Brave stance before tribunal: heavy sentences against Indonesian women (reprint 12 Jul 1975)
De Waarheid, 12 Jul 1975, p. 1: reprint of the report that the Jakarta tribunal sentenced four women: Sulami, secretary of the banned Gerwani, to twenty years; Sudjinah, editor of the organisation's paper, 18 years; Sri Ambar (SOBSI board) and Suharti (BTI board) 15 years each. Headlined 'courageous conduct before the
Daily World, 26 July 1975: Women leaders jailed by Indonesian junta
Daily World (New York), 26 July 1975, p. 9: Foreign Department report that a Jakarta court on 16 June 1975 sentenced four women after a five-month trial: Sulami (general secretary of the Indonesian Women's Movement, 20 years), Sudjinah (magazine editor, 18), Sri Ambar (SOBSI women's section, 15) and Suharti Alimarkaban
TAPOL Bulletin no. 11, August 1975, on the 'show trials' ahead of the tenth anniversary. Key item (p.3): four women, including Gerwani General Secretary Sulami, sentenced after a five-month trial to 15-20 years for subversion (helping the PKPS movement, illegal cells, alleged recruitment of cooks and seamstresses for L
Literature imprisoned
De Waarheid, 20 Sep 1975, p. 3: fragment of an article on a visiting Indonesian parliamentary 'delegation' asking whether they discussed Indonesian literature; it lists imprisoned writers (Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Bujung Saleh, Sitor Situmorang, Rivai Apin, Hadi Soesastro, Benny Tjung, Mrs. Sugiarti Siswadi, Samandjaja,
Women, mothers (what Suharto's envoys kept silent about)
De Waarheid, 20 Sep 1975, p. 3: article asking what the Indonesian parliamentary delegation did not mention: Plantungan women's camp in Central Java (386 women), Bukit Duri and Semarang prisons, and named women prisoners: Umi Sardjono, chair of the underground Gerwani, vice-chairs Salawati Daud and Mudigdio, Maasje Siw
Tortures (article by Annie van Ommeren in 'Vrouwen')
De Waarheid, 18 Oct 1975, p. 5: closing part of a review of the NVB monthly 'Vrouwen'. Annie van Ommeren's article stresses women's role against the regime, with Gerwani members prominent, names prominent women held and tortured with burning cigarettes and electric shocks in Plantungan, Bukit Duri and Bulu prisons, and
Daily World, 4 November 1975: PKI leader dies in Nusakambangan camp; 100,000 political prisoners
Daily World, 4 Nov 1975, p. 10: among short news items, a report that Zain Nasution, 50, PKI central committee member and former secretary of its foreign affairs commission, died on 3 October 1975 in Nusakambangan camp after ten years' imprisonment. The PKI estimates at least 100,000 political prisoners face 'slow deat
South China Morning Post, 26 Nov 1975, p.22, Kenneth Whiting (AP), 'Indonesia: a fresh start': ten-year retrospective on the 1965 coup and 'bloodbath' (about 300,000 killed, 100,000 jailed, 20,000 political detainees still held), with oil-led economic recovery. A short passage says women were killed if believed to be p
Dutch Parliament Written Question 111 (1975): Government Position on Indonesian Political Prisoners
Dutch Second Chamber written question no. 111 (Aug 1975) by Fred van der Spek and Foreign Minister Van der Stoel's reply, on an Indonesian embassy claim that the Dutch government fully understood Indonesia's political prisoner problem. Context on Dutch diplomacy over post-1965 detainees.
Political Prisoners on Buru Island (Amnesty International, 1976)
Amnesty International Dutch dossier (Oct 1976) on Buru Island: over 10,000 untried prisoners, forced labour, and prisoner lists including a women's list headed by a short Gerwani history naming women held in Bukit Duri and Plantungan.
Recruitment and Factional Patterns of the Indonesian Political Elite (Gregory, 1976)
Ann Gregory's Columbia PhD thesis (1976) on the recruitment, career patterns and factions of the Indonesian political elite under Guided Democracy and the New Order, based on elite biographies, with chapters on military and civilian factions. It is a quantitative study of Javanese dominance and clientelism. Gerwani is
A Traditional Leader in a Time of Change: the Kijaji and Ulama in West Java (Horikoshi, 1976)
Hiroko Horikoshi's 1976 University of Illinois anthropology PhD thesis on kijaji and ulama as traditional leaders in a West Java (Priangan, Cipari) Islamic village, covering kinship, rural economy, the life cycle, the ulama as educators and legal experts, and kijaji charisma. It has almost nothing on Gerwani: a single
TAPOL Bulletin no. 15, April 1976. Editorial links East Timor killings to the 1965-66 massacres; the issue devotes pages to a mimeographed East Java massacre report and to translated fictional accounts (Gestapu: Indonesian Short Stories, ed. Harry Aveling). Gerwani appears incidentally: victims included members of the
Last year: Amnesty frees 1,688 political prisoners
Amigoe di Curaçao, 10 Apr 1976: the Curaçao branch of Amnesty International adopts three prisoners, including Sri Kusnapsiah, 67, imprisoned in Indonesia for over ten years. No organisation is named in the text, but the case is of interest as a long-term woman political prisoner from 1965. Also reports 1,688 releases i
TAPOL Bulletin no. 16, June 1976, issued before the IGGI meeting. Contents: smuggled letter on prison torture including sexual torture of women (some miscarried), Fraser congressional hearings with Benedict Anderson, Sudomo interview on categories A/B/C and Buru, analysis of Oei Tju Tat's trial, Papuan killings, Amnest
Gestapu-PKI Defendant Sentenced to Death (FBIS, 14 Jul 1976)
FBIS item (Jakarta radio, 14 Jul 1976): the Banten court martial sentenced former air force sergeant Marsudi to death for complicity in the 1965 Gestapu-PKI affair. The tribunal held him and Maun of Cakrabirawa responsible for the generals' deaths at Lubang Buaya, together with the Sukwan, described as a women voluntee
TAPOL Bulletin no. 18, October 1976. Editorial 'Eleven Years' and reports on Sudomo's reneged release pledges, new arrests, IGGI's $2,400m credit, the death sentence on Sgt-Maj Marsudi for the generals' killings (with testimony that Lubang Buaya training was officially organised by the Air Force), an inside account of
Constitution (Amnesty press conference on Indonesian prisoners)
Nederlands Dagblad, 6 October 1976, p. 5: partly missing report on an Amnesty International press conference in the Netherlands about Indonesian political prisoners. It states that the women in the women's camps are for the most part members of the militant Gerwani, discusses church relief for prisoners' families, and
Sawito foretells the coming of the 'Sawitan age' (Tempo, 16 Oct 1976)
Tempo profile of Sawito Kartowibowo, the mystic behind the 1976 'Sawito affair' manifesto, discussing his prophecies of a new 'Sawitan' age. It notes that his essays appeared in Mawas Diri, the monthly led by Dra. S.K. Trimurti. Trimurti appears only incidentally; Gerwani is not mentioned.
