1953 – 2009
Renmin Ribao, 17 Mar 1953 (p. 4), roundup of world mourning for Stalin: Togliatti's article and Brazilian, French and British tributes. In the Indonesia section the PKI issued a proclamation and held a memorial meeting (Sudisman eulogising), Harian Rakjat and other papers eulogised him, and Gerwis sent a telegram of gr
Renmin Ribao, 17 Mar 1953 (p. 4), roundup of world mourning for Stalin: Togliatti's article and Brazilian, French and British tributes. In the Indonesia section the PKI issued a proclamation and held a memorial meeting (Sudisman eulogising), Harian Rakjat and other papers eulogised him, and Gerwis sent a telegram of gr
Harian Rakjat, 26 Mei 1955, hlm. 1. Front page reporting the PKI's 35th-anniversary celebrations in Jakarta; Aidit's speech and greetings including from 'wanita' at home.
Algemeen Indisch Dagblad (1956-03-02, p. 2): list of PKI candidates by electoral district across East Java, Central Java, West Java, Greater Jakarta and Sumatra. It includes women: Umi Sardjono (Mrs. Sukisman), Suharti Suwarto (Solo), Mudigdio (Siti Aminah Mochsjam, Jakarta), Sundari Abdulrachman (Semarang), Salawati D
De Nieuwsgier parliamentary report (16 Nov 1956) on the debate over resolutions on Soviet "interference" in Hungary (Anwar Harjono) and an appeal to the UN (Adam Malik). Umi Sardjono (listed Pembangunan faction) spoke against the Anwar resolution; it passed 102 to 29, the Malik motion 71 to 0.
US Monthly Indonesian Press Survey (1958) analysis of the First National Conference of Communist Women (Jakarta, 26-31 May 1958). Aidit's address presents the 'Communist woman' and calls for a wider Gerwani; Suharti Suwarto (Gerwani second deputy chair) and Sundari report on women's groups, only 100,000 women PKI membe
English anthology of progressive Indonesian poetry, 1955-61 (introduction dated Djakarta, 8 May 1962), from Zaman Baru, Harian Rakjat and Bintang Timur. Its contributor notes state that the poet Sugiarti Siswadi, who visited Romania (1955) and the GDR, USSR and China (1961) with Rukiah Kertapati as LEKRA delegation hea
English anthology of progressive Indonesian poetry, 1955-61 (introduction dated Djakarta, 8 May 1962), from Zaman Baru, Harian Rakjat and Bintang Timur. Its contributor notes state that the poet Sugiarti Siswadi, who visited Romania (1955) and the GDR, USSR and China (1961) with Rukiah Kertapati as LEKRA delegation hea
Renmin Ribao/Xinhua report (21 July 1963, p. 3) on PKI chairman Aidit's delegation leaving Jakarta for Moscow, Beijing and Cuba, with his airport statements on the Sino-Soviet dispute, Nasakom and 'Malaysia'. Gerwani appears once, its head among mass-organisation leaders at the send-off. Useful for Gerwani's place in P
JPRS translation page (Translations on South and East Asia, 1964, seq 520) on a PKI national conference on revolutionary literature and art. Secretary Sudisman opens it; a 17-person presidium includes D.N. Aidit, Njoto, S. Rukiah and Mia Bustam from Central Java; Aidit reports on serving workers, peasants and soldiers
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180322 (28 Oct-5 Nov 1965): Djakarta telegrams quoting Antara on the post-coup purge, Sukarno versus the generals, Medan and Central Java. Gerwani items: tel. 2418 (2 Nov, p. 52) reports a Kowani/women's congress move to expel Gerwani members; tel. 2421 (p. 57) quotes Suharto naming 'Pemud
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180326 (Feb-Aug 1965): embassy telegrams, letters and Antara extracts on the PKI's growth before the coup: its 45th anniversary, Aidit's speeches, Mao's greeting, Sino-Soviet positions and Sukarno's leftward drift. Gerwani items: Antara of 9 June reports Sukarno addressing Gerwani, chaired
FBIS item (ANTARA, 2 Dec 1965) reporting Njono's army-publicised interrogation: PKI Politburo allegedly planned the coup from July to August 1965 under Aidit. Gerwani is named among the organisations expected to support military operations and, with Pemuda Rakyat, BTI and SOBSI, in Njono's Jakarta force. Lubang Buaya i
Excerpt (pp. 80-102 of 130) of Zhou Enlai's conversation with Enver Hoxha, Mehmet Shehu and other Albanian leaders, 27 June 1966 (Wilson Center Digital Archive; trans. Elidor Mehilli). Mostly on the Cultural Revolution, revisionism, Romania, Korea and Vietnam. One passage says Aidit, Njoto and Lukman are dead, Sudisman
Brig. Gen. Supardjo's 1966 analysis, addressed to 'comrade leaders', of why the 30 September Movement failed, published by John Roosa in 2008. The only first-hand assessment by a movement leader.
