Constituent Assembly Member Profile: Mrs Suwardiningsih
Konstituante.Net member profile (transcribed) of Nj. Suwardiningsih, PKI member no. 129 of the Constituent Assembly. Born 25 June 1926 in Kudus, Muhammadiyah MULO educated, living in Surabaya. Worked at the customs office in Kudus 1944-47 and headed the education section of the TNI women's inspectorate in Bojonegoro 19
Sukarno, the arch-intriguer
Nieuwe Haarlemsche Courant, 6 February 1958, p. 5: long profile of Sukarno by former correspondent C.H. Schaap, calling him an 'arch-intriguer' bent on absolute power, tracing his career to the 1957 cabinet. It mentions that his October 1954 second marriage to Hartini caused general indignation among Indonesian women,
Mother's Day 1961 (Titik Abdullah Husein), Tri Bakti Wanita No. 8, 1962
Speech by Titik Abdullah Husein at the 1961 Hari Ibu rally (Surabaya), printed in Tri Bakti Wanita (1962), distinguishing Indonesia's 22 December Mother's Day, marking the 1928 women's congress, from the international Mother's Day.
History of the Indonesian Youth Struggle (Youth Bureau, Ministry of Education and Culture, 1965)
Official history of the Indonesian youth movement (1908-1960) compiled by the Youth Bureau of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Balai Pustaka, Jakarta 1965 (prefaces dated Dec. 1963), in five periods. Gerwani appears only briefly: it is listed among organisations demanding action against the 1957-58 PRRI separatis
Angkatan Bersendjata, 9 October 1966 (Weekly Edition)
Angkatan Bersendjata, 9 Oktober 1966 (edisi Mingguan). Cultural-page polemic against Lekra calls it a 'myth' that 'without Gerwani the women's movement has no meaning'; issue dominated by ABRI's 21st anniversary and the Subandrio trial.
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
TAPOL Bulletin no. 25, December 1977 (London). Focuses on the 20 December releases from Buru and Tanjung Kasau, new 'resettlement' labour camps, the Amnesty report and Sudomo interview, the Sawito trial, student protests, and press reports (Newsweek, Economist, Age, Asahi, De Telegraf, FEER) on Buru. Page 11 rebuts Jen
TAPOL Bulletin no. 47 (London, September 1981): East Timor offensive and the East Timor assembly's report, West Papuan refugees, Pramoedya's re-arrest, the new Procedural Code, and rape and lesbianism cases. Its new 'Spotlight on a Prisoner' profiles Suwardiningsih, the only woman full member of the PKI Central Committ
Losing a Revolution: The PKI versus the Army in Indonesia, 1949-1965 (Sutley, 1988)
Stewart K. Sutley's MA thesis (Political Science, McGill, 1988) applies Tilly and Aya's 'political conflict' model to the PKI-Army struggle of 1949-65, arguing the PKI's state-within-a-state depended on Sukarno and was destroyed after the army struck at the president. Gerwani is treated only as the PKI's 'women's front
Murders (Suharto and the mass killings of 1965-66)
De Waarheid piece (2 Sep 1989, p.16) criticising Suharto's silence on the 1965-66 massacres, quoting Stanley Karnow and C.L. Sulzberger on the killings and estimates of 300,000 to one million dead. It notes mass arrests without trial of hundreds of thousands, including members of SOBSI, Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat, and t
Something great was misjudged there
Het Parool feature by John Jansen van Galen (6 May 1995) ahead of the 50th anniversary of Indonesian independence, on a Sunday gathering of four Indonesians and two Dutch scholars. The excerpt shows Francisca Fanggidaej recalling her childhood as 'equalised' with Europeans, estranged from her own culture and thinking i
The Forgotten Years: Mass Slaughter in Jombang-Kediri 1965-1966 (Sulistyo, 1997)
Hermawan Sulistyo's 1997 Arizona State history PhD, 'The Forgotten Years', studies the 1965-66 killings in Jombang-Kediri, East Java, from interviews and documents, finding no single national pattern and stressing local conflict and military-backed operations. Gerwani appears in passing: its claimed 1.75 million member
Religious Affairs Minister reveals case of communist individual toying with the faithful
Analisa (Medan), 19 June 1997, p. 1: Religious Affairs Minister Tarmizi Taher claims a domestic worker causing religious unrest was 'a member of Gerwani/PKI' and links the PRD to riots; Gerwani used as a scare label.
Berita Yudha, 31 December 1997: biography of General Basuki Rachmat (2)
Berita Yudha, 31 Dec 1997, p. 4: hero biography stating a Gerwani demonstration in Surabaya on 27 Sept 1965 damaged the East Java governor's residence, reported by Basuki Rachmat to Yani.
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