Women's delegation at the palace: uproar over Sukarno's new marriage
Leeuwarder Courant, 21 September 1954, p. 3: Dutch roundup of the uproar over Sukarno's marriage to Hartini. A four-woman delegation led by Perwari chair Mrs Kartowijono visited the palace; Indonesian, Chinese and Malayan-region papers are quoted, some warning that the fuss helps the PKI, Indonesia Raya calling it a bl
Uproar over Sukarno's marriage not yet calmed: women's delegation received by the president
Provinciale Drentsche en Asser Courant (21 Sep 1954): uproar over Sukarno's marriage to Mrs Suwondo (Hartini). A four-woman delegation led by Perwari chair Mrs Kartowijono spent an hour at the palace. Indonesian papers divide; Keng Po fears PKI advantage, Indonesia Raya calls the marriage 'a great blow to the women's m
Sukarno's second marriage: Indonesian press deplores president's decision
Provinciale Overijsselsche en Zwolsche Courant (21 Sep 1954) survey of Indonesian press reaction to Sukarno's second marriage (to Mrs Suwondo): attacks on the 'palace clique', Keng Po's fear it will favour the PKI, Suara Rakyat and Pikiran Rakyat lamenting a presidential crisis. A Perwari-led women's delegation visited
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
'The fathers are not pure': Mrs Fatmawati Sukarno: 'Let me form a cabinet'
Dagblad voor Noord-Limburg, 30 Mar 1957: Fatmawati, Sukarno's first wife, who left the palace after his 1954 marriage to Hartini 'to the great indignation of the Indonesian women's organisation', proposes in an open letter that a non-party woman form the new cabinet ('the fathers are not pure'). Page also covers anti-c
How it turns out - that's what matters!
Algemeen Dagblad feature by H.N. Appel from Jakarta (1964-04-10) on Indonesia's new elite, its revolutionary rhetoric and economic hardship. Briefly describes women as playing a small, decorative role in a 'men's society', noting Sukarno's second wife Hartini at a party. Gerwani is not mentioned.
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
FO 371/180312: Internal Political Situation, Attempted Coup against Sukarno [3] (1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180312 (1965), 'Internal political situation, Attempted coup against Sukarno [3]', a volume of Embassy letters and telegrams from Djakarta (Ambassador Gilchrist, S.J.G. Cambridge), February to April 1965. It includes Gilchrist's character notes on Subandrio, Aidit and the generals, the tak
FO 371/180337: Bilateral Relations with the US [3] (1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180337 (Mar-Nov 1965): telegrams and letters on US-Indonesian relations: Bunker mission, Peace Corps withdrawal, anti-American demonstrations, Ambassador Green, Palmer affair, then Anglo-American talks on aid to the generals after 1 October. No mention of Gerwani; 'women' appear only among
Zhang Qian, 'Women of Asia and Africa, unite!': notes on the Bandung tenth anniversary in Jakarta
Renmin Ribao feature by Zhang Qian, member of the Chinese women's delegation (14 June 1965, p. 5), on the Bandung tenth-anniversary celebrations in Jakarta, April 1965. Hosted by Kowani and Mrs Subandrio; describes decorations, Sukarno's mass rally, Pham Van Dong reviewing 15,000 volunteers and Afro-Asian anti-imperial
The Persatuan Islam, Islamic Union (Federspiel, 1966)
Howard Federspiel's PhD thesis (McGill, 1966) on the Persatuan Islam (Persis), the modernist Muslim organisation founded in Bandung in 1923, covering its beliefs, polemics and politics to 1963. Chapter 10 treats Persis views on women's role, veiling and polygamy. It never mentions Gerwani or Gerwis; the only link is a
Soldiers look on: schoolchildren in Jakarta attack again
Algemeen Handelsblad (1966-03-09, pp. 1 and 11): student and schoolchildren demonstrations in Jakarta, tanks outside ministries, a student demand to ban the PKI, and Siliwangi troops beating the Cakrabirawa guard to the university. Sukarno told a meeting of Indonesian women (unnamed) to amend a resolution to condemn Am
The Rise and Fall of the Djakarta-Peking Axis, 1949-1966 (Ju, 1967)
PhD dissertation (Mississippi State, 1967) by Woo Jung Ju on Sino-Indonesian relations, 1949-1966, from Bandung to the collapse of the Jakarta-Peking axis. It follows the PKI's resurgence under Aidit, Guided Democracy, the Malaysia Confrontation and the planned second Afro-Asian Conference, largely from Western press a
Challenging the Lifeline of Imperialism: Afro-Asian Solidarity 1955-1965 (McGregor and Hearman, 2017)
McGregor and Hearman's 2017 chapter on AAPSO (founded Cairo 1957-58) as the main vehicle of the 'Bandung Spirit' among non-state activists 1955-65, taking up Sukarno's 'lifeline of imperialism' image. Context for Afro-Asian solidarity.
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
The Heteronormative Family as Moral Infrastructure: Citizenship and National Belonging in Indonesia (Mirna Nadia, 2025)
PhD dissertation (Sociology, Northwestern, Dec. 2025) by Mirna Nadia arguing the heteronormative family acts as 'moral infrastructure' of Indonesian citizenship, via the Marriage Law, the AILA judicial review, the Family Resilience Bill, women household heads and LGBT people. Gerwani appears only in ch. 1's history of