National council installed by President Sukarno
Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (13 Jul 1957, p.1): Sukarno installs the National Council (42 members sworn in), saying it will not displace cabinet or parliament. Named members include Munir, Sardjono, Henk Ngantung, S.K. Trimurti and Rasuna Said (women's movements) and Katjasungkana. Bahder Djohan and Herawati Diah decli
Mrs Salawati Daud expelled, accused of PKI membership (Monthly Indonesian Press Survey, Aug 1957)
US State Department press-survey page (Aug 1957) from a Makassar-area report: the Sangihe Talaud youth and student organisation expelled several members, among them Mrs Salawati Daud and Dolongpaha, who were accused of being PKI members. The page begins mid-article; the sweep identifies the woman as Salawati Daud, a Ge
Visit to the National Council
Java-Bode, 16 August 1957, p. 2: a Yugoslav vice-president's party visited the National Council and was received by vice-chair Roeslan Abdulgani and members including the attorney-general, Ahem Erningpradja, S.K. Trimurti and Siwabessy. Other members were meeting on normalising the internal situation.
Veterans bill in parliament
Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (20 Aug 1957, p.2): parliament begins first-round debate on the veterans' welfare bill; eight members speak, among them Mrs Salawati Daud (PKI). Minister Chaerul Saleh adds an oral statement and says a veterans law is needed to register veterans and define them. The government will accept am
FBIS, 14 September 1957: Indonesian women visitors (delegation to China)
FBIS-monitored Xinhua item (14 Sep 1957): the Chinese ambassador's wife, Mme Huang Chen, gave a reception in Jakarta on 13 Sept for a 12-member Indonesian women's delegation leaving for China, led by Mme Hadjot (fifth vice-chairman of the Constituent Assembly); the group would attend China's National Day. Official-circ
Indonesian parliament wants more concrete Sukarno-Hatta cooperation
Ons Noorden (27 Sep 1957) on the parliamentary debate after the national consultation conference. PKI MP Suharti Suwarto sharply criticised the revolutionary councils in Sumatra and Celebes for arresting local communist leaders, warning the conference decisions cannot work until they are freed. Other speakers urge Suka
Dr Hatta leads the development conference (Munas Pembangunan, 1957)
Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (27 Nov 1957, p.1): the National Development Conference chaired by Hatta, attended by Sukarno and Djuanda. Twelve morning speakers; Trimurti of the National Council proposes considering the pre-advice of Sukarno, Hatta and Djuanda after the general debate; others propose committees, national
History of Jakarta City Government (Greater Jakarta Municipality, 1958)
Sedjarah Pemerintahan Kota Djakarta, an official history of Jakarta's city government from Dutch Batavia to the end of 1957, compiled by Drs. The Liang Gie and published by the Kotapradja Djakarta Raya in 1958. It has nothing on Gerwani as such. It notes that women could vote for the Batavia council only from 1941 and
Drafting committee of the National Council, including S.K. Trimurti for the women's group (Bintang Timur, 29 March 1958)
Bintang Timur, 29 March 1958, p. 1. Among PRRI/Sumatra war news, SEATO and Khrushchev becoming Soviet premier, the page lists the members of a Dewan Nasional drafting committee (panitya perumus) on national vigilance against foreign intervention, with S.K. Trimurti named for the 'Wanita' functional group. No Gerwani co
Drafting committee of the 4th National Council session, including S.K. Trimurti (Bintang Timur, 18 April 1958)
Bintang Timur, 18 April 1958, p. 1 (Lebaran issue; APRI landings in Sulawesi). Lists the drafting committee (panitia perumus) formed by the fourth Dewan Nasional session, chaired by Ds. W.Y. Rumambi, with S.K. Trimurti as representative of the women's group alongside Sukarni, B.M. Diah and others. Also regulations on f
Page 564 of the US State Department's Monthly Indonesian Press Survey (nos. 33-44, 1958), summarising the 25 Sept 1958 Nusantara. Suwardiningsih, PKI East Java committee and Constituent Assembly member, entered Kalisosok prison, Surabaya, on 22 Sept to serve a month (cut from six) for remarks about Hatta in 1953; thous
FBIS, 7 July 1959: Parties express support of Sukarno (1945 constitution decree)
FBIS summary (7 Jul 1959) of a broadcast report to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific on reactions to Sukarno's decree reinstating the 1945 constitution and dissolving the Constituent Assembly: Catholic Party, Democratic Youth, film union, PKI, economic congress and SOBSI supported it. Final line: the Indonesian Wo
Tages-Anzeiger, 11 July 1959: Indonesia on the road to dictatorship
Tages-Anzeiger analysis (11 July 1959, signed Th. v. R.) of Sukarno's return to the 1945 constitution and the army's rising power under Nasution. Lists PKI-linked mass organisations, giving Gerwani 75,000 members alongside SOBSI, Pemuda Rakyat, BTI, and notes PKI's 1957 vote.
CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Summary, 12 November 1959
CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Summary, 12 Nov 1959, a long multi-topic report; the Indonesia part (pp.23-27) assesses PKI strength (Aidit's claim of 1.5 million members, Java as base, army and Sukarno restrictions, Aidit's 1959 Moscow and Peking trip). It names GERWANI as the PKI's women's front, alongside Pemuda Rak
Documents of the Sixth National Congress of the PKI, Jakarta, 1-14 September 1959, Vol. I
Bintang Merah special issue, vol. 1: documents of the VI National Congress of the PKI, Jakarta 7-14 September 1959 (Yayasan Pembaruan, 1960). Contains Aidit's opening speech, the Central Committee's General Report, and Programme and Constitution changes. Gerwani is not named; on women it records growing women's members
The Marriage Law, 1960 (PKI Women's Department)
PKI Women's Department brochure (March 1960) comparing the PKI fraction's 1957 marriage-law draft with the PNI initiative bill of Soemari clause by clause (monogamy, consent, age, registration), with Suharti's article.
