Gerwani Archive
Researcher log in
GA-02601 1965-12-21 relevance C public

Airgram A-408: Joint Weeka no. 48, 21 Desember 1965

Airgram A-408: Joint Weeka no. 48, 21 Dec 1965

Open file in Google DriveRead full text

US Embassy Joint Weeka no. 48 (airgram A-408), 21 Dec 1965: estimates 100,000 PKI deaths and 10,000 on Bali; notes Sukarno addressing the 20th anniversary of Perwari. Only women-related scene is a non-communist women's group used as a stage.

Joint Weeka no. 48 Kedubes AS (airgram A-408), 21 Des 1965: memperkirakan 100.000 kematian PKI dan 10.000 di Bali; mencatat Sukarno berpidato pada HUT ke-20 Perwari. Satu-satunya adegan perempuan ialah organisasi perempuan non-komunis sebagai panggung.

People

SukarnoSutedjaMary Vance Trent

Organisations

Communist Party of IndonesiaWomen's Union of the Republic of IndonesiaSupreme Operations CommandCentral Intelligence BoardUS Embassy in Jakarta

Places

JakartaBali

Events

Mass killings of 1965–66

Topics

killings 1965–661965 coup and aftermathwomen's rights and emancipationUSA and UK

Tags

statisticsanniversary celebrationpress roundup

Details

Date
1965-12-21
Creator
US Embassy Jakarta
Document type
government record (declassified diplomatic airgram (Joint Weeka weekly situation summary), secret)
Language
English
Perspective
Intelligence/diplomatic record
Source role
primary
Country
USA
Period
1965–1966
Access
National Security Archive (George Washington University), Electronic Briefing Book 'Indonesia Mass Murder 1965: U.S. Embassy Files', published 17 October 2017 alongside the declassification of some 30,000 pages of US Embassy Jakarta files (1964 to 1968) held at NARA (RG 59 / Embassy post files; the briefing book URL and EBB number should be re-checked before citation). Open access PDF scan, downloaded from nsarchive.gwu.edu; retrieved 2026-10-13. Each PDF ends with an NSA colophon page that is not part of the original document. Open access source: file can be shown on the website.
Citation (APA)
U.S. Embassy Jakarta. (1965, December 21). Joint Weeka no. 48: This Weeka covers the period December 1[2?] to December 18, 1965 (Airgram A-408, secret; signed Mary Vance Trent) [Declassified airgram, Document 24]. In National Security Archive, Indonesia mass murder 1965: U.S. Embassy files [Electronic Briefing Book; documents declassified by NARA]. National Security Archive, George Washington University. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/indonesia/2017-10-17/indonesia-mass-murder-1965-us-embassy-files
File
01 Primary Sources/1.6 US, British and Dutch Government Records/US Embassy Jakarta files (1965-1967) - Indonesia Mass Murder 1965, briefing book documents (National Security Archive EBB 2017)/US Embassy Jakarta (1965-12-21) - Airgram A-408, Joint Weeka No. 48 [NSA EBB doc 24].pdf
OCR / text
Fair (0.793) · proof-reading: no (script-cleaned only) · translation: not needed
Collection
01 Primary Sources › 1.6 US, British and Dutch Government Records › US Embassy Jakarta files (1965-1967) - Indonesia Mass Murder 1965, briefing book documents (National Security Archive EBB 2017)
Summary basis
condensed from full annotation

Related items

GA-02586 1965-12-22 rel C

Telegram 203 (Joint Sitrep 21), US Consulate Surabaya, 21 Desember 1965

Telegram 203 (Joint Sitrep 21), US Consulate Surabaya, 21 Dec 1965

US Consulate Surabaya Joint Sitrep 21, 21 December 1965: killings 'ceased' in Pasuruan but the Army quietly hands 10-15 prisoners nightly to Muslims for execution; also Bali and rice shortages. Regional context; no Gerwani content.

