Dossier of the Indonesian Drama (Lucien Rey, New Left Review, 1966)
Article by Lucien Rey (New Left Review no. 36, March 1966) reconstructing the 1 October 1965 events as a plot by dissident Central Java officers, plus a translated Asahi Shimbun interview with PKI deputy chair Njoto. Says People's Youth and Gerwani auxiliaries trained at Halim took part in the generals' executions in r
Worries of the Indonesian housewife
Algemeen Handelsblad feature from Surabaya (1966-01-04) on housewives and domestic servants at Lebaran and rising prices. A key passage repeats the Lubang Buaya claim that Gerwani members had military training and, per arrested women's confessions, took part in the generals' murders, and alleges Gerwani members worked
Angkatan Bersendjata, 11 January 1966
Angkatan Bersendjata, 11 Jan 1966. NTB military order (31 Dec 1965) dissolving the PKI and affiliates including Gerwani, BTI, SOBSI, Lekra, Baperki and Universitas Rakyat (UNRA), confiscating their property; about 66,000 detainees in Central Java.
Angkatan Bersendjata, 15 January 1966
Angkatan Bersendjata, 15 Jan 1966. Veterans' Legion denounces a rival delegation at the Havana Tricontinental of 'PKI/Pemuda Rakyat, Gerwani, SOBSI elements'; Siliwangi bans all writings of the PKI and its affiliates.
Indonesian Plot: Tribunal Verdict on Njono Due Today (Canberra Times, 21 February 1966)
Canberra Times, 21 Feb 1966, p. 6 (AAP-Reuter): the military tribunal trying PKI leader Njono is due to give its verdict; prosecution demanded death. His government-appointed woman lawyer, Mrs Trees Sunito, had 32 hours to prepare. Foreign press barred; Chinese agency criticism of the trial noted. Gerwani not named.
Indonesian Plot: Tribunal Verdict on Njono Due Today (Canberra Times, 21 February 1966), duplicate
Canberra Times, 21 Feb 1966, p. 6 (AAP-Reuter): the military tribunal trying PKI leader Njono is due to give its verdict; prosecution demanded death. His government-appointed woman lawyer, Mrs Trees Sunito, had 32 hours to prepare. Foreign press barred; Chinese agency criticism of the trial noted. Gerwani not named.
Angkatan Bersendjata, 25 February 1966
Angkatan Bersendjata, 25 Feb 1966, during Untung's Mahmillub trial. A Padang anecdote mocks a PKI figure who called Gerwani 'Gargani' and Lekra 'Lecigak'; new Dwikora cabinet installed.
Students try to prevent swearing-in: trial of Untung begun
Gereformeerd Gezinsblad wire item (25 Feb 1966, p.1) on the opening of Colonel Untung's trial in Jakarta for treason and armed rebellion. The prosecutor claimed Untung gathered 5,000 people before the coup, including Tjakrabirawa troops, paratroops and 2,000 members of the PKI and its linked women's organisation Gerwan
Subandrio Speech at International Women's Day Meeting (FBIS, 8 Mar 1966)
FBIS item (Jakarta radio, 8 Mar 1966): Subandrio's speech at the International Women's Day rally in Senayan, sponsored by the National Front and Kowani. He denied that Indonesia had veered right, urged solidarity with progressive states and Nasakom, and said women played an important role. Gerwani is not named.
Angkatan Bersendjata, 12 March 1966 (Supersemar Edition)
Angkatan Bersendjata, 12 Mar 1966, the Supersemar issue, with Sukarno's 8 March International Women's Day address, Muslimat NU's Mahmudah Mawardi demanding a PKI ban 'because women feel the effects', and the decree dissolving the PKI.
Night Walk of the Ghosts (Canberra Times, 14 April 1966)
Canberra Times, 14 Apr 1966, p. 2: first part of an anonymous Jakarta writer's anti-PKI reconstruction of 30 Sep-1 Oct 1965, casting Aidit and Untung as plotters and describing the murder of generals, with young Communist 'gangs of youths and girls' trained in camps. Gerwani not named; story continues next day. Cold Wa
Bloody Orgy at Halim Air Base (Canberra Times, 15 April 1966)
Canberra Times, 15 Apr 1966, p. 10: concluding part of a 'Special Correspondent' account repeating the Lubang Buaya slander. Claims 100 Gerwani women at Halim took razor blades, tortured and mutilated the generals, citing 'Mrs Djamilah' via the Djakarta Mail (15 Nov), singing 'People's Blood'. Adds Nasution escape narr
Bloody Orgy at Halim Air Base (Canberra Times, 15 April 1966), duplicate
Canberra Times, 15 Apr 1966, p. 10: concluding part of a 'Special Correspondent' account repeating the Lubang Buaya slander. Claims 100 Gerwani women at Halim took razor blades, tortured and mutilated the generals, citing 'Mrs Djamilah' via the Djakarta Mail (15 Nov), singing 'People's Blood'. Adds Nasution escape narr
Atrocities: account of the generals' killing and alleged Gerwani role
De Tijd article "Gruwelen" (23 Apr 1966) recounting the 1 Oct 1965 killings of the generals, claiming a hundred Gerwani women at Halim took part in torturing them with knives and razor blades after "training" including sexual orgies and blood oaths, citing a 15-year-old "Miss Djamilah" and the Djakarta Mail of 5 Nov. A
Atrocities: account of the generals' killing and alleged Gerwani role (duplicate record)
De Tijd article "Gruwelen" (23 Apr 1966) recounting the 1 Oct 1965 killings of the generals, claiming a hundred Gerwani women at Halim took part in torturing them with knives and razor blades after "training" including sexual orgies and blood oaths, citing a 15-year-old "Miss Djamilah" and the Djakarta Mail of 5 Nov. D
Peking Review no. 18, 29 April 1966: 'white terror' in Indonesia, women and children killed
Peking Review Vol. 9 No. 18, 29 April 1966, a Chinese weekly. Besides Cultural Revolution and Afro-Asian Journalists' Association material, it carries Chinese protests against Indonesian anti-China outrages and a Renmin Ribao commentary, 'Right-Wing Reactionaries Plunge Indonesia into a Bloodbath' (p. 25), quoting New
Angkatan Bersendjata, 14 May 1966
Angkatan Bersendjata, 14 Mei 1966. Front-page report of Ibu Soeharto telling armed forces wives to adopt their husbands' ideology: 'let it not happen that an ABRI wife becomes a member of Gerwani'.
