Indonesia and the Wertheim Committee: Nijmegen congress and Dutch aid to Suharto
Long De Tijd opinion piece by Arie Kuiper (24 Apr 1969) on the Nijmegen student congress and the Wertheim Indonesia Committee's call to halt Dutch aid to Suharto's regime. It acknowledges hundreds of thousands killed and many political prisoners but blames Muslim hatred and defends Suharto; it repeats that generals were "hacked to pieces" by Gerwani women.
Opini panjang De Tijd oleh Arie Kuiper (24 April 1969) tentang kongres mahasiswa Nijmegen dan seruan Komite Indonesia Wertheim menghentikan bantuan Belanda kepada rezim Suharto. Mengakui ratusan ribu terbunuh dan banyak tahanan politik, tetapi menyalahkan kebencian kaum Muslim dan membela Suharto; mengulang bahwa para jenderal "dicincang" oleh perempuan Gerwani.
“They had literally been hacked to pieces by the members of a communist women's youth group, the GERWANI. A mass hysteria broke loose.”
Poster for an 'Indonesie-avond' protest meeting at Frascati, Amsterdam, 28 April 1975, against the donor countries conference, demanding an end to aid to Suharto and release of political prisoners. Dutch solidarity material.
shared: Komitee Indonesië, Suharto, W.F. Wertheim, foreign aid and investment
PhD dissertation in History (UCLA, 2014) by Dahlia Gratia Setiyawan on U.S. anti-communist operations and the 1965-66 purge in Surabaya. Gerwani appears in context: as the PKI's women's affiliate (ch. 1), through the Surabaya women's coalition GOWS in the 27 September 1965 Grahadi demonstration (ch. 4), and in the Army
shared: Army press sexual slander campaign against Gerwani, Mass killings of 1965–66, Suharto, atrocity rumours
Jan Bezemer's long Trouw weekend feature (30 Sep 1995) on the unresolved 1965 trauma. Covers the 30 September events, Suharto's role, US encouragement, massacres (Gatot's trial testimony) and the smear campaign against Gerwani. Draws on Saskia Wieringa's doctoral research: Gerwani was blamed for mutilating the generals
shared: Army press sexual slander campaign against Gerwani, Mass killings of 1965–66, Suharto, Netherlands
Wieringa (2014) uses The Act of Killing to argue Indonesian indifference to the film reflects the enduring success of the military's sexual moral panic against communism; discusses a director's-cut scene and levels of silence about Gerwani. Memory and silence.
shared: Army press sexual slander campaign against Gerwani, Mass killings of 1965–66, moral panic, Lubang Buaya and sexual slander
Poster for a three-day congress '10 jaar generaalsbewind in Indonesie' (Nijmegen, 9-11 Oct 1975) with speakers including W.F. Wertheim, Jan Pluvier and Ingrid Palmer. Dutch critical scholarship on the New Order.
shared: Radboud University Nijmegen, W.F. Wertheim, Nijmegen, Netherlands
The Scotsman, 8 Dec 1965, Dennis Bloodworth, 'Army plans to kill PKI for ever': Suharto and Nasution press to destroy the PKI while Sukarno refuses to ban it; the article analyses the PKI's miscalculations. It repeats the slander that six generals were mutilated by 'doe-eyed girls' of the PKI's 'Gerwani' women's moveme
shared: Army press sexual slander campaign against Gerwani, Mass killings of 1965–66, Suharto, Lubang Buaya and sexual slander
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.
shared: Army press sexual slander campaign against Gerwani, Mass killings of 1965–66, Suharto, Lubang Buaya and sexual slander
Berita Yudha, 9 Desember 1965. Page 2 rich in Gerwani items: 'Di Klaten G 30 S sediakan 200 Lobang Buaja' claims 200 pits were prepared and Gerwani and Pemuda Rakyat volunteers were involved.
shared: Army press sexual slander campaign against Gerwani, Mass killings of 1965–66, atrocity rumours, Lubang Buaya and sexual slander