Sjahrir seeks contact with Sukarno: chaotic situation in Bantam
Trouw (20 Feb 1946): Sjahrir leaves for Yogyakarta to confer with Sukarno, possibly widening communist and Islamic representation; reports looting in Batavia and chaos in Bantam, where officials were murdered or abducted and young girls taken. No Gerwani content.
The coup in the Republic: opinions of Gen. Spoor and Sjahrir
Overijsselsch Dagblad (21 Sep 1948) on the Madiun communist uprising: Gen. Spoor fears communist spill-over into Dutch-held areas, Sjahrir comments on discontent, KNIP grants Sukarno special powers, and Musso broadcasts that 20 million women were widowed by romusha. No Gerwani or Gerwis mention; context for the later a
Discontent in Albania (page; Indonesia items incl. factory inspector killed by gang)
Twentsch Dagblad Tubantia page (7 Nov 1949) with many items. Relevant: a short report that a gang led, it is said, by Makassar councillor Salawati Daud killed Faroka inspector Th. Pluyter near Palopo; six arrested. Other Indonesia item: Mohamad Roem returns from the Round Table Conference. Albania, Moscow parade and ot
Indonesian minorities protest (includes: inspector killed by gang)
Zutphensch Dagblad page (7 Nov 1949): a short report that a gang said to be led by Makassar councillor Salawati Daud murdered Faroka inspector Th. Pluyter near Palopo; six arrested. Also Roem's return from the Round Table Conference, speculation on the Yogyakarta head of state, ECA aid, and an Amsterdam meeting of Sout
Women in Colonial Countries: delegates to the Asian Women's Conference in Peking report (China Weekly Review, 1949)
China Weekly Review, 31 Dec 1949: report of delegates' speeches at the Asian Women's Conference in Peking (WIDF-aligned) on women in colonial and semi-colonial countries (Africa, Middle East, India, Indonesia, Netherlands, Vietnam, France, China, Korea, Madagascar, Burma). The Indonesian delegate Lillah Suripno traces
Report on a visit to Indonesia, Song Qingling (Renmin Ribao, 27 September 1956)
Renmin Ribao, 27 Sep 1956, p. 6: Song Qingling's report to the NPC Standing Committee on her ten-day visit to Indonesia (14-23 Aug 1956): Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Bali, with Sukarno, Hatta and overseas Chinese. She meets Kowani-led women's leaders in Jakarta (16 Aug) and answers questions on Chinese women's
Report on a visit to Indonesia, Song Qingling (Renmin Ribao, 27 September 1956)
Renmin Ribao, 27 Sep 1956, p. 6: Song Qingling's report to the NPC Standing Committee on her ten-day visit to Indonesia (14-23 Aug 1956): Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Bali, with Sukarno, Hatta and overseas Chinese. She meets Kowani-led women's leaders in Jakarta (16 Aug) and answers questions on Chinese women's
Woman and the Changing Marriage Pattern of Indonesia (van der Kroef, 1957)
Journal article by Justus M. van der Kroef (American Catholic Sociological Review, June 1957) on women's status and marriage in Indonesia: adat versus Islamic law, polygamy, divorce rates, colonial and revolutionary change. Surveys women's organisations (Perwari, Kowani) and notes Kowani's early left turn and WIDF cont
Pravda, 2 Mar 1960: Gerwani among Indonesian mass organisations at Khrushchev's farewell
Pravda, 2 Mar 1960 (No. 62), pp. 1-3, 5 (machine-translated): coverage of the end of Khrushchev's 12-day visit to Indonesia (farewell speeches by Khrushchev and Sukarno; Calcutta stop). Pp. 2-3 report a farewell meeting on 29 Feb with delegates of mass organisations, naming 'the Indonesian women's movement (Gerwani)' a
Sovetskaya Kirgiziya, 3 Mar 1960: Khrushchev's visit to Indonesia
Sovetskaia Kirgiziia, 3 Mar 1960, p. 2: TASS coverage of Khrushchev's 12-day Indonesia visit: toasts with Sukarno, Khrushchev's farewell at Kemayoran, and crowds. On the last day Khrushchev received delegates of mass organisations including SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani; Njono spoke. No Gerwani speaker is named
Suara Tani, June 1960: Biography of Kartinah Kurdi (DPR-GR) and her article on International Children's Day
Suara Tani (BTI organ), June 1960 (vol. XI no. 6), OCR noisy. Issue marks PKI's 40th anniversary, the DPR-GR, the sharecropping law and the 5-Principles rice method. P. 3 (cont. p. 6) gives short biographies of BTI peasant representatives in the DPR-GR, including Ny. Kartinah Kurdi (Taman Siswa teacher, Yogyakarta, act
Sukarno now supreme commander: New Guinea plans being worked out
Nieuwe Haarlemsche Courant, 15 December 1961: Reuters report that Sukarno chaired the first meeting of a 15-member national defence council as supreme commander for the 'return' of Western New Guinea. At the opening of the Gerwani congress he again said he would use armed force to liberate West Irian.
ANP news report, 16 December 1961 (Indonesia: military)
ANP radio bulletin, 16 Dec 1961: a two-line fragment saying a minister spoke at a conference of the Indonesian women's organisation Gerwani about measures against the Dutch, with banners in Yogyakarta demanding Western New Guinea. Evidence of Gerwani's role in the West Irian campaign.
