Sexual Politics in Indonesia (Saskia Wieringa, 2002)

=== [PDF page 1] === Ae a Institute of Social Studies Sexual Politics in Indonesia a rey: === [PDF page 2] === Also published in association with the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague Selected titles: Richard P. C. Brown PUBLIC DEBT AND PRIVATE WEALTH Debt, Capital Flight and the IMF in Sudan Amrita Chhachhi and Renee Pittin (editors) CONFRONTING STATE, CAPITAL AND PATRIARCHY Anjan Kumar Datta LABOUR RELATIONS IN SOUTH-WEST BANGLADESH E. V. K. FitzGerald THE MACROECONOMICS OF DEVELOPMENT FINANCE A Kaleckian Analysis of the Semi-Industrial Economy Geertje Lycklama a Nijeholt (editor) TOWARDS WOMEN'S STRATEGIES FOR THE 1990s Challenging Government and the State Kurt Martin (editor) STRATEGIES OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Readings in the Political Economy of Industrialization Patricia Mohammed GENDER NEGOTIATIONS AMONG INDIANS IN TRINIDAD, 1917-1947 S. Parasuraman THE DEVELOPMENT DILEMMA Displacement in India Jan Nederveen Pieterse (editor) WORLD ORDERS IN THE MAKING Humanitarian Intervention and Beyond Renee Ilene Pittin WOMEN AND WORK IN NORTHERN NIGERIA Transcending Boundaries Ken Post REGAINING MARXISM REVOLUTION'S OTHER WORLD Max Spoor THE STATE AND DOMESTIC AGRICULTURAL MARKETS IN NICARAGUA Peter de Valk AFRICAN INDUSTRY IN DECLINE === [PDF page 3] === Judith-Ann Walker DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION IN THE CARIBBEAN Independent Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago Saskia Wieringa SEXUAL POLITICS IN INDONESIA Institute of Social Studies, The Hague Series Standing Order ISBI\' 978-0-333-71477-5 (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England === [PDF page 4] === Sexual Politics in Indonesia Saskia Wieringa palgrave rnaclluHan Institute of So(ial Studies === [PDF page 5] === © Institute of Social Studies 2002 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-333-98718-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London wn 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2002 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-43122-9 ISBN 978-1-4039-1992-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781403919922 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wieringa, saskia, 19SOSexual politics in Indonesia I by saskia E. Wieringa. p. em. - (Institute of Social Studies (Series)) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-349-43122-9 (cloth) 1. Women-lndonesia-History-20th century. 2. Sex role-lndonesia-History-20th century. 3. Gerwani (Organization) I. Title. II. Series. 305.4'09598-dc21 2001058230 10 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 === [PDF page 6] === Contents Glossary Note on Spelling Acknowledgements vii vii xvi 1. Introduction: Unravelling Hidden Histories The Research Process 2. A Triple Loyalty: Feminism, Socialism and Nationalism Feminism Gender: A Contested Concept Women Organizing Feminism and Marxism: Practice and Theory in Indonesia Feminism and Nationalism 3. The Garuda Takes Flight: From the Colonial Period to Independence Political Developments Until 1950 Pre-Independence Nationalism Feminism and the Early Women s Organizations Pre-War Feminism and Nationalism Women Organize Nationally Confronting Japan and Holland 4. The Old Order: Nationalism, Communism and Feminism Parliamentary Democracy Fails Guided Democracy Sukamo Ideology: Marhaenism The Communist Party (PKI) Women s Organizations During Parliamentary Democracy 16 27 28 30 38 40 46 52 53 56 61 69 73 81 97 100 103 106 107 112 === [PDF page 7] === Contents The Women s Movement Under Guided Democracy Concluding Remarks 125 130 5. Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Women's Movement 139 The Creation of Gerwis Towards a Mass Line Towards Total Integration with Workers and Peasants In the Cauldron Concluding Remarks 141 151 160 170 179 6. Gerwani: Between the PKI and Sukarno 191 Gerwani and the PKI Gerwani and Sukamo Peace, Imperialism and the WDF Concluding Remarks 193 212 219 224 7. Militant Mothers: Gerwani's Ideology 232 233 243 247 250 252 255 261 264 271 Morality Cultural Imperialism Sexual Politics Adat and Islam The Struggle for Monogamy The True Manipol Family The Sexual Division ofLabour Towards Revolutionary Emancipation Between Nature and Culture 8. Gerwani Defamed, Sukamo Overthrown The Coups The PKI or Suharto as Dalang? Gerwani and Lobang Buaya Gerwani Trapped Defamation of Gerwani Sukarno Replaced 9. Epilogue References Index 280 282 289 291 296 301 317 336 347 382 === [PDF page 8] === Glossary Note on Spelling In 1972 a new system of spelling was introduced in Indonesia. The major changes were that words formerly spelt with dj, j, kh, tj, are now spelt with j, y, ch, and c respectively. I have also generally used u for oe. For the sake of consistency I have used this new spelling except in titles, direct quotations or in personal names for which the old spelling is generally preferred. As the Indonesian language does not use the plural s, I have refrained from using it for Indonesian words if the plural is clear from the context. All translations from original Indonesian or Dutch sources are my own, unless I have indicated otherwise. abangan ABRI adat Aisyah aksi sepihak aliran ampil Ansor Api Kartini Arjuna arisan Badan Pembrantasan ButaHuruf nominally Muslim, strongly influenced by Hindu-Buddhist and animist religious ideas Angkatan Bersenjata Republik Indonesia, Indonesian armed forces customary law women's branch of the Muhammadyah one-sided action socio-cultural group or orientation, the 'pillars' of Indonesian society secondary wife of a Javanese prince NU youth organization Kartini's Fire (AK), Gerwani's glossy periodical a warrior prince in the wayang plays based on the Mahabharata lottery run by neighbourhood women Body to Combat Illiteracy vii === [PDF page 9] === viii Glossary Badan Penyelidikan Research Body on Indonesian Women Perburuban Perempuan Workers Indonesia Baldn Badan Koordinasi Intelijens (Intelligence Coordinating Body) bakso a kind of soup bapak literally 'father', a respectful term of address for men Barisan Srikandi Srikandi Troops, women's troops set up by the Japanese berdikari self-reliance Berita Gerwani Gerwani News, Gerwani's internal bulletin Bhayangkari organization of police wives BPS Badan Pendukung Sukarno (Body for the Promotion of Sukarnoism), an anti-PKI group BTl Barisan Tani Indonesia (Indonesian Farmers' Front) Budi Utomo Noble Endeavour bupati Indonesian regent in colonial times cabang branch (level of an organization) CGMI the Student's Union dalang puppeteer in wayang play daerah regional (level of an organization) Darul Islam House of Islam, a movement which fought for the establishment of an Islamic state Deklarasi Economi (Economic Declaration) Dekon Dewan Pertimbangan Supreme Advisory Council Agung DGI Dewan Gereja Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Churches) Dharma Pertiwi the New Order official organization of wives of military men Dharma Wanita Women's Duty. the New Order official organization of civil servant wives DPD Dewan Pimpinan Daerah (Regional Leadership) Dewan Pimpinan Pusat (National DPP Leadership) DPR Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (people's === [PDF page 10] === Glossary DPRD DPR-GR Dwikora FDR Fujinkai G30S group Ganefo GAPI gara-gara Garuda garwapadmi garwa selir Gerakan Wanita Sosialis Gerindo Gerwani Gerwis gotong royong GOW GPII haji Harian Rakyat Hati Soetji heiho HSI Representative Council, Parliament) Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Deareh (Regional Parliament) Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat-Gotong Royong (Mutual Help Parliament), during Guided Democracy Dwi Komando Rakyat (Two People's Commands), related to the Malaysia confrontation Front Demokrasi Rakyat (Democratic People's Front) women's organization set up by the Japanese Gerakan-Movement-30 September Games of the New Emerging Forces Gabungan Politik Indonesia (Indonesian Political Federation) a scene portraying cosmic disharmony, usually performed at the beginning of the second act of the wayang mythical bird, a national symbol official first wife of a Javanese prince secondary wife of a Javanese prince Socialist Women's Movement Gerakan Rakyat Indonesia (Indonesian People's Movement) Gerakan Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Movement) Gerakan Wanita Indonesia Sedar (Movement of Conscious Indonesian Women) traditional system of mutual cooperation Gabungan Organisasi Wanita (Federation of Women's Organizations) Gerakan Pemuda Islam Indonesia (Indonesian Islamic Youth Organization) someone who has been on a pilgrimage to Mecca The People's Daily (HR) Pure Heart Indonesian auxiliary forces in the Japanese military Himpunan Sarjana Indonesia (Indonesian Association of Scholars) === [PDF page 11] === ibu ILO ISDV Islam statistik Isteri Indonesia Isteri Sedar JIBDA Jong Islamieten Bond kabir KAMI kampung KaumMuda kauman KAWI kecamatan KITLV Glossary literally 'mother', a respectful term of address for women International Labour Organization Indische Sociaal-Democratische Vereniging (Indian Social Democratic Organization) statistically Muslim Indonesian Wives Conscious Wives Jong Islamieten Bond Dames (Ladies' Branch of the League of Young Muslims) League of Young Muslims kapitalis birokrat, bureaucratic capitalist Kesatuan Aksi Mahasiswa Indonesia (Indonesian Students' Action Front) neighbourhood Islamic Reform Movement quarter in which devout Muslims live Kesatuan Aksi Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Action Front) subdistrict Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology) women's destiny komunis (communist) Committee to help Indonesian Women Workers kodrat wanita kom Komite Penolong Buruh Perempuan Indonesia Kowani Kongres Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Congress) KPI Kongres Perempuan Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Congress) Kongres Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women's KWI Congress) religious teacher kyai Laskyar Wanita Indonesia, women's guerilla Laswi groups fighting against the Dutch Lembaga Kebudayaan Rakyat (League of People's Lekra Culture) === [PDF page 12] === Glossary Crocodile Hole, the place where the Generals were murdered in 1965 Lembaga Studi Ilmu-Ilmu Kemasyarakatan (Study LSIK Centre of Sciences of the Society) luwes soft, smooth Madjoe Kemoelian Progress and Honour Manipol Manifesto Politik (political Manifesto) masyarakat society Masyumi Majelis Syuro Muslimin Indonesia, Consultative Council of Indonesian Muslims organization of European and Indonesian Catholic Melaniagilde women involved in social work Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Sementara (peoMPRS ple's Provisional Consultative Council) Islamic Reform Movement Muhammadiyah proletarian, name of small Trotskyist party Murba women's branch of Masyumi and the NU Muslimat musyawarahdeliberation until consensus is reached mufakat napol narapidana politik (convicted political prisoner) Nasakom Nasionalism, Agama and Komunism, Sukamo's doctrine of the unity between nationalist, religious and Communist sectors in society Newly Emerging Forces Nefo Nekolim neo-colonialism and imperialism Nahdlatul Ulama (Council of Islamic Scholars) NVB Nederlandse Vrouwen Beweging (Dutch Women's Movement), sister organization to Gerwani nyai concubine Oldefo Old Established Forces onderstand welfare benefits OPM Organisasi Papua Merdeka (Organization of Independence for the Papuans) ormas organisasi masa (mass organization) Perkumpulan Pemberantasan Perdagangan Perempuan dan Anak-Anak (Association for the Abolition of Trade in Women and Children) Five Women's Duties Panca Dharma Wanita five loves pancacinta Lobang Buaya === [PDF page 13] === xii pancasila PARI Parindra Parkindo Partai Buruh Indonesia Partai Wanita Rakyat Pekarev Glossary five pillars. Official Indonesian state doctrine: belief in one supreme God, just and civilized humanity; national unity; democracy led by the inner wisdom of unanimity arising out of deliberations among representatives; social justice for the whole of the Indonesian people Partai Republik Indonesia (Indonesian Republican Party) Partai Indonesi Raya (Greater Indonesian Party) Parkindo Partai Indonesia, Indonesian Party Indonesian Workers' Party Women's People's Party Pendidikan Kader Revolusi (Training of Revolutionary Cadres) Pekerja Perempuan Indonesian Working Women Indonesia Pemuda Indonesia Indonesian Youth People's Youth Pemuda Rakyat traitor penghianat Islamic official penghulu Piagam Perjuangan Semesta Alam (Universal Pennesta Struggle Charter), Sulawesi-based uprising Persatuan Muslim Indonesia (Indonesian Muslim Permi Union) Indonesian Communist Federation Perserikatan Komunis di Indonesia Persaudaraan Isteri Tentara (Sisterhooo of Wives Persit of the Armed Forces) Perti Persatuan Tarbijah Indonesia (Indonesian Union for the Improvement of Education) Persatuan Wanita Murba (Federation of Murba Perwamu Women) Persatuan Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Perwani Federation) Persatuan Wanita Republik Indonesia (Women's Perwari Federation of the Indonesian Republic) Perwin Persatuan Wanita Indonesia (Federation of === [PDF page 14] === Glossary Pesindo Peta PIA PIS PKI PKK PMKRI PNI Poetri Indonesia PP19 PPI Perikatan Perempoean Indonesia PPGI PPII PPPI PRRI PSI xiii Indonesian Women) Pemuda Sosialis Indonesia (Indonesian Socialist Youth) Pembela Tanah Air (Protectors of the Fatherland Persatuan Istri Angkatan Udara (Federation of Air Forces' Wives) Political Information Services Partai Komunis Indonesia (Indonesian Communist Party) Pembinaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga (Family Welfare Guidance), a mass movement of women coordinated by the Ministry of Women's Affairs Perhimpunan Mahasiswa Katolik Republik Indonesia (Indonesian Catholic Student Union) Partai Nasional Indonesia (National Indonesian Party) Pendidikan Nasional Indonesia (Indonesian National Education), new PNI Indonesian Young Women Peraturan Pemerintah 19, Government Regulation No. 19 which arranged for the pensions of wives of polygynous male officials Pemuda Putri Indonesia (Indonesian Young Women), left-wing women's guerrilla group against the Dutch Federation of Indonesian Women Perhimpunan Peladjar Perguruan Rakyat (Federation of Teachers of People's Schools) Persatuan Perkumpulan Isteri Indonesia (Union of Organizations of Indonesian Wives) Perikatan Perkumpulan Perempuan Indonesia (Union ofIndonesian Women's Organizations) Pemuda Rakyat (people's Youth) Pemerintah Revolusioner Republik Indonesia (Revolutionary Government of the Indonesian Republic), Minangkabau-based uprising Partai Sosialis Indonesia (Indonesian Socialist Party) === [PDF page 15] === xiv PSI PSII Glossary Sarekat Islam (Islamic League) Partai Sarekat Islam Indonesia (Indonesian Islamic League Party) indigenous pribumi Javanese nobility taking up positions in the priyayi colonial administration central pusat Pusat Tenaga Rakyat (Centre for People's Power) Putera Putri Budi Sedjati Young Women with True Minds Independent Woman Putri Mardika Persatuan Wanita Kristen Indonesia PWKI (Union of Indonesian Christian Women) noble title raden common people rakyat neighbourhood (level of an organization) ranting Ruangan Wanita 'Women's Comer' in Harian Rakyat; later renamed Ruangan Gerakan Wanita (Comer of the Women's Movement) harmony rukun Association of Indonesian Young Women RukunPutri Indonesia Rukun Tetangga (Neighbourhood Association) Republic of the United States of Indonesia RUSI strict follower of Islam santri Sarekat Buruh Perkebunan Republik Indonesia Sarbupri (Union of Indonesian Plantation Workers) Islamic Trade League Sarekat Dagang Islam People's League, the 'red' wing of the SI Sarekat Rakyat Serikat Buruh Indonesia Sejahtem (Indonesian SBSI Prosperous Labour Union), established in 1992 as a rival to the SPSI Sociaal Democmtische Arbeiders Partij SDAP (Social Democratic Labour Party) Sekretariat Bersama Golongan Karya (Joint SecreSekber Golkar tariat of Functional Groups), set up by the army Serikat Perempuan Islamic Young Women's League Islam Sarekat Islam (Islamic League) Suara Ibu Peduli (Voice of Concerned Mothers) SIP === [PDF page 16] === Glossary SMA SMP SOBSI Solidaritas Perempuan SPSI Sekolah Menengah Atas (senior high school) Sekolah Menengah Pertama Gunior high school) Sentral Organisasi Buruh Seluruh Indonesia (All Indonesian Labour Unions Federation) Women's Solidarity Serikat Pekerja Seluruh Indonesia (New Order 'Official' All-Indonesian Labour Union) warrior wife of wayang hero Arjuna Srikandi Arjuna's more docile wife Sumbadra tabir curtain behind which conservative Islamic women had to sit when attending public affairs repudiation talak ta'lik conditions upon which the husband must pronounce the talak and thus divorce his wife Taman Siswa Garden of Learning, movement for educational reform tapol tahanan politik (political prisoner) Trikora Tri Komando Rakyat (Three People's Commands) ulama religious teacher United Nations Volksraad People's Council VSTP Vereniging van Spoor-en Tramweg Personeel (Union of Railway and Tram Workers) Wani Wanita Negara Indonesia (Women of the Indonesian State) Wanita Demokrat Democratic Women, women's wing of the PNI Wanita Islam Islamic Women Wanita Katolik Catholic Women Wanita Taman Women of the Garden of Learning Siswa Wa,nkom Wanita Komunis, women members of the PKI warung food stall wayang puppet shadow play generally based on the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata wedana Indonesian head of a district in colonial times WmF Women's International Democratic Federation === [PDF page 17] === Acknowledgements The original fieldwork on which this book is based was carried out within the framework of the research project 'Women's Movements and Organizations in Historical Perspective', which extended from December 1982 until December 1985 and was financed by the Directorate General of International Cooperation of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I am especially indebted to Pamela Pattynama for her inspiring friendship and commitment during our stay in Bukittinggi, Sumatera and to Dida Pattipilohi who assisted the fieldwork in various ways. In a later phase Maria Pakpaham helped me to sort out the enormous amount of documentation gathered during the research process. In the project workshops I began to discuss for the first time some of the ideas upon which this book is based. All members of the team contributed to the critical and fruitful atmosphere in which the research was carried out. For the spirit of cooperation, enthusiasm and intellectual dedication in the project I am grateful to Amina Hadji Adan, Faduma Ahmed Alim, Balghis Badri, Zeinab Bashir EI Bakrl, Mia Berden, Betyl Carasco, Chhaya Datar, Raquia Hadji Dualeh, Honor Ford-Smith, Joan French, Dahabo Farah Hasan, Nandita Gandhi, Jyotsna Gupta, Kumari Jayawardena, Loes Keysers, Tamadur Ahmed Khalid, Geertje Lycklama a Nijeholt, Lies Marcoes, Maria Mies, Cecilia Olea, Rhoda Reddock, Wendy Rodney, Madiha al Sanusi, Julia Sutyakusuma, Maritza Villavicencio, Amina Mohamound Warsame, Matyan Farah Warsame, and Fahima Zahir. The Institute of Social Studies provided generous assistance for the later stages of the work. In 1987 I was awarded a grant to carty out two months of libraty research at Cornell University. To write up the study between 1992 and 1994 I was allowed first a year's leave of absence and then a half year's write-up leave. At Cornell University Professor Ben Anderson gave me all the assistance I needed, while Lourdes Beneria, Shelley Feldman, Kiki McCarthy and Alice Cook created the challenging and inspiring atmosphere that made my short stay with them such a xvi === [PDF page 18] === Acknowledgements xvii wonderful experience. In December 1998 the Institute of Social Studies financed a final research trip, made possible by the overthrow of the Suharto regime. My colleagues in the Women and Development Programme, in particular Amrita Chhachhi and Thanh-Dam Truong, as well as the participants on it helped to develop my ideas and sharpen my analysis. The endless debates with Virginia Vargas were of invaluable assistance: her intellectual curiosity, wisdom and vast experience on issues related to women's organizations not only coloured our friendship but also provided precious insights. During the process of writing up my research into the thesis on which this book is based I received many helpful and stimulating comments from my two supervisors, Professor Van den Muyzenberg and Professor Lycklama a Nijeholt. They made every attempt to overcome the distance and intellectual isolation caused by my stay in Surinam during this time. Invaluable comments were also received from the late Professor Wertheim, Dr Vreede-de Stuers and Dr Elsbeth LocherScholten. The greatest debt lowe is to all of the Indonesian women and a few men - some of them outside ofIndonesia - whom I interviewed. Despite strong government repression they allowed themselves to be interviewed and they greatly stimulated my work. Their strong commitment to a more 'truthful' representation of their histories spurred them on to trust me with details of their lives which, at the time of the fieldwork, constituted 'dangerous knowledge'. In the original thesis I could only mention some of their names. Since the fall of President Suharto in mid1998 their fears of government retaliation have subsided. It is largely due to their courage and wisdom that the present analysis has taken shape. It is to them that this study is dedicated, as well as to future generations of Indonesian women and men. I interviewed many women and men who were never involved with Gerwani and the PKI and with whom I never discussed what turned out to be the major focus of my work, the history of Gerwani and the 'events' of 1965-66. However, their analyses of the history of Indonesian feminism, the criticisms many offered of Suharto's New Order and their silence about Gerwani encouraged me to unravel this hidden history. They inspired me to discover why the New Order Government of President Suharto persisted until its very end, more than thirty years after Gerwani had been destroyed, in distorting the history of the largest women's organization that ever existed in Indonesia. === [PDF page 19] === xviii Acknowledgements A special word of thanks goes to Hersri and his wife Jitske. who died far too early. They continually encouraged me both while they were living in Indonesia and later after they came to Holland. The support of Fineke van der Veen has been invaluable. === [PDF page 20] === Introduction: Unravelling Hidden Histories The course of our history has been stood on its head by 'historians' who serve the military power... We who have been tortured and defeated should not allow ourselves to become desperate. We must fight to live. The younger generation has to study and know what really happened in this period long gone by. History must be written in a sincere way so that the coming generations will not understand it wrongly. (Doc. IX 1992: 22) The history referred to covers the half-century since Sukarno and Hatta proclaimed Indonesian independence, and especially the period around 1965-66 when Sukarno's Old Order was replaced by Suharto's New Order. The 'tortured and defeated' once belonged to the Partai Komunis Indonesia (Indonesian Communist party) (PKI) or to one of the other organizations of the 'communist family'/ such as its women's organization, Gerakan Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Movement) (GerwaniV Suharto rose to power by orchestrating a campaign of unprecedented violence, legitimized by accusations of sexual debauchery allegedly committed by members ofGerwani. Suharto's New Order regime was built not only on the deaths of an estimated million3 innocent people who were massacred during the final months of 1965 and the early months of 1966, but also on the suppression of the power women had acquired during the preceding decades, a power which, as I shall go on to show, their adversaries interpreted through sexual metaphors linking women's political activity with sexual perversion and moral depravity. The ideology of militarism that President Suharto used to 'imagine' Indonesian New Order nationalism was built around a doctrine of 'national security' in which particular forms of hegemonic masculinity and femininity were constructed.4 === [PDF page 21] === Chapter 1 Until the very end of the New Order, the echoes of a campaign to associate women's power in particular and communism in general with sexual depravity reverberated throughout Indonesian society. Feminist organizations such as Kalyanamitra and Solidaritas Perempuan which emerged in the mid~ 1980s were regularly accused of establishing a 'new Gerwani'.5 Only in December 1998, after the fall of Suharto, was Gerwani's history seriously discussed at a national women's congress held in Yogyakarta. In a forum on women's history, Mrs Sulami, the former Secretary-General of Gerwani, and I flanked Mrs Busyiri of the conservative women's umbrella organization, Kongres Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Congress) (Kowani). Over 500 participants, many from outside of Java, were shocked to hear how they had been lied to about the 'perverse' character of Gerwani. 