Chaos at Crocodile Hole (The Guardian, 23 May 1998)
The Guardian, 23 May 1998, p.24, Martin Woollacott, 'Chaos at Crocodile Hole': comment on Suharto's fall, arguing it is no triumph and that his legacy of division (military vs Islamists, rich vs poor, ethnic and religious tensions) leaves the country fragile. It opens with the Crocodile Hole (Lubang Buaya) shrine, whos
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
Killing off the communists (South China Morning Post, 17 July 1999)
South China Morning Post, 17 July 1999, p.37, Marian Wilkinson (Sydney Morning Herald), 'Killing off the communists': newly released US embassy and CIA cables show US officials encouraging the army's anti-PKI campaign in Oct-Nov 1965, urging anti-PKI propaganda that links 'diabolical murder and mutilation of the genera
South China Sunday Morning Post, 23 Apr 2000, p.10, Vaudine England: profile of Sudjinah Halina (72), former Gerwani activist and political prisoner, as Indonesia reopens debate on 1965. She recounts Solo childhood, guerrilla courier work (1947-49), study at Gadjah Mada, the 1955 Prague youth festival, a job with the W
Soedjinah, Gerwani leader and supporter of Bung Karno (IndoPROGRESS, 2007)
IndoPROGRESS in memoriam (11 Sep 2007) for Sudjinah (1929-2007), Gerwani leader, WIDF secretariat worker and political prisoner, based on a 2000 interview: court-official family, anti-Japanese courier work, and later life. Obituary profile.
The last night: after the headlights went out (Aidit's last night at home, Tempo, 2007)
Tempo piece (1 October 2007) reconstructing D.N. Aidit's last night at home, 30 September 1965, from his son Ilham and brother Murad. His wife Dr Soetanti Aidit angrily quarrels with him and urges him not to leave; he goes anyway. The article sets out the contested versions of where he went that night. Soetanti appears
Tempo, 31 January 2011: Gerwani in choreography ('Tjap Merah')
Tempo review (31 Jan 2011) of 'Tjap Merah', a dance piece by Yosep Prihantoro Sadsuitubun (grandson of K.S. Tubun) at GoetheHaus, Jakarta, closing the exhibition 'Indonesia and the World 1959-1966'. It stages the stigma on Gerwani women (Lubang Buaya dancing and castration myth, 'ET' label, Genjer-genjer); he says most
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: Because of the general's authority (why West Java escaped the killings)
Tempo piece (1 Oct 2012) explaining why West Java saw no mass killings: Siliwangi commander Ibrahim Adjie ordered detentions without violence (per Benedict Anderson via Umar Said), and RPKAD, whose arrival triggered killings elsewhere (Cribb, Anderson), did not enter. Notes Suharto's 2 Oct 1965 letter claiming to preve
Tempo, 18 April 2016: Onward the women's movement
Tempo editorial note (18 Apr 2016), recalling a 1978 Kartini Day feature on the women's movement from Aceh 1614 to the 1970s. It describes Kowani's formation (1946), Perwari's protest over Sukarno's 1954 marriage to Hartini, Perwari being squeezed as Gerwani, 'affiliated with the PKI', gained influence, and Gerwani ste
Prize-winning athlete accused of being PKI who transformed herself into a man (Historia, 2017)
Historia feature (2017) on Karnah Sukarta (b. 1940, Ciamis), bronze medallist in javelin at the 1958 Asian Games, a Sukarno-admiring student reportedly joined Gerwani in Kawali, arrested after 1965 and held in Bandung. Biography of an athlete linked to Gerwani.
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: Black propaganda against Gerwani (Ita Fatia Nadia)
Op-ed by Ita Fatia Nadia in Tempo (2 Oct 2021) tracing the army-controlled press campaign from 7 Oct 1965 that cast Gerwani as sexually sadistic, contradicted by the military doctors' autopsy (Roebiono Kertapati). It links the slander to the mass killings, Kowani's expulsion of Gerwani (29 Oct 1965), Lubang Buaya volun
Tempo English, 4 October 2021: End of the Road (Umi Sardjono)
English-edition Tempo cover story 'End of the Road' (4 Oct 2021, Retno Sulistyowati), a translation from the Umi Sardjono special report. It traces Umi's formation in Pathuk Youth, Pesindo, BBW with S.K. Trimurti, Madiun 1948 arrest, founding of Gerwis (Semarang, 3-6 Jun 1950), Gerwani growth from 80,000 to 650,000 (19
Tempo English, 4 October 2021: From a civil servant's daughter to an underground activist (Umi Sardjono)
Tempo English cover story (4 Oct 2021, Isma Savitri) on Umi Sardjono's early life, drawing on Ruth Indiah Rahayu and Lilik H.S. Born Suharti Sumodiwirjo in Salatiga in 1923 to a civil servant, she was shaped by Kartini, Parindra and Gerindo, worked as an underground courier in East Java, was tortured by the Japanese in
Tempo.co, 22 May 2023: S.K. Trimurti, Indonesia's first labour minister, and her political journey
Tempo.co profile (22 May 2023, Febyana Siagian and S. Dian Andryanto) of SK Trimurti, journalist and Indonesia's first labour minister. It covers her birth in Boyolali (1912), teacher training, Rukun Wanita, Partindo in Bandung, press work, witnessing the BPUPKI and the 1945 proclamation push, KNIP membership, and the
Tempo, 17 September 2023: Why 1965 exiles will not return home
Tempo report (17 Sep 2023, Raymundus Rikang and Stefanus Pramono) on 1965 exiles who decline to return despite visa and residence facilities offered by ministers Mahfud Md. and Yasonna Laoly in Amsterdam and Prague. Sri Budiarti (Aachen, ex-student in Budapest) demands truth and an apology and removal of the stigma tha
Tempo, 15 December 2024: Inside Francisca Fanggidaej's diaries for her children (notes of exile)
Tempo magazine article (15 Dec 2024, Dian Yuliastuti and Iwan Kurniawan) on Francisca Fanggidaej's papers at the IISH, Amsterdam, notably her diaries 'Sasja' and 'Nila' written in exile in Beijing from Oct 1965 to her children. Her daughters recall the family's separation, stigma at school and her later reunion. It not
Tempo.co, 22 December 2025: Saskia Wieringa - LGBT discrimination a colonial legacy
Tempo.co interview (22 Dec 2025, Savero Aristia Wienanto and Reza Maulana) with Saskia Wieringa on her book on the Indonesian lesbian, bisexual and trans movement. She traces discrimination to colonialism and says the 1965 sexual slander of Gerwani, accused of cutting generals' genitals while dancing erotically, was In