W. Irian: biggest issue for Indonesian people today
Tribune (Sydney), 10 Jan 1962, p. 3: Gloria Garton, UAW national president, reports on her 3.5 weeks in Indonesia as WIDF and UAW representative at the 4th Gerwani Congress in Jakarta (14-17 Dec 1961) and a Java tour, with meetings of up to 2,000 in Semarang and Yogyakarta. Says West Irian is the biggest unifying issue
W. Irian: biggest issue for Indonesian people today
Tribune (Sydney), 10 Jan 1962, p. 3: Gloria Garton, UAW national president, reports on her 3.5 weeks in Indonesia as WIDF and UAW representative at the 4th Gerwani Congress in Jakarta (14-17 Dec 1961) and a Java tour, with meetings of up to 2,000 in Semarang and Yogyakarta. Says West Irian is the biggest unifying issue
Protest at US support for Dutch seizure of West Irian; Gerwani letter to Robert Kennedy (Renmin Ribao, 17 February 1962)
Renmin Ribao, 17 Feb 1962, p. 3 (Xinhua, Jakarta): during US Attorney General Robert Kennedy's visit, Indonesian student bodies, trade unions and Gerwani protest US support for Dutch 'self-determination' on West Irian; Gerwani delivered a protest letter to the US embassy. Students shout 'Recover West Irian' at Gadjah M
Protest at US support for Dutch seizure of West Irian; Gerwani letter to Robert Kennedy (Renmin Ribao, 17 February 1962)
Renmin Ribao, 17 Feb 1962, p. 3 (Xinhua, Jakarta): during US Attorney General Robert Kennedy's visit, Indonesian student bodies, trade unions and Gerwani protest US support for Dutch 'self-determination' on West Irian; Gerwani delivered a protest letter to the US embassy. Students shout 'Recover West Irian' at Gadjah M
A Little about the Indonesian Women's Movement
Api Kartini (late 1964) history of the Indonesian women's movement for Youth Pledge Day, tracing Kartini, Isteri Sedar, Perwari, wartime Fujinkai and Gerwis's founding on 4 June 1950 from the Gerakan Wanita Sedar, its name change to Gerwani after merging with railway workers' wives and Perwin Menado, joining Kowani and
CIA, 'Sukarno and the Communists' (Office of Current Intelligence, 23 Oct 1964)
CIA Office of Current Intelligence report 'Sukarno and the Communists' (23 Oct 1964, ten pages), pre-coup assessment of the PKI-Sukarno relationship. Describes PKI growth to a claimed three million members and its fronts, including the Women's Front (GERWANI), 'almost two million'; also the cabinet, National Front, lan
Neues Deutschland, 17 Dec 1964, p. 7: Joint declaration of the representatives of the parliaments of the GDR and Indones
Neues Deutschland, 17 December 1964, p. 7: full text of the 'Gemeinsame Erklärung' signed in Jakarta on 11 December 1964 at the end of a GDR Volkskammer delegation's visit (30 Nov–12 Dec) led by Johannes Dieckmann. Delegates met Sukarno, ministers and parties; one sentence mentions meetings with 'representatives of the
Pravda, 7 Oct 1965: events in Indonesia, demands to ban Gerwani
Pravda no. 280, 7 October 1965 (full issue). Page 3 TASS item 'On the events in Indonesia' (Jakarta, 6 Oct): Nahdlatul Ulama and other groups, via Angkatan Bersendjata, demand Sukarno ban the PKI, Pemuda Rakyat, Gerwani, SOBSI; mass arrests of Communists; Sukarno urges calm ('saving the revolution is more important tha
Pravda, 7 Oct 1965: events in Indonesia, demands to ban Gerwani (excerpt)
Pravda no. 280, 7 October 1965 (excerpt of the page). Page 3 TASS item 'On the events in Indonesia' (Jakarta, 6 Oct): Nahdlatul Ulama and other groups, via Angkatan Bersendjata, demand Sukarno ban the PKI, Pemuda Rakyat, Gerwani, SOBSI; mass arrests of Communists; Sukarno urges calm ('saving the revolution is more impo
U.S. Act As Tension Rises In Indies (Geraldton Guardian, 12 October 1965)
Geraldton Guardian, 12 Oct 1965, p. 1: wire report on rising tension as the Army purges Communists. Mentions a Radio Indonesia broadcast, via Radio Malaysia, that a crowd burned down the Aceh office of the Communist women's organisation Gerwani; Soviet leaders warn Sukarno against attacks on Communists; the US evacuate
U.S. Act As Tension Rises In Indies (Geraldton Guardian, 12 October 1965), duplicate
Geraldton Guardian, 12 Oct 1965, p. 1: wire report on rising tension as the Army purges Communists. Mentions a Radio Indonesia broadcast, via Radio Malaysia, that a crowd burned down the Aceh office of the Communist women's organisation Gerwani; Soviet leaders warn Sukarno against attacks on Communists; the US evacuate
Evening Post (Wellington), 12 Oct 1965, NZPA-Reuter report: Communists flee into Central Java hills from an Army dragnet; branch officials detained; US embassy dependants withdrawn. Mobs ransacked Communist youth, women's and trade-union offices in Jakarta; per Radio Malaysia quoting Radio Jakarta, a crowd burned the G
Armed Java Reds Flee to Hills to Escape Dragnet (Evening Post, 12 October 1965), headline clipping
Headline-only clipping 'Armed Java Reds Flee to Hills to Escape Dragnet' from the Evening Post of 12 Oct 1965; the Gerwani passage is not in this fragment.
Armed Java Reds Flee to Hills to Escape Dragnet (Evening Post, 12 October 1965), opening clipping
Opening clipping of the Evening Post article of 12 Oct 1965: tension in Central Java, where thousands of Communists, some armed, have fled into the hills from an Army dragnet. Gerwani is not mentioned in this fragment.
Telegram 1516 to Secretary of State, 20 Nov 1965
US Embassy telegram 1516, 20 Nov 1965, relaying Yugoslav and Australian secondhand accounts that PKI activists relied on Sukarno, claimed no foreknowledge of the 30 September Movement and expected the party to vanish for years. Context on PKI grassroots confusion.
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