6 Since the fall of President Suharto in May 1998, Indonesia has been struggling to come to terms with its bloody history. Numerous seminars have been held, particularly for students, women activists and other groups of concerned citizens. Gradually the survivors of the 1965--66 mass murders are becoming braver and are beginning to speak out. Mrs Sulami was one of the first to raise her voice. She became a driving force behind the establishment of the Foundation of the Victims of 1965--66. This organization collects information about the numerous mass graves that have never been opened and holds interviews with survivors and eye-witnesses. They have come under attack from anticommunist forces but this has not deterred them. In the meantime the younger generation has begun to discover the extent to which, in the words of the Balinese poet Putu Oka, 'the mental construction of the community has been destroyed'.7 Many of them realize that they too are victims of the trauma of the 'events' of 1965--66. The campaign of mass murder created an atmosphere ofterror in which an aggressive form of masculinity embodied in the nation's military apparatus rose to power and in whose shadow greed, corruption and political ignorance proliferated. Suspicion and intolerance took hold, not only of anything considered remotely 'leftist' but of poverty and pressing social issues such as women's subordination too. Discursively this was marked by a change in the use of the word rakyat (common people), with its socio-economic connotation of poverty and inequality, to the use of the word masyarakat (society), with its connotations of harmony and interdependence of functional groups. Feminists have also reclaimed the legitimacy of the word 'feminism' in the Indonesian context. The attack in May 1999 of a chair of the conservative === [PDF page 22] === Introduction women's umbrella Kowani that feminist organizations should be careful not to be associated with Gerwani, which 'as we all know not only organized prostitution but also encouraged lesbianism', was met with little more than a shrug of the shoulders (Wieringa 2000). The new President Abdulrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur, has attempted to confine the military to its defence tasks and to create an atmosphere in which human rights are respected. Strong resistance to his policy remains, not only from conservative military groups but also from many social groups who are still in the ideological grip of the New Order construct of 'communist-phobia'. Several times he has suggested that, following the South African model, a Truth and Reconciliation Committee should be established to investigate the background to the extended process through which President Sukarno was overthrown, beginning with the putsch of 1 October 1965. In a period during which Indonesia is searching for a new identity based on democracy and respect for human rights, this book offers crucial building blocks for discussion. The history of Gerwani, abused by the military in order to taint the PKI with connotations of sexual perversion, has never been analysed before. In the process of researching Gerwani's history I rediscovered some critical elements of the wider history ofthe Indonesian women's movement. Furthermore, an analysis of the sexual pOlitics underlying the overthrow of President Sukarno has allowed me to form an alternative reading of the 'events' of 1965-66. Surprisingly little attention has been paid to this crucial period of modern Indonesian history. As John Legge writes, 'perhaps because it was Communists who were being killed the conscience of the outside world seemed comparatively undisturbed by what must rank, in any assessment, as one of the bloodiest massacres in modern history' (1972: 399). There is little doubt as to the relief the USA must have felt when, in the midst of the Vietnam war, Sukarno, whom they considered an international troublemaker who had come dangerously close to delivering Indonesia into communist hands, was replaced by a right-wing general who put the country firmly onto a capitalist footing. S As a renowned analyst of the Suharto Government, Vatikiotis, puts it, 'Indonesia, the nightmare of US foreign policy analysts in the 1960s suddenly became burning proof that not all regimes born out of a barrel of a gun are bad' (1993: 34). I argue that a further reason why the West kept silent lay in its inability to comprehend the machinations behind and the ramifications of the campaign of mass unrest and murder waged after the 'first' coup of 1 === [PDF page 23] === Chapter 1 October 1965. This campaign and its aftermath I consider to be a 'second', lingering coup that brought Suharto to power. Most commentators ignore the existence of a second coup or declare this crucial period in Indonesian history 'incomprehensible' (TOrnquist 1984: 54). A few authors recognize that Suharto's ascent to power came about in two stages (Southwood and Flanagan 1983; Pohan 1988; Vatikiotis 1993). However, the mechanisms behind the second coup are ignored: 'Suharto came to power in the confused and hitherto not fully explained aftermath of an abortive coup... Suharto and a small group of supporters seized opportunities as they presented themselves without planning too far in advance' (Vatikiotis 1993: 2, 22). According to these accounts, the 1 October 1965 coup was the significant event that resulted in Suharto eventually coming to power. As a consequence, Suharto's clever manipulation of public opinion - the lies and subterfuge he created in order to unleash social chaos resembling a gara-gara scene in the wayanlf - are ignored. Vatikiotis maintains, for instance, that people around Suharto, notably younger officers and radical students (backed by units of the special forces under the command of Colonel Sarwo Edie Wibowo) 'probably pushed Suharto into seizing power' (1993: 240). The ideological campaign and the mass murders on which the New Order were built are seen as deplorable but isolated occurrences: 'The prelude to re-establishing order and the reconstruction ofIndonesia's economy was a brief but bloody period of further turmoil. The New Order exploited the highly polarized state of society left by Sukamo to dispose of its opponents and provide an outlet for some cathartic bloodletting' (1993: 33). While the West kept aloof for its own reasons, opposition in Indonesia was bludgeoned or skilfully manoeuvred into silence by the ruthless repression of the regime. Not only were hundreds of thousands of innocent people massacred; tens of thousands were detained, some for over twenty years. Only a handful of those detained were ever brought to trial. Many others who happened to be abroad in October 1965 or who later managed to flee were forced to remain in exile. Only in January 2000 did President Wahid invite them to return to their homeland. 10 The suffering of the survivors continued. Up until the final years of the New Order the tapol and napoPI were forced to carry identity papers stamped with 'ET' (former political prisoner) on them. Effectively this barred them from most types of employment. 12 Their children, grandchildren and other close relatives also were affected by related === [PDF page 24] === Introduction restrictions on their employment or study. They had to produce documentation to show that they lived in a 'clean environment' (no ET relatives) to be accepted. Many former tapol had to report regularly to the military authorities for many years after they were released. But the effect of government repression did not end with the victims or their families. Suharto's campaign after the 1 October coup was not only intended to wipe out any trace of communism in Indonesia and to stir up such mass resentment against Sukarno's policies that the President had to step down. It was also intended to create a particular intellectual climate, the ideological justification for Suharto's New Order. This ideological mix was based on an appeal for national 'stability' under military rule, which required a sexual politics in which women were re-subordinated, leaving a growing male-dominated elite of managers and military leaders to plunder the country's riches. Only in 1998 were the women's and students' movements strong enough to protest against the cleptocracy and bring the President down (Forrester and May 1998). I disagree strongly with such statements as 'residual feelings about this period have not coloured popular perceptions of Suharto's rule' (Vatikiotis 1993: 34). These 'residual feelings' formed the very foundation of his regime, which was supported not only by the physical terror unleashed by the army but also by the effectiveness of the propaganda that interpreted any social criticism as subversive, communist and ultimately linked to the sexual perversion of 'our' women. I suggest that the political passivity of Indonesia's population during those years should be seen not only as a consequence of the 'political stability and economic prosperity' (Vatikiotis 1993) that the New Order brought, but also as arising from the collective memories of the social disorder with its sexual overtones, the ensuing mass murder and the repression thereafter. Thus the traumatic 1965--66 period in Indonesian history marks a fundamental change from the Old Order of President Sukarno to the New Order of President Suharto. The New Order state was built on a male military model of discipline and repression in which any reference to social inequality was denounced as inspired by or related to 'communist subversion'. The gendered nature of this state is best illustrated by the forcible return of women to an Indonesian model of meek womanhood contained within a hierarchical male order. The myth of the birth of the New Order was consciously created by General Suharto and was continually recreated during his reign through campaigns of indoctrination (in which, amongst others, a film version of the so-called 'betrayal' === [PDF page 25] === Chapter 1 by the PKI was shown). The New Order state constructed its national identity out of its successful repression of an alien communist ideology that was alleged to have resulted in disorder and the sexual depravity of women. Their campaign was built upon sexual metaphors speaking to male fears of castration, that depicted (in particularly gruesome fashion) the role Gerwani (linked to the PKl) supposedly played in that coup. In one sense this is an Indonesian echo of the widespread male fantasies of fear and lust surrounding the images of the vagina dentata in early twentieth-century Western culture (Dijkstra 1996).13 These fantasies centre on the theme of social degeneration, the consequence of a decline in virility brought about by women preying upon innocent men. To date, analyses of the New Order state have ignored the elements of sexual imagery underlying Indonesia's present day political configuration. The implications are wide and have involved a constant process of indoctrination in which a whole nation was brainwashed into believing the power-holders' version of their collective past and refrained from questioning the policy of the New Order state. Talking about women's emancipation or possessing a vision of greater social justice became suspect, for they were associated not only with 'Communism' but with 'Old Order thinking' in general. As Chairunisa Jafizham, chair of the women's organization Persatuan Wanita Republik Indonesia (Women's Federation of the Indonesian Republic) (Perwari) in the 1980s/4 said, 'If I speak about the vision I have about the Indonesian women's movement, ifI refer to any goals I might want to achieve or discuss women's emancipation, I am immediately accused of being a "person of the Old Order". This government really educates people to ignorance. People can only be free if they can think, isn't that so? Here there is no freedom, there is no way we can say or think what we want',IS The denial of the relevance of gender analysis and sexual politics in the understanding of Indonesian history pertains even in studies that deal with Suharto's fall. The collection of Forrester and May (1998) is a case in point. Not only is Gerwani ignored but the vital role of the women's organizations in bringing down Suharto is also disavowed. Women marched earlier than the students. Their first demonstration against Suharto was on 23 Feburary 1998 when women demanded affordable food. After that, women's organizations like Suara Ibu Peduli (Voice of Concerned Mothers) (SIP) were in the forefront of the anti-Suharto coalition. 16 In the late 1970s I was struck by the docility and the level of male dominance of the major women's organizations of the time in Indonesia, === [PDF page 26] === Introduction especially the organizations of government wives (Dharma Wanita) and of wives of military men (Dharma Pertiwi), as well as the statesponsored national organization of Family Welfare Guidance (pembinaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga)(PKK)P I subsequently learned how they had been built out of the ruins of a history of active and independent women's organizations. As I pointed out in 1985, these new organizations were constructed by the military to re-subordinate Indonesian women: 'Any concern which is now voiced about their difficult social and economic situation is branded as political. Such concerns are thus by implication left-wing, and "leftist", linked with "women" opens up the whole Pandora's box of associations with ritual killings, and sexual orgies' (Wieringa 1985: 38). Initially spurred on by Sukarno himself, Indonesian women had participated actively in the national independence war. After independence a process of restoration of male power took place. But during the early years of Sukarno's rule, women remained vocal subjects in the Indonesian political arena, attacking the bastion of male domination from two sides. In the first place they assaulted the male prerogative of polygyny, a struggle they lost not least because President Sukarno himself demanded the right to have more than one wife. In the second place a part of the movement, Gerwani, claimed an arena for women at the centre of politics. This move had a number of consequences. To begin with, they incurred the wrath of the other women's organizations, which maintained that women's public place should be not in politics but in the social sphere. Further, Gerwani, by associating itself ever more firmly with the PKI (which had little interest in the 'woman question'), lost much of its original feminist orientation. Finally, as I will argue, Gerwani's move into terrain hitherto considered male triggered fears among traditional groups in Indonesia, especially devout Muslims, that in turn provided a fertile ground for Suharto's campaign of sexual slander in late 1965. To understand how the New Order women's organizations functioned both as a pillar of the regime and as an instrument to re-subordinate women, I felt I needed to study the period of the Old Order and the birth of the New Order state. While I was probing into this history I came to realize the extent to which sexual imagery and the subordination of women surrounded the genesis of Suharto's regime. This is not to suggest that sexual metaphors were the only factor contributing to the mass murders and the ascent of Suharto. Other factors, quite apart from === [PDF page 27] === Chapter 1 economic chaos - which created immense anxiety among the army and the communists alike - included the assassination attempts on Sukarno (May 1978), Sukarno's illness and his call to set up a 'fifth force'. Although this 'fifth force' amounted to little more than rhetoric in the mid-1960s,18 the army became deeply disturbed at the prospect of some 21 million peasants and workers armed and independent of army control. I9 But it was suggestions of sexual perversion that set off the powder keg. I felt that to understand the depth of the crisis into which Indonesia was plunged in 1965 required not only a class but also a gender analysis. The gender analysis presented here illuminates aspects of Indonesian modem political history that so far have remained mysterious to many analysts, questioning issues that have been hitherto largely ignored. This book unravels a history that was hidden on three levels. The first deals with Indonesian feminism as such, which has known many more radical and courageous moments than present day writers accredit. Second, a prohibited history is presented: the history of Gerwani. Its former members were killed, imprisoned or otherwise silenced and its documents destroyed in Indonesia. Fortunately, libraries in The Netherlands and the USA contain sources from which the history of Gerwani can be reconstructed. Third, a reading of the 'events' of 1965-66 based on a gender analysis of that period reveals aspects of the birth of the New Order that so far have been either suppressed (by the Indonesian military) or ignored (by analysts of modem Indonesian history). Now that younger generations of Indonesian feminists are actively reconstructing Indonesian gender relations, there is a wider interest in the history of Gerwani. Seminars are being held in which, for the first time, women speak out about their memories of those days. The focus of this book is on Java, in part because it is the most populated island of Indonesia but mainly because it is the political centre of the country. Sukamo actively promoted the Javanization of the Indonesian political culture, and the PKI followed his policy. Under Suharto this continued. In the first chapter I outline the three major strands around which the Indonesian women's movement was built: feminism. socialism and nationalism. The second chapter deals with Indonesia's history of women's organizations until independence. The following two chapters introduce the political development of the Old Order state and the women's movement of that period. The first of three chapters on === [PDF page 28] === Introduction Gerwani deals with its history in general and some organizational issues. The following two focus on Gerwani's politics and its ideology respectively. The underlying question posed in these two chapters is whether any justification for the accusations hurled at Gerwani after October 1965 can be found in the ideology and practice of the organization. My conclusion is that as far as sexuality was concerned Gerwani could be considered a rather conservative organization, in line with other socialist women's organizations of its period. In the final chapter, the 'first' coup of 1 October is analysed and a step-by-step account is given of how the first phase of the 'second' lingering coup, the campaign against Gerwani and the PKI, was constructed. To introduce these themes and to illustrate the dedication and aspirations of Gerwani members, this section ends with my interview with a Javanese cadre.20 Almost 20 years after the 'events' of 1965 it was still very dangerous for former Gerwani members to be seen with foreigners. But in this case the interview was easier to arrange because I had severe back pain at the time and Mrs Marto, as I will call her, was a well-known masseur and acupuncturist, skills she began to acquire in prison. We met in the house of a mutual acquaintance. I used to be massaged by her all morning whilst she related her story in bits and pieces. Every time she encountered a painful spot in my body we would stop the conversation. At times we didn't talk at all, the silence filled with the images her story had conjured in that small room, and I just allowed her strong and experienced fmgers to work on me. If anyone were to pass by or enter the room they would find just the masseur and her p-atient discussing back troubles. My family had no leftist background. I was the only one in our household who joined a progressive organization. A cousin of mine was a member of the PKI and he encouraged me to join the Pemuda Rakyat [people's Youth] when I was 17 years old. I liked it so much there. We would do all sorts of things collectively: there would be dancing and singing, and we would also stage plays with a political content. Also courses on household matters such as cooking and sewing were organized, and of course all the time we had political discussions. After a few years I joined Gerwani at the neighbourhood [ranting] level. There the leaders noticed me because I listened well, asked questions and helped in organizing the activities. I joined a cadre course and started working at branch [cabang] level. I was very enthusiastic and === [PDF page 29] === 10 Chapter 1 worked hard so I was elected to regional [daerah] and in the end to central [pusat] level. All in all, I attended a training course three times. The longest was in Jakarta. There we were prepared for one month for the work in the various regions where we were to be sent The curriculum included political education, speeches of Sukarno and Aidit and discussions about organizational skills and household issues. We would also get leadership training. In the afternoons we studied Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Engels and of course some chapters from Sarinah, the book Sukarno had written. The central leadership had all those texts collected in a reader. We would often discuss the history of our organization. I joined in the mid-1950s after the name was changed into Gerwani. You know, Gerwis, as it used to be called, was a bit sectarian. Very few women from the lower classes had joined. The organization was considered to be too red, too PKI, too extreme. Actually, we felt that this was not true. Those who knew Gerwis in the old days liked it much better than after we had grown so big. But the men wanted us to become a mass organization. So at the 1954 congress we became Gerwani, with a more flexible attitude, especially to women's issues; softer and smoother [luwes]. The emphasis on women's issues declined, while economic, social, political and cultural issues gained more prominence. What I did like very much about the work in those years was the contact we established with the peasant women. If I went to a village 1 would contact a woman, maybe a friend or a relative of someone 1 had known elsewhere, and introduce myself. "I am from Gerwani. Do you know what that is?" Usually they wouldn't know, and 1 would talk about the issues we fought for. Most women were drawn to our organization because of our stand on polygamy. The other issue the female peasants were interested in was low wages. In general they liked the idea of women's freedom, for the women resented that their wages were lower than those of the men. Once a woman had become a member she was asked to look for a friend and so on until there was a small group. These groups were the basis of the organization, for in their meetings the women would start to understand their rights and the feudal system. For it is the feudal system which causes the suffering of Indonesian women. We would read about it in the PKI newspaper, Harian Rakyat [The People's Daily] and in Berita Gerwani [Gerwani's News] and then we would discuss the articles we liked. We were proud of our organization, for Gerwani led the struggle for the improvement of women's lives, === [PDF page 30] === Introduction 11 against price rises and for higher wages. It was nice to be in the forefront and to see that we really could do something. We were also very active here in the city, especially among the workers. The female labourers usually were members of SOBSI [Sentral Organisasi Buruh Seluruh Indonesia (All Indonesian Labour Unions Federation)] and in their neighbourhood they joined Gerwani. Many women were members of both organizations. That was easy, for there were many issues concerning the fate of women labourers on which we cooperated. For instance, SOBSI and Gerwanijoined hands in the fight for menstruation leave. If women were fired because they insisted on their legal right to a menstruation leave both Gerwani and SOBSI would fight for them. Gerwani was also very active in the struggle against illiteracy. We set up so many literacy classes. And we fought for women's political rights so that more women would become members of the national or regional parliaments or that they could become village head or a minister as easily as men. Particularly in the villages, many disagreed with those rights. There were Islamic groups who felt they were very controversial. They didn't want to give women any rights at all. There were also landlords who were very conservative. In the one-sided actions to implement the Land Reform Law in the 1960s women joined in actively. They did not just jeer from the sidelines. In Kediri and in Jengkol the women faced the landlords' tractors which tried to oust them from their land. And they were shot at by the army. All these actions aroused much hostility in the villages, that is true. That is probably why so many women were killed: the Gerwani members were much too independent. They hated Gerwani; they wanted the women only to be active in the social field. They could hold an arisan [lottery run by neighbourhood women] occasionally: that was all right, all the other women's organizations did so. But in Gerwani the women would also be politically active. Yes, that was intensely disliked. I often wondered how it could all go so wrong. One thing is that Sukarno was not consistent in his dealings with the "feudal remnants" in our society. That was the source of our troubles. We joined him in the National Front, which was anti-imperialist. But he didn't keep his promises, for instance in implementing the Land Refonn Law. The PKl did and we joined the Party on this issue. The role of Gerwani in the onesided actions was very strong: it has been ahnost completely forgotten now. Also the newspapers at the time didn't write so much about our === [PDF page 31] === 12 Chapter 1 actions. The men always wanted to be seen as more militant than the women. We sided with Sukarno in his Malaysia confrontation, but actually that issue was not particularly attractive to us; it just distracted attention from national problems. So we were rather reluctant at first, but in the end we joined enthusiastically and sent volunteers. The Partai Nasional Indonesia [National Indonesian Party] [PNI] women did so too, the Wanita Marhaen and the Wanita Demokrat,21 and also some other women's organizations. I myself was not in Java during that period. In 1962 I was sent to Aceh on my own. I often felt very lonely for I didn't understand the Ian· guage, the people nor the culture. I had to learn to feel at home in such different surroundings. I lived with other cadres of the PKI and the Pemuda Rakyat in one big house. One boy from the Pemuda Rakyat often helped me. At times I would feel so miserable that I would cry. He would then comfort me, explain things to me and help me out if necess· ary. Those first few months I often felt so low that I wanted to go back home. It was also difficult for me because I was not used to living as a young girl alone with strange men. People gossiped so much. I had to defend myself all the time. The region I was sent to was difficult. Aceh has a proud history of resistance against the Dutch and they didn't like Jakarta very much either. Islam was very strong, the men were arrogant. I, a stranger and a Javanese woman, had to take care not to push myself at all. I should never attempt to be seen as the teacher who knew everything. So I waited until they came to me with their problems. The cadres who worked there had had very little training and hardly any idea of what Gerwani stood for, what it wanted. During the meetings I would find out who was most clear-headed. Then I would approach that woman and gradually try to explain a little about the organization, its activities and so on. But I took care never to be seen as the leader; that had to be someone from the region itself. It was very difficult to adjust for I was not used to living in such a strictly Islamic area where women could not move about:freely. In the end I found a way to make it easier for the women to come to our meet· ings. They had many traditional dances in the area. The men would for· bid their wives to go out of the house but not if they went as a group. So we organized cultural groups to dance and to sing. The women were allowed to join those groups. But we didn't stop there, we gave these groups a content. We would discuss their daily problems with them. You can very easily educate the women on economic issues via the arisan. === [PDF page 32] === Introduction 13 If you start discussing how the women could best use their money you immediately encounter the problem of the price rises. And then you could discuss who was responsible for them. So then you could start straight away with political education. When the women fmally understood what Gerwani wanted many women strongly supported us, however Islamic they all were. They hated the polygyny of their men and they enjoyed meeting and discussing these issues. They also liked very much to learn how to make cakes and to discuss the political situation. What appealed most to the young people was the right to marry as they wished and to the women the struggle against polygyny. The women wolkers were also happy to be supported in their struggle and to have a creche where they could