Latest news from Indonesia (April 1953)
News roundup of Antara dispatches, Indische Courant voor Nederland, 18 Apr 1953, p. 4. Relevant: Maasje Siwi of Gerwis left Surabaya for Copenhagen for the WIDF conference; SOBSI and union leaders left for Peking; also 17 October affair follow-up and Chairul Saleh's expulsion from the Netherlands.
FBIS, 20 April 1953: Delegates to Peking (SOBSI delegation, S.K. Trimurti)
FBIS item (20 Apr 1953): MP Tjugito (OCR) and Suharjo, secretary-general of SABDA, left Jakarta as SOBSI delegates to May Day in Peking. S.K. Trimurti left with the SOBSI delegation and would attend the women's congress in Copenhagen (World Congress of Women). Shows Trimurti's travel in the WIDF circuit.
FBIS, 21 April 1953: Kartini Day observance
FBIS item (21 Apr 1953): the Jakarta Kartini Day committee closed the 1953 observance with a grand meeting at the State Palace; Mrs Sukarno said Kartini Day's essence is charity and self-improvement and that Indonesian women's supreme duty is to take part in the coming general elections. Background for official women's
Women make demands on the government: Gerwis resolutions to Prime Minister Wilopo
De Waarheid, 29 Apr 1953, p. 6: short Jakarta dispatch (20 April) that Gerwis handed to Prime Minister Wilopo the resolutions from its recent conference: price controls, independent trade policy, firm action against security threats, and condemnation of attempts to drive peasants off their land in North Sumatra.
Harian Rakjat, 30 April 1953, p. 1 (May Day edition)
Harian Rakjat, 30 April 1953, hlm. 1 (edisi Hari Buruh). Front page of the May Day special: CC PKI's May Day message, statements recalling 1952 demonstrations, the Tandjung Morawa 'death tractor' and a united May Day committee of seven federations; women appear only as supporting 'wanita' organisations.
Harian Rakjat, 30 April 1953, p. 8
Harian Rakjat, 30 April 1953, hlm. 8. Last page of the May Day issue: protest at bans on parts of the May Day programme, army budget, and reports of violence against women framed as moral decay and polygamy.
FBIS, 4 May 1953: Women's delegation (to the Copenhagen congress)
FBIS item (4 May 1953): first group of Indonesia's delegation to the International Women's Congress in Copenhagen (from 5 June) left Jakarta by ship on 4 May: a SARBUPRI central committee woman (name garbled, Suranto), Maasje Siwi and Kartinah, both of Gerwis. Records named Gerwis delegates to the WIDF congress.
Children's week in Jakarta; delegates leave for the Copenhagen congress
De Nieuwsgier, 5 May 1953: Jakarta's Children's Week opens with events and free cinema shows. The relevant paragraph says the first group of the Indonesian delegation to the 5-12 June Copenhagen world women's congress left on the Surriento: Setiati Surasto (Sarbupri) and Maasje Siwi and Kartinah, both of Gerwis, travel
Children's week in Jakarta (full page, 5 May 1953)
Full scrambled page of De Nieuwsgier, 5 May 1953 (duplicate of GA-00684 context): children's week in Jakarta and, in one paragraph, the departure of the first Indonesian delegates (Setiati Surasto, Maasje Siwi, Kartinah of Gerwis) to the WIDF Copenhagen women's congress on the Surriento with the Australian delegation.
Indonesian delegation on its way to Copenhagen
De Waarheid, 6 May 1953, p. 5: short report that the first Indonesian delegation to the Copenhagen International Women's Congress left on the ship Surriento on 4 May; the group includes Setiati Surasto and Maasje Siwi. A second delegation of eight is said to follow. OCR heavily garbled.
Latest news from Indonesia (4-7 May 1953)
Antara news roundup, Indische Courant voor Nederland, 13 May 1953, p. 4 (4-7 May). Relevant item: Setiati Surasto, Maasje Siwi and Kartinah left for the WIDF congress in Copenhagen. Rest covers the bank strike, the 17 October affair and the Wilopo cabinet's refusal to seek a confidence vote.
Harian Rakjat, 22 May 1953, p. 2
Harian Rakjat, 22 Mei 1953, hlm. 2. Masthead page with an editorial on Indonesia lagging in legislation and the CC PKI 33rd-anniversary message, which lists 'kaum wanita' among mass sectors that have organised themselves but lacked proper party leadership.
Berliner Zeitung, 4 Jun 1953, p. 1: As messengers of peace to the World Congress
Berliner Zeitung, 4 June 1953, p. 1: ADN report 'Als Friedensboten zum Weltkongreß' on the send-off in Berlin of the GDR women's delegation to the World Congress of Women in Copenhagen. It was seen off together with delegates from China, Burma, Indonesia and Austria; the Indonesian delegates are unnamed. Wilhelmine Sch
Mangunsarkoro (PNI) and Roem (Masjumi) cabinet formateurs
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 24 Jun 1953, p. 1: Sukarno appoints Mangunsarkoro (PNI) and Roem (Masjumi) as cabinet formateurs after Wilopo's fall; reports party programmes. Gerwis issues a statement urging a cabinet that protects working and pregnant women, curbs unemployment, raises education budgets, controls pri
The small world (news column, with item on Gerwis and the Rosenbergs)
Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra news-in-brief column 'De kleine wereld' (3 Jul 1953, p.4). Among items on a pharmacy strike, a journalist's film censored, a Guatemala explosion and Dusseldorf baby names, one notes that the Indonesian women's movement GERWIS urged the US government, via its Jakarta embassy, to guarantee the
News from Indonesia, 15 July 1953 (Gerwis and the Rosenberg children)
Local news column, Indische Courant voor Nederland, 15 Jul 1953, p. 3. Only relevant item: Gerwis urged the American government, via the US embassy in Jakarta, to guarantee the welfare of the two Rosenberg children. Other items concern a lost copra boat and Mount Sumbing.
