Jakarta municipal council
Short Indische Courant voor Nederland item (29 Mar 1950, p. 2) listing the newly elected Jakarta municipal council; Setiati Surasto is named as representing the women's association (Vrouwenvereniging). Other members include Suwirjo (PNI), Takdir Alisjahbana (PSI) and union and youth delegates.
Recognition of the Vietminh in the RIS parliament
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 10 Jun 1950, p. 1: report of the RIS parliament debate on Sakirman's motion to recognise Ho Chi Minh's Vietnam. Mrs Mudigdo (then PSI) speaks in favour, saying Vietnam's victory is Indonesia's and loan conditions must not constrain foreign policy; Hatta replies government will not recog
Draft constitution now in parliament
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 29 Jul 1950: RIS parliament receives the draft provisional unitary constitution; Mrs Mudigdo (Partai Sosialis) joins members demanding parliament keep the right of amendment. Also notes release of detained MPs Andi Lolo and Pitoy.
Day of mourning?
Short item, Indische Courant voor Nederland, 19 Aug 1950: Sobsi, Rukun Tani Indonesia, youth bodies and the women's organisation Gerwis form a 'People's Committee for the Commemoration of the Proclamation 1945' protesting their exclusion from the official committee, and call 17 Aug 1950 a day of mourning for a unitary
President Sukarno asked to decide
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 30 Aug 1950, p. 3: South Sulawesi guerrilla question. MP Andi Lolo says no local solution remains; Salawati Daud arrives in Jakarta as delegate of the South Sulawesi council to ask Sukarno and the defence minister to incorporate the guerrillas into the APRI as 'Brigade Hasanuddin'.
Mrs Mudigdo asked questions
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 7 Jul 1951, p. 3: MP Mrs Mudigdo puts written questions to the government about a village head in Sukabumi reportedly beaten to death in a public 'execution' without trial, and a detained police mantri's alleged suicide in Banyuwangi; asks for prosecution of those responsible and suppor
The government did everything in its power
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 29 Aug 1951, p. 1: South Sulawesi guerrilla question after failure to install the CTN as APRI units. Mass meeting backs the government; Ministry of Defence comments on Salawati Daud's reported trip into the interior to contact Kahar Muzakkar and rejects further negotiation with him.
Indonesia commemorates Kartini's birthday
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 30 Apr 1952, p. 2: report on Kartini Day commemorations in Jakarta, Bandung, The Hague and the US. At a packed Garden Hall meeting in Jakarta organised by women's and girls' associations including Gerwis and PPI, the audience sang the Kartini song and observed a minute's silence.
Mrs Roosevelt refutes Gerwis claims
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 24 May 1952, p. 3: Eleanor Roosevelt replies to a letter delivered by Gerwis during her Jakarta visit, rejecting its claims that the UN used bacteriological weapons in Korea and that Western powers drove Arabs from Palestine, while acknowledging a fight against communist-influenced orga
Gerwis East Java: delegation to the Peking peace conference
Short Aneta item, Indische Courant voor Nederland, 18 Aug 1952, p. 3: the East Java branch conference of Gerwis decides to send a delegation (Mrs Tam, Sulami, Warmi) to the Asian peace conference in Peking. Also notes Salatiga teacher-training funds and the Parindra congress.
Mass demonstrations in Surabaya on 7 September
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 1 Sep 1952, p. 1: the Surabaya Committee for Victims of the August Raids plans a mass demonstration on 7 Sept. Committee secretary Miss Sulami reports on meetings with PM Wilopo and the defence minister, blames the Sukiman-Wibisono policy and RTC, and notes 62 SOB detainees remain in Ea
Joys and sorrows of Indonesia in the past year
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 7 Jan 1953, p. 3: year-in-review chronology for 1952 (selected entries translated). Mentions the August 1951 raids, the 17 October 1952 affair, release of East Java arrestees on 30 Oct, a goodwill mission to Kahar Muzakkar under Mrs Salawati (8 Apr), and Aidit and Njoto refused entry to
The threatened strike in East Sumatra
Short item, Indische Courant voor Nederland, 17 Jan 1953, p. 3: a Sarbupri (plantation workers' union) delegation including Mrs Setiati Surasto visits PM Wilopo on 5 Jan about overtime pay on Sumatra's East Coast and protests the labour minister's decision; Wilopo refers them to the P4P.