shared: Mass killings of 1965–66, Sutedja, Bali, USA and UK

GA-02597 1965-11-30 rel B

Airgram A-353: Joint Weeka no. 45, 30 November 1965

Airgram A-353: Joint Weeka no. 45, 30 Nov 1965

US Embassy Joint Weeka no. 45 (airgram A-353), 30 Nov 1965: Nasution says repression of the PKI has reached 'mass executions' in several provinces; Army-Sukarno contest. Note: Gerwani not specifically named in the excerpt; high-level context.

shared: Mass killings of 1965–66, US Embassy in Jakarta, Supreme Operations Command, press roundup

GA-02588 1965-12-17 rel A

Airgram A-398: daftar pimpinan PKI dan keberadaan pimpinan, 17 Desember 1965

Airgram A-398: List of PKI Leaders and Their Whereabouts, 17 Dec 1965

US Embassy airgram A-398, 17 Dec 1965, listing PKI leadership bodies after May 1965 and fugitive leaders' whereabouts. Places Suharti (Gerwani chair, head of the PKI women's department), Umi Sardjono, Setiati Surasto and Mudjiatun in PKI organs; no women in the whereabouts list.

shared: US Embassy in Jakarta, Mary Vance Trent, USA and UK

GA-02596 1965-11-20 rel C

Telegram 1516 to Secretary of State, 20 November 1965

Telegram 1516 to Secretary of State, 20 Nov 1965

US Embassy telegram 1516, 20 Nov 1965, relaying Yugoslav and Australian secondhand accounts that PKI activists relied on Sukarno, claimed no foreknowledge of the 30 September Movement and expected the party to vanish for years. Context on PKI grassroots confusion.

shared: US Embassy in Jakarta, Mary Vance Trent, USA and UK

GA-01512 1999-07-17 South China Morning Post rel B licensed

Killing off the communists (South China Morning Post, 17 Juli 1999)

Killing off the communists (South China Morning Post, 17 July 1999)

South China Morning Post, 17 July 1999, p.37, Marian Wilkinson (Sydney Morning Herald), 'Killing off the communists': newly released US embassy and CIA cables show US officials encouraging the army's anti-PKI campaign in Oct-Nov 1965, urging anti-PKI propaganda that links 'diabolical murder and mutilation of the genera

shared: Mass killings of 1965–66, US Embassy in Jakarta, Bali, USA and UK

GA-00977 1989-09-02 De Waarheid rel B

Moorden (Suharto en de massamoorden van 1965-66)

Murders (Suharto and the mass killings of 1965-66)

De Waarheid piece (2 Sep 1989, p.16) criticising Suharto's silence on the 1965-66 massacres, quoting Stanley Karnow and C.L. Sulzberger on the killings and estimates of 300,000 to one million dead. It notes mass arrests without trial of hundreds of thousands, including members of SOBSI, Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat, and t

shared: Mass killings of 1965–66, Bali, statistics, killings 1965–66

GA-01511 1975-11-26 South China Morning Post rel B licensed

Indonesia: a fresh start (South China Morning Post, 26 November 1975)

South China Morning Post, 26 Nov 1975, p.22, Kenneth Whiting (AP), 'Indonesia: a fresh start': ten-year retrospective on the 1965 coup and 'bloodbath' (about 300,000 killed, 100,000 jailed, 20,000 political detainees still held), with oil-led economic recovery. A short passage says women were killed if believed to be p

shared: Mass killings of 1965–66, Bali, statistics, killings 1965–66

GA-01992 1966-04-19 Renmin Ribao rel B licensed

Renmin Ribao, 19 April 1966: Komite Solidaritas Asia-Afrika Thailand memprotes penindasan di Indonesia (泰国亚非人民团结委员会发表新闻公报)

Thai Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee communique condemns Indonesian military killings and arrests

Xinhua report in Renmin Ribao (19 Apr 1966, p. 4) of a 13 April communiqué by the Thai Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Committee condemning Indonesia's military and 'reactionaries': 78,500 killed and 106,000 arrested per the Fact-Finding Commission in Bali, Java and North Sumatra; bans on Pemuda Rakyat, CGMI, Gerwani, B

shared: Mass killings of 1965–66, Bali, statistics, killings 1965–66