Berita Yudha, 11 June 1966
Berita Yudha, 11 Juni 1966. Front page: Lt-Gen. Suharto at Perwari's 10th congress, where he is honoured 'Penyelamat Revolusi' and claims 40% of Central Java army units had been infiltrated; Gerwani mentioned.
Angkatan Bersendjata, 18 June 1966
Angkatan Bersendjata, 18 Juni 1966. Front-page editorial welcoming KODAM Jaya's ban on Partindo members at MPRS, arguing Partindo drew its members from the PKI, SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani; Suharto warns against the 'Lubang Buaya trap'.
Dossier of a slaughter
Tribune (Sydney), 29 Jun 1966, p. 5: editorial attacking Western press whitewashing of the Suharto regime plus a long reconstruction of 30 Sep-1 Oct 1965 taken from the British New Left Review, portraying the movement as junior officers' action. It mentions that Halim auxiliaries from Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani took par
Dossier of a slaughter
Tribune (Sydney), 29 Jun 1966, p. 5: editorial attacking Western press whitewashing of the Suharto regime plus a long reconstruction of 30 Sep-1 Oct 1965 taken from the British New Left Review, portraying the movement as junior officers' action. It mentions that Halim auxiliaries from Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani took par
Angkatan Bersendjata, 9 July 1966
Angkatan Bersendjata, 9 Juli 1966. 'Istri-istri ABRI turun tangan': Ny. Nasution says army wives take over social work, hampered earlier by 'Gestapu/PKI such as Gerwani', illustrating the displacement of Gerwani's welfare activities by military wives.
Harian Kami, 1 August 1966: 'Aidit, PKI political movement and us'
Harian Kami, 1 Agustus 1966: 'Aidit, Gerpol PKI & Kita'. Rosihan Anwar commentary quoting Aidit's alleged confession as published in the Asahi Evening News and The China Quarterly; mentions Gerwani as a 'gerpol' (political movement) front.
Vilification of Sukarno after loss of 'president for life' title
Commentary by C.H. Schaap in De Tijd (10 Sep 1966) on the campaign to vilify Sukarno after he lost the "president for life" title, including his private life and wives (Fatmawati, Hartini, Ratna Sari Dewi, Haryati). It says this is "a slap in the face for the Indonesian women's movement, which strives for monogamy"; Ge
Angkatan Bersendjata, 13 September 1966. 'Bung Piket' retrospective names 'the PKI with its accomplices BTI, SOBSI, PR, GERWANI, BAPERKI, HSI, CGMI' as the 'thieves' of October 1965; issue also rich in items on women including Fatmawati Sukarno.
Still three wives
Brief Amigoe di Curaçao item, 17 Sept 1966, on Sukarno's wives. It states Hartini, his 42-year-old second wife, is a 'leading member' of Gerwani, which was banned after the failed coup. Also recalls Mochtar Lubis's 1957 imprisonment for criticising the marriage. Claim of Hartini's Gerwani leadership is made without evi
Angkatan Bersendjata, 20 September 1966. 'Bung Piket' part 13 asserts the PKI held military training 'under cover of volunteer training à la Lubang Buaya' whose core was PR and Gerwani, in the Fifth Force campaign; editorial on Madiun.
Berita Yudha, 25 September 1966 (Sunday edition)
Berita Yudha, 25 September 1966 (edisi Minggu). Gossip exposé tied to the Jusuf Muda Dalam corruption trial names Siti Wahjoeni as ex-'commander' of the Palace young women's corps 'Barisan Bhinneka Tunggal Ika'; Gerwani mentioned as comparison.
Angkatan Bersendjata, 4 October 1966
Angkatan Bersendjata, 4 Oktober 1966. Front-page item: a women's action front states that the 'barbarous acts of Gerwani/PKI at Lubang Buaya' do not spring from the character of Indonesian women, distancing 'true' women from Gerwani.
Berita Yudha, 4 October 1966
Berita Yudha, 4 Oktober 1966. Report of a rally of some 3,500 women of KOWANI, KAWI and BPOW at Lubang Buaya (3 Oct) where, led by Ibu Tien Soeharto, they swore to 'eradicate the gerwani/pki mentality'; Ibu Soeharto says they 'practised obscenities without limit'.