leave their children for a very small sum. After a year a boy from the Pemuda Rakyat asked me to marry him. I hesitated and asked him to wait. He came from Jakarta; his parents had moved here. I asked my friends for advice. They all said that I should do it, so in 1963 we married. Those were the happiest years of my life. After a year our son was born. Around the time of the delivery my husband did everything in the house: he would sweep, cook and wash clothes. And after the child was born he would often change the nappies before he went to his office. He would always help me as much as he could until I was strong enough to cope again. But by then it was October 1965. I am really sick at heart that all our careful organizing, our efforts to build up the movement from the grassroots, has been so totally destroyed. I used to travel a lot on trains or buses if they were available. If we went to the interior we had to walk long distances. In the city I walked too. Sometimes I would ride a bicycle but more often I had to walk. We used to be so dedicated. We never thought, "ab, tomorrow I must have some food in my pot", or "I want a nice house". Day and night we were busy with our work. If I had to travel it was enough to have just a ticket. Once there, there would always be a plate of rice for me. In the moming we would cook some food, eat it and then we would be on our way. Often we would not come home before 11 or 12 o'clock at night. We would have picked up some food along the way. I never devoted a single thought to anything other than our problems and how to solve them. We did get paid a little bit of money, myself as the chair of the creches and my vice-chair, but that was in no way sufficient. So I had a small job as a school administrator. === [PDF page 33] === 14 Chapter 1 I went on a course in Jakarta for five months for creche leaders whilst I was the chair of the creches here. I went there with my twomonth-old son. Now the certificate is not valid any more. In general, communication with Jakarta was difficult. Once a month I would send a report but the reply would come back months later. However, they did send us all kinds of recommendations. We were advised by Jakarta, for instance, to organize an anti-price rise demonstration at a particular time or to send a delegation to the Governor. As far as national politics were concerned, they generally followed the Party line, but for women's affairs they charted their own course. Our major adversaries were fanatical Muslims. It takes a very long time to convince people, especially when they have certain strict religious principles. Here within the National Front we cooperated a lot with Perwari and Kowani. All this had just started to get off the ground when the "events" happened. It was so unexpected, right in the midst of everything. When we realized what was happening in Java we fled to Medan. There my husband was burned alive when they set fIre to the PKI office. I then fled to Jakarta with my son. My elder sister is the widow of an officer who was killed on a mission. She couldn't live off her pension and had taken a job at one of the army canteens. I also started work there. They urged me to remarry. You are young, they told me, you have only one child, it will arouse suspicion if you don't accept a husband. So to protect myself against gossip I married my second husband, although I didn't love him. When the child I had by him, a daughter, was two years old, my husband disappeared all of a sudden. I asked everyone who I thought might know anything at all about him but I never heard from him any more. Then my sister became afraid people would fmd out and she would lose her job and everything. She turned me in. When I was arrested my daughter stayed with my sister in Jakarta. My son, who was with me at the time, had no one to take care of him. His grandmother was too old and confused to be able to provide for him and to see him through school. He had to survive by selling newspapers and bakso [soup] on the street. In prison many of us were raped. We were beaten and tortured with electricity and cigarettes. After a few years, after the Red Cross had visited us, it became a little better. I learned massage and made some handicrafts that I sold for a bit of food. Everyone in the prison knew that I would have to fend for myself and my children after I was released, so they collected whatever they === [PDF page 34] === Introduction 15 could. Some friends who had already been released gave me some pots and a stove. I had also been able to save a little bit of money by selling my handicrafts so I could buy some rice for the fIrst few days. During the fIrst weeks I was free I lived off the embroidery I produced while I tried to get some clients to be massaged. Now I have passed several exams in massage and acupuncture and I have enough patients to be able to live. But my fIrst concern was my son. On the Saturday I was free, on the Sunday I had found out where he was and on the Monday he was at school. But he was very much behind and I had to put him in boarding school. He was very embarrassed that at the age of 19 he still had to wear shorts to go to SMP [junior high school]. Next year he will have fmished his SMP, then he can come home and go to SMA [senior high school] and he can wear trousers. Then he will no longer be shy to be seen in his neighbourhood. My youngest child is also behind. She is already 12 and she should have been in the fIfth fonn but she is only in the third fonn. She will pick up; she is doing well now. I am fme, I can manage now with my two children and my massage. But I still have to be very careful. I cannot take private patients at home. A friend of mine learnt that he was being discussed in the government office; he received too many guests. But these were his patients! He was warned to stop. So I usually go to my patients myself. Although we are released we are not full citizens yet. I still have to legitimate myself constantly. For instance, ifI have to go to Surabaya I need fIve stamps on a piece of paper and then I have to show that to the police in Surabaya. If I do not do that I will be put under house arrest. Actually that is not the worst thing. I can live with that. What really makes me so sad is that my children at school learn such ugly things about Gerwani. I realized my son was holding something back for me. Finally he came to me and asked, "Ma, why did you become a member of such a group, so morally depraved, bringing ruin to the country? Were you a whore too? Everybody said that all Gerwani members were whores and bad women". How can I explain to him what we lived for, what our ideals were? I still see the confusion and shame in his eyes. How will he ever understand my life? Her face twisted with pain when she said that and her hands momentarily stopped moving. === [PDF page 35] === Chapter 1 16 The Research Process How much is fiction and how much is true?... a memory is a chancy thing, experience experienced, filtered coarse or fine according to the mood of the day, the pattern of the times, the company we happen to be keeping: the way we shrink from certain events or open our arms to embrace them. (Fay Weldon 1978: 81) Yes indeed, how to distinguish fiction from 'truth'? And whose 'truth'? Is there such a distinction at all to be made in a historical narrative that relies on oral history collected 20 years after the event and on documentation of a situation in which lies were deliberately spread and so many important documents destroyed? Feminist epistemology distinguishes three important research moments. The first is 'feminist empiricism' (Harding 1986). Feminist theoreticians made women's activities and experiences socially recognized and analytically visible. Various intellectual traditions were attacked for their sexist biases and, as in the case of Marxism, concepts were redefmed. Many 'holes' in Marxism were filled (Beneria 1979; Coward 1983; Hartmann 1981, among others). Feminist historians22 and anthropologists23 discovered fascinating new women's worlds. And women's political activities, their movements, received greater attention However, it was realized that eliminating sexist bias in conventional theory 'might require redefining objectivity, rationality and scientific method' (Harding 1991: 19; Hekman 1990). More issues were at stake than simply 'adding' women. The very basis of scientific enquiry was deeply flawed. Epistemologically this development fed into the debates of the 'feminist standpoint' theoreticians; the second crucial research moment. The central premise of this theory is that women's subordinate position in itself provides the clue to a 'better science', a more complete understanding of reality, as science would then be grounded in universal features from a feminist perspective (Harding 1986). Harding's first elaboration of the vision of the standpoint theorists stressed its essentialist basis. In a later work she modified her criticism, arguing that standpoint theories are not pointing to one feminist reality, to the 'feminist truth', but to a science that is less partial, less false (1991: 185). As I will discuss, feminism is not monolithic; there are many feminist voices. Even if feminist standpoint theoreticians accept that feminism is not a === [PDF page 36] === Introduction 17 unitary phenomenon and that their theories do not necessarily point to the 'truth' as uncovered by feminism, they come close to the postmodernist critique of white male modem Western science.24 Feminist philosophers of science such as Fox-Keller (1985) and Haraway (1988,1991) stress that all science is partial and localized, based on social relations and on professional and personal preoccupations. 'Truth', therefore, should be seen as a characteristic of certain relations of power which are contained within certain discourses (Foucault 1972). This book is informed by these three strands in feminist epistemology. I felt that a lot of empirical work needed to be done to fill in the gaps in knowledge about the Indonesian women's movement and about Indonesian social and political history in general. But I also wanted to unravel how Sukamo's Old Order had developed and how the political and economic chaos at the end of his reign can be understood. So I researched the construction of the gendered nature of the nationalist project developed by Sukamo, but more particularly the gendered origins of the New Order state of his successor, Suharto. How was women's sexuality represented as the trope of both the 'alienness' of communism and the specific 'Indonesian' nature of the social order Suharto proposed? Postmodem elements come into this study too. I recognize that my presentation of the history of the Indonesian women's movement, and of Gerwani's history in particular, is only one reading. Therefore I do not claim to present the one and only 'true' account. I was particularly interested in the internal discourse of the organizations I studied. How did they see themselves? How did this vision develop in the heightened political atmosphere of the time? How did they defme their interests in the changing configuration of Indonesian politics and against the backdrop of the Cold War? My focus became how Gerwani related to other women's organizations and the PKI, how the organization operated within its political space and how it manoeuvred between the various political actors. In what ways did Gerwani conform to the views of other women's organizations or its political allies? What conditions and motives affected this? I did not want to evaluate Gerwani's history only from the outside. I also wanted to present a picture of its internal development, weaving the various voices through which the organization spoke into a complex picture to indicate the ideological contours of the organization. Finally, I wanted to trace the development of the campaign to associate Gerwani with sexual perversion and to associate communism with === [PDF page 37] === 18 Chapter I moral depravity. How had the history of the Old Order and of Gerwani harboured the seeds that so distorted Gerwani's concerns, in a process that became a central ideological underpinning of the New Order of General Suharto? Research should not only be concerned about the what and the why of reality. It should also try to understand haw facts, interpretations and opinions come to be regarded as 'truths', as well as the circumstances in which reality and truth are being produced. In this effort, the scientist herself, the conditions under which she works, as well as the processes she is working on, become subjects for investigation. Haraway (1988) speaks of 'situated knowledges'. Scientists must disclose their positions, localize their work and reveal their underlying motives. If there is only situated knowledge, as Haraway claims, then scientists have to decide where to situate their knowledge. They can no longer shy away from the political consequences of their work. The origin of this book can be traced back to my research in the late 1970s on the political factors for it seeming impossible for women batik labourers in Indonesia to organize themselves (Wieringa 1979a, 1979b, 1981). I wanted to find out why it was so difficult to address issues such as low wages, unemployment, ideology and the sexual division of labour in Indonesia. There were many women's organizations in Indonesia, but they were mostly concerned with ore-subordinating' women after a period in which women had actively defended what they defmed as their interests (Wieringa 1985). While researching the batik workers I held my first interviews with women belonging to women's organizations and I participated in meetings of the PKK group in the kecamatan (subdistrict) in which I worked (Laweyan, in Solo). I also attended meetings of Perwari and went to several social events organized by Dharma Wanita groups. This led to new questions. Initially I was primarily interested in empirical issues: I wanted to find out what exactly had happened. I knew, of course, that Indonesia had experienced a military takeover in 1965. Before that time, Gerwani, a large, militant women's organization, had fought for women's political rights and had opposed polygyny, child marriages and abuse of women. During the bloody purge by the new military powerholders, this movement had been completely destroyed (Wieringa 1988b, 1992, 1993a). But I wanted to discover the 'truth' about Gerwani and this period of Indonesian history. In the years that have passed since my first encounters with Indonesian women's organizations, my own perceptions of social life and the === [PDF page 38] === Introduction 19 creation of knowledge have changed. The questions I am asking now are different from those I asked when I first came into contact with women's organizations in Indonesia. I began to wish to analyse the various discourses of the period: those of the leftist women's organization about womanhood, the family, sexuality; those created by the military leaders around the 'events' at Lobang Buaya; and those of the other women's organizations. How did the various participants in these historical processes construct their world, their discourse, the truth about themselves? What were the fundamental elements in their social perception of themselves? How did they understand their realities? Besides the history of Gerwani, I also wanted to find out what had happened to the Indonesian women's movement in general. As the movement consisted of a great many organizations, a selection had to be made. Aisyah, the women's branch of the Muhammadyah - the major Islamic reform movement - and Wanita Katolik (Catholic Women) were chosen as the major exponents of the religious strands in society. Perwari was selected because it was the first women's organization established after independence, and for a long time remained one of the strongest and most radical groups. It was non-religious and non-Party oriented. Kowani, the women's federation established in 1928 and still functioning/' was included for its long history. The various dilemmas the Indonesian women's movement confronted can be best illustrated by analysing the development of Kowani. The research for this book was carried out mainly in two areas: Jakarta and Central Java. Jakarta was an obvious choice, not only because it is the seat of government and the capital but also because most women's organizations have their headquarters there. It also contains the major documentation centres. Most interviews with organization leaders took place in Jakarta. I also interviewed a great many women who had played a major role in the history of the Indonesian women's movement in general. Both Aisyah and Wanita Katolik, two of the most important groups, were founded in Central Java. Aisyah's central offices are still located in Yogyakarta and both organizations remain strong in the region. This enabled me to carry out many interviews with leaders and ordinary members of the organizations. Moreover, many social and political movements, including the Sarekat Islam (Islamic League) (SI) and the PKI, originated in this region. Hundreds of interviews were held and I was able to put the material on women's organizations I had collected during the late 1970s === [PDF page 39] === 20 Chapter] into historical perspective. But how to deal with memory? How to discern fiction from truth? How to interpret these oral history interviews? The traumatic experiences of most interviewees had inevitably coloured their perception of the past. Members of Gerwani in particular were swept up by historical events in the midst of organizing and fighting for their ideals. Suddenly they became hunted people, thrown in prison for activities that previously had been completely legitimate. All the women interviewed had their own agendas. Even those who had not experienced the shock of having their lives collapse around them had other reasons to downplay their previous cooperation with Gerwani and the PKI. Thus, I used documentary sources to help me interpret the interviews and support the information. In the (few) instances where an event had to be reconstructed using only information gathered from oral sources, that information was cross-checked with other interviews as much as possible. I used interviews more as personal accounts by women who lived through these events in order to find out how they experienced their history rather than as sources of historical data. So they were not treated as a source of 'objective truth' but rather as the subjective narratives of actors who had played their own roles. The interviews were all collected at least 20 years after the 'events' and so they were not only coloured by political and personal motivations but they were also affected by the time lapse. Furthermore, many interviewees were still facing extremely precarious circumstances and so it is unsurprising that they might avoid mentioning events that could further endanger them. Perhaps it was the time lapse or the horrors of prison life or the dangers of acknowledging one's militant past, but the former Gerwani members were strikingly vague about their experiences in that organization. Often I would receive ideological answers to my questions rather than the personal accounts I asked for. Another problem I encountered in collecting interviews was the inaccessibility of many women I would have liked to meet. I could only move about relatively freely amongst the multitudes of Jakarta. Everywhere else I was too obvious as a foreigner. All former Gerwani members were strictly supervised by the military and civilian authorities, and the women couldn't risk being seen with me. Even in Jakarta, extreme precautions had to be taken to meet women whose only 'crime' was that until the end of 1965 they belonged to an organization that was banned in 1966. Also since then splits have become apparent, and some former members do not speak to others. Since I was moving on one side of the === [PDF page 40] === Introduction 21 divide, women on the other side became inaccessible to me. In 1998, after the fall of Suharto, I was able finally to meet some of the women who had been distrusted by the group of women I originally worked with. Again, the use of documentaty sources has largely overcome this original limitation. On the whole, however, I found that the 'survivors' sincerely hoped to understand what had really happened, what they had achieved and what were their shortcomings. After October 1965, institutes, offices, schools belonging to the PKI or any organization belonging to the 'communist family', as well as the private homes of members of those organizations (and of suspected sympathizers), were ransacked and pillaged and all documents, books, periodicals and newspapers were seized and destroyed. All the pUblications ever issued by any of these organizations were banned and removed from public libraries, government offices, educational institutes and bookshops. Individuals had to remove this material from their personal collections under penalty of being branded a suspected communist (which made the person liable to be persecuted). By the middle of 1966, virtually all documentary sources that had a communist 'taint', even speeches ofSukarno and publications of the left-wing of the PNI, had been destroyed. Fiction and literary works by leftist authors such as Pramudya Ananta Tur (who would later be sent to the concentration camp on Burn) were also banned. Consequently, documentary sources about Gerwani were very hard to come by in Indonesia itself. The libraries of the universities of Leiden in The Netherlands and Cornell in the USA contain the major surviving documents on Gerwani: the communist newspaper Harian Rakyaf6 and Gerwani's periodical for the middle-classes, Api Karlini (AK). The articles on women in the Harian Rakyat are a rich source of information, as from November 1952 or earlier the paper had its own weekly 'Women's Corner', Ruangan Wanita, which became the Ruangan Gerakan Wanita (Corner of the Women's Movement) in October 1963. This 'Corner' was filled with articles submitted by major leaders of Gerwani and the women's departments of SOBSI and the Barisan Tani Indonesia (Indonesian Farmers' Front)(BTI).27 As the purpose of the paper, apart from informing its readership about daily news, was to give them 'correct' information in order to increase their revolutionary consciousness, this 'Women's Corner' was not so much a source of sociological information about Gerwani's development as a reflection of the changing ideological position of its leadership. === [PDF page 41] === 22 Chapter 1 Api Kartini was designed to draw middle-class housewives into the 'revolutionary family'. Its editors included women who were not members of Gerwani, and the magazine carried articles on cooking, dressmaking and other general women's issues. While this periodical seldom reported on the daily activities of Gerwani, its editorials do reflect the changing ideological preoccupations of the organization. Through its short stories and articles a particular ideological climate was created, with many optimistic stories about communist countries. 28 I sent photocopies of all of the major documents about Gerwani I collected to two organizations in Indonesia; the feminist centre Kalyanamitra and the recently established Foundation for the Victims of 1965-66. In this way Indonesian researchers have access to that material in their own country. In many respects the history of Gerwani, the Indonesian women's movement and the coups which led to the ascent of Suharto problematize the 'public transcript' of history that the New Order historians produced: 'the public transcript is, to put it mildly, the self-portrait of dominant elites as they would have themselves seen. Given the usual power of dominant elites to compel performances from others, the discourse of the public transcript is a decidedly lopsided discussion' (Scott 1990: 18). The New Order military bureaucrats preferred a presentation of themselves as trustworthy and the only force capable of ensuring political stability and economic prosperity. They considered women's subordination as both natural, that is in line with women's kodrat (nature), and illusory (for emancipation had been officially decreed). By contrast, this study demonstrates that women's organizations have been powerful political actors and that the disorder that discredited President Sukamo's power was consciously created by the military and rested on the propagation of lies alleging sexual perversion. The analysis presented in Chapter 8 of the October 1965 coup and the campaign that followed it, which I consider the beginning of a second, lingering coup, show how a gender analysis of that major moment in Indonesian modem history delineates a crucial dimension that so far has been neglected. This analysis of the sexual politics underlying the overthrow of President Sukamo and the birth of the New Order will help the survivors of the 'events' of 1965-66 and the younger generations who are the victims of the moral and ideological destruction of their society come to terms with their history. It will also help foreign researchers, analysts and policy makers to gauge the depth of the trauma caused by this crucial period. === [PDF page 42] === Introduction 23 Notes I use the term 'communist family' for both the PKI and its associated ormas (organisasi masa) (mass organizations): Gerwani (Gerakan Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Movement), Pemuda Rakyat (People's Youth), SOBSI (Sentral Organisasi Buruh Seluruh Indonesia) (All Indonesian Labour Unions Federation), BTl (Barisan Tani Indonesia) (Indonesian Farmers' Front), Lekra (Lembaga Kebudayaan Rakyat) (League of People's Culture) and HSI (Himpunan Sarjana Indonesia) (Indonesian Association of Scholars). It was claimed that in 1964 this 'family' consisted of some 27 million members (HR 20 August 1965). This figure should be read with caution as there were many instances of double membership. Between 1950 and 1954 the organization was called Gerwis. I refer to the organization in general as Gerwani and use the name Gerwis only when referring to it during the period up until the first congress in 1954. It is not known exactly how many people were murdered. Presentday scholars such as Vatikiotis (1993) and Anderson (1994) use the figure of one million. See also Cribb (ed.) (1990). See Sunindyo (1998) for a further exploration of Indonesia's militarism. See also Enloe (1989) and Yuval-Davies and Anthias (1989). In 1996, a student activist, Yeni Rosa Damayanti, told me that a few years earlier she had taken part in a demonstration outside the national parliament in Jakarta against human right violations. She had been beaten even more severely than her male counterparts. 'They beat me violently, shouting all the time "Gerwani whore". I was sentenced to one year in prison and all the time I wondered why they had called me "Gerwani whore". I was born after Gerwani was destroyed and I have lived a very puritanicalHfe precisely because I have always been afraid of the association of women activists with sexual looseness'. The conference received much press attention. Conservative women's groups such as Kowani maintained that Gerwani was morally depraved (even accusing it of having promoted lesbianism) (Wieringa 2000). Since then feminist groups have begun more serious study of the history of the Old Order and of Gerwani. Quoted in the bulletin Setelah Nonton Film Pembantaian 1965 by Tim Redaksi Wahana, 14 September 2000. === [PDF page 43] === 24 Chapter 1 For the USA Suharto was 'the hero who saved Indonesia from becoming a Communist State' (Jones 1971: 412). 9. Garawgara means 'ominous apparition' and is a scene in the Javanese puppet theatre in which the world order is disrupted because a central figure is going through a period of great grief. He invokes the aid ofthe gods to restore tranquillity. See Chapter 8 for further explanation of the meaning of the gara-gara scene. 10. NRC, 22 January 2000. 11. Tapol is a shortened form of tahanan politik (political prisoner), napol of narapidana politik (convicted political prisoner). The tapol, who had never been tried, were released in 1979, 14 years after the 'events' of 1965. The few convicted napo/ were released after their sentences expired. Most of those on death row remained in prison until after the fall of Suharto. In 1987 a Government Instruction (No.5 of that year) withheld the reduction of life sen tence to 20 years after 5 years' 'good behaviour'. See Hersri (1993) and Pramoedya Ananta Tur (1988, 1995) for the experiences of tapol in the concentration camps on the island of Buru, and Havelaar (1992) for an account of the lives of families of former tapol. 12. Functions that were officially closed to the former tapol included the civil and armed services and vital enterprises. They were also not allowed to choose professions that would bring them into contact with the population in general, such as journalism, teaching and the priesthood. The legal foundation for these regulations was the 1975 Anti-Subversion Law (Decision of the Pangkopkamtib No. 061K0pkamlXI, related to the 'Surat Keterangan Tidak Terlibat G30SIPKI' or 'Letter of Information of Non-involvement in the PKI 30 September Movement') and the Instruction of the Ministry of Home Affairs No. 32 of 1981 related to the 'Guidance and Supervision of the Ex-Prisoners and Convicted Prisoners of the PKI 30 September Movement'. See also Manai Sophiaan (1994) for an account of the way the Suharto regime managed to stifle any social criticism by pointing to the 'latent danger' of Communism. 13. This generally concerned 'masculine' vampire women who had emerged from the socialist masses 'to wreak havoc upon the male intelIectual and economic evolution' (Dijkstra 1996: 264-5). See also Theweleit (1987). 14. Perwari was established immediately after the declaration of independence. As I elaborate in Chapter 4, for a long time the === [PDF page 44] === Introduction 25 organization remained a radical and vocal advocate of women's rights, especially in marriage. At present the organization is 'tamed', its activities on behalf of poor women have become impossible and their membership has become greatly reduced. This latter phenomenon is largely due to the fact that all wives of civil servants or military employees were obliged to join the two organizations of army and civil servants' wives, Dharma Wanita and Dharma Pertiwi. 15. Interview, 31 January 1984. 16. See the Indonesian Observer 8 March 1999. See also Suara Ibu Peduli (1999). 17. For an account of Dharma Wanita and Dharma Pertiwi see Wieringa (1985). In a later article I discussed Indonesia's 'aborted feminism' (1988b) and more recently, I wrote two articles comparing Gerwani and the PKK (1992, 1993a). See also the reports published by the Indonesia team of the DGISIISS Women's History Project (Wieringa et al. 1985; Wieringa (ed.) 1990a). See also Suryakusuma (1990) for Dharma Wanita. 18. The Gerwani volunteers trained for this 'fifth force' amounted to no more than some 70 women. See Chapter 8. 19. See Southwood and Flanagan (1983) for a discussion of the 'fifth force'. 20. The interviews were held in Malang, East Java from 27-28 January 1983,29-30 December 1983 and 2 January 1984. 21. This is the same organization. In 1964 the Wanita Demokrat Indonesia changed its name to Gerakan Wanita Marhaenis. 22. See, for instance, Carroll (1976), Kelly (1984) and Scott (1988b, 1989). Kleinberg (1988) published an interesting collection of historical work in which insights from both North and the South are combined. 23. The first collections of feminist anthropology were those by Rosaldo and Lamphere (1974) and Reiter (1975). Later ScWegel (1977), Sacks (1979), MacCormack and Strathem (1980) and Leacock (1981) published their contributions to feminist anthropology. See also Moore (1988). 24. For a discussion on the relationship between feminist standpoint theories and postmodernism see Harding (1991), Flax (1990a, 1990b), Gunew (1991), di Leonardo (1991), Nicholson (1990), Weed (1989) and Weedon (1987). 25. Over time, the Federation has been known by various names. Since === [PDF page 45] === 26 Chapter 1 Kowani is the most widely known, I will use it when referring to the Federation in general. 26. The first issue of Harian Rakyat in the Wason Collection at Cornell University dates from September 1952. The 1952 and 1953 volumes are incomplete. 27. SOBS} and the BTl were two mass organizations that belonged, as did Gerwani, to the 'communist family'. 28. See Wieringa (1995e) for a more detailed account of the documentary sources used and the biases they contain. === [PDF page 46] === A Triple Loyalty: Feminism, Socialism and Nationalism Sarinah! Tell them how you were called to the ministerial suite and how he spoke long and deeply to you about the national struggle then suddenly - without even fmishing what he was saying calling you the inspiration of the revolution undid your bra. Prostitutes ofJakarta - Unite! (Rendra 1974: 212) This book traces the history of Gerwani, the communist women's organization that existed between 1950 and 1965, in the context of the wider Indonesian women's movement from the beginning of the twentieth century until the Old Order of President Sukarno ended with the 'events' of 1965. Three major theoretical strands have, in different ways, influenced Gerwani: feminism, socialism and nationalism. Islam, too, has been an important influence on Indonesian women's organizations, but as it was relatively insignificant to Gerwani's ideology I will touch on it only where relevant. Gerwani was neither a full-blown women's wing of a communist party, such as the Chinese Women's Federation, nor the kind of embattled, marginalized women's organization associated with a communist party on the defensive during the Cold War (as were many women's wings in the West (Brown 1999; Withuis 1990», nor a fully feminist organization. Gerwani may be best described as semi-autonomous, with a triple loyalty to the imbricating discourses of feminism, nationalism and socialism. In this chapter I will consider how these three strands relate to the Indonesian context, beginning with the concept of gender. 27 === [PDF page 47] === 28 Chapter 2 Gender issues were deployed for political legitimation and propaganda purposes by both male nationalist and communist leaders. Women's organizations all related their discourses of women's emancipation and feminism to the ways in which nationalist and communist leaders imagined a new Indonesia, a modem, prosperous nation built on a new Indonesian identity derived from particular notions of 'womanhood' and 'manhood'. In this book I ask what kind of Indonesian woman these organizations imagined. Analytically, my focus is on the ways in which the various women's organizations negotiated their interests within these shifting discourses of feminism, socialism and nationalism. Two of the major discourses during the 1950s and 1960s were the socialist nationalism of Sukarno and the nationalist socialism of Aidit and the Communist Party. Feminism Feminism's opposition to the dominant modes of production and politics, its re-evaluation of accepted ways of thinking and behaving, and its critique of culture and everyday life are derived from a wide variety of positions (Bunch 1990; Haraway 1991; Harding 1991). Since these positions sometimes intersect and at other times are contradictory, it is perhaps preferable to speak of feminist processes and practices that are always historically and culturally specific, and thus need to be contextualized. Feminism should be understood as a complex, multilayered transformational set of political practices and ethics, elements of which may be in contradiction with each other and intersect with other transformational practices, such as the struggles against oppression on the basis of class, race, ethnicity and sexual preference. l Feminist processes are located at the intersection of the material and the ideological. Analytically, the concept of feminism is not only linked to transformative processes but to the shifting and unstable concept of 'woman' itself, to identity and to consciousness. As de Lauretis writes, feminism has enabled us to rethink the materiality of the ideological, and how the political operates in everyday life: feminism dermes itself as a political instance, not merely a sexual politics, but a politics of experience, of everyday life, which later then in turn enters the public sphere of expression and creative practice... [and it] has located epistemological priority in the personal, the subjective, === [PDF page 48] === A Triple Loyalty 29 the body, the symptomatic, the quotidian, as the very site of material inscription of the ideological. (1986: 10-11) Feminism, therefore, is also a discursive process, a process of producing meaning, of subverting representations of gender and of creating new representations of gender. womanhood, identity and a collective self. It carries mUltiple meanings which are limited neither to recent movements nor to Northern contexts. The word 'feminism' was used widely in many Southern women's movements in the early twentieth century, and 'early feminism in the Third World was one of the important forces for social change in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries' (Jayawardena 1982: 13). However, what may be considered feminist during one historical period or in one particular political or cultural setting may not necessarily be feminist in another. Issues are not in themselves feminist For instance, a demand such as education for women, which many women's organizations in both North and South took up in the first decades of the twentieth century, could be subversive where it was linked to women's social and political empowerment but conservative if it stressed the value of 'educated mothers' in the male-dominated nuclear family. Moreover, organizations fighting for women's issues during or following a process of socialist transformation, or in socialist-oriented women's mass organizations such as Gerwani, may not employ the same radically feminist rhetoric as many Northern feminists, even though their issues may be identical. Women's organizations may also be 'successful' to different degrees. Usually women's organizations in states engaged in a process of socialist transformation have the full support of the whole state apparatus behind them, so when they do take up an issue they can be immensely successful, as the Chinese Women's Federation demonstrated (Croll 1978). Such organizations (Gerwani among them) are usually organized in a democratic-centralist way.2 Women at the base are not engaged in a process of feminist consciousness raising. At times they may be carrying out programmes that they personally support, at other times they are merely fulfilling targets that have been set at the top of the organization. Thus their organization's way of operating may not fall within the above definition of feminism, even if their activities will. 3 === [PDF page 49] === 30 Chapter 2 Gender: A Contested Concept The deployment of the concept of gender as an analytical tool is one of the greatest gains of women's studies. Seeing the categories of 'women' and 'men' not as biological phenomena (sex) but as cultural constructions (gender) and thus essentially unstable, has had major theoretical consequences. In many languages, however, this distinction is barely known. In Indonesian, for instance, the most usual translation for both 'sex' and 'gender' isjenis kelamin (kind of sex). This linguistic conflation of the social and the natural is reflected in an analytic ambiguity in the historical writings of the Indonesian women's organizations, which are often tinged with biological detenninism. 4 Indonesian women's organizations until the mid 1980s hardly contested the idea that nature is destiny (De Beauvoir 1947), that women because of their procreative power should be responsible for the household, for nurturing and caring, and are thereby 'naturally' the weaker sex. However, other organizations gave a different meaning to the 'natural', and the implications of what was considered natural were contested and changed. Since the introduction of the concept of 'gender' by Rubin (1975), several feminist theoreticians have elaborated on it (Flax 1990a; Nicholson 1994). I find the approach of Scott (1989) the most useful for historical study. She writes that gender is both 'a constitutive element of social relationships based on perceived differences between the sexes' and 'a primary way of signifying relationships of power' (1989: 94). Her first sense of the concept is most relevant for a study of women's organizations and the second aspect of her definition is useful for describing wider social changes, such as the 'events' of 1965 in Indonesia. Scott further suggests that gender operates in four inter-related configurations. First, it works through culturally available symbols - in the Indonesian context we can think of the w'9'ang figures of Sumbadra or Srikandi, who present opposing models of womanhood, obedience versus militancy. Second, it operates as nonnative concepts that usually operate in binary ways. In Indonesia these may refer not only to the opposition between masculinity and femininity, but also to the social and the political, or to the notions that General Suharto defined during the massacre after the 1965 putsch - order (male, virile) and chaos (dark, feminine). Third, struggles over these concepts and symbols are political. In Indonesian history, two periods in which violent struggles took place had critical implications for the definition of gendered === [PDF page 50] === A Triple Loyalty 31 symbols and concepts: the nationalist revolution and the period immediately following it, and the 'events' of 1965. The fourth configuration Scott distinguishes is that of subjective identity. Historical analysis can shed light on the socio-cultural and political processes in which shifting and multiple identities are being formed. Since the 1980s, debates on difference as a location of politics (Alcoff 1988; Flax 1990a, 1990b; Harding 1991; Haraway 1991; Hekman 1990) rather than as an essential quality have become prominent. Differences among women on the basis of class, religion or sexual orientation have often led to fragmentation and bitterness. But the richness of women's diverse experiences has also been celebrated as a source of strength that need not lead to dispersion or fragility. Solidarity need no longer be built on homogenizing discourses such as nationalism, communism or a global sisterhood, but may be built more fruitfully on shared interests (Dean 1996; Pringle and Watson 1992). Contemporary feminist organizations in Indonesia too realize that negotiating for shared priorities and coalition-building can be an important feature of political life. During the Cold War period in which Gerwani operated, however, the labelling of 'enemies' and political correctness were the prevailing political strategies of the socialist movement. At times, differences were glossed over too readily. The debates on difference in 1980s Western feminism led to discussions on women's identities. Feminist identity politics grew out ofa passionate search for a new praxis of feminism coupled with a rejection of the knowledge systems that had created female identity as passive and 'naturally' subservient. As de Lauretis writes, '[The] feminist concept of identity is not at all the statement of an essential nature of Woman, whether defined biologically or philosophically, but rather a politicalpersonal strategy of survival and resistance that is also, at the same time, a critique and a mode of knowledge' (1986: 9). From this perspective, the construction of female identity is both a material and a symbolic process in which gender functions as a 'technology'; that is, a process of setting norms and regulating people into the categories 'women' and 'men'.5 The only way out of this constrictive regime is to destabilize the normativity of the dominant forms of sexed identity, establishing 'a semiotic ground for a different production of reference and meaning' (de Lauretis 1986: 10V In addition to gender, a person's identity is constituted through such factors as race, class, age, ethnicity and sexual preference. The concept of woman should be understood as 'illustrating a map of intersecting === [PDF page 51] === 32 Chapter 2 similarities and differences' (Nicholson 1994: 101). These different sources of identity do not simply add up but instead intersect in various ways, and at times they may contradict each other. Appreciating the competing interests that may spring from race, class or gender issues can help our understanding of reactions of resistance, denial or even hostility to certain forms of struggle, including gender struggle. A discussion of gender as a system of exclusion and domination also requires a concept of power. Power, in the Weberian sense, belongs to the detested world of male hegemony and is seen as synonymous with domination and control. Power relations following Foucault (1972) are located within and between the various discourses of organizations and other political actors. These discourses are [as] in Foucault's work... ways of constituting knowledge, together with the social practices, forms of subjectivity and power relations which inhere in such knowledges and the relations between them. Discourses are more than ways of thinking and producing meaning. They constitute the 'nature' of the body, unconscious and conscious mind and emotional life of the subjects which they seek to govern. Discourses are not hegemonic social structures; they exist in a continual dialogue with other discourses that seek to subvert their power. In certain political constellations, a social or political structure or institution can be both a dominant discourse in one setting and a reverse discourse in another. The discourse of the PKI, for example, functioned as a reverse discourse to the dominant natibnalist discourse of Sukamo, at the same time as it constituted the dominant discourse to Gerwani. In this book the concept of gender is used to investigate the changing definitions of both womanhood and manhood in the social processes of signification, such as in the debates on nationalism and communism and especially during the creation of Indonesia's New Order state. Modem Indonesia witnessed several upheavals, of which the war for independence and the campaign Suharto waged after 'the events' of 1965 were the most important. During this campaign in particular, the redefinition of gender relations became a violent process of conscious manipulation. As Kelly (1984) suggests, history written from a feminist perspective may call into question the accepted periodizations. In many ways Sukarno's Old Order was newer for women than Suharto's New Order. In the Old Order state, women could speak out more freely and === [PDF page 52] === A Triple Loyalty 33 boldly than in the New Order, in which women's organizations such as Dharma Wanita were used to re-subordinate women (Wieringa 1985). Indonesia has its own discourse in which expectations of women's behaviour are encoded: the kodrat wanita (women's destiny). This moral code is legitimated by notions of women's nature and by reference to religiously-inspired symbols and norms. It is a set of values that has evolved over time and differs according to various ethnic groups, yet it can be characterized by certain common elements. As with any gender construction, it serves as both a regulating mechanism covering the social relations between the sexes and as an instrument of power. Struggles over the meaning and content of this code, or over the differing emphases aspects have received, have been constant throughout Indonesian history. Women's organizations themselves have been vocal actors in this arena, as have male reformers and nationalist and communist leaders. In colonial Indonesia, the modern woman was an important trope in the discourse of those advocating the 'progress' Western civilization would bring to 'feudal' Java. An example of the agonizing process of integrating of Western notions of equality with traditional Javanese values of women's devotion to their husbands is provided by Mrs Sriati Mangoenkoesoemo, the wife of a co-founder of the first nationalist organization, Budi Oetomo (Noble Endeavour). Writing in 1918 on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the organization, she began by comparing favourably the relations between male and female peasants (the sharing of responsibilities, the husband valuing the opinions of his wife) to those among the nobility, to whom Mrs Mangoenkoesoemo belonged. In those classes, the wife was just 'the first among the servants'. It was almost impossible, Mrs Mangoenkoesoemo explained, to bridge the 'gap in mores and customs which separates her from her husband'. However, since Kartini (the early feminist 'princess'),7 the author continued, our voices were being heard. The concept of equality advocated by European women was 'alluring'. 'Elevating is the thought to be no longer a wage slave, but somebody whose opinion will be sought first by the husband, and accepted as equal to his.' After these firm words, the author reflected that the 'general nature of the sexes is different... but not inferior' and that Javanese values of devotion to husbands also had their worth. Our mothers used to say 'when your husband comes home, kneel down to wash his feet with water from a basin. Scatter flowers on his bed, so the sweet smell makes his sleep quiet. Stay awake, when at night his duties call him, for you will make his burden === [PDF page 53] === 34 Chapter 2 lighter, if already before he calls, you unlock the door'. Love conquers, she concluded, 'a Javanese woman should not be the toy of her husband's whims without resistance, but serve him consciously and therefore rule. Her duty is the loving care: momong.' (poeze and Schulte 1995: 42-4) A fascinating description of what the kodrat entailed for Javanese priyayi (noble) women around independence is provided by Umar Kayam in his novel, Sri Sumarah (1980). Her grandmother taught Sri Sumarah (whose very name means surrender) that she should always be meek and obedient, and remain silent when spoken to by her husband. She should ensure that her house would always be a place for him to relax by preparing tasty food, massaging him and always obeying his slightest sexual wishes (grandmother: 'in bed all men are the same: spoilt children... be patient child, give yourself to him, regulate your breathing' (1980: 38-9). Grandmother taught Sri to be as meek towards her husband as Sumbadra was towards her husband Arjuna, a warrior prince in the Mahabharata and a potent male role model. Women's identity and behaviour as expressed by the kodrat wanita was fiercely contested during the Old Order. Gerwani challenged the prevailing belief that women should be meek, passive, obedient to the male members of the family, sexually shy and modest, self-sacrificing and nurturing. Although they accepted the notion that women should find their main vocation in wifehood and motherhood, they introduced the concept of 'militant motherhood'. Gerwani's militant mothers did not limit their range of action to the household and the social sphere but extended their campaign to the political too. Their symbol was Srikandi, the warrior-wife of Arjuna, and not his meek wife, Sumbadra. As mothers, women were supposed to rally behind the national revolution to help give birth to the new nation. In the domestic sphere, women's maternal role brought them social and economic responsibilities too. Economically, women were supposed to ensure that the family was fed. This meant that they were also often responsible for earning an income (Saptari 1995; Stoler 1977; Wieringa 1981; Wolf 1992) since male prestige was derived less from men's abilities as economic providers than from their spiritual, intellectual and political merits. Socially, women were supposed to maintain harmony, not only within the family but also within the immediate circle of neighbours. In that sense they were the bearers of societal norms and values, including values related to sexual behaviour. If women failed in this task and did not educate their children in these values, social chaos might follow. The === [PDF page 54] === A Triple Loyalty 35 emphasis on the social character of women's organizations derives from this aspect of the kodrat. Although socially, sexually and politically women have to some degree always been subservient to men, Indonesian women have also always held a certain amount of economic power. It must be remembered, however, that women's control of the purse strings does not always carry the same connotations as in the North. In Indonesia money has always been seen to be of a lower order than spiritual and political power, which are male domains. Women are permitted to deal with fmancial affairs precisely because they belong to the inferior, mundane world. Moreover, even if women do make the major decisions on daily expenses, they will do so in the interests of their male family members. As Sullivan (1994) suggests, women may be the household managers but men will always be the masters of the household. The kodrat wanita is to a large extent modelled upon the traditional behaviour of the (Javanese) nobility. Its dominance was contested from various quarters. Peasant women had more say in their households and fields than their noble sisters had in their social and economic spheres. The sexual modesty and subservience expected from high-born ladies was challenged by the seductive powers of professional dancing and singing women. Such subversive activities had to be controlled in the higher social circles. Thus, the behaviour of aristocratic women was seen to be an important ingredient in the prestige the family commanded, as can be glimpsed from the life of Kartini. It was to this aspect of the kodrat, the imperative on women to be sexually modest, that the campaign to demonize Gerwani was partly directed. The New Order regime meant, in many ways, a return to the conservative values encoded in the kodrat wanita of colonial times. The Panca Dharma Wanita (Five Women's Duties)8 that the state-controlled women's organizations propagated is a far cry from the independence that socialist women's groups demanded for women during the Sukarno era. Women's organizations, whether consciously or not, have often meandered between the Scylla of demanding equal access to education, labour or citizenship rights and the Charybdis of fighting for women's 'special interests' or even of re-introducing the feminine (care) into male arenas. Indonesian women's organizations were no exception. To differing degrees they demanded equal rights with men, especially in education. Sometimes religious or other concerns intervened. Islamic women's groups, for instance, differed from non-Islamic groups in their === [PDF page 55] === 36 Chapter 2 rejection of equal rights for women in marriage. On the other hand, all Indonesian women's organizations agreed that women are different from men and that this should be translated into special women's interests. The debate on gender difference was not identical in all women's organizations and it changed over the years. Male views on gender were characterized by diversity as well. Nationalist actors such as Sukarno propagated one kind of gender difference and male communist leaders such as Aidit another (although he scarcely paid any attention to women's issues at all). These diverging views led to a differing emphasis on women's participation in the social struggle and to a differing praxis of women's organizations themselves as they identified with the various national strands. The vagueness with which both Sukamo and Aidit dealt with women's issues meant that their differences could be easily glossed over and the contradictions, if any, ignored. Gerwani, at least, did not seem to be much troubled by the sweeping statements of these two leading politicians and merely adapted them to suit their own practice. Theoretically, the debate between a constructivist humanist appeal to equal rights and an essentialist insistence on women's difference points to a critical dilemma. If women are the same as men and it is the construction of binary gender relations that accounts for women's subordination, how can specific women's rights be defined? How can a women's struggle be fought? Will women's subordination end ifwomen achieve equal rights with men? This, essentially, is what Sukarno and other male nationalist leaders argued after Indonesian independence was won. However, their insistence on the achievement of equal rights implied a tacit acknowledgment of male superiority and difference. They never considered Indonesian women their equals in the national revolution. They never paused to ask themselves whether the women who endured endless misery and humiliation to keep their families together during the revolution were not as essential to victory as the guerrilla fighters. In the end, the male leaders resisted the equality in marriage relations that women demanded. Other arguments centred around women's fundamental differences from men. The question arose as to whether it were female characteristics that have been oppressed in society? Is it necessary, in other words, to fight for the revaluation of the (natural) differences between the sexes or for the recuperation of the feminine to create a more balanced world? This is what many women's organizations debated, as they insisted on their maternal role (Locher-Scholten 2000). === [PDF page 56] === A Triple Loyalty 37 The most fruitful position seems to be that we need equality in rights and opportunities that respects differences, including differences among women. Posing these as oppositions is, as Scott (1988b) has pointed out, less relevant than looking critically at the way in which these concepts are being deployed. This position is also useful in analysing the discourse of the Indonesian women's movement, which contains references both to the need for equal rights and to women's nature as different from men's. In the case of Gerwani this debate took on a particular urgency. Its leaders maintained the need to reconcile the idea that women are naturally responsible for children, family meals and women's concerns within the communist family with the idea that women's oppression is a socio-historical phenomenon to be resolved through socialist action. Indonesian women's organizations prioritized different sets of interests. The term 'women's gender interests' is suggested here as an analytical concept to investigate the shifting discourses of these organizations as they distinguished, defined and prioritized the interests they fought for within the changing political configuration. Another approach, and one of the most influential, is Molyneux's (1985) suggestion to distinguish between 'strategic' and 'practical' gender interests in assessing the success of policies directed at women (she specifically addressed the performance of the socialist state ofNicaragua).9 The distinction between these two sets of interests is reminiscent of the dualism of Northern rationality which has been denounced strongly by deconstructivist poststructuralist thinkers.lO In Foucauldian terms, it is another attempt to control and normalize reality rather than to explain it. I suggest that the general term 'women's gender interests' is more useful. There is no single, abstract category of 'women's interests'. Women's gender interests can only be discussed in a specific sociahistorical context and they will be expressed differently by the various categories of actors. Instead of a priori categorizing women's gender interests it is important to ask who is defining them and what are the parameters within which this process of definition takes place. This requires distinguishing the different actors involved and, if possible, the locations from which they speak (that is, their authority). Gender interests, then, must be contextualized and seen as elements in a continual process of identity formation and political conscientization. Thus women's gender interests are flexible, complex elements, defined and prioritized within political processes. In this book, therefore, I focus on the processes of negotiation and definition underlying the issues the === [PDF page 57] === 38 Chapter 2 organizations prioritized against the backdrop of the changing national context. Women Organizing A comprehensive definition of women's movements is very difficult since women's movements have never spoken with a single voice. A broad definition is best suited to capture their heterogeneity, plurality and complexity. A women's movement can be seen to constitute the entire spectrum of conscious and unconscious individual or collective acts, activities, groups or organizations concerned with diminishing various aspects of gender subordination, which is understood as intersecting with other relations of oppression such as those based on class, race, ethnicity, age and sexual preference. Specific parts of this movement may disagree with each other and set different priorities, and certain strands, groups or individuals may lie dormant for periods of time. Some individuals may identify themselves as belonging to the women's movement and others may not. Different demands will crop up at different times, challenging the dominant discourse in specific ways.lI Movements are phenomena which are modified as they come into contact with everyday life, politics and the state. In a constant process of reflection, communication and negotiation, they generate social processes as they define and redefine themselves. The social actors who engage in these movements are asserting their agency and, in reflecting upon their experiences of oppression, re-constructing their identities. Not all aspects of their identities will be constituted by elements of the movement; other power relations will intersect with the path of the movement. Sometimes these interactions are mutually supporting; at other times they give rise to ambiguities and contradictions. Movements are broader and more diffuse than either formal organizations or informal associations. 12 Social movements may consist of 'invisible' networks of small groups submerged in everyday life within whose 'invisible laboratories' movements may question and challenge the codes of everyday life (Melucci 1989: 208). Social movements, therefore, may experience waves of visibility and latency. This is clearly the case with women's movements. After a period of visible mobilization in many parts of the world lasting from around the turn of the century until about 1930, the women's movement declined.13 Yet the movement did not disappear. The general assumption, for instance, that the American women's movement died in the 1920s and was not === [PDF page 58] === A Triple Loyalty 39 resurrected until the mid~ 1960s may derive from the fact that only formal male activism was seen as constituting a movement, while '[w]omen have been less likely to be aggressive and to use disruptive and confrontational tactics in pursuit of their aims' (Taylor and Rupp 1991: 123). The 'invisible' periods in the women's movement have been determined by their particular socio~political contexts. During the period in which the movement in Europe and the USA lay dormant, the women's movement in Indonesia went through its most vigorous and subversive stages. Women's organizations can be part of a women's movement. However, I maintain that women's movements must be defined by their striving towards women's emancipation. Women's organizations do not necessarily share that goal. They can be divided into organizations of and for women. Organizations of women (independent organizations) are formed through a process of self~mobilization in which women's emancipation may be one of the aims. But women may also organize themselves for other purposes, such as around class, religion, ethnicity. Organizations for women (dependent organizations) are usually set up by other actors who want to mobilize women for purposes of their own. This may include women's emancipation but that is usually not the primary aim. Examples include women's organizations in Nazi Germany (Koonz 1987), women's wings of nationalist or communist parties or organizations set up by the state, such as the Indonesian New Order organizations of wives of civil servants, Dharma Wanita. The categories are not mutually exclusive and there may be shifts as the organizations develop. Gerwani, for instance, was set up primarily by young nationalist and socialist women. Initially the Communist Party stayed in the background. Gradually, however, Gerwani became more of a women's wing of the Party, although it never became fully controlled by the Party. Gerwani occupied a unique position in the history of women's organizations. Originally it was a small group of feminist, nationalist and communist women. Later it became the largest mass organization of women outside the communist bloc. For most of its history Gerwani can be classified as a semi~autonomous women's organization with a triple loyalty to women, the socialist cause and nationalism. The balance between these loyalties shifted over time and the degree of its autonomy became gradually eroded until it was seriously reduced by 1965. A comparison with two sister organizations with whom it felt some affinity, the Dutch women's wing of the small Dutch Communist Party === [PDF page 59] === 40 Chapter 2 (CPN), and the Chinese Women's Federation, helps to clarifY Gerwani's unique position. The Nederlandse Vrouwen Beweging (Dutch Women's Movement) (NVB) went through a process of one-dimensionalization, as Withuis (1990) suggests, in which class issues pushed feminist issues out of the nest. Set up in 1946 as a women's wing ofa small communist party, it became marginalized and embattled by the growing tensions of the Cold War: its mental horizon narrowed and its political practice became more isolationist. Gerwani, on the other hand, became the largest women's organization in the country. On the national level it was not seriously affected by the Cold War. On the contrary, the international situation allowed Sukamo, who strongly supported the Communist Party, to become an actor in the international arena. The international dimension was important for Gerwani through its active participation in the communist-led Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF). On the other hand, Gerwani did not have the active support of a powerful state, as did the Chinese Women's Federation. Despite its mass appeal it is unlikely that the Indonesian Communist Party would ever have become, or have been allowed to become, the largest Indonesian party. It always would have had to negotiate with conservative religious forces as well as large parts of the powerful armed forces. Thus Gerwani could not be as effective in promoting women's issues, for instance in the field of marriage reforms, as the Chinese Federation could during certain periods of its history. As women's mass support remained essential for the PKI, Gerwani could keep its distance and maintain a critical voice both in relation to the PKI and to Sukarno's governments. Feminism and Marxism: Practice and Theory in Indonesia Gerwani was inspired by socialist ideals and was closely linked to the PKI. In relating feminism to Marxism it grappled with a number of theoretical issues. Two of the major attractions of Marxism for feminists are the possibility of social change it upholds and its theories on the historicity of the family, which imply a denunciation of essentialist, naturalizing explanations of the skewed relations between the sexes. This latter issue, however, presents serious problems. While Marxism denounces biological determinism and claims to present a historicalmaterialist and 'scientific' theory of social change, its theorization of the family and social change is ultimately based on Engels's definition === [PDF page 60] === A Triple Loyalty 41 of the 'natural' division of labour between the sexes. Thus, the childbearing of women and the difference in the physical strength of the sexes account for the 'latent slavery' of women and children in the family. In fact, this is at odds with the presumed equality of tribal society as portrayed in Engels's The Origin o/the Family, Private Property and the State (1884),14 which set out to explain the relationship between private property and the state and to link sexual relations with economic relations of production. Instead of allowing sexual relations and the family analytical autonomy, Marx and Engels subsumed sexual relations into the category of the 'family', which in tum was subsumed into theories of class and political representation (Coward 1983). Thus, women's struggles were seen as 'partial' struggles subsumed into the class struggle. Once the Party had won and communism was established, women's subordination in the family would also disappear and the 'happy proletarian family' would emerge. There are several problems with this theory. In the first place, The Origin gave a surprisingly ahistorical account of tribal society: 'The man and wife of his [Engels's] matriarchal household might comfortably occupy gender roles in Victorian society', as Landes upholds (1989: 21). Second, as it located women primarily in the household, Marxist theory had little understanding of women's role in the public domain. Third, as the exploitation of women in the family was seen to be a capitalist invention, the solution was sought outside of the household: women had to enter social production and domestic labour had to be socialized. Finally, because sexual oppression was linked with capitalism, here again socialism would provide the answer by bringing about the 'happy proletarian family' characterized by 'true sex love' and by putting an end to such evils as prostitution. Socialism would work such miracles in and of itself: there was no need for a conscious struggle of women to make men mend their ways nor to transform interpersonal relations. 15 Although Marxist theory does recognize the historicity of the family, which partly explains its great attraction for feminists, for political reasons the class struggle was given priority. Socialists created an arbitrary division of feminist women along class lines. Only those from working class backgrounds or those middle-class women who devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the-proletarian cause l6 were accepted within their ranks. The others were denounced as politically conservative bourgeois women. By implication, the demands of the women's movement === [PDF page 61] === 42 Chapter 2 for access to education and political rights were branded as reactionary, which true socialist women should not support. Lenin's views on women and the role of the women's movement carried a particular weight in socialist movements in the 1950s and 1960s. It is interesting, therefore, to reflect on his ideas. In discussions with the German socialist and feminist Clara Zetkin he recognized that without women the Russian Revolution would never have succeeded. When Zetkin proposed that issues of particular relevance to women such as sexuality and marriage should be discussed Lenin rejected her recommendation as 'bourgeois nonsense' (1985: 127-8).17 In his view, the role of a communist women's movement would be to elevate women's role from individual motherhood to that of social motherhood in order to help create a communist society (1985: 132, 141). The career of Clara Zetkin, one of the major role models for Gerwani, illustrates this point. In the 1920s she supported the creation of women's organizations outside the Party and formally separate from it, 'able to spread the communist message beyond the small band of the faithful and bring together women from diverse social backgrounds and with a range of political allegiances' (Waters 1989: 44). Her efforts met with great resistance and by the end of the 1920s 'any special emphasis on women's social subordination in communist propaganda or campaigning came to be regarded as a capitulation to bourgeois feminism; the movement's aim was no longer the advancement of women but their mobilization for the advancement of the Comintern' (Waters 1989: 51).18 The Cold War entrenched the anti-feminism of communist parties or regimes still further.19 A similar development can be seen in Gerwani's history. If feminist concerns were among the major issues voiced in the early years, later the organization linked itself more closely to the Communist Party and feminist ideas lost out. Jayawardena (1989), analyzing the history of the left in South Asia since the introduction of the 'woman question' in the nineteenth century, maintains that socialist leaders have upheld petit-bourgeois and religiously-tainted norms to justify the social conservatism with which they reacted to demands for reforms in the 'private' sphere of the home. Their anti-imperialist position did not stretch further than their own definition of the public sphere. Without bothering to reflect on the inconsistency of their position, they embraced socialism, adapting it to their anti-colonial struggle while they denounced feminism as a dangerous Western import. After independence was won, the Indonesian nationalist and socialist leaders were no exception to this. === [PDF page 62] === A Triple Loyalty 43 Marxist and socialist feminists in the 1970s and 1980s attempted to 'correct' Marxism. Unwilling to relinquish Marxism's promise of social revolution, they ftrst attempted to widen its central concept - production - to include the bearing and rearing of children as well as most forms of human activity/o 'instead of dislodging it or any other singularly central concept from such authoritative power' (Flax 1990a: 57).21 Realizing that a major site of women's oppression was located in the household, they complained that Marx had insufficiently theorized the social relations of domestic labour in relation to social production. 22 Marxist feminist analyses in the late 1970s were dominated by the 'domestic labour debate' (Kaluzynska 1980; Molyneux 1979), although feminist issues were also inscribed into Marxist analyses where they had been formerly absent, such as the analysis of the state (McIntosh 1978). Yet these attempts were unable to overcome central problems such as the conceptualization of the interlinkages between capitalism and patriarchy. These were usually theorized as being separate but interacting, as, for instance, in Hartmann (1979). However, as Scott notes in relation to Hartmann, 'as her argument develops, economic causality takes precedence and patriarchy always develops and changes as a function of relations of production' (1989: 87). Also, Marxist feminists have had difficulty in dealing with the biological biases in Engels's work.23 Marxism has been similarly unable to provide satisfactory answers to issues of racism and the environment. Recently Marxist theorizing has been criticized on a more fundamentallevel, notably a critique of the Marxist subject and an appraisal of the epistemological basis of Marxism. Feminists have denounced the Marxist view as 'phallocentric', that is, as a system in which the male is set up as the model of radical politics (Campioni and Grosz 1991). Not only has Marxism dermed itself as the most important social struggle under which all other struggles should be subsumed, the male proletarian, with his needs and worldview, has been seen as the major political actor. This reductionist and globalizing tendency of Marxism has been linked to its very theoretical and epistemological basis, its ideas of society, truth, reason, subjectivity, reality and causality. Campioni and Grosz argue that Marxism shares more similarities than differences with bourgeois thought. Instead of becoming a fundamental critique of capitalism and its workings, it has become its 'alter-ego' (1991: 368), sharing with traditional philosophy an insistence on the primacy of reason and the subject/object dichotomy of knowledge (1991: 375), since in Marxist thought only Marxism itself and those who understand the === [PDF page 63] === 44 Chapter 2 theory (such as party leaders) possess the 'correct' knowledge. Women, people of colour and even workers themselves can only be 'knowers' of their own lives if their thinking has been sanctioned by Marxist theorizing. Otherwise they possess a 'false consciousness'. It is difficult to see how Marxism can deal with this feminist and post-modernist critique. A 'feminist appropriation of Marxism' along these lines could 'require such a radical transformation of the entire system that it would become simply unrecognizable to its founders' Gerwani's socialist vision was characterized by several of these problems. The attraction socialist theory held for its leaders was partly its modernity, its hope for a better future for Indonesian women if only it were possible to follow the 'line of history' (arus sejarah) its leaders discerned. In this sense, Gerwani accepted the Marxist notion of the 'historical necessity' of an ultimate socialist revolution. Gerwis was set up by young, enthusiastic women who had just participated in the enormous success of the nationalist revolution. Many other new countries had been created in the wake of the Second World War and the early 1960s, some of them of a socialist nature such as Algeria. Nationalism and socialism seemed to be the bright new movements of the time. A sense of optimism prevailed; a wonderful future for women seemed to be just around the comer. As I will show later, political and economic tensions were to bring the Indonesian nationalist revolution to a grinding halt, and the promises nationalist leader Sukarno had held out were not met. By then, however, the Cold War had begun in earnest and ideological positions had become firmly entrenched. Yet optimism did prevail and the Communist Party maintained its character of belonging to a 'modem' world. As McVey (1990) analysed, the PKI was not only 'modem' in the sense that it saw itself leading the way to the future but also in that it taught people how to do things better. It presented itself as the alternative to the 'old' parties, especially the Islamic parties, in its emphasis on organizational skills and practical training. Morally, the PKI's modernity found expression in its imagining of a new human being (although McVey consistently speaks of a 'new Indonesian man'), just as Cuba's Che Guevara later held out the promise of a new, morally superior form of humanity. To a large extent Gerwani followed this line of thinking, but it introduced its own accents. The 'new Indonesian woman' it attempted to create was 'modern' in dress, cultural outlook and political vision. Gerwani's modernity was not modelled on the capitalist West, however, === [PDF page 64] === A Triple Loyalty 45 but on the examples of the socialist world. Theoretically, Gerwani was unconcerned by many of the dilemmas sketched above. Almost intuitively and without much internal debate, it adapted Indonesian reality to aspects of Marxist thinking. Its leaders accepted critical elements of Marxist analysis of the family, especially its theoretical subsumption under class relations. But the Gerwani family was decidedly an Indonesian family, plagued by such evils as polygyny and struggling with the Indonesian political reality. Where Gerwani was confronted by instances of domestic violence, rape or communist men marrying polygynously, these were seen to be tragedies for individuals rather than structural issues in need of theoretical attention. As far as sexual morality was concerned, Gerwani adhered more to the conservatism of Lenin than to the humanist liberal trends of earlier strands in Marxism that denounced the restrictions bourgeois morality placed on sexual behaviour (Lapidus 1978). This sexual conservatism was more in line with the kodrat wanita than the 'free love' propagated by early Marxists and utopian socialists. Gerwani never emphasized the need for women to take part in the production process, for traditionally Indonesian women have always taken part in productive labour, both in the fields and in home industries such as batik-making or weaving mats. Gendered wage differentials and an unequal sexual division of labour did not lead Gerwani to question the Marxist theories on labour and the family. Instead, they attempted to address injustices where they encountered them: they fought, for instance, for the implementation of the International Labour Organization (ILO) regulations on equal wages for equal work. The socialization of domestic work, which was such an important issue during the drive for industrialization in the early Soviet Union (Lapidus 1978) and especially during certain periods in Maoist China (Croll 1978; Davin 1976, 1989), never received a great deal of theoretical attention from Gerwani. Instead, the organization hesitantly began discussing a fairer division of domestic labour among women and men during its last years. But then this discussion became drowned out in the political turmoil of the time. Gerwani always maintained its nationalist vigour, although at times its nationalism fused with aspects of socialist ideology. Both ideologies, for instance, stressed 'modernity'. In Old Order Indonesia this meant that ethnic diversity was glossed over or deemed 'feudal' and that local culture (adat) was only accepted if it could be accommodated with nationalist or communist purposes. In practice this often meant that the === [PDF page 65] === 46 Chapter 2 dominant Javanese culture was taken to embody nationalist or communist ideals. A 'modern' 'progressive' organization in those days thought it proper to be fairly distant from religious dogmas. Gerwani paid little attention to religious issues or to local aOOt. The organization also accepted the prevailing notions of community and harmony based on family values which were upheld, albeit in different ways, by nationalist and communist leaders. Sukarno attempted to create an Indonesian identity which deployed the trope of 'family' as collectivity; a hierarchical family with himself as the (polygynous) patriarch. The 'communist family' the Party tried to create existed at the social level of the various organizations, with the organizations being the members of the family led by the Party as the all-knowing patriarch. Ideally, at the nuclear level all members of this 'Manipol' family (see Chapter 7) joined an organization proper to their place in the family hierarchy: the head of the household joined the Communist Party, the wife joined Gerwani and the children joined the youth organization, whereas other members might join the labour, peasant or cultural organizations. Feminism and Nationalism As McClintock writes, 'all nationalisms are gendered, all are invented and all are dangerous... in the sense that they represent relations to political power and to the technologies of violence' (1995: 352). As Rendra sings in the epigraph to this chapter, Sarinah was suddenly told to undo her bra when she was no longer useful for nationalist revolutionary inspiration. Women reproduce nations not only biologically but also culturally and symbolically. In the process of constructing a nationalist state, not only is the state itself created but also the symbolic apparatus that holds the state together and the symbolic context in which its citizens operate and in which they negotiate their identities as women and men. This is a political process and it is often a violent process. Indonesian history is no exception. In relation to gender, Indonesian nationalism too is characterized by a contradictory denial of sexual difference on the one hand while it is universalized on the other (Kaplan et al. 1999: 2; Yuval-Davis 1997). Gender difference is thus marginalized - politically, economically and socially - while at the same time gendered constructions of both masculinity and femininity are considered essential to the national ideal. The 'Indonesianness' that was to be the basis of this immense archipelago with a great cultural, religious and linguistic diversity implied the glossing === [PDF page 66] === A Triple Loyalty 47 over of gender differences in the name of a vague nationalist symbolism involving not only a flag, an anthem and a national symbol (the mythical bird, Garuda) but also Malay as a national language and an Indonesian communal form of citizenship consisting of the gendered identities of its subjects. Indonesia's recent history has contained three different constructions of womanhood in relation to state processes: the colonial, the Old Order and the New Order constructs. The colonial state introduced the emphasis on motherhood and the domesticity of women that was characteristic of Victorian European societies. Women and colonized people in general were seen as childlike, emotional, unreasonable, instinctive and closer to nature. The association of women and people in the coloniallydominated countries with nature was used as a justification for white male European superiority. Their arrogance was bolstered by the depiction of Asian and African societies as backward, stagnant, chaotic and primitive (de Groot 1991). At the same time 'native' women were sexualized and exoticized (Gouda 1995; Stoler 1995). The mission of white men was to bring culture where nature reigned and especially to improve women's degraded status. Paradoxically, appeals to a 'natural' Victorian morality led to a desire for social reforms, which in some instances benefited women but in others eroded their political, economic and sexual rights. 24 Sukarno urged Indonesian women to become the 'second wheel' of the chariot that would bring independence. But as happened in many other processes of decolonization (Chatterjee 1993; Jayawardena 1982; Mies 1986), after national independence was won the male leaders of the young independent state tried to curb women's activities and control the feminine. President Sukarno shifted gear; he no longer supported 'bourgeois' feminism, he denounced the nationalist women's organization Perwari when it dared to attack his polygynous marriage in 1954, and he supported the 'true revolutionary spirit' of Gerwani. The social construction of womanhood of New Order Indonesia falls outside of the scope of this book. In many ways it was more conservative than in the earlier, Old Order period (see Wieringa 1985, 1993a). The creation and re-creation of the Javanese 'princess' Kartini illustrates major changes in the construction of womanhood during these three periods. Colonial (male) reformers presented this brilliant and rebellious woman as a fighter for the right to education for women. In the Old Order period a different Kartini was created. Her resistance to Dutch arrogance and the working-class background of her real mother === [PDF page 67] === Chapter 2 48 were stressed (Rutherford 1993).25 This was the Kartini as Gerwani saw her. New Order Kartini, on the other hand, was tamed and domesticated. Her passion and her resistance to male domination were glossed over. On her birthday, which is a national holiday, various state women's organizations held contests in which participants competed to look most like Kartini - not in independence of mind or intellectual brilliance but in dress. The taming and domesticating of Kartini was completed during the final months of 1965 through the sexualization and demonization of women's political outspokenness. In its relatively short history, Gerwani negotiated its identity within the competing, and at times converging, narratives of feminism, nationalism and communism. Structurally semi-autonomous, it maintained its triple loyalty to these discourses, although the relationship between them changed. Gerwani gave women a political voice in the turmoil of Indonesian national politics. It maintained its optimistic, 'modem' outlook on history and women's place within it until it was crushed by the dark, evil forces that General Suharto and his allies unleashed out of the collective subconscious of the politically-conservative forces in Indonesian society. The downfall of Gerwani had major implications for the other women's organizations, even those who had not fiercely resisted, as had Gerwarii in its own way, the retrenchment of women's political voice that they had gained during the nationalist process. Notes There is no consensus on what a transformed world should look like and it may be impossible even to conceive of such a consensus (Wieringa 1995b). Transformation should not be seen as a product or as a fixed goal in a distant future but rather as a process. For feminist transformation, a 'doubled vision' may be needed which would enable one to both 'engage in patriarchal society in order to change it and to stand outside it in order to see what must be changed' (Kelly 1984: xxiii). The cases of the Anti Price Rise Movement in India (Gandhi 1995) and the Somali Women's Democratic Organization (Dahabo et al. 1995; Raquia Haji Dualeh et al. 1985) are similar. See Funk and Mueller (1993) on the experiences of women organizing in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and Kruks et al. (1989). The first attack on biological determinism was contributed in 1935 === [PDF page 68] === A Triple Loyalty 49 by the anthropologist Margaret Mead in her Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies. She argued that the organization of gender and sexuality do not simply reflect or elaborate on biological 'givens' but are socially and culturally produced. 5. These 'technologies of gender' work as 'institutionalized discourses, epistemologies and critical practices, as well as practices of daily life' (de Lauretis 1987: 2). 6. In a similar vein Butler argues that 'woman' as a category is both normative (enforcing compulsory heterosexuality) and exclusionary (a woman is not a man). Since the categories 'woman' and 'man' are so totalising, the differences among women and among men are hidden as well as the similarities between them. In Gender Trouble (1990) Butler suggests that the only way to break down this system is to produce a whole array of alternative genders. 7. Raden Adjeng Kartini's passionate outcries in her letters to her Dutch friends against the evil of polygyny, the supposed superiority of Javanese men and her struggle for education for Javanese women, mark her as the ftrst 'modem' feminist in Indonesia. Her words have inspired generations of Indonesian women and men. She has variously been portrayed as a champion for women's rights and as a precursor of Indonesian nationalism. More recently, during the New Order, her example was used to demonstrate how 'emancipated' Indonesian women had become after independence. Her birthday is celebrated as a national holiday. 8. The ftve duties are: to be companions to their husbands, to produce children, educate them, and contribute to the management of the household. Only in the ftfth place are women seen to have duties as citizens. 9. See Wieringa (1992, 1994) for a critique of this distinction. One problem is the inability to make an empirical distinction between practical and strategic gender interests. 10. See Braidotti (1991a) for a critical overview ofthis work. Haraway (1991), too, deconstructs Western science from this point of view. Braidotti et al. (1994) take a critique of the hegemonic, dualistic tradition of male-dominated Western science as their starting point. 11. This deftnition is the same as one used in the collective process of creating a book on gender and politics. See Lycklama a Nijeholt et at. (1998). 12. Organizations may have some form of legal structure, membership rules and specific action models to fight for their interests. Informal === [PDF page 69] === 50 Chapter 2 associations (March and Taqqu 1986) may be based on kinship, marriage, and residence as well as economic, religious and ritual purposes. 13. This occurred not only in the North but also in Southern countries such as Peru (Villavicencio 1995) and the Caribbean (French 1995). 14. Originally published 1884, the book was partly a challenge to the well-established women's movement of the period. Engels intended to provide a reformulation of feminism by establishing a theory of the family characterized by 'social relations of production'. The term 'latent slavery' was used in The German Ideology, written by Marx and Engels together (see Landes 1989: 21). 15. There is a large literature on these issues. See, for instance, Barrett (1980), Coward (1983), Eisenstein (1979), Hartmann (1979), Kuhn and Wolpe (1978), Millett (1969), and the excellent introduction to Engels by Leacock (1981). 16. Such middle-class women included Clara Zetkin and Alexandra Kollontai, but they too had their problems with their male comrades (Kruks et al. 1989). See also Coole (1988), Coward (1983), Sargent 1981, Scott (1976). 17. See Picq (1986) and Reinalda and Verhaaren (1989) for a further analysis of the relationship between feminism and the early Marxist movement. See also Wieringa (1995d). 18. Similarly the Dutch socialist and feminist Henriette Roland Holst resigned from the Dutch Communist Party in 1927, 'tired of what she called the intellectual suffocation and the dogma of the Comintern' (Waters 1989: 39). 19. For instance, Siklova who has analysed the Chechoslovak socialist regime writes that feminism was denounced as a 'ploy of the enemy' (1993: 75). See Funk and Mueller (1993) and Kruks et al. (1989) for other experiences of women organizing in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. 20. See, for instance, Mies, who talks of 'the production of life' and calls the body 'the first force of production'. 'The activity of women in bearing and rearing children has to be understood as work', she writes (1986: 47,53). See also Edholm et al. (1977). 21. Flax notes that this new category of 'sex-affective production' was analysed using such Marxist categories as 'surplus', 'division of labour' and so on (1990b: 155). 22. See Eisenstein (1979) for some early debates on the topic. She has === [PDF page 70] === A Triple Loyalty 51 also linked problems in Eastern Europe to the inadequate theorizing of gender issues in Marxism and by recent socialist leaders such as Havel and Gorbachev (1993). 23. Mies, for instance, in attempting to update Marxist theories on the origins of the social division of labour, resorts in the end to the 'male monopoly over arms' as the major mechanism for establishing male supremacy (1986: 63). 24. See Chapter 3 for a discussion of Onghokham's (1991) analysis of this process. Wieringa (1995d) refers to colonial processes which eroded some matrilineal customs in the Minangkabau region of Sumatra. 25. In some of the literature on Kartini the fact that she was born from a selir, a secondary wife, was ignored and she was portrayed as the daughter of the primary wife of her father. See also Chapter 3, note 21. === [PDF page 71] === The Garuda Takes Flight: From the Colonial Period to Independence And slowly it dawned upon my mind's eye that at this moment it is not possible for an indigenous young girl, to stand alone, to work in public. She is threatened by a great danger from the side of men. For a Javanese man no woman is too ugly, we know that now. Karlini, in a letter dated 14 July 1903 (Kartini 1987: 309) From the end of the nineteenth century onwards, Indonesian society began to change dramatically. A new, educated class of indigenous administrators became exposed to 'modem' ideas. At the same time as the colonial state provided the aspiring Indonesian intellectuals with a common enemy, it also offered them the intellectual and bureaucratic tools for their endeavours. Not only was nationalism introduced from abroad; feminism, Marxist socialism and Modernist Islam - three other major reform movements - entered Indonesia from afar, the first two from the West and the other from the Middle East. I include feminism here because it is often neglected by 'male-stream' historiographers (such as Legge 1964). Together, these modem ideas appealed to widespread feelings of inferiority and exploitation, while holding out the promise of a brighter future. The budding nationalist movement inherited a territory that had only recently been united under one administration, and with a (growing) identity that superseded that of the former kingdoms or other administrative units into which the archipelago had been divided. Sukarno and other nationalist leaders made use of the colonial endeavours to proclaim the ideals of one land, one nation and one language in order to create the 'imagined community' (Anderson 1983) of Indonesia. 52 === [PDF page 72] === The Garuda Takes Flight 53 While the colonial administration gradually moved towards constitutional separation from the motherland, thereby facilitating the growth of the idea of nationalism, it was at the same time engaged in curbing the various nationalist forces that had become increasingly impatient at the administration's slow pace of change (Cribb 1994). Under the leadership of Sukarno, Hatta and Syahrir, nationalist sentiments spread and nationalist organizations proliferated as political repression in the Dutch East Indies reached a height in the late 1920s and early 1930s. This chapter focuses on the history of the women's movement from the first outcries of indignation at the discrimination women experienced, showing how these budding women's organizations translated their concerns into politically-defined interests and how they conceptualized their situation in the context of the political history of the period. I explore the perspectives from which women defined their gender interests and how these definitions related to rifts in the women's movement (particularly vis-a.-vis marriage reform). I also investigate whether women entered the nationalist movement as autonomous subjects (on equal terms with their male comrades) or as appendages of the male actors. Political Developments Until 1950 In the nineteenth century, millions of peasants endured the effects of economic deterioration after the introduction of the Culture System l in the 1830s and the capitalization of the countryside after 1870 (Robison 1986). Famines and a demographic explosion contributed to their 'declining welfare'. 2 Politically, the archipelago gradually became unified and a class developed of Western-educated indigenous administrators, mainly the sons of lower priyayU The new century began with a renewed awareness of the responsibilities of the Colonial Government towards its indigenous subjects, which led to the formulation of a socalled Ethical Policy.4 The newly-educated elite was to become the backbone of the nationalist movement, which used the new enlightenment values of liberty, self-expression and social justice to criticize the colonial situation. They would fight 'Western influence with Western weapons' (pluvier 1953: 8). Ethical Policy was a hybrid phenomenon composed 'partly of the desire for military expansion, partly of economic motives, partly of national assertiveness and partly of missionary zeal coupled with a desire for civilization'. In addition to much hypocrisy, however, there === [PDF page 73] === 54 Chapter 3 was also a certain amount of 'genuine appreciation for the Indonesian people' (Van 't Veer 1980: 20). Mr Abendanon, who delivered Kartini's letters, was one of those paternalistic ethicists, genuinely concerned about the 'uplifting' of the Javanese people but convinced of the need for Dutch tutelage towards this end. The political reforms were more lasting than the social measures. The People's Council proposed in 1916 was put into effect in 1918 but remained relatively powerless (Trimurti 1980b). Limited franchise to Indonesian men was granted. Widespread discontent was the conseqence (Benda 1958; Pluvier 1953; Wertheim 1956). The communist uprising of 1926-271ed to the demise of the Ethical Policy. The unrest was generated equally by social tensions following capitalist penetration (Benda and McVey 1960: xiii), a loosening of the grip of the rural elite on the popUlation and the growth of new social movements such as the SI, the PKI and nationalist and women's organizations. The colonial state reacted to the 1926-27 communist uprising by strongly repressing nationalist and/or leftist activities (Benda and McVey 1960). The Political Information Services (PIS) in particular became very active, attending meetings and interfering with any political activity considered unwelcome by the colonial state. Those suspected of radical leanings could be exiled to the malaria-ridden camps of Boven Digul in what is now called Irian Jaya or imprisoned. Between 1931 and 1936 political repression was at its height and the major nationalist leaders - Tjipto Mangunkusumo, Sukarno, Mohammad Hatta and Sutan Syahrir - were interned (Wertheim 1956). The economic crisis of 1929-30 added to the political tensions (Pluvier 1953). In 1936 when the Depression ended, poverty remained. The invading Japanese army swept away the resistance of the once all-powerful white colonial masters. Like the Dutch, the Japanese tried to use the country's human and primary resources for their own purposes - in this case, the war effort. Unlike the Dutch, they did so by mobilizing the populace, especially on Java, and by enticing pre-war nationalist leaders to control the masses (De Bruin 1982). The Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945 created a vacuum because there was as yet neither an independent Indonesian state nor occupying Allied Forces to replace the Japanese. The Dutch wanted to restore their colonial power: they never accepted the independent republic Sukarno declared on 17 August 1945, considering it a Japanese creation. === [PDF page 74] === The Garuda Takes Flight 55 Sukarno became president and Hatta vice~president of a fledgling republic beset with enormous problems. Sukamo's efforts at nation-building were hampered by both internal and external obstacles. From abroad, the main enemy was the Dutch Government which wanted to control as much of its former territory as possible and to reclaim its former possessions. Internally the Republic was weak. Its central leadership was vulnerable and had to contend with strong religious, ethnic and political rivalries. The army was composed of opposing military groups with no strong central command. The old elite's claim to national leadership was contested by those who wanted a more socialist course (Ricklefs 1981; Wertheim 1956). A number of political shifts occurred during this period. In October 1945, the Communist Party - banned after the 1926-27 uprising - was reconstituted. In January 1946, the PNI was revived. British and Dutch troops occupied the major Javanese cities along the coast, the Republican Government shifted to Yogyakarta and new political parties emerged. Syahrir organized the Indonesian Socialist Party (PSI) and Syarifuddin organized Pemuda Sosialis Indonesia (Indonesian Socialist Youth) (Pesindo). Women were active in both parties,s which constituted a seed-bed of leftist people. Many future leaders of Perwari and Gerwani once belonged to either or both parties.6 In November 1946 an agreement was reached at Linggadjati in which the Dutch recognized the authority of the Republic over Java, Madura and Sumatra. This agreement resulted in considerable leftist dissatisfaction with the Syahrir Government. The Dutch were unable to maintain their army without the resources of Java and Sumatra. They attacked the Republic directly in July 1947. Only United Nations (UN) opposition prevented them from conquering the entire repUblic. In January 1948, an agreement was reached aboard the American warship Renville acknowledging Dutch authority over a considerable part of conquered republican territory. Sukamo installed a new more right-wing government with Hatta as prime minister. Now in opposition, former prime minister Amir Syarifuddin set up the Front Demokrasi Rakyat (people's Democratic Front) (FDR). Tensions between the Dutch and the Republic rose to a new height as the Dutch embarked upon a second military campaign, euphemistically called a 'police action'. They took Yogyakarta on 19 December 1948 and by the year's end held every major town in Sumatra and Java. === [PDF page 75] === 56 Chapter 3 The republican army dissolved into guerrilla units which created serious military difficulties for the Dutch. A provisional republican government under Syafruddin Prawinegara was set up in the Minangkabau. Strong opposition also arose from within the Dutch-created Federal States of Indonesia. In 1949 a loose union of The Netherlands and the new Republic of the United States ofIndonesia (RUSI) was agreed, with the Dutch queen as symbolic head. The Netherlands retained sovereignty over Irian Jaya. The unitary Republic of Indonesia was formed on 17 August 1950 when the Federal States dissolved. The new republic was based on Sukarno's pancasila or five principles: a belief in one God, respect for human values, nationalism, democracy and social justice. Pre-Independence Nationalism The Indonesian emancipation movement was so diverse that the term 'nationalist' hardly seems sufficient to analyse the various groups that sprung up under its umbrella. Liquidation of the Colonial Government became the banner adopted by such divergent groups as the nobility, the rising middle classes, Islamic traders, farmers and women of various socio-economic groups (Anderson 1983; Pluvier 1953; Van Dijk 1994). There were internal tensions and strong divisions between secular and non-secular organizations and between those who advocated cooperation and those who opposed cooperation with the colonial administration. Divergent views prevailed on the role of the future national bourgeoisie, of indigenous capitalism and Japan's potential contribution to Indonesian independence. While early nationalists such as Kartini and Tirto Adhi Soerjo sought alliances with colonial progressives, over time the single unifying element became resistance to Dutch colonial domination, to the economic exploitation that went with it and to the indigenous groups who supported Dutch rule. Besides Kartini, other reformers appeared around the turn of the century. One of the most important figures was Tirto Adhi Soetjo, who was immortalized by Pramoedya Ananta Tur. 7 This first prihumi (indigenous) journalist established the first women's section to appear in any periodical in the first newspaper he set up in 1903, Soenda Berita (Sunda News). In 1908 Tirto established the first Malay newspaper for women, Poetri Hindia (Young Women ofIndia), in which various feminist women such as Siti Soendari published. To him, women's education was an essential avenue to modem progress for Indonesians, and he === [PDF page 76] === The Garuda Takes Flight 57 actively supported Dewi Sartika who set up the first school for girls. In 1908, too, the first nationalist organization, Budi Utomo, was set up by Western-educated members of the Javanese aristocracy. It campaigned primarily for cultural and educational reforms (Korver 1982; Pluvier In 1912, two Islamic organizations were founded: the Muhammadiyah and the SI. The Muhammadiyah was founded by Kyai H. Moh Dahlan in the Kauman, the santn'8 quarter in Yogyakarta. It was linked to both the Budi Utomo and to the SI (Korver 1982: 8). As a purely religious organization, the Muhammadyah provided a platform for the aspirations of Islamic reform and preached a rational Islam purified of its mystic elements. The SI developed out of the Sarekat Dagang Islam (Islamic Trade League) established by the Solonese batik trader H. Samanhudi (Korver 1982; Noer 1973). This organization formed a stepping-stone between the vestiges of traditional-style movements and movements of modem political purpose (Kartodirdjo 1984: 18). It became a rallying point for peasant protests against colonial exploitation and feudal landlords, as.well as for labourers and those lower civil servants who suffered from discrimination from the Chinese and Dutch. Around the same time, another foreign-inspired modem movement grew: Marxism. In Surabaya in 1914, one year after the Dutch radical socialist Henk Sneevliet arrived in Indonesia, he founded the Indische Sociaal-Democratische Vereniging (Indian Social-Democratic Organization) (ISDV), one of the first social democratic organizations in Asia (Perthus 1976; Tichelman 1985, 1991). While open to Europeans, Indo-Europeans and Indonesians, it remained a small, almost entirely Dutch group. The ISDV attempted to reach the Indonesian masses by forging links with the SI. After 1918, the ISDV grew under the influence of the Russian Revolution. In 1920 the ISDV became the Perserikatan Komunis di Indonesia (Indonesian Communist Federation), and the first Asian communist organi~ation was established. In 1921, Tan Malaka (who had known Sneevliet in Holland) was elected chair. In 1924 the name of the organization was changed to Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI). SI chair Cokroaminoto found it increasingly difficult to maintain the unity of the organization. As dual membership was allowed, communists could follow the so-called 'bloc within' policy which the Comintern propagated between 1920 and 1927 (McVey 1965: xii). This tactic was able to be deployed in Indonesia at the time because there was a strong === [PDF page 77] === 58 Chapter 3 current ofIslamic communism in Java and the Minangkabau in the early 1920s (Ricklefs 1981: 166).9The combination was not without its problems. The Pan-Islamic current within the SI under H. Agus Salim accused the PKI of being anti-Islamic, and in 1921 the SI introduced party discipline. SI then split into the 'red' branch, later called the Sarekat Rakyat (People's League), and the 'white' Islamic branch. While communist sentiments sat uneasily with the SI, the PKI played directly into forms of traditional agrarian unrest in the Javanese countryside. After Sneevliet's forced departure PKI rhetoric became suffused with Javanese symbolism rather than Marxist doctrine, and although remaining a small party during colonial times (in 1924 it had barely 1,000 members) it gained a large following in the Sarekat Rakyat by exploiting 'popular messianic traditions' (Kartodirdjo 1973; McVey 1965: xiii). The bitter rifts that were to divide Islam and communism in the late 1950s and 1960s had barely surfaced as yet. Anti-colonialism and the involvement of both organizations with peasant movements brought them together in daily practice, although in theory they might diverge sharply. Thus, the split between 'red' and 'white' meant a 'divorce more complete at the summit than in the country at large' (Benda and McVey 1960: xvi).10 In an atmosphere of increasing rural anarchy and repression by the colonial authorities, the PKI 'stumbled into rebellion' (Ricklefs 1981: 170) using 'the promise of revolution' to unify its heterogeneous following (McVey 1965: xiii). This revolution was based more upon messianic rhetoric about anti-colonial oppression than on rigorous Marxist concepts. II Major PKI leaders such as Semaun and Tan Malaka, who were both abroad, strongly opposed this adventurism but could not prevent the uprising in Bantam (1926) and the Minangkabau (1927). The rebellions were quickly crushed, leaving the PKI in disarray and its leaders exiled to the concentration camp of Boven Digul. The party was banned and destroyed for 20 years. This short-lived and suicidal insurrection was not only a disaster for the PKI but also signalled the death throes of the SI, whose members formed the majority of the rebels (Benda and McVey 1960: xi). The Sarekat Rakyat was disbanded. The 1926-27 communist uprising is generally seen as signalling the end of both the colonial Ethical Policy and Indonesian proto-nationalism. Its size (involving several regions and large numbers of followers) and its leadership (no longer religious, mystical or aristocratic but urban and educated) were the first signs of a 'modem' way of resisting colonialism. 12 === [PDF page 78] === The Garuda Takes Flight 59 With the SI inactive and the PKI banned, the nationalist movement radicalized and attracted a large following. Sukarno formed the PNI13 in 1927. Its stated aim was independence for the Indonesian archipelago to be achieved by non-cooperative methods and mass organization. In 1928 the Youth Congress adopted the famous Youth Oath: 'we young men and women of Indonesia aspire to one fatherland, one nation and one language'. It is notable that this formulation recognized women's involvement in the nationalist cause. The Government allowed the nationalists little space to build up their movement. In December 1929 it arrested the PNI's leaders and searched their homes. The speech Sukarno gave in his defence in 1930 had a resounding impact in the colony and still stands as a powerful outcry against colonialism. But with Sukarno and other leaders in prison, the PNI dwindled and was fmally dissolved in 1931. The Government failed to suppress nationalist sentiments, however. The September 1932 Wild Schools Ordinance, intended to curb the proliferation of private schools suspected of infusing the students with nationalist sentiments, was met with the largest protest movement Indonesia had so far witnessed. All factions and parties united in opposition, and in February 1933 the Ordinance was suspended and later repealed. The Government then initiated another surge of repression (from late 1932 to 1934). It arrested the leaders of various Muslim reform movements and exiled them to Boven Oigul. In 1933 Sukarno was again arrested and exiled, and in 1934 Hatta, Syahrir and other leaders of the new PNI were exiled to Boven Oigul (Mrazek 1994). As the nationalist movement became more secular the gap with Islam widened. Modernist Islamic leaders remained wedded to the idea of an Islamic state, viewing Islam as the only basis for Indonesian unity (Boland 1982). Only in the Permi in Minangkabau were Islam and nationalism combined. In 1936, as the economy recovered from the depths of the Depression, the new Governor-General relaxed the political prohibitions. Pressure to grant Indonesia more independence from the mother country increased. As international tensions grew the Dutch remained reluctant to grant political reforms. The Indonesians, meanwhile, were divided between sympathy with the Japanese and opposition to fascism at all costs (Pluvier 1953; Wertheim 1956), although both factions were united in their call for independence, with a truly Indonesian parliament as a first step. === [PDF page 79] === 60 Chapter 3 After 1942 the Japanese fuelled Indonesian nationalist fervour by producing anti-Western slogans that politicized large numbers of people. They established youth organizations in which thousands of young men and women were indoctrinated, trained and armed. The mass organizations the Japanese founded brought the mainly middleand upper-class Indonesian leaders into more direct contact with the lower social strata, which made independence more feasible (Sato 1994; Wertheim 1956). The occupying forces tried to control the mass mobilization of nationalist sentiment by dissolving all the existing organizations in March 1942 and re-creating their own. Some nationalist leaders such as Sukarno and Hatta cooperated, hoping both to mitigate the harsh Japanese rule and to work towards independence. Others, such as Syahrir and Amir Syarifuddin, built up an underground network. Male youth was organized under close Japanese supervision into a semi-military Youth Corps and a Vigilance Corps. Indonesian men were drafted in 1943 to form the heiho (Auxiliary Forces), part of the Japanese military. To draw young women into the war effort, Japan formed the Barisan Srikandi (Srikandi Troops). Membership was limited to unmarried women aged 15 to 20. These women received military training and were also educated in ethics, religion, agriculture and the household (Rachmat-Ishaya 1990: 58; Suwondo 1981a: 178). In addition, the Pembela Tanah Air (protectors of the Fatherland) (Peta) was created in October 1943 as an auxiliary guerrilla force to resist an Allied invasion. By the end of the war over two million young Indonesians had received some military training through organizations created by the After the Japanese surrender a serious clash occurred between nationalist (republican) and communist forces. In August 1948, former PKI leader Musso arrived from the Soviet Union and quickly set about reorganizing the Communist Party. Under his new Stalinist line collaboration with the nationalist forces was denounced as Trotskyist and militant action among the masses was promoted. Amir Syarifuddin and his FDR accepted Musso's leadership, and on I September a new PKI Politburo was formed in which the future PKI leaders Aidit, Lukman, Nyoto and Sudisman took part. Demonstrations, strikes and land occupations were encouraged, leading to considerable tension with Nasution's progovernment armed forces and with Masyumi's santri membership. Hostilities broke out between the pro-People's Democratic Front army headquartered in Solo and pro-government forces (Anderson === [PDF page 80] === The Garuda Takes Flight 61 1972). Pro-government troops rushed to Madiun and wrestled control from PKI forces which had been killing members of Masyumi and the PNI. The PKI was 'decimated in what rapidly developed into a bloodbath with strong cultural and religious overtones' (Mortimer 1974: 38). Many prominent leftists were killed (Musso among them); others went into hiding or fled the country (Jay 1974; Kreutzer 1984; Onghokham 1983).14 The background to the Madiun affair is still a matter of debate. The view that Madiun was an abortive communist take-over (Kahin 1952) has been widely accepted even though it takes 'the government version too much at face value' (Mortimer 1974: 38 n.19). The PKI version, which appears in Bintang Merah, is that Hatta, supported and funded by the US Government, provoked the incident. ls The brief Madiun revolt tainted the PKI with the accusation of betrayal of the revolution during its most difficult period and firmly established both the army's distrust of the PKI as well as the tension between Masyumi and the PKI. Thus, on the eve of national independence, when the common foe that held them together was about to capitulate, the fragile and shifting unity between three of the major strands of the nationalist movement - the communists, the Islamic groups and the non-communist secular nationalists - was shattered. Feminism and the Early Women's Organizations The introduction of 'modem' ideas around the beginning of the twentieth century also led to the discussion of the 'woman question'. Early reformers such as Tirto Adhi Soerjo and later nationalist leaders such as Sukarno realized the importance of creating a group of 'modem' educated Indonesian women. As in India, Sri Lanka and other countries in which modem nationalist ideas took root (Jayawardena 1982), a feminist movement was also established in Indonesia. Major socio-historical developments prior to the twentieth century, such as the spread of Islam over the archipelago (Benda 1958), impacted upon women's lives in various ways (Reid 1988). Unfortunately, however, Indonesian historiography has paid little attention to the gender-differential impact inherent in such processes. 16 There has also been little attention paid to the impact of 'Victorian' bourgeois morality on sexual relations in the archipelago. However, in the early nineteenth century, 'especially in the turbulent years before the Java war (1825-1930), ample evidence exists of [women's] vital contribution to === [PDF page 81] === 62 Chapter 3 the commercial, military, political and social life of the central Javanese courts' (Carey and Houben 1987: 12).17 Dutch colonial influence severely curtailed women's contribution to the Javanese political apparatus. In general, the colonial regime did not approve of female rulers (Baried n.d. ).18 According to Onghokham (1991), one of the few Indonesian authors writing on the subject, the Dutch frowned upon the Hindu-derived sexual license evident in certain Hindu temples, yet on the whole they turned a blind eye to the adat and sexual morals of the common people and the royal dynasties. Attempts to influence the sexuality of the Indonesians focused mainly on the bupati, the regents, whose position they had considerably strengthened. 19 If Onghokham (1991) seems to deplore the insistence on certain bourgeois sexual values,20 he speaks for Indonesian men rather than women, since male sexual 'freedom' meant the possibility of unilateral divorce, polygyny, concubinage and child marriages for women. Women's organizations in the early twentieth century were to protest against these practices (Suwondo 1981a, 1981b; Vreede-de Stuers 1960). Noble Javanese women seem to have been among the most restricted in the archipelago. The freedom of movement of Javanese peasant women is generally considered to have been substantial (Geertz 1961; Vreede-de Stuers 1960). Priyayi women had no access to the expanding educational opportunities of the men of their rank, almost no access to public life and suffered from unequal marriage relations. Kartini's letters decry her 'golden cage' less than a century after the Java war. Acquaint yourself then now with the extent of my blissful happiness, my humiliation, my shame: I have become the fiancee of the Regent of Rembang, a widower with six children and three wives. I don't need to tell you more, do I? You know me sufficiently. Let it be a solace to you that for many reasons I respect the man, at whose side fate seems to locate me. Kartini, in a letter dated 14 July 1903 (Kartini 1987: 308) Raden Adjeng Kartini was born in 1879 in the polygynous household of the regent of Japara. Her mother was chronologically the first wife but socially secondary to the garwa padmi (official first wife). 21 Her father was a progressive man who allowed his daughters to go to the European primary school until the age of 12 when, according to Javanese feudal customs, upper-class girls were to be secluded until they were married. Kartini continued reading and studying, and later struck up a === [PDF page 82] === The Garuda Takes Flight 63 correspondence with various Dutch women, including Stella Zeehandelaar,22 a Dutch socialist feminist, and Mrs Abendanon, the wife of the progressive colonial Director of Education. The edition of her letters provided by Mr Abendanon23 stressed the provision of education to Javanese women of high birth, focusing on Kartini's view that educating the daughters of the nobility would create capable, intelligent mothers who would take to heart the task of civilizing and advancing the people as a whole. Her letters became immensely popular not only in the women's movement but also in the nationalist movement. However influential her protests became later, in her own life Kartini could realize only very few of her ideals. Despite her vehement opposition to the institution of polygyny, Kartini herself was forced into a polygynous marriage (Siti Soemandari Soeroto 1977).24 Her husband, the Regent of Rembang, already had three secondary wives when Kartini was asked to become his new garwa padmU' Kartini's letters have inspired generations of Indonesian women and men. Apart from women's issues such as education for women, marriage abuses and especially polygyny, she also wrote about the detrimental effects of colonial domination and the need for the Javanese peasantry to be 'uplifted'. She stimulated various expressions of popular Javanese culture, such as woodcarving. It was these aspects of Kartini's writings that Gerwani emphasized. Kartini was not the only Indonesian woman who spoke out against injustice early in the twentieth century. Nine Indonesian women, all from higher circles and seven of whom bore a noble title, were interviewed by a colonial government team inquiring into the 'declining welfare of the native populations of Java and Madura'.26 The issues they identified as the most pressing for women were: (a) education for women, including vocational education (mentioned by all); (b) marriage reforms (abolition of child marriage and polygyny) (five supporters, including Dewi Sartica who called polygyny a 'gangrene on society' and Siti Soendari who remarked that 'love cannot be divided unto equal parts'); (c) combating prostitution (three voices); (d) greater opportunities for women to appear in public; (e) sex education; (t) equal wages for equal work (Dewi Sartica); (g) improvement of the economic position of peasants; and (h) establishment of teacher training colleges for peasant women as well as for women of the higher classes, as 'wives of laborers are most anxious to learn' (Vreede-de Stuers 1960: 174-5). None of the women mentioned colonial domination as a problem, but that is hardly surprising in a publication promoted by the colonial === [PDF page 83] === 64 Chapter 3 authorities, the purpose of which was not to end colonialism but rather to modify it. These women were writing in 1914 when the male-led nationalist movement had barely begun and when Sneevliet had scarcely commenced his organizing activities. The combination of feminist and social concerns is striking, as is their insistence that measures be taken to reach not only women from the highest social strata but also from the peasant and labouring classes. In this period, the overriding gender interest voiced by the higherclass women was education for women, which was seen to be the major avenue to the coveted 'modernity' that would uplift Javanese women from their misery. The Women's School established by Dewi Sartica in Bandung in 1904 was the first of nine schools for girls she had established by 1912 (Vreede-de Stuers 1960: 58). But prominent Indonesian women also identified broader gender interests. For instance, the demand for equal wages and the concern to regulate the conditions under which female labourers worked were vital for poor women. Further, (although the women authors in the 1914 report were a little vague on this point), marriage reform was important to women of both higher and lower social groups, although for strictly Islamic women these reforms would have to be carried out within a particular set of religious constraints. Prostitution was another issue feminist women were concerned about. Suffrage and equal rights in general did not feature strongly, which is hardly surprising as Indonesian men had limited political rights too. Women's suffrage was mainly taken up by European women until well into the 1930s (Locher-Scholten 2000). The Kartini schools established after 1912 greatly influenced generations of nationalist and feminist women. As a former student of such a school told me: I am a true child of the Kartini movement. My mother is a descendant ofa royal court of Solo, but as she didn't have much economic security there she moved to Malang where she set up a batik factory. She encouraged me very much in all my school activities. I was the frrst girl in town to go to school on a bicycle and I was very proud of that. In the 1920s I went to Surabaya and studied economics and bookkeeping. Later I joined the Surabaya branch ofIsteri Sedar [Conscious Wives] of which I soon became the chairperson. Nationalism and the liberation of women were our ideals. We kept talking to each other about Fourier, who had said that the extent of the measure of freedom a people enjoys can be judged by the freedom its women enjoy. === [PDF page 84] === The Garuda Takes Flight 65 Although I joined Syahrir's group I had less respect for him than for Bung Hatta. Syahrir had a wife in Holland who had helped him during his days of study there. Back in Indonesia he didn't want to be reminded of her as he feared the Indonesian people wouldn't have accepted him if they knew he had a Dutch wife. Once Nehru, a good friend of his, wanted to surprise him. He invited her to India when Syahrir was visiting the country. But Syahrir didn't want to meet her. Later he married his secretary.27 When my own husband started to see other women I fIrst tried to accommodate him. I wanted to be open about all this. If children were to come I didn't want there to be animosities between those children and the five I had by him. He didn't want to have anything of that and continued seeing other women in secret. Then I filed for a divorce with the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Finally I got that, but still he kept showing up saying he wanted to see the children. One day I grabbed a pistol that was still around from the days of the revolution. It wasn't loaded but he didn't know that. I told him to get out or I would shoot. He left. Wasn't that a wonderful trick to play upon a general?28 The first formal women's organization, Putri Mardika (Independent Woman), was set up in Jakarta in 1912. It advocated education for women and encouraged women to appear in public to remove the feeling of 'faint-heartedness' and to 'uplift' women to the position of men (petrus Blumberger 1987: 160).29 Between 1913 and 1915 various women's organizations were set up, mainly in Java and in the Minangkabau. As in other parts of colonial Asia (Jayawardena 1982), male Western and national reformers as well as Western feminist women played an important role in helping these women to 'uplift' their sisters. Mr and Mrs Abendanon and Stella Zeehandelaar were among those who stimulated Kartini. In Minangkabau, Datoek Soetan Maharadja, an important member of the Kaum Muda (Islamic Reform Movement) also took on that role with Rohana Kudus. This half-sister ofSyahrir was the first prominent feminist in Minangkabau. In 1912 she became the editor of Soenting Melajoe (Malay Ornament) (Mrazek 1994; Wieringa 1995d). The members of these fIrst women's organizations were mostly drawn from the upper social circles, as was the case with most male leaders. In addition, women began mobilizing within the major social and religious movements of the time, either independently or by forming a women's branch. Women were active in both of the major social === [PDF page 85] === 66 Chapter 3 movements of the period, the SI and the PKI, although information on them is scarce. Action on behalf of women workers and prostitutes and against the traffic in women was also instigated. In West Java, the women's associations Madjoe Kemoelian (progress and Honor) in Bandung and Hati Soetji (pure Heart) spoke out against this 'evil' (Petrus Blumberger 1987: 160).30 In 1918 women members ofthe SI set up Siti Fatimah in Garut. In 1920, another group set up Wanoedyo Oetomo Yogyakarta. In 1925 these organizations were fused into the Serikat Putri Islam (Islamic Young Women's League) (Kowani 1978: 17; Panitia 1978: 8) or the Sarekat Perempuan Islam Indonesia (Vreede-de Stuers 1960).31 The origins of Aisyah, another major Islamic women's organization founded in this period, are documented more fully. When Kyai H. Ahmad Dahlan set up the Muhammadyah he realized that he needed to enlist the help of women, so he organized courses on religious instruction for them. By 1914 the (few) women who attended were organized under the name Sopo Tresno (Those Who Love) (Suratmin 1982: 62-3). In 1917 the organization's name was changed to Aisyah (the name of an influential wife of the Prophet) and Nyai Ahmad Dahlan, the wife of the founder of the Muhammadyah, became its leader. Nyai Dahlan has described Islamic teaching in this period as very backward and much tainted by pre-Islamic influences: The view of Islam which guaranteed an equal position between women and men (there are only differences in some matters) was disregarded [in those times], and the teaching of the Qur'an which gives the guidelines as to how women actually have to behave in house and the society were rejected and became a dead word. (1979: 49) From the very start the major objective of the organization was to spread Islam among women, 'to lead, keep and hold the Muhammadyah's women members so that they can lead the Indonesian women in general to obtain awareness in religious and organizational life' (Baried 1982: 7).32 Aisyah also built numerous kindergartens, Islamic women's schools and 'by 1938 had mobilized some 2000 female missionaries' (peacock 1978). Aisyah's ideology was outlined following the 26th congress of its Muhammadyah's branch as 12 rules for women to obey 'to fulfill the teachings of Allah' (Aisyah 1977: 37).33 These rules reveal a significant gap between the gender interests of the secular women's organizations and those of Aisyah. They resemble the conservative === [PDF page 86] === The Garuda Takes Flight 67 aspects of the kodrat wanita (see Chapter 2). From the beginning Aisyah never agreed with the struggle of the non-Islamic women's organizations to combat polygyny. By 1930 Aisyah was running 32 schools in which 75 teachers were employed (Petrus Blumberger 1987: 345). It was able to assemble about 5,000 women representing 137 branches for the 1930 Muhammadyah congress at Fort de Kock (present-day Bukittinggi). At this congress speakers were adamantly in favour of polygyny ('necessary because of a surplus of women') and against Western habits which were being adopted by Indonesian women ('bobbed hair isn't progress'). Speakers noted with dismay that women played tennis and even danced. They warned against mingling with men in organizations and at workplaces. Although officially the Islamic women's groups accepted polygyny because the Qur 'an accepted it, in private the leaders were often unhappy about this. Mrs Mangunpuspito, who as a member of Aisyah attended the 1928 women's congress and later joined the Muslimat, Masyumi's women's branch, was emphatic when I interviewed her: 'Personally I have never agreed with polygamy. I would never have allowed it. But it is a religious rule, so what can we say against it?' Similarly, Mrs Hayinah, who is from the same generation and in 1984 still lived in the Kauman, the santri quarter in Yogyakarta where Muhammadyah and Aisyah originated, said: Three times I served as the chairwoman of Aisyah and I have also been a member of the Marriage Council of the Ministry of Religious Affairs so I was dealing with the issue of polygyny all the time. As Aisyah women, it was our duty to make clear what Islam really means. Polygamy is a religious rule, we couldn't change that. But we did feel that it didn't give men license to take one woman after another. It should not be abused! Men have to adhere strictly to the conditions under which it is allowed. Now if a wife does not get any children, yes, then it was necessary. But if not... then he is just fooling around! Religion doesn't allow that. On the other hand, it is a good thing that women are not allowed to divorce their husbands. Women are such emotional beings. They are too unstable, they would ask for it much too soon.34 Catholic women also started organizing during this period. Wanita Katolik began in Yogyakarta in 1924 as a non-Dutch-speaking offshoot of the Melaniagilde, an organization of European and Indonesian === [PDF page 87] === 68 Chapter 3 Catholic women involved in social work. The first issue it took up was the labour conditions of girls and women at a cigarette factory in Yogyakarta. Since the cigarette workers were illiterate, members ofWanita Katolik began teaching literacy classes. The classes were also used to provide information about their rights and for religious instruction. The sessions were later expanded to include women's emancipation issues in general. 35 Women members of the Sarekat Rakyat, the 'red' wing of the Sarekat Islam, numbered in their thousands, including the two former Sarekat Rakyat members, Raden Soekaesih and Munapsiah (HR 18 May 1960).36 Although sources on the women's section of the PKI are scarce, it can be assumed that many of these women later joined the PKI. For its part, the PKI devoted one full day of its June 1924 congress to the question of the women's movement, discussing women's role in the struggle against capitalists and colonialists (pringgodigdo 1970). There, Raden Soekaesih and Munapsiah reportedly told the women present that not fighting for their rights meant 'they would certainly be pushed aside by the men and the capitalists', and that women would eventually become "the sun in their households" but that at present they were tools in the hands of the capitalists. Women had already been fighting independently in the times of Mojopahit. Now there were women prostitutes, but that was not the fault of women but of capitalism... [they called... J upon women to fight capitalism and imperialism. (Doc. XIII: 3)37 There is also a reference to women members and a women's meeting held at Penindjauan, Padang Pandjang, a centre of communist activities during 1925-26, although published reports do not describe its content (Schrieke et al. 1928). A summary of the course the PKI taught at that time shows that in this matrilineal region38 the cadres were instructed that the period of primitive communism proceeds without a matriarchal phase directly into feudalism and capitalism (Schrieke 1928: 108-14). This is surprising because it suggests that these PKI instructors had not been exposed to Engels's Origins. The PKI also tried to attract women 'in order to reach the youth and to influence men' (Petrus Blumberger 1987: 162) and in the Minangkabau 'Communist popular leaders... managed... to enthuse many conservative women with theories and slogans of the essentially anti-religious doctrine of salvation of Bolshevism', as Petrus Blumberger === [PDF page 88] === The Garuda Takes Flight 69 (1987) reports. Finally, Kowani mentions the establishment of Wanita Komunis in 1924 but provides no further details (1978). The numbers and activities of women participating in the 1926-27 uprising is unclear. Women in Ciamas were reportedly 'very militant and persistent' (HR 11 November 1959). Both SoekaesiJ:t and Munapsiah were imprisoned and banned to the Digul concentration camps. Raden Soekaesih, who was well-known for her inspiring vision of Indonesian women, received a long prison sentence, convicted of violating the very flexible Article 156 of the Penal Code (that is, by speaking 'in a disdainful fashion about the upper circles of the indigenous population, in relation to forced marriages') (Munster and Philippo-Raden Soekaesih, n.d.: 6).39 Pre-War Feminism and Nationalism The pre-war women's movement overlapped to a considerable degree with the nationalist movement since nationalist women often belonged to several organizations either simultaneously or in succession. Women's role in nationalist organizations has been mostly downplayed both by their contemporary male colleagues and by historians. In general, few women held leadership positions in the mixed organizations. 40 Instead, outstanding women became leaders in women's organizations. The position of the PNI on women's issues was ambivalent. It denounced polygamy, forced marriages and child marriages in 1928 at its first conference (Brown 1981) but after that it raised no further gender interests. The PNI thus effectively reduced women's role to one within the family and consequently to that of helpmates to the men who were to lead the struggle. The general acceptance of this 'natural' domination of men in tum led to tolerance for 'abuses' such as polygyny that, in theory at least, had been denounced. This tension emerges in the following extract from the Indonesian novel Buiten het Gareel (Out of Harness) (1940) by Soewarsih Djojopoespito. Generally hailed for its description of the nationalist aspirations of the Indonesian people, it is also a very feminist book. "But indeed, polygamy turns a human being into an animal... Whoever calls himself a revolutionary will not be able to endure that woman will be made subordinate to man." Soelastri, sharply ironical, her face full of wrinkles and her mouth === [PDF page 89] === 70 Chapter 3 grim, looks sideways at her husband: "In theory all you men agree. In practice you tyrannize over woman." (1940: 83-4) Sukarno demonstrated this ambivalence clearly in a 1928 article in which he divided the women's movement into 'feminine' organizations (allegedly occupied with cooking, embroidery and children) and 'emancipationist' organizations. He conceded that the latter were progressive but argued that they ignored the fact that 'true emancipation' could only take place in an independent society. Sukarno likened the independence struggle to a bird that needed both its male and female wings in order to fly (Brown 1981: 71).4\ To Sukarno women's major contribution to society lay in their maternal role. In the same article he outlined his views on women's role in the nationalist movement: It is to be hoped that... they [women] work as hard as possible to achieve equal rights, not just for the sake of equal rights alone, but with a particular aim and with the strong determination to eliminate anything that hampers their march and obstructs their step in the struggle to pursue the nation's salvation. It is to be hoped that they also... carry out, with the highest integrity and the noblest effort, their feminine duties of educating their children with conviction and positive readiness, educating, in fact, the sons [sic] of the nation. Especially with regards to the "feminine" duty of educating the children, it is to be hoped that they realize with the fullest consciousness that disaster or salvation of the nation is in actual fact in their hands. Therefore it is to be hoped that they all have the virtues of the great mother. De man heeft kunstwerken geschapen; de vrouw heeft de mens geschapen; en Grote Moeders maken een Groot Ras. [translation: man has created works of art; woman has created man; and Great Mothers produce a Great Race.] (Bodden 1996: 72) Sukamo identified both cultural and religious barriers to women taking part in the nationalist struggle. While in exile in Bengkulu (South Sumatra) he studied Islam. He declared himself to be against conservative Islam and denounced the tahir, the curtain behind which conservative Islamic women had to sit when attending public affairs. 42 Disappointed when the 1928 women's congress did not declare itself overtly nationalist, he sought support among nationalist women at a meeting chaired by Suwarni Djojoseputr043 in Bandung in 1929, === [PDF page 90] === The Garuda Takes Flight 71 declaring himself strongly against polygamy and calling on women to support the nationalist struggle. The metaphor he used was that of the warrior princess Dewi Srikandi, one of the wives of Arjuna. The following year, when Sukarno had been arrested, Suwarni formed Isteri Sedar, the most nationalist and also in some respects (such as regarding polygyny) the most radical women's organization before 1942. Isteri Sedar followed a non-cooperative line with the Colonial Government. Even in this early phase of the nationalist movement, there were tensions between national goals and the women's movement. Sukarno, defining for women what 'true emancipation' meant, saw it as following on from (and therefore subordinate to) national independence. This meant that women could not participate in the 'true' struggle for national independence as autonomous subjects with their own demands; their position was dermed as the wives of the male nationalists. Thus, while the two wings of the Garuda suggest equality, in practice men dominated the movement; they 'tyrannized woman', as Soewarsih Djojopoespito put it (1940: 83-4). The Wild Schools played an important role in the 1930s. They were born out of a desire to provide more and better educational opportunities for Javanese children than those provided by the Colonial Government. The spirit of freedom education had created is stressed by early nationalist and feminist women such as Trimurti (1980b). The two most significant educational organizations of the time were the Muhammadyah, which provided Islamic instruction, and the Taman Siswa (Garden ofLeaming). The founders of the Taman Siswa movement, Ki Hadjar Dewantara and his wife, combined Western teaching methods (Froebel, Montessori) with an inculcation into Javanese values and culture, building a widely popular educational movement. Their independent Wild Schools refused government subsidies. In 1922 the Wanita Taman Siswa (Women of the Garden of Learning) was founded. Other nationalist organizations also set up Wild Schools. The Government's Toezicht Ordonnantie (Ordinance of Surveillance) was intended to control this movement (pluvier 1953) but instead provoked strong and united resistance from Taman Siswa, Muhammadyah, Isteri Sedar and the Persatuan Perkumpulan Isteri Indonesia (Union of Organizations of Indonesian Wives) (pPII). Ki Hadjar Dewantara called for passive resistance using a word borrowed from the Indian nationalist movement, satyagraha. All Taman Siswa schools were closed but the teachers continued to instruct in their own homes.44 Teachers who were caught were replaced by volunteers in a true (and successful) 'educational guerrilla' action (Dewantara 1979: 116). === [PDF page 91] === 72 Chapter 3 The struggles against the Wild School Ordinance and for issues of women's emancipation were closely linked in the lives of certain women. As an activist from those years told me: I was teaching at a training college of the Taman Siswa schools. We had to be very careful for the Government had issued an ordinance against the Wild Schools. Teachers could only work with government permission. We had started a drive to set up some 5,000 literacy courses and I joined as a "people's teacher". I was also a very active member of Isteri Sedar. We had a campaign against the traffic in women. There were traders, men who gave parents a lot of money to marry their young daughters. The peasants were so poor they would do anything to pay their debts. When these men had collected ten or so girls they would leave for Jakarta or Singapore and sell them there. We had to expose those guys, collect proof to have them arrested. Sometimes we rescued the girls from the boats. In 1935 I even went to Singapore myself. We also organized actions on behalf of women workers. In Lasem we tried to expose the Chinese and Arab batik traders. They had beautiful houses out front but at the back dirty and dangerous batik workshops were situated where the women worked for abysmally low wages. However hard they worked their debts were never cleared, so they were forced to stay inside. When they got pregnant they were sent away. We had a support group of women workers in which we organized lectures to make the women conscious of their rights and to expose the terrible things that we saw.4S Maria Ullfah told me the following story: When I returned to Indonesia in 1934 after my law studies in Holland I started teaching at one of the Wild Schools, an AMS [secondary school]. Yamin and Amir Syarifuddin, the later nationalist leaders, also taught there. The Government considered it a "red" school and we were closely watched. All of us belonged to the PPGI [Perhimpunan Peladjar Perguruan Rakyat] [Federation of Teachers of People's Schools]. I was also active in the women's movement. We had to fmd a way to protect the Islamic women in marriage. A major issue was that the Colonial Government didn't pay a wage to the penghulu [Islamic officials]. They derived their income from marriages and divorces, so they === [PDF page 92] === The Garuda Takes Flight 73 were interested in as many divorces as possible. The priests and vicars did get a salary, so they were independent. When I gave a speech about this issue in 1937 in Purwokerto, the PIS interfered. I was not allowed to discuss this issue. All our meetings were attended by someone from the PIS, even if we had only a meeting of the coordinators. We would tease them so much that they would become all red in the face, but they never left. We also worked in the kampung, which wasn't easy. The women were so afraid that they would be Christianized. We would give literacy classes and discuss marriage rights with them. We would also discuss health issues and how they could best feed their babies. Only a few would join the classes. We had to think of something and fmally we decided that we would organize sewing lessons as well. But they could only attend the sewing classes if they had fIrst followed my course. We gave them a certificate of attendance, of which they were very proud. In this group I first proposed my idea of instituting the ta 'Uk-alta/ak, a set of conditions to the marriage contract which, if violated by her husband, would immediately grant a woman the right of divorce. The Qur 'an allows for this, but it was never done in those years. Later Kowani accepted that also.46 While Indonesian women in the fIrst decades of the twentieth century wanted equal rights with men, they never considered themselves to be the same as men. Their arguments derived from their 'special' position as mothers and wives, a line of reasoning Sukarno supported. The idea of 'difference' was most pronounced in Islamic ideology but is also very evident in Kartini's writings. Socialist women saw the 'different' problems women faced as caused by colonialism and capitalism which denied them 'true womanhood'. However, their position was not echoed by the other women's organizations, who vaguely attributed such 'evils' to a general societal backwardness and to Javanese men. Women Organize Nationally In 1928 the most important women's organizations of the time - Wanito Oetomo, Aisyah, Poetri Indonesia, Wanita Katolik, Wanito Mulyo, the women's departments of the SI, the Jong Islamieten Bond (League of Young Muslims) and Wanita Taman Siswa - participated in the first national congress of Indonesian women's organizations held in Yogyakarta. The conference was organized by three women seeking to === [PDF page 93] === 74 Chapter 3 'transcend the provincialism of the women's movement' (Dewantara 1979: 114). All three were teachers: }'fyi Hajar Dewantara (then still called Mrs Suwardi) and Nona Sujatin47 taught in Taman Siswa schools, while Mrs Sukonto, who belonged to Wanito Oetomo, taught at a Dutch native school. A wide range of issues was discussed at the conference: women's education; the fate of orphans and widows; child marriage; the refonn of Islamic marriage laws; the importance of greater self-esteem among women; and the evil of forced marriages. Speeches about nationalism and against polygyny were made. The motions accepted at the congress, however, were rather limited. Of these, the most important was to create an umbrella organization, Perikatan Perempoean Indonesia (Federation of Indonesian Women) (PPI),48 with 20 member organizations and its own periodical, Isleri (Wives). This was the first national women's organization and, barely interrupted during the Japanese occupation and undergoing various name changes and sharp policy shifts, survives as Kowani to this day. Tensions between secular and Christian groups on the one hand and Islamic groups on the other prevented the congress from accepting stronger proposals regarding Islamic marriage rights (Suwondo 1981a). Instead, the controversial issue of polygyny was skirted around by sending a motion to the religious council demanding that a written explanation be given at the time of repudiation. Also, it was decided to organize a campaign against child marriages. The congress did not take a strong nationalist stand. Three carefully worded proposals were presented to the Colonial Government: to organize social security for orphans and widows of Indonesian civil servants; to ask that welfare benefits (onderstand) not be cut; and to increase the number of women's schools (Congresnummer 1928). At its second congress in Jakarta in 1929 some 50 women's organizations were represented. The organization changed its name to Persatuan Perkumpulan Isteri Indonesia (PPII) and again fudged politics and religion, although the decision that the Indonesian language would be obligatory for its publication Isteri indicates a move towards nationalism. 49 A motion was put forward to the Government to prohibit concubinage (Buku 1958). Despite the impressive unity Indonesian women demonstrated there were some groups who felt uneasy at the way the congress dealt with issues that were important to them. In these early days of both nationalism and women's national unity, the radical Isteri Sedar, established in === [PDF page 94] === The Garuda Takes Flight 75 1930, decided to steer clear of the PPII. It felt that a federation of such divergent groups would be unable to take unambiguous stands on national independence, matrimonial legislation based on equality between the sexes and regulations against prostitution (Petrus Blumberger 1987; Vreede-de Stuers 1960). The organization soon clashed with the Islamic women of the Jong Islamieten Bond. The discontent oflslamic women's groups was to become more pronounced as the drive towards independence gathered momentum. At Isteri Sedar's 1932 congress, its chair, Suwarni Pringgodigdo, called on Indonesian women to join the struggle for independence. Like Sukarno, she argued that only independence would bring full equality (she also used Sukarno's phrase 'Marhaenist women' to refer to members of Isteri Sedar). Sukarno's speech at the conference followed his earlier line: women's movements go through a feminine phase then an emancipationist one during which the struggle against colonial domination and capitalism would be won. Women's organizations then would no longer be needed as the unity between Marhaenist women and men would have been reached and equality achieved (Brown 1981: 76-7). However, Isteri Sedar's position on national independence was actually the reverse. Where Sukarno called for women to 'help' men to achieve national independence in the expectation that this would lead to equality between the sexes, Isteri Sedar's leaders argued that equality between women and men was a precondition to winning nationalliberation (Suwondo 1981a: 174). Isteri Sedar's reservations about the PPII had been fuelled at the PPII's second congress in Surabaya in 1930, which was unable to reach a consensus on the burning issue of matrimonial legislation which, in fact, had been barely discussed The conference did, however, take up new themes: traffic in women; women's franchise;so the need for a Labour Information Office for women; and the need for research on sanitation in the kampung and on the high infant death rate. Further, the Federation identified itself as part of the Indonesian national movement (Kowani 1978, 1985; Petrus Blumberger 1987). In addition to strengthening the organization's nationalist position, the delegates at the Surabaya congress also moved towards a more radical position regarding body politics. To strengthen opposition to the traffic in women, the second PPII conference decided to establish the Perkumpulan Pemberantasan Perdagangan Perempuan dan Anak-Anak (Association for the Abolition of Trade in Women and Children) (P4A). The PPII realized that both traffic in women and prostitution were === [PDF page 95] === 76 Chapter 3 directly related to the poverty of the peasant population (which by that time had become heavily indebted) and to the miserable working conditions of women workers in general (Kartowiyono 1977). The issue also drew much attention at the 1932 PPII congress in Surakarta, where Mrs Roeswo called traffic in women 'a world disease,... which has existed from earlier times to the present, from the east to the west... an illness which is rampant in every comer of human relations, from low to high, from a white to a coloured skin' (Perikatan 1932: 68-70). Throughout this period, women's organizations opposed forced prostitution. Putri Budi Sedjati (Young Women with True Minds) established a women's house to shelter 'neglected' women and girls and teach them sewing, cooking and other skills so they could become domestic servants.51 The P4A - chaired for several years by the prominent Minangkabau women's leader, C. S. Datoe Toemenggoeng (later to become one of the candidates for a seat in the People's Council) worked hard to prevent the traffic in women and also established a women's house. Datoe Toemenggoeng wrote at the time that apart from 'vanity, laziness and frivolity', 'economic conditions [as well as unilateral divorce and polygamy...] drive young women into the arms of those who earn their bread by seducing innocent girls' and that efforts to alter this 'would only... bear fruit if women became economically strong, for which they needed education and employment opportunities Several Indonesian organizations, including the P4A (Dewantara 1979), took part in the League of Nations International Conference on the Traffic in Women and Children in the Far East in 1938 in Bandung (Volkenbond 1938). The recommendation of the League conference to integrate women into the police force was adopted at P4A's 1940 In the years following the 1930 congress the PPII strengthened its nationalist attitude. Clearly influenced by Isteri Sedar, there was growing support at the 1932 PPII congress for the idea that women should join the men in the nationalist struggle. In addition, this conference introduced the idea that women had a special duty to minister to the At its fourth congress in 1933 the PPII decided to re-establish the general women's congress since the Federation, now with 160 member organizations, had become unwieldy. The platforms of the general congress were nationalism (Isteri Sedar was persuaded to be present), === [PDF page 96] === The Garuda Takes Flight 77 social issues, neutrality (on religious issues) and 'womanliness' (Buku 1958). One of its first actions was to form an organization to combat illiteracy (Badan Pembrantasan Buta Huruf) (Idrus 1980), shifting the focus of the struggle for education from women of the upper and middle classes to that of the entire population. The congress also created the Badan Penyelidikan Perburuhan Perempuan Indonesia (Research Body on Indonesian Women Workers).52 The links between education, work and emancipation were stressed in the speech by Suwarni Pringgodigdo, Isteri Sedar's chair: if women are 'taught that marriage is their destination and domestic labour their only work, then they are not 'educated to work intelligently with their brains and bodies... to carry out such work as will give [them]... a weapon to [fight for] economic independence'. Suwarni Pringgodigdo quoted approvingly from the American feminist Charlotte PerkinsStetson:53 'marriage for gain is only one step separated from prostitution', but noted the dilemma presented by wage labour - for example, Isteri Sedar's research indicated the need for a women's trade union to fight against ten-hour shifts, difficult conditions and very low wages The fourth congress also debated marriage reforms, and the extent of the divide between the women members of the Minangkabau Islamic organization, Persatuan Muslim Indonesia (Indonesian Muslim Union) (Permi), and Isteri Sedar became evident. Maria Ullfah remembered: Sri Mangunsarkoro, the chair of the congress, had persuaded Mrs Pringgodigdo to attend. We of Isteri Indonesia [Indonesian Wives] were more accommodating to the Islamic women than were the women of Isteri Sedar. I also wanted monogamy but I didn't want to antagonize all Islamic women. After all, we still needed them for the struggle for independence. That's why I had proposed the ta'Uk. In that way they could stay within the Qur'an. It is futile to try to persuade the Islamic women's groups to accept monogamy; ultimately they will all follow their men anyhow. At that congress, Ratna Sari of Permi gave a fiery speech defending polygamy as "women's duty". These Minangkabau women are ardent, nationalistic and fiercely Islamic. She was wearing a veil and traditional Islamic clothing. We were all very uneasy. How would Mrs Pringgodigdo react? === [PDF page 97] === 78 Chapter 3 Well, Mrs Pringgodigdo was furious and walked to the stage. "I cannot accept that", she shouted. "Men are just like cocks who want to have hens all over the place." The men at the back of the hall started to giggle and to cackle like cocks, "kukuruku"! After that, all members of Isteri Sedar walked out of the hall and turned their backs on the congress. As a way out I proposed not to discuss Ratna Sari's proposals but to establish instead a consultation bureau for marriage affairs. Both Aisyah and the non-Islamic groups could accept that. 54 The congress decided to meet every three years as the Kongres Perempuan Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Congress) (KPI) with full equality between women and men as its goal. It also decided to encourage its member organizations to build firm links with the nationalist youth movement (Buku 1958). This made the Federation, the PPII, superfluous, and it disbanded that same year. In the final years preceding the Japanese occupation the relations between the Indonesian women's movement and the colonial administration were strained and ambivalent. The Govermnent was willing to institute some reforms but the women's movement felt they were too few and too late. National liberation became a priority for the women's movement as well, although it meant that at times gender interests were overruled. Although government measures were primarily directed against nationalist organizations, growing links between the nationalist struggle and women's organizations meant that women too fell victim to police action. Prominent women leaders such as Rasuna Said (of Permi) and Trimurti were imprisoned for their political activities (Kartowiyono 1977; Subagijo 1982) and women's meetings were disrupted and prohibited. Paradoxically, it was the Colonial Government that made the first steps towards drafting a modem marriage law. In 1937, its draft Ordinance on Registered Marriages (which was to apply to Indonesians, Arabs and non-Chinese Asians) stipulated monogamy and offered divorce to women and men on equal grounds. In order to preempt criticism from orthodox Islamic groups, the ordinance was to apply only to those who chose to register under it (Locher-Scholten 2000). However, even with this provision opposition was so strong that it was not even discussed in the Volksraad (people's Council). Nationalist interests had overruled the gender interests that the secular and Christian women's groups had previously formulated. For although Maria Ullfah privately === [PDF page 98] === The Garuda Takes Flight 79 could agree to the ordinance as it was based on the free will of the parties, she advised the KPI not to advertise its position on the issue so as not to endanger the unity of the nationalist movement (UUfah Subadio 1981: 11). Marriage reform was raised again at the KPI's third general congress in 1938 in Bandung, where Maria Ullfah pleaded for a modem marriage law that would not violate Islamic law. A Badan Perlindungan Perempuan Indonesia dalam Perkawinan (Body to Protect Indonesian Women in Marriage) (BPPIP), with Maria UUfah as chair, was set up to draft such a regulation. 55 The issue of women workers received increasing attention in the years preceding the Japanese occupation. The interests of women workers were broadly defmed. For example, when Mrs Sujatin and her colleagues went to Lasem to investigate the labour conditions of the batik workers56 who often were virtually bonded labourers, they protested not only against the working conditions of the women but also discussed the fate of pelipur laras (comfort women) and the mistresses of the male batik owners (Rambe 1983: 43-4). The group created the Komite Penolong Buruh Perempuan Indonesia (Committee to Help Indonesian Women Workers) which coordinated pro-worker actions in the batik industry. Idrus reports that the women's movement in those years