Conference of the Indonesian women's movement
Short item, Indische Courant voor Nederland, 8 Apr 1953, p. 1: Gerwis takes the initiative for a conference of women's organisations in Jakarta on 2-3 April, ahead of the world women's congress in Denmark in June, to discuss sending a delegation; press conference on 4 April.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
PSI dissatisfied: election committee not representative
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 23 Dec 1953, p. 2: PSI branches complain to Jakarta mayor Sudiro that election committees in Jakarta Raya are unrepresentative, dominated by party affiliates; the PSI coordinator names Gerwis, Wanita Demokrat, Sobsi, PPR and others among bodies holding seats.
Women held a demonstration
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 23 Dec 1953, p. 3: over 2,000 women led by Perwari march in Jakarta against the amendment of Government Regulation 19 on marriage conditions and demand a marriage law; in Semarang, seven women's groups including Gerwis petition the Central Java governor.
International Women's Day (1954)
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 17 Mar 1954, p. 2: International Women's Day meeting in Jakarta attended by MP Rasuna Said, Dr Thung Sin Nio and Gerwis central board members. Chair Mrs Effendie lists price rises, no democratic marriage law, no women's labour law, divorce, polygamy and maternal deaths; Rasuna Said pled
Self-governments cannot simply be abolished
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 17 Mar 1954, p. 1: government says Swapradja (self-governing areas) cannot be abolished at once; Surakarta anti-Swapradja committee, which includes Gerwis, PKI, Pemuda Rakjat and Sobsi, plans mass demonstrations by 15 April. Also notes the Susuhunan's studies.
Men and women must build the state together
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 14 Apr 1954, p. 3: President Sukarno receives Gerwani delegates after their five-day congress in Jakarta, saying women's problems are solved by a just state built by men and women together. Dutch MP Rie Lips-Odinot raises West Irian; WIDF vice-president Monica Felton lectures; Australia
Russian guests for Gerwani
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 14 Apr 1954, p. 2, citing Suluh Indonesia: three Soviet women (A. Kholopova of Moscow University, poet K. Sowilyowa, translator T. Gerinewa) arrive in Jakarta on 4 April for the Gerwani congress and lecture on Soviet women's rights; the paper remarks they wore no lipstick and simple dre
Latest news from Indonesia (June 1954)
Antara news roundup, Indische Courant voor Nederland, 16 Jun 1954, p. 4 (5-9 June). Relevant item: the Gerwani central board urges the government to abrogate the Netherlands-Indonesian Union unilaterally and pledges support. Other items cover foreigner registration, trade with Yugoslavia, oil wells, smuggling and the c
Position of members of parliament
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 1 Dec 1954, p. 2: parliament's second reading of the bill on MPs' legal position. Mrs Mudigdo, here identified as PKI, opposes the bill's content and argues parliamentary immunity is part of the democratic system; others call for protection against arbitrary imprisonment.
Gerwani congress (newspaper page, early December 1954)
Whole newspaper page, Indische Courant voor Nederland, c. 1-4 Dec 1954 (columns interleaved). Gerwani-relevant item: Bandung branch congress backs Maisuri, opposes forced marriage and 'immoral' films, supports the Ali cabinet. Other articles: PRN women's congress, no-confidence motion, West Irian at the UN, Bogor confe
Mass demonstration in Jakarta for incorporation of West Irian
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 15 Dec 1954, p. 3: Jakarta mass rally of tens of thousands for the incorporation of West Irian, organised by the liberation committee with the women's organisations' central body. Umi Sardjono of Gerwani reads the resolution demanding severance of relations with the Netherlands; Kartowi
The PKI is 35 years old
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 8 Jun 1955, p. 2: report on the PKI's 35th-anniversary rally at Merdeka Square, Jakarta. Umi Sardjono, general chairwoman of Gerwani, attacks feudalism and large landownership; Aidit speaks on Muslim-nationalist-communist unity and Dutch profits, with slogans against Dutch and landlords