubang Buaya narrative (PKI sole mastermind, spontaneous people's response) via army history, Mahmillub trials, the monument, Hari Kesaktian Pancasila and the film. Key study of official memory.
Aku Seorang Gerwani: poem (Omie Lubis, 2009)
Free-verse poem 'Aku Seorang Gerwani' by Omie Lubis (IndoPROGRESS, 5 May 2009): a Gerwani woman's monologue to her child born of rape, describing forced nakedness and forced 'painting of history', ending as a testament to truth and justice. Literary representation.
Tempo, 7 March 2011: A critique of Plantungan (documentary review)
Tempo review (7 Mar 2011) by Martin Aleida of Putu Oka Sukanta's documentary 'Plantungan', screened at GoetheHaus, finding it under-researched. It features former Plantungan prisoners Siti Suratih, Suci Danarti, Pujiati, Mujiati and Sp. Tican and rebuts the Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI film's slander of women; Aleida adds Ta
Generating History: Violence and the Risks of Remembering for Families of Former Political Prisoners (Conroe, 2012)
PhD dissertation (University of Michigan, 2012) by Andrew Conroe: an ethnography of former political prisoners (eks-tapol) and their children and grandchildren in Yogyakarta, centred on the group Fopperham, on memory, silence and uncertain family histories. Gerwani appears through family accounts and events: Bu Marni,
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Film, state terror and the nation's wound (Ariel Heryanto)
Ariel Heryanto essay in Tempo (1 Oct 2012) on state terror, propaganda film and the 1965 wound, from Supersemar and the Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI film to post-1998 indie documentaries and The Act of Killing. One passage states Gerwani leaders were detained, raped, tortured and portrayed as immoral mutilators in army press
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Under Kopkamtib's grip
Tempo explainer (1 Oct 2012) on Kopkamtib, set up by Suharto on 2 Oct 1965 as the 'super organisation' that planned and drove the mass killings and detentions (Komnas HAM names it chief perpetrator). It notes army-controlled media showing Lubang Buaya photos with stories that Gerwani women tortured the generals, and ci
Tempo, 1 October 2012: The question of victim statistics
Tempo explainer (1 Oct 2012) on victim statistics for 1965-66 (estimates 200,000 to 3 million; most likely about half a million), weighing the Oei Tjoe Tat commission's 78,000, Kopkamtib's 1 million, Sarwo Edhie's 3 million and census evidence. It notes army propaganda about torture of the generals at Lubang Buaya was
IPT 1965 prosecution indictment (posted 28 Oct 2015) charging the Indonesian state under Suharto with crimes against humanity and the US, UK and Australia with complicity; the preamble cites hate propaganda painting the PKI as 'hyper-sexual' and sexual violence.
Genjer-genjer, the song feared by history (Tempo, Ika Ningtyas, 2015)
Tempo feature (8 June 2015; IPT 1965 repost) on 'Genjermania', a Berlin live-music project by Tomi Simatupang raising funds for the son of Genjer-genjer composer Muhammad Arief, killed after 1965; traces the song's Japanese-occupation origin and its 1965 stigma.
Gerwani and the murder of identity (Lustanto, 2015)
Rendi Lustanto's 2015 Jurnal Perempuan essay on the 50th anniversary of 1965: Gerwani women hunted over alleged Lubang Buaya involvement, with media stories of erotic dances and genital mutilation made credible by patriarchal culture. Short reflective piece.
Final Report of the IPT 1965: Findings and Documents (Web Text, 2016)
Web edition of the final report of the seven judges of the International People's Tribunal 1965 (The Hague, Nov 2015; report 20 July 2016): finds Indonesia responsible for crimes against humanity, including sexual violence and hate propaganda, and the US, UK and Australia complicit.
Final Report of the IPT 1965 judges (20 July 2016, The Hague/Jakarta): origins after The Act of Killing, Saskia Wieringa and Nursyahbani Katjasungkana's roles, and legal reasoning on killing, detention, torture, sexual violence and propaganda. Key text on international legal findings.
Half a Century After G30S, Survivors Retrace Steps to Plantungan Camp (KBR, 2016)
KBR report (23 Dec 2016) on former women prisoners and a Komnas Perempuan team visiting the Plantungan camp site: testimonies of Sumilah (forced to admit Gerwani membership, stripped) and Debora Oni, and the Lubang Buaya slander. Memorialisation of Plantungan.
The stigma of the 'wild women' in Indonesia (Anett Keller, 2016)
Anett Keller's German briefing (March 2016, Stiftung Asienhaus) on the neglected gender dimension of 1965: Lubang Buaya slander, the film and monument, tattoo hunts, sexual torture, forced marriages of widows, Plantungan and 'State Ibuism'. Written after the IPT 1965.
Wieringa's 2017 insider account, as chair of the IPT 1965 foundation, of the tribunal's rationale, genesis (a 2013 meeting with Oppenheimer, Stanley Prasetyo and Nursyahbani Katjasungkana), structure and July 2016 conclusions. Background on the tribunal's organisation.
Sexual violence against women after the 1965 events (Historia, 2017)
Historia report (17 Mar 2017) on a Komnas Perempuan/YLBHI/IPT 65 session on sexual violence after 1965, opening with Bedjo Untung's case of Zaenab, a 12-year-old in Pekalongan stripped and repeatedly raped by soldiers. Testimony on sexual violence.
Sexual politics: slander against women's organisations after independence (Pohan, 2018)
Muslim Pohan's 2018 short article on the sexual politics and slander against women's organisations in the shift to the New Order, relying on Wieringa; includes the army's takeover of the army-wives' organisation Persit and Kowani dropping 8 March. Secondary synthesis.
Women suppressed, women resisting (Historia, 2018)
Historia feature (2018) on how the New Order subordinated the women's movement after 1965, branding politically minded women 'like Gerwani' and portraying Gerwani as beautiful but cruel, and how independent organising revived from the 1980s. Draws on Suryakusuma and Murniati.