New demonstrations in West Java? Delegation presents open letter to Sukarno
Aneta report in De Vrije Pers (16 Jul 1953) that a delegation of parties and groups (PPDI, Partai Buruh, PNI, PKI, Gerwis, Permai) which demonstrated in Bandung met Sukarno to present an open letter urging a decree declaring Darul Islam bands terrorists to be destroyed. The Badan Kontak Nasional demanded a progressive
Delegation of Bandung demonstrators to the president
Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (17 Jul 1953, p.2): a delegation of PPDI, Partai Buruh, PNI, PKI, PRIM, Gerwis and Permai, after a large Bandung demonstration, met Sukarno to present an open letter asking for a decree declaring DI and other bands enemies of the state to be eradicated by force. Sukarno agreed personally but
International Organ Competition in Haarlem
Nieuwe Haarlemsche Courant, 18 July 1953, p. 9: page with an organ-competition review (unrelated) and short items on the Dutch High Commissioner's East Java tour and Foreign Minister Luns in Karachi, who held talks with the Indonesian foreign minister. No Gerwani, Gerwis or women's movement content; the indexed name 'T
Resolution to parliament
Short Algemeen Indisch Dagblad item (1953-07-24, p. 2): delegation of SOBSI, Perbepsi, Komite Rakjat, IPPI and Gerwis hands parliament speaker Sartono a resolution demanding that the new cabinet be anti-Darul Islam and that the government declare DI an enemy of the state. Text ends abruptly.
SOBSI urges an 'anti-DI cabinet'
Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (25 Jul 1953, p.2): a delegation of SOBSI, Pwbebsi, Komité Rakjat, LPPI and Gerwis, led by Munir of SOBSI, handed Parliament's speaker a resolution from a Jakarta mass meeting demanding an 'anti-DI cabinet' and a decree declaring Darul Islam an enemy of the state. The delegation was received
Sumatran groups up in arms against Masjumi
De Locomotief, 27 July 1953: a Palembang delegation (PIR, PNI, PKI) flies to Jakarta with a statement signed by six parties and 22 organisations including SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwis. It demands early elections, anti-corruption action, settlement of the Tanjung Morawa affair and a democratic cabinet without Ma
Statement of groupings in South Sumatra
De Nieuwsgier, 27 July 1953: Palembang delegation (PIR, PNI, PKI) flies to Jakarta with a joint statement by six parties and 22 organisations including SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwis. It says a PNI-Masjumi cabinet is no longer possible, urges a democratic parliamentary cabinet under Wongsonegoro, action against D
Delegation of parties in South Sumatra to Jakarta
Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (29 Jul 1953, p.2): a delegation of parties and organisations in Palembang flew to Jakarta with a joint declaration signed by six parties (PIR, PNI, PKI, Partai Buruh, Permai, Murba) and 22 organisations including SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwis. It rejects a cabinet built on PNI and Ma
Committee formed to help victims of terror: Gerwis initiative
De Waarheid, 31 Jul 1953, p. 5: short Jakarta dispatch (20 July) that on Gerwis's initiative a committee was formed to assist victims of terrorist bands such as Darul Islam, joined by SOBSI, the veterans' league Perbepsi, student organisation IPPI and the peasants' union RTI. Shows Gerwis leading a relief and anti-Daru
Indonesian women back from Copenhagen
Java-Bode, 24 August 1953, p. 2: badly garbled report on a welcome-back gathering in Jakarta for the eight-member Indonesian delegation to the Copenhagen world women's congress (June 1953). Named delegates include Setiati Surasto (chair) and Asijah, with Gerwis affiliation; the congress appealed to women worldwide for
Demonstration against the Dutch press in Surabaya
Short Het Rotterdamsch Parool item (26 Aug 1953, p.5): in Surabaya the trial of 42 students over the wrecking of the 'De Vrije Pers' offices; thousands of students and pupils demonstrated beforehand, supported by the leftist union SOBSI and Gerwis, 'a leftist women's organisation', demanding dismissal of charges and cu
Merger of peasant unions
Java-Bode, 18 September 1953, p. 2: report that the Barisan Tani Indonesia (BTI) congress in Jakarta voted 122 in favour of merging with the Rukun Tani Indonesia, with some BTI executive members suspended. The damaged OCR ends by saying Gerwis expressed views on the merger; the content of those views is unreadable.
Merger of the peasant unions
Short item, Indische Courant voor Nederland, 23 Sep 1953, p. 3: the BTI congress votes 122 to 8 to merge with Rukun Tani Indonesia; dissenting board members are suspended. Gerwis is reported to have welcomed the BTI-RTI merger.
Against forced marriage (Gerwis conference, October 1953)
Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (28 Oct 1953, p.2): at its 25 October conference the Jakarta women's organisation Gerwis resolved on 'Menteng 31' (supporting its return to youth but asking the government to rehouse the girls living there) and on a forced marriage of a 60-year-old man to a 14-year-old schoolgirl, expressing