English pamphlet (Melbourne, 1975, trans. Benedict Anderson) of PKI General Secretary Sudisman's final Mahmillub speech of 21 July 1967, 'Analysis of Responsibility'. A leader's self-critical account of the PKI and the 30 September Movement.
Online English text (marxists.org) of Sudisman's 21 July 1967 Mahmillub defence 'Analysis of Responsibility': his choice of 'the path of death', PKI self-criticism and account of the 30 September Movement. Same speech as the printed pamphlet.
Harian Kami, 5 Juli 1967. List of Sudisman's three defence lawyers and 22 witnesses for his Mahmillub trial includes two Gerwani leaders with underground aliases, including Sulami (alias Siti Alfiah).
Angkatan Bersendjata, 12 Juli 1967. Report on the 11th session of Sudisman's Mahmillub trial (witnesses Karel Supit and Sardjono); Gerwani mentioned on p. 3 as the court was to hear further witnesses.
Tricontinental Bulletin no. 21 (Havana, December 1967), organ of OSPAAAL. A passage denouncing the Suharto-Nasution regime says thousands of men and women suffer torture in Indonesian prisons and names those sentenced to death: Njono, Sudisman, Sakirman, Rewang, Latief, Sujono, 'Sutanti, Aidit', Omar Dani. The printed
Tricontinental Bulletin no. 21 (Havana, December 1967), organ of OSPAAAL. A passage denouncing the Suharto-Nasution regime says thousands of men and women suffer torture in Indonesian prisons and names those sentenced to death: Njono, Sudisman, Sakirman, Rewang, Latief, Sujono, 'Sutanti, Aidit', Omar Dani. The printed
De Waarheid, 29 Oct 1968, p. 1: report, via Reuters, that the Indonesian military regime executed PKI Central Committee members Njono and Sudisman and Yogyakarta PKI secretary Wirjomartono by firing squad in Jakarta Bay after secret tribunal hearings; an initial report on Supardjo and Ruslan Kamaludin was retracted. It
Berliner Zeitung, 3 November 1968, p. 5. ADN/BZ brief 'Protest gegen Massaker': the IDFF (WIDF) telegraphed General Suharto its outrage at continuing massacres of Indonesian patriots and democrats, calling them a flagrant violation of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. The same page's column 'Es geschah in dieser Woch
RAND memorandum RM-5753-PR (Feb 1969), Guy J. Pauker, 'The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Indonesia'. Argues, from trial records, that Aidit planned the 30 September action against the generals and traces PKI strategy, the Chinese turn, the agrarian 'unilateral actions' and the killings (up to 300,000), and th
Angkatan Bersendjata, 30 April 1969. PAB report on the Navy military court trial of ex-Major Adnan Soewardi for sheltering Gen. Supardjo; a witness, Sunarti, is identified as a member of the Gerwani Salemba branch.
