And shame (Solo, November 1965)
Limburgsch Dagblad, 20 November 1965, p. 5: correspondent's column from Solo. Paratroopers daily parade 'enemies of the people', yesterday three Gerwani members, described as involved in the massacres 'in the most dissolute manner', forced to lie face down on hot asphalt before a passive crowd. It also describes ex-may
Rape case may fully restore rule of law: the Sum Kuning case (Hugh Mabbett, Straits Times, 1970)
The Straits Times, 31 December 1970, p. 10, by Hugh Mabbett: Yogyakarta court acquits 17-year-old egg seller Sum Kuning (Sumarijem), who reported rape by youths from powerful families and was charged with a false report. Police tortured a noodle seller, Trimo, and threatened her with electric torture and an accusation
Indonesian Girl's Ordeal: Victim of 'Classic Conspiracy Case' (Canberra Times, 2 January 1971)
Canberra Times, 2 Jan 1971, p. 8 (Hugh Mabbett): reports the Sum Kuning case in Yogyakarta, where a 17-year-old egg seller was raped, then tortured by police and charged with a false report. Police tried to tar her with an accusation that in 1965, aged about 12, she was a Gerwani member; the court exposed the fabricati
Indonesian Girl's Ordeal: Victim of 'Classic Conspiracy Case' (Canberra Times, 2 January 1971), duplicate
Canberra Times, 2 Jan 1971, p. 8 (Hugh Mabbett): reports the Sum Kuning case in Yogyakarta, where a 17-year-old egg seller was raped, then tortured by police and charged with a false report. Police tried to tar her with an accusation that in 1965, aged about 12, she was a Gerwani member; the court exposed the fabricati
Thousands of Indonesian women still languish in Suharto's prisons
Tribune (Sydney), 20 May 1975, p. 7, abridged from the British magazine TAPOL (Mar 1975): thousands of women remain among about 100,000 political prisoners. Describes Gerwani's work, its banning, the sexual slander ('sex-maniacs', mutilation claims) as fuelling the massacres, torture and rape of women tapols, Plantunga
Thousands of Indonesian women still languish in Suharto's prisons
Tribune (Sydney), 20 May 1975, p. 7, abridged from the British magazine TAPOL (Mar 1975): thousands of women remain among about 100,000 political prisoners. Describes Gerwani's work, its banning, the sexual slander ('sex-maniacs', mutilation claims) as fuelling the massacres, torture and rape of women tapols, Plantunga
Women round the World: Indonesian Women (Kinesis, June 1977)
Kinesis (Vancouver feminist paper), June 1977, p.10, 'Women round the World': a section on Indonesian women. It says Gerwani, the largest women's organisation (over one million members), was banned for alleged complicity in the 1965 coup and blamed for atrocities; many members suffered torture and sexual abuse in inter
Bali Post, 12 May 2000: story of a victim of the PDI office attack
Bali Post, 12 May 2000, p. 10 and 'Aspirasi': victim of the 27 July 1996 PDI attack says police forced her to strip because officers were convinced she was a 'former Gerwani'; Gerwani as an accusation against women.
Komnas Perempuan's 2007 report on gender-based crimes against humanity in 1965: 122 testimonies, an account of Gerwani's history and the 1965 press campaign behind the Lubang Buaya slander, and catalogue of rape, sexual slavery, detention and Buru. Key official source on women's experience.
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.
Janda PKI: stigma and sexual violence against communist widows (Pohlman, 2015)
Pohlman (2015) on 'janda PKI': women widowed in 1965-66 were doubly stigmatised as widows and as 'PKI' women demonised by Gerwani propaganda; four testimonies show sexual violence and exploitation. Gendered stigma analysis.
Women, Sexual Violence and the Indonesian Killings of 1965-1966 (Pohlman, 2015)
Annie Pohlman's 2015 monograph, the first book-length study of gendered violence in 1965-66, based on about 150 women survivors: patterns of arrest, torture, rape, sexualised mutilation, strip searches for the 'Gerwani mark', sexual slavery and 'wife-taking'. Key scholarly source.
Stigma of women victims of sexual violence and erasure of existence (Lustanto, 2015)
Rendi Lustanto's 27 Sep 2015 Jurnal Perempuan essay on the stigma of women pregnant outside marriage and victims of sexual violence; Gerwani enters only briefly. Opinion piece with little Gerwani content.
Surviving in Impunity: Stories of Women Survivors Still Denied Justice (AJAR/Komnas Perempuan, 2015)
Book by AJAR with Komnas Perempuan (Oct 2015) from participatory research with women survivors. In the 1965 context chapter (pp. 39-40) it describes false rumours about Gerwani and the sexual slander of the generals, with violence against Gerwani members. Survivor testimonies name Christina Sumarmiyati (arrested again
Surviving in Impunity: Stories of Women Survivors Still Denied Justice (AJAR/Komnas Perempuan, 2015)
Book by AJAR with Komnas Perempuan (Oct 2015) from participatory research with women survivors. In the 1965 context chapter (pp. 39-40) it describes false rumours about Gerwani and the sexual slander of the generals, with violence against Gerwani members. Survivor testimonies name Christina Sumarmiyati (arrested again
Final Report of the IPT 1965: Findings and Documents (Web Text, 2016)
Web edition of the final report of the seven judges of the International People's Tribunal 1965 (The Hague, Nov 2015; report 20 July 2016): finds Indonesia responsible for crimes against humanity, including sexual violence and hate propaganda, and the US, UK and Australia complicit.
Final Report of the IPT 1965 judges (20 July 2016, The Hague/Jakarta): origins after The Act of Killing, Saskia Wieringa and Nursyahbani Katjasungkana's roles, and legal reasoning on killing, detention, torture, sexual violence and propaganda. Key text on international legal findings.
The stigma of the 'wild women' in Indonesia (Anett Keller, 2016)
Anett Keller's German briefing (March 2016, Stiftung Asienhaus) on the neglected gender dimension of 1965: Lubang Buaya slander, the film and monument, tattoo hunts, sexual torture, forced marriages of widows, Plantungan and 'State Ibuism'. Written after the IPT 1965.
Pohlman (2016) argues the demonisation of Gerwani created an enduring 'pathological discourse' constraining women's sexual and political citizenship; perpetrators invoked the slander to justify violence, as in the cases of Ibu Susiani and others.
Sexual violence against women after the 1965 events (Historia, 2017)
Historia report (17 Mar 2017) on a Komnas Perempuan/YLBHI/IPT 65 session on sexual violence after 1965, opening with Bedjo Untung's case of Zaenab, a 12-year-old in Pekalongan stripped and repeatedly raped by soldiers. Testimony on sexual violence.
Feminism as a Class Question, Part II (Ita Fatia Nadia, 2020)
Part II of Nadia's essay (südostasien 3/2020): how the army and paramilitaries used sexualised violence to destroy Gerwani after Oct 1965, the Lubang Buaya slander and film, 1966 tattoo 'searches', and New Order redefinition of women's roles. In German.
Tempo English, 4 October 2021: Traumatic burden of 1965 (Umi Sardjono's last years)
Tempo English cover story 'Traumatic Burden of 1965' (4 Oct 2021, Dini Pramita) on Umi Sardjono's silence and guilt after release in 1978. Ita Fatia Nadia read her a Medan woman's testimony of gang rape and public parading, and showed Sudjinah's X-ray; Umi wept, saying it was her responsibility. It covers her life in t