'Sentenced': life imprisonment for Siti Sundari Abdul Rahman (East German press, 20 Oct 1976)
Foreign-news page of the SED daily Neues Deutschland. A brief ('Kommunistin verurteilt') reports that an Indonesian military court sentenced Siti Sundari Abdul Rahman, a Communist Party leader and former member of parliament, to life imprisonment. The sweep names her as Sundari Abdulrachman; her Gerwani link is not sta
'Sentenced': life imprisonment for Siti Sundari Abdul Rahman (East German press, 20 Oct 1976)
Foreign-news page of the SED daily Neues Deutschland. A brief ('Kommunistin verurteilt') reports that an Indonesian military court sentenced Siti Sundari Abdul Rahman, a Communist Party leader and former member of parliament, to life imprisonment. The sweep names her as Sundari Abdulrachman; her Gerwani link is not sta
Suharto's answer (Lekra artists persecuted)
De Waarheid, 6 Nov 1976, p. 2: fragment on Suharto's destruction of the Lekra cultural movement in 1965 (book burnings, banned art), with a long list of murdered or imprisoned artists, including Pramoedya, Henk Ngantung, Bujung Saleh and writer Sugiarti Siswadi, noted as sentenced to 12 years (OCR garbled). Also an unr
Remaining 29,000 follow: Indonesia releases 2,650 communists after 11 years
Limburgsch Dagblad, 2 December 1976, p. 1: Jakarta announces release of 2,650 communist prisoners held since 1965 without trial, with a promise to free the remaining 29,000 within three years. At a ceremony 150 swore loyalty to Suharto; among them were students, former civil servants and members of the banned women's m
Jakarta releases 2,650 political prisoners
Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, 2 December 1976: Reuter report that Indonesia released 2,650 prisoners held since 1965 without trial. At a ceremony 150 swore loyalty to Suharto, among them students, former civil servants and members of the banned leftist women's movement Gerwani; 29,000 remain, with a promise to free them
Indonesia releases prisoners
Nederlands Dagblad, 3 December 1976, p. 3: Jakarta announces release of 2,650 communist prisoners held since 1965 without trial, repeats the promise to free the remaining 29,000 within three years. At a ceremony 150 swore loyalty to Suharto; they included students, ex-civil servants and members of the banned women's mo
Tempo, 11 December 1976: Political prisoners released
Tempo brief (11 Dec 1976) on release of another 2,500 G30S/PKI prisoners; all 540,000 Group C released, leaving 1,821 Group A, 27,132 Group B, 2,041 Group X. Sudomo says about 500,000 were killed 'but by the people'. Mentions 10 middle-aged women among 319 Group B freed in Jakarta; no Gerwani named.
Unclassified US State Department cable (7 Sep 1977) reporting Amnesty International's list of 62 imprisoned or disappeared former legislators; Indonesia has the longest list (21). Among the Indonesians named are Kartinah Kurdi and 'Umiharti Sardjono' (Umi Sardjono), both former Gerwani leaders, still detained 12 years
Bygningsarbeideren, 1977: Amnesty prisoner Sri Ambar Rukmiati (SOBSI women's bureau)
Norwegian building-workers' union paper, 1977, carrying Amnesty International's 'Prisoners of Conscience Year' appeal on imprisoned trade unionists. It profiles Sri Ambar Rukmiati, head of SOBSI's women's department: elected to the national board in 1964, arrested autumn 1966 and tortured, two teenage daughters also ar
Bygningsarbeideren, 1977: Amnesty prisoner Sri Ambar Rukmiati (SOBSI women's bureau)
Norwegian building-workers' union paper, 1977, carrying Amnesty International's 'Prisoners of Conscience Year' appeal on imprisoned trade unionists. It profiles Sri Ambar Rukmiati, head of SOBSI's women's department: elected to the national board in 1964, arrested autumn 1966 and tortured, two teenage daughters also ar
PDI campaign rally at Lapangan Banteng with Moh. Isnaeni, S.K. Trimurti and Wilopo (Idayu photo album, c. 1977)
Photograph from the Yayasan Idayu S.K. Trimurti albums (Perpusnas Khastara): a PDI (Indonesian Democratic Party) campaign rally at Lapangan Banteng, Jakarta, with speakers including Dra. S.K. Trimurti, Wilopo and Moh. Isnaeni. The caption OCR gives 1977, so the 1977 election campaign. S.K. Trimurti is the labour and wo