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.
Pohlman (2016) argues the demonisation of Gerwani created an enduring 'pathological discourse' constraining women's sexual and political citizenship; perpetrators invoked the slander to justify violence, as in the cases of Ibu Susiani and others.
Gerwani and the pioneering of women's political struggle (Sundari, 2016)
Akhiriyati Sundari's 2016 Jurnal Perempuan review of the Indonesian translation of Wieringa's Sexual Politics in Indonesia (Penghancuran Gerakan Perempuan, 2010), recounting the Lubang Buaya slander as staged in the film and Gerwani's pioneering role. Book review.
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.
Umi Sardjono, the Marxist feminist who steered Gerwani (Rahayu, 2017)
Ruth Indiah Rahayu's 2017 biographical portrait of Umi Sardjono (1923-2011), Gerwani chair, from Umi's own stories told 2004-09; opens with the film's Jamilah, whom Umi met in detention and apologised to. Intimate life history of a Gerwani leader.
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.
Purifying Indonesia, Purifying Women: Komnas Perempuan and the 1965-1968 Violence (van Doorn-Harder, 2019)
Nelly van Doorn-Harder's 2019 article on how Komnas Perempuan took up 1965 women survivors (2006 delegation, 2007 report), arguing the violence and stigma were justified as 'purification' and Gerwani women were cast as 'the most impure of all'. Gender and religious logic of impurity.
Wieringa and Katjasungkana's 2019 Routledge monograph, from the IPT 1965 prosecution report, arguing the 'real coup' was the ousting of Sukarno through about a million killings enabled by propaganda about Gerwani's alleged sexual perversion; chapter 6 treats two sexual moral panics. Key analysis.
Breaking the silence with music (Anett Keller, 2019)
Anett Keller's 2019 südostasien feature (German) on music breaking silence about 1965: Genjer-genjer and its composer Muhammad Arief, Lekra composer Subronto Atmodjo, New Order policy, and post-1998 projects. Context on music and memory.
Hari Kesaktian Pancasila, 1 October 1965 (Diorama Photograph, 2020)
Photograph (24 Nov 2020) of a museum diorama of the recovery of the generals' bodies from the Lubang Buaya well, with frogman figure, coffins and red-bereted soldiers. Visual record of the official Lubang Buaya display.
Feminism as a Class Question, Part II (Ita Fatia Nadia, 2020)
Part II of Nadia's essay (südostasien 3/2020): how the army and paramilitaries used sexualised violence to destroy Gerwani after Oct 1965, the Lubang Buaya slander and film, 1966 tattoo 'searches', and New Order redefinition of women's roles. In German.
Buried Histories: The Anticommunist Massacres of 1965-1966 in Indonesia (Roosa, 2020)
John Roosa's 2020 book, from nearly 400 interviews, arguing the typical 1965-66 killing was army execution of detainees (hence mass disappearance); dissects army propaganda including how Gen. Sugandhi sexualised Lubang Buaya from 9 Oct 1965. Key scholarship.
The Women and the Generals: Unraveling a Myth of Sexual Perversion (Wieringa, 2020)
Wieringa's five-page review (Archipel 99, 2020) of Maj Wechselmann's documentary The Women and the Generals, which shows the army fabricated the story that Gerwani seduced and castrated the generals at Lubang Buaya as the core of the propaganda campaign. Film review.
The Treachery on YouTube: Politics of Memory on New Media in Indonesia (Parahita and Yulianto, 2020)
Journal article by Gilang Desti Parahita and Vissia Ita Yulianto (Archipel 99, 2020, pp. 47-73) on how YouTube reproduces the New Order's 'Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI' as monumental memory while alternative 1965 films circulate far less. Gerwani appears on p. 63: filmmaker Lexy Rambadetta, after meeting former Gerwani membe
Years of Dressing Dangerously: Modern Women, National Identity and Moral Crisis in Sukarno's Indonesia (Sullivan, 2020)
Charles P. Sullivan's PhD dissertation (History, University of Michigan, 2020) reads Indonesian women's magazines (Wanita, Puspa Wanita, Varia) from 1945-66 to argue that the Lubang Buaya narrative about Gerwani worked as a 'post-text' of long-running anxieties over modernity, moral crisis and the 'Mother of the Nation
Tempo.co fact-check, 15 June 2020: Did Ribka Tjiptaning call Jokowi's mother a Gerwani-PKI chair?
Tempo.co fact-check (15 June 2020) debunking a Facebook meme that PDI-P MP Ribka Tjiptaning said Jokowi's mother chaired Gerwani PKI. Ribka never said it (she wrote 'Aku Bangga Jadi Anak PKI', 2002) and Jokowi's mother Sudjiatmi was no Gerwani leader; a biography by Wawan Mas'udi and Ramdhon is cited. Shows Gerwani inv
Tempo, 3 October 2020: Cinema of friendship between women ex-prisoners ('You and I')
Tempo feature (3 Oct 2020) on Fanny Chotimah's documentary 'You and I' (DMZ festival award) about Solo ex-political prisoners Kaminah and Kusdalini, Pemuda Rakyat/Gita Patria choir members detained in 1965 and later rejected by family; contrasts it with the Pengkhianatan film's razor-blade scene and the Plantungan docu
Tempo, 2 October 2021: The burden of trauma of 1965 (why Umi Sardjono was not open about Gerwani's history)
Tempo feature (2 Oct 2021, Dini Pramita and Bagja Hidayat) on why Gerwani chair Umi Sardjono (Suharti Sumodiwiryo) said little after 13 years in Bukit Duri (to 1978). Drawn from Ita Nadia, Ruth Indiah Rahayu, others: she wept at accounts of rape and Sudjinah's injury, 'it is my responsibility'; friendships with Fransis
Tempo, 2 October 2021: Gerwani, Sukarno and polygamy (Gerwani and the dilemma of brotherhood)
Tempo essay (2 Oct 2021) by I Gusti Agung Ayu Ratih on why Gerwani did not criticise Sukarno's polygamy. It recounts Kowani expelling Gerwani on 29 Oct 1965 and removing Hurustiati Subandrio in 1966, the erasure of Gerwani from women's movement history, Perwari rivalry, Gerwani members' reverence for Sukarno, and anti-
Tempo, 2 October 2021: Song of the alarm (Umi Sardjono in Bukit Duri prison)
Tempo feature (2 Oct 2021, Riky Ferdianto and Mustafa Silalahi) on Umi Sardjono in Bukit Duri prison (detained 20 Oct 1965, solitary cell as category A, 'Senayan cluster' with Dahliar, Mudigdio, Salawati Daud, Kartinah Kurdi). Witnesses Mudjiati, Utati, Nani Nurani Affandi describe forced confessions of Lubang Buaya da
Tempo, 2 October 2021: Umi Sardjono and the annual PKI ghost
Tempo column (2 Oct 2021, Budi Setyarso) using Umi Sardjono's life to argue that 1965 history is still painted in black and white. It notes her arrest without trial, Bukit Duri and Plantungan until 1979, Gerwani's origins in Gerwis, about 1.5 million members by 1960, literacy courses, her immigration and marriage-law w
Tempo, 2 October 2021: Umi Sardjono and the stigma on Gerwani (why we rewrote the history of Gerwani and Umi Sardjono)
Tempo editor's note (2 Oct 2021, Moyang Kasih Dewi Merdeka and Seno Joko Suyono) on why the magazine rewrote Umi Sardjono's life. It describes her silence after release, trauma and fear of surveillance (Wieringa 1981, Pohlman 2005), her arrest at Senayan and Bukit Duri detention, the lack of memoir or traces, and sourc
Tempo English, 4 October 2021: Opinion - Umi Sardjono and communism phobia (the annual ghost)
English edition of the Tempo column 'Umi Sardjono and the Annual Ghost' (4 Oct 2021) arguing that 1965 history is still black and white. It uses Umi Sardjono's life (arrest without trial, Bukit Duri, Plantungan to 1979), Gerwani's Gerwis origins, a mid-1960s membership of 1.5 million, literacy classes, her immigration
Tempo English, 4 October 2021: Traumatic burden of 1965 (Umi Sardjono's last years)
Tempo English cover story 'Traumatic Burden of 1965' (4 Oct 2021, Dini Pramita) on Umi Sardjono's silence and guilt after release in 1978. Ita Fatia Nadia read her a Medan woman's testimony of gang rape and public parading, and showed Sudjinah's X-ray; Umi wept, saying it was her responsibility. It covers her life in t
Tempo English, 4 October 2021: Umi Sardjono and allegations against Gerwani (editors' note)
English edition of the Tempo editors' note 'Umi Sardjono and Allegations Against Gerwani' (4 Oct 2021, Moyang Kasih Dewi Merdeka) introducing the special report. It describes Umi's silence, trauma and fear of surveillance (Wieringa 1981, Pohlman 2005), her arrest at Senayan and detention at Bukit Duri, the absence of m
Gerwani as a political school of Islam in the Sukarno era (Rahmanudin, 2022)
Deden Rahmanudin, 'Gerwani Mazhab Politik Islam Era Soekarno' (Jurnal Kewarganegaraan 6:2, 2022), a literature-based article presenting Gerwani as a feminist movement and discussing it from an Islamic viewpoint (Sukarno's Sarinah, Hamka). Drawing on Wieringa and Lestariningsih, it recounts Gerwani's 1950 founding, MPs
Mohammad Arief, santri's son who composed Genjer-genjer (Historia preview, 2022)
Historia.id article (preview only, 2022) on the song Genjer-genjer and its composer Mohammad Arief, countering the film's claim that Gerwani and Pemuda Rakyat sang it by saying it reflects Japanese-occupation suffering and that Arief was a santri's son. Partial text.
The Butterfly Effect: Stealth Politics by the Reformist Women's Movement (Puspita, 2023)
PhD dissertation (Northwestern, June 2023) by Sabina Satriyani Puspita in political science on how the 'reformist' women's movement wins policy change through 'stealth politics', using the 2021 Regulation 30 on campus sexual violence. Gerwani appears in historical chapters: the 1965 stigmatisation and the sexual-dance/