Film censorship and film council
Java-Bode, 15 March 1956, p. 2: installation of the new film censorship committee (chair Maria Ulfah Santoso) and film council at the education ministry. Among some thirty censorship members is Setiati Soerasto (Surasto), a figure from the 1953 Copenhagen delegation; the item gives no Gerwani affiliation or comment.
Neues Deutschland, 28 May 1961: Fifth German Writers' Congress, greetings by Rukiah Kertapati
Neues Deutschland p. 5 (28 May 1961), report on the Fifth German Writers' Congress in East Berlin. Among foreign guests' greetings, 'Frau Rukiah Kertapati' opened the third congress day by bringing greetings from Indonesian writers. The rest of the page is speeches by East German writers; the identification with the Le
Neues Deutschland, 28 May 1961: Fifth German Writers' Congress, greetings by Rukiah Kertapati
Neues Deutschland p. 5 (28 May 1961), report on the Fifth German Writers' Congress in East Berlin. Among foreign guests' greetings, 'Frau Rukiah Kertapati' opened the third congress day by bringing greetings from Indonesian writers. The rest of the page is speeches by East German writers; the identification with the Le
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.
Not a bit of butter: press freedom and imprisoned writers in Indonesia
Fragment of a De Volkskrant piece (2 Apr 1973) on press freedom in Suharto's Indonesia, listing imprisoned writers and journalists (Bandaharo Harahap, Oei Hay Djun, Mrs. Sugiarti Siswadi, Mrs. Rusijati, Mrs. Lies Sukatno and others) and rebutting H.B. Jassin's claim of press freedom. Gerwani is not named.
Literature imprisoned
De Waarheid, 20 Sep 1975, p. 3: fragment of an article on a visiting Indonesian parliamentary 'delegation' asking whether they discussed Indonesian literature; it lists imprisoned writers (Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Bujung Saleh, Sitor Situmorang, Rivai Apin, Hadi Soesastro, Benny Tjung, Mrs. Sugiarti Siswadi, Samandjaja,
TAPOL Bulletin no. 15, April 1976. Editorial links East Timor killings to the 1965-66 massacres; the issue devotes pages to a mimeographed East Java massacre report and to translated fictional accounts (Gestapu: Indonesian Short Stories, ed. Harry Aveling). Gerwani appears incidentally: victims included members of the
Suharto's answer (Lekra artists persecuted)
De Waarheid, 6 Nov 1976, p. 2: fragment on Suharto's destruction of the Lekra cultural movement in 1965 (book burnings, banned art), with a long list of murdered or imprisoned artists, including Pramoedya, Henk Ngantung, Bujung Saleh and writer Sugiarti Siswadi, noted as sentenced to 12 years (OCR garbled). Also an unr
US Embassy Jakarta cable, 19 Jan 1978: P.E.N. 'Freedom to Write' list of imprisoned Indonesian writers
Declassified Jakarta cable (Jakarta 0836, 19 Jan 1978, signed Masters) on P.E.N.'s list of 40 imprisoned Indonesian writers; the embassy has records on nine. Entry 30 reads 'Mrs. Sugiarti Siswadi - reportedly arrested in 1966'. It also notes Pramoedya on Buru, and says those listed were apparently held for suspected in
US Embassy Jakarta cable, 19 Jan 1978: P.E.N. 'Freedom to Write' list of imprisoned Indonesian writers
Declassified Jakarta cable (Jakarta 0836, 19 Jan 1978, signed Masters) on P.E.N.'s list of 40 imprisoned Indonesian writers; the embassy has records on nine. Entry 30 reads 'Mrs. Sugiarti Siswadi - reportedly arrested in 1966'. It also notes Pramoedya on Buru, and says those listed were apparently held for suspected in
Books restrained, writers in cell: Bandar Harahap, 'Sarinah and I' (BZZLLETIN)
De Waarheid, 24 Apr 1979, p. 4: review of the BZZLLETIN issue on 'books under restraint', arguing that Indonesian literature is little translated while many writers are jailed under Suharto: Pramoedya on Buru, Bandar Harahap, Buyung Saleh and writer Sudjinah, held since 1966 in Bukit Duri women's prison. Covers Rendra
TAPOL Bulletin No. 46, July 1981: 'A Hundred Minus Six' (S. Rukiah among banned writers)
TAPOL Bulletin No. 46 (July 1981). A note, 'A Hundred Minus Six', reports that a four-volume Indonesian short-story anthology had to drop six writers deemed involved in G30S/PKI, among them S. Rukiah (Rukiah Kertapati), alongside Pramoedya. The same issue covers the banning of Pramoedya's Buru novels. Gerwani is not me
Harian Rakjat, Daily Newspaper of the Communist Party of Indonesia (Groves, 1983)
Kerry Groves's ANU MA thesis (1983) on Harian Rakjat, the PKI daily: its stance on press freedom, administration, polemics (e.g. with Merdeka, 1964), content and treatment of leaders, drawing on Indonesian sources and interviews with ex-prisoners. Gerwani appears in Chapter VI (pp.142-149) on the paper's women's column
For a free Indonesia (founding of the Wertheim Foundation)
De Waarheid report (30 Nov 1987, p.4) on the launch of the Wertheim Foundation, where W.F. Wertheim praised a Hendra painting of a male and female guerrilla. He argued that the Suharto regime rests on mass murder and falsified history, and that one task is to write the real history of Gerwani, Lekra, SOBSI and the PKI.
Harian Neraca serial 'Siapa menabur angin akan menuai badai' (69): Lekra 'setan kota' campaign and 29 September 1965...
