Tossed Down by the Rising Waves (Sudjinah, Prison Memoir)
English typescript prison memoir by Sudjinah, Gerwani translator and journalist (c. 2000): courier in 1945-49, WIDF secretariat in Berlin, Gerwani HQ in 1965, capture in 1967, torture and detention at Bukit Duri and Tangerang. Key Gerwani survivor memoir.
YPKP 1965: Website Homepage
Snapshot (13 Oct 2026) of the YPKP 1965 homepage, showing posts on forced labour of political prisoners in Banten, the Tangerang detention centre and the 'Bukan Cuma Angka' compilation. Navigation page for the survivors' foundation.
Torture of the generals recounted: testimony of Emi Marijam (Kompas, 12 January 1971; JPRS translation)
JPRS translation of Kompas, 12 Jan 1971: Emi Marijam, 24, described as a Jakarta Gerwani activist, testifies as witness in the subversion trial of Pemuda Rakjat secretary-general Sukatno. She says she and three women were assigned to torture the generals at Lubang Buaja, gouging eyes for one million rupiah, after train
TAPOL Bulletin no. 44 (London, March 1981): army takeover of the legal sector, Free-Aceh trials, Pramoedya's Buru novels harassed, East Timor, US human rights report. A short item (p.4) reports that eight women political prisoners long held in Bukit Duri were moved to Tangerang women's prison: Sulami (20 years), Sudjin
Imprisonment: Wertheim on continued prosecution of Gerwani women
Closing section of a Wertheim piece in De Volkskrant (28 Apr 1981). It states that women active in Gerwani are still prosecuted: in 1979 two were given extremely heavy sentences without credit for detention since 1965, and with six other Gerwani women were moved to Tangerang. The rest concerns ex-CIA officer McGehee an
Alle and Aukje Hoekema's Visit to Sudjinah in Tangerang Women's Prison, 1982
IISG photograph (1982): visit of Dutch visitors Alle and Aukje Hoekema to Sudjinah in Tangerang women's prison. Shows people seated on the floor around teapots and cups. Documents solidarity contact with a Gerwani leader imprisoned after 1965.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 83 (London, Oct 1987) on East Timor at the UN, Kedung Ombo, labour unrest, Muslim trials and transmigration. A boxed item 'Serving 26 years for a 20-year sentence' profiles Siti Sundari, 66, a founding member of Gerwis and Gerwani, PKI candidate in 1955 and 1964 central committee candidate, jailed si
Army Spokesman on Release of Gerwani Ex-Chairwoman Sundari Abdulrahman (FBIS, 23 Aug 1989)
FBIS item (ANTARA, 23 Aug 1989): armed forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Nurhadi Purwosaputro said the release of Sundari Abdulrahman, 68, former chairwoman of Gerwani, followed completion of her term and presidential remission. She had been sentenced to life in 1976 in Tanjungkarang and held in Tangerang Women's Prison. He
TAPOL Bulletin No. 95, Oct 1989: IPU pressure wins release of jailed MP Siti Sundari Abdulrachman
TAPOL Bulletin no. 95 (October 1989). Under 'IPU pressure wins release for jailed MP' (pp. 12-13) it reports the release on 17 August 1989 of Siti Sundari Abdulrachman, Indonesia's longest-serving woman political prisoner, then 68. A founding member of Gerwis, which became Gerwani, she sat on Gerwani's Executive Counci
TAPOL Bulletin No. 105, Jun 1991: interview with former Timorese prisoner (Tangerang, 'Mama Sundari')
TAPOL Bulletin no. 105 (June 1991). In an interview (pp. 11-12) East Timorese ex-prisoner Domingas Coelho describes Tangerang women's prison from 1984, where she shared Blok Anggrek with two elderly PKI prisoners, Sundari Abdulrahaman ('Mama Sundari') and Tati, who nursed her and taught her embroidery, fieldwork and In
Tempo, 29 August 1999: Interview with Sulami - 'I have an obsession to expose the G30S killings'
Tempo interview (29 Aug 1999) with Sulami, former Deputy Secretary-General II of Gerwani, with a short biography: arrested 12 Feb 1967 on Amir Machmud's order, tried 1975, released 1984, torture by rattan between fingers and threats of rape; founded the 1965-66 victims research foundation. She denies any Gerwani role a
TAPOL Bulletin No. 159, Aug/Sep 2000: Carmel Budiardjo's visit to Indonesia (Sri Ambar, Sulami, YPKP)
TAPOL Bulletin no. 159 (Aug/Sep 2000), with Carmel Budiardjo's report on a visit to Indonesia (pp. 12-14). She meets some twenty former Bukit Duri prison mates, among them Sri Ambar, frail after a stroke (p. 12); visits the Tangerang home of Ibu Sulami, founder in April 1999 of YPKP, the foundation investigating the 19
TAPOL Bulletin No. 169/170, Jan/Feb 2003: obituary of Sulami (Gerwani deputy secretary-general)
TAPOL Bulletin no. 169/170 (Jan/Feb 2003), with Carmel Budiardjo's obituary of Sulami (pp. 13-15). Born Sragen 15 Aug 1926, she joined Gerwis (Gerwani from 1951), became East Java executive member (1954) and second deputy secretary-general (1957), attended WIDF meetings, and was deputy secretary-general in 1965. Arrest
Challenges of Political Rehabilitation in Post-New Order Indonesia: Gerwani (McGregor and Hearman, 2007)
McGregor and Hearman (2007) read Gerwani leaders Sulami's and Sudjinah's memoirs as political rehabilitation: distancing from the PKI, rebutting the Lubang Buaya slander, socialist critique and claims to citizenship. Key scholarly analysis of survivor memoirs.
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Erwin's rice and tajin porridge (1965 detention in Jakarta)
Tempo piece (1 Oct 2012) on conditions of 1965 political prisoners in Jakarta: torture and tiny rations at Cipinang, Salemba, Kalong HQ and Bukit Duri, with testimony of Eko Wardoyo, Bedjo Untung, Jawito. Includes Gerwani member and journalist Sri Sukatno, jailed years at Bukit Duri, describing electric torture at 'Gan
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Another way to settle the 1965 tragedy (M. Imam Aziz)
Opinion piece by M. Imam Aziz in Tempo (1 Oct 2012) summarising Komnas HAM's findings of nine crimes against humanity in 1965 (500,000 to 3 million killed, 1.8 million detained, Plantungan named for women) and proposing a non-judicial path: presidential apology, victim recovery, comparing ICC, South African and Austral
Sulami's narrative versus the New Order narrative (Rahayu, 2020)
Ruth Indiah Rahayu's 2020 essay introducing Sulami's unpublished two-volume prison novel Menanti Rembulan Ndadari, written in the 1970s, with Sulami's biography (arrested 6 Oct 1967) and the conditions of writing in Bukit Duri and Tangerang, set against New Order narratives.
Tempo, 2 October 2022: Memory of sewing machines and smuggled paper (political prisoners at Plantungan and Buru)
Tempo report (2 Oct 2022, Dini Pramita and Dody Hidayat) on forced labour and memory of 1965 political prisoners. Yosephina Endang Lestari recalls Plantungan women's camp (sewing unit, Santiaji Pancasila, poor health); Ita F. Nadia describes its five aims including re-domestication of women. Hersri Setiawan (Buru) and
I Don't Want to Die for Nothing in Prison: life of a former 1965-66 political prisoner (Hidayat, 2025)
2025 single-case phenomenological study of an 86-year-old male former political prisoner (interviews via KontraS, 2024): union worker, arrest in 1966, torture, forced labour at Tangerang, Nusakambangan and Buru, later Aksi Kamisan activism. Male testimony; context only.