Article by Justus M. van der Kroef (Pacific Affairs, spring 1970) on the PKI underground and army counter-campaign after 1965, from the Blitar and Purwodadi operations to political prisoners and Moscow/Beijing exile factions. Gerwani appears once (p.50): arrests of former Communists 'including members of Gerwani (the P
Review essay by Justus M. van der Kroef (Pacific Affairs, winter 1970) surveying interpretations of the 1965 coup (Wertheim, Rey, the Cornell Report, Utrecht, Pluvier, Hughes, Nugroho/Saleh) from a pro-PKI-complicity standpoint. Several passages mention Gerwani members' role at Halim; he cites 'Mrs Djamilah's' confessi
Internet Archive compilation on the 1965 events whose main text is Anderson and McVey's Cornell 'Preliminary Analysis of the October 1, 1965 Coup' (1971), with source documents. It says Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat trainees at Lubang Buaya were drawn into the killings (pp. 22-23) while stressing the army-fed 'orgy' storie
Internet Archive compilation on the 1965 events whose main text is Anderson and McVey's Cornell 'Preliminary Analysis of the October 1, 1965 Coup' (1971), with source documents. It says Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat trainees at Lubang Buaya were drawn into the killings (pp. 22-23) while stressing the army-fed 'orgy' storie
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
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
De Waarheid, 11 Jul 1975, p. 1: report that the four women tried in Jakarta (aged 50-60, arrested 1966, nine years' detention not deducted) rejected all charges; Sri Ambar had earlier refused to testify at the 1967 trial of PKI leader Sudisman unless she could show her torture injuries. The verdict notes no sign of rem
De Waarheid, 12 Jul 1975, p. 1: report that the four women tried in Jakarta (aged 50-60, arrested 1966, nine years' detention not deducted) rejected all charges; Sri Ambar had earlier refused to testify at the 1967 trial of PKI leader Sudisman unless she could show her torture injuries. The verdict notes no sign of rem
Tharunka (UNSW student paper), 30 July 1975, p. 8, clean OCR of the article 'Indonesian Women: The Banned Women's Organisation' (same article as GA-00274). It presents Gerwani as unaffiliated with the PKI, then attacked in 1965 by press stories of 'Gerwani prostitutes', 'obscene sex-dancing' and genital mutilation of g
TAPOL Bulletin no. 19, January 1977. Leads on 'release equals transmigration': Sudomo's 1 Dec 1976 release of 2,500 B-category tapols into 'transmigration centres' and Buru. Reports that women tapols at Plantungan (since 1971) were moved to Bulu prison, Semarang, apparently for transfer to a 'hard-core' women's camp at
Journal article by Coen Holtzappel (Journal of Contemporary Asia, 1979) analysing the Untung and Njono trial records to argue the 30 September Movement was steered by Air Force and Army intelligence, with Sjam's Pringgodani group deliberately compromising the PKI and Aidit. Gerwani is mentioned only once, in a footnote
TAPOL Bulletin no. 34 (London, June 1979, 20 pp.): exposes inconsistencies in KOPKAMTIB release figures, resettlement camps in Kalimantan and Buru, the student trials, release oath and ex-tapol discrimination, the Nijmegen psycho-test cover-up, TAPOL's research on 366 1965 trials, IGGI aid. Gerwani is not named; one it
British FCO file FCO 15/2701 (1980), 'Political detainees in Indonesia': Amnesty International's April 1980 letter and memorandum to the UK government before the IGGI meeting, on release of B-category prisoners, restrictions on ex-detainees, missing persons and unfair A-category trials, plus TAPOL Bulletin extracts (No
TAPOL Bulletin no. 37 (London, January 1980): editorial on the end of KOPKAMTIB's release plan, plus Julie Southwood's long study of 1,014 political trials since 1966. It notes the 1965 Lubang Buaya claim that communist women castrated the generals, and the 1975 subversion trial of Gerwani's Sulami and Sudjinah, with S
The Guardian (Weekend Guardian), 8 Sept 1990, p.A4, John Gittings, 'The black hole of Bali': long feature on the 1965 massacre (250,000 or more killed), how the killings were organised by the army under Suharto, the Aidit/PKI role, the US list of communists (Martens/Kadane) and US encouragement, survivors ('Tapols') an
Official Army history (Pusjarah TNI, Jakarta 2009), vol. IV of 'Komunisme di Indonesia', presenting Gerwani as a PKI mass organisation in the 1960-65 build-up and the G30S. It reports Gerwani's Nov-Dec 1964 housewives' seminar (p. 70), 'unilateral actions' (p. 122), the 27 Sept 1965 Surabaya governor's-office raid unde
Official Army history (Pusjarah TNI, Jakarta 2009), vol. IV of 'Komunisme di Indonesia', presenting Gerwani as a PKI mass organisation in the 1960-65 build-up and the G30S. It reports Gerwani's Nov-Dec 1964 housewives' seminar (p. 70), 'unilateral actions' (p. 122), the 27 Sept 1965 Surabaya governor's-office raid unde