One OCR page (p. 17) of a US Joint Publications Research Service translation, Political Affairs in Indonesia (1960), a numbered list of names with occupations. Entry 188 is Mrs Suwarti Bintang Suradi, 'Former Member of Constituency Djakarta'; entry 189 is Mrs S.D. Susanto, same description; entry 153 is Mrs Sutinah Suk
Weekly Situation Reports, Indonesia, January 1960 (State Department Central Files)
Compilation of Djakarta embassy weekly political, economic and military situation telegrams to the State Department, January 1960. One item (21 Jan) reports labour union and women representatives picketing the Trade Minister's office over prices despite an army ban, with a newspaper identifying many women as members of
Indonesian Defense Affairs: Biographical Profiles, April 1960
Compilation of US embassy Djakarta despatches (April 1960) giving biographical profiles of members of the Supreme Advisory Council and other leaders. Gerwani appears in the profile of PSII chairman Arudji Kartawinata, whose wife was a Gerwani member (1954) and praised China after a Nov 1959 Beijing visit; women members
Communist's house hit by bomb (Nungtjik), Berita Harian (Singapore), 17 June 1960
Berita Harian (Singapore), 17 June 1960: Reuters report from Jakarta that a Communist member of the Indonesian Parliament, Tuan Nungtjik, was wounded when a bomb (hand grenade) was thrown while he was eating at home the previous night. Only the lead snippet survives. The sweep log links it to Zubaidah Nungtjik A.R. (Ge
Dilemmas of Indonesian Communism (van der Kroef, 1962)
Article by Justus M. van der Kroef (Pacific Affairs, summer 1962) on the PKI's dilemmas under Guided Democracy: dependence on Sukarno, the July 1960 'Evaluation' clash with the army, and the party's use of mass fronts. Gerwani is named as the PKI's women's front: its organ was aggressive without censure in 1961, and in
US Embassy Weekly Situation Telegrams, April 1962
Two US Embassy Djakarta weekly situation telegrams (JOINT WEEKA 14 and 15), 6 and 13 April 1962, on the West New Guinea dispute, PKI-Sukarno friction, Partindo, wage demands and military matters. Gerwani appears only once: it joined SOBSI and others in protesting the 'undemocratic' draft election bill providing for pop
After PKI protests: Sukarno withdraws election bills
De Waarheid, 8 May 1962, p. 2: report that Sukarno withdrew four bills on representative bodies (under which only one-third of the People's Congress, parliament and regional councils would be elected, the rest appointed) after protests first from the PKI, SOBSI, women's movement Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat, later PNI and
D.N. Aidit, 'Some problems of the Indonesian revolution and the PKI': Beijing report, 4 September 1963
Full Renmin Ribao text (5 Sept 1963, p. 3) of D.N. Aidit's 4 September Beijing rally report on the Indonesian revolution and PKI: semi-colonial, semi-feudal analysis, national united front, Nasakom, state power's 'two aspects', and party building. Gerwani appears only once, in a membership tally (1.5 million, alongside
CIA Special Report SC 00642/64A, 23 October 1964: Sukarno and the Communists
CIA Office of Current Intelligence Special Report SC 00642/64A, 'Sukarno and the Communists' (23 Oct 1964, Secret; declassified 1975). Analyses Sukarno's mutual exploitation with the PKI and Aidit's strategy; lists PKI front membership claims, including Gerwani at almost two million, beside BTI, SOBSI, Pemuda Rakjat an
D.N. Aidit, 'Step up the revolutionary offensive on all fronts': political report to PKI plenum
Long Xinhua summary in Renmin Ribao (12 June 1965, p. 3) of D.N. Aidit's political report to the enlarged PKI Central Committee plenum, 'Step up the revolutionary offensive on all fronts': Nasakom, bureaucratic capitalists, takeovers of US firms, the Murba/BPS ban, Vietnam, the UN exit, Khrushchev's fall; PKI over 3 mi
TAPOL Bulletin no. 21, April 1977 (London). Covers the ICRC mission to seven Indonesian detention sites, Carter and human rights, East Timor testimony, Kopkamtib detention legality, official denials and the May elections. It prints a smuggled letter from a Salemba tapol to the Red Cross describing starvation, beri-beri
Swiss press, 14 May 1987: violations of human rights against parliamentarians (IPU; Sundari)
Courrier de Geneve report (by Angelica Roget, 14 May 1987) on 100 cases of abuse of parliamentarians raised at the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Managua. For Indonesia it says only that 'M. Sundari', a former parliamentarian aged 70, has been detained since 1965. The identification with Siti Sundari Abdul Rah
Losing a Revolution: The PKI versus the Army in Indonesia, 1949-1965 (Sutley, 1988)
Stewart K. Sutley's MA thesis (Political Science, McGill, 1988) applies Tilly and Aya's 'political conflict' model to the PKI-Army struggle of 1949-65, arguing the PKI's state-within-a-state depended on Sukarno and was destroyed after the army struck at the president. Gerwani is treated only as the PKI's 'women's front
Parliament Holds Dialogue With Dissident Group (FBIS, 5 Jul 1991)
FBIS item (Jakarta Post, 5 Jul 1991): the Petition 50 dissident group, 18 members attending, was heard by DPR Commissions II and III. Attendees included Ali Sadikin, H.R. Dharsono and 79-year-old freedom fighter S.K. Trimurti. They complained of travel, loan and media restrictions since 1980. Gerwani is not named.