Harian Neraca, 23 Maret 1989, p. 10: instalment 69 of Soegiarso Soerojo's serial. Presents Lekra's 'setan kota' campaign and the 29 Sept 1965 Front Pemuda demonstration (Gerwani listed) as incitement; claims Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani military training.
Media Indonesia, 18 August 1991: Romo Mangun's novel-essay (Durga Umayi)
Media Indonesia, 18 Aug 1991, p. 15: review of Y.B. Mangunwijaya's Durga Umayi summarising the heroine's path from Sukarno's household servant to rape, prostitution and becoming 'an important figure in Gerwani', a political fugitive.
Multi-dimensional literary work: review of Durga Umayi
Bali Post, 31 May 1992, p. 6: review of Y.B. Mangunwijaya's novel Durga Umayi whose climax has the heroine exposed as a Lekra and Gerwani figure.
Kedaulatan Rakyat, 26 April 1994: 'Mister Rigen' column
Kedaulatan Rakyat (Yogyakarta), 26 Apr 1994, p. 12: satirical column where a professor fears maids' associations are 'infiltrated by the PKI and Gerwani'; the servant answers 'PKI what, Gerwani what?'.
Bali Post, 11 August 2002: short story 'Ngaben' (I Wayan Artika)
Bali Post, 11 Aug 2002, p. 10: short story 'Ngaben' about a PKI activist's family fleeing the 1965–66 Bali killings; the father knew of the plans 'from the stories of the Gerwani women'.
Aku Seorang Gerwani: poem (Omie Lubis, 2009)
Free-verse poem 'Aku Seorang Gerwani' by Omie Lubis (IndoPROGRESS, 5 May 2009): a Gerwani woman's monologue to her child born of rape, describing forced nakedness and forced 'painting of history', ending as a testament to truth and justice. Literary representation.
Tempo, 7 March 2011: A critique of Plantungan (documentary review)
Tempo review (7 Mar 2011) by Martin Aleida of Putu Oka Sukanta's documentary 'Plantungan', screened at GoetheHaus, finding it under-researched. It features former Plantungan prisoners Siti Suratih, Suci Danarti, Pujiati, Mujiati and Sp. Tican and rebuts the Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI film's slander of women; Aleida adds Ta
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Film, state terror and the nation's wound (Ariel Heryanto)
Ariel Heryanto essay in Tempo (1 Oct 2012) on state terror, propaganda film and the 1965 wound, from Supersemar and the Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI film to post-1998 indie documentaries and The Act of Killing. One passage states Gerwani leaders were detained, raped, tortured and portrayed as immoral mutilators in army press
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Anwar Congo's confession
Tempo piece (1 Oct 2012) on how Joshua Oppenheimer met perpetrators, from Matapao plantation workers to Anwar Congo and the Pasukan Kodok / Pemuda Pancasila in Medan. It cites Amir Hasan's pamphlet 'Embun Berdarah' on Teluk Mengkudu, which lists 702 PKI-linked villagers by affiliation, including Gerwani, and records an
1965 from women's wombs and inner lives: review of Istana Jiwa (Wahyuni, 2014)
Dewi Nova Wahyuni's review (2014) of Putu Oka Sukanta's novel Istana Jiwa through its women characters (a CGMI activist and others), read via the image of women's womb and inner life, contrasting with his prior novel on men in prison. Literary context.
Genjer-genjer, the song feared by history (Tempo, Ika Ningtyas, 2015)
Tempo feature (8 June 2015; IPT 1965 repost) on 'Genjermania', a Berlin live-music project by Tomi Simatupang raising funds for the son of Genjer-genjer composer Muhammad Arief, killed after 1965; traces the song's Japanese-occupation origin and its 1965 stigma.
Saskia Wieringa, The Crocodile Hole reveals the 1965 genocide (Poerba, 2015)
Jurnal Perempuan report (28 Oct 2015) on the Jakarta launch of Saskia Wieringa's novel The Crocodile Hole, where she explains arriving in the late 1970s to find only 'domesticated' women's groups and being shocked at Gerwani's disappearance after New Order propaganda. Launch report.
Merdu yang Dipaksa Sunyi: Arman Dhani's Introductory Essay to Dunia Milik Kita (2016)
Seven-page liner essay by Arman Dhani, issued with the free download of Dialita's album Dunia Milik Kita (2016), framing it as hearing again voices silenced by 'collective sin' after 1965 and introducing the ten songs and their young arrangers. A guide to the women's choir's repertoire.
Dunia Milik Kita: liner and production notes (Dialita, 2016)
Release page for Dialita's free album Dunia Milik Kita (17 Aug 2016, Yes No Wave): ten songs, most written in prison camps (Bukit Duri, Plantungan, Ambarawa, Salemba) or by Lekra composers, arranged by young indie musicians. Documents the choir of women ex-prisoners.
Gerwani in Saskia Wieringa's novel The Crocodile Hole (Marhamah, 2016)
Unsiyah Marhamah's 2016 review in Jurnal Perempuan of Saskia Wieringa's novel The Crocodile Hole, following a Dutch researcher in 1980 investigating Gerwani and 1965 with ex-prisoner informants; argues fiction can convey historical facts. Literary treatment of Gerwani.
Breaking the silence with music (Anett Keller, 2019)
Anett Keller's 2019 südostasien feature (German) on music breaking silence about 1965: Genjer-genjer and its composer Muhammad Arief, Lekra composer Subronto Atmodjo, New Order policy, and post-1998 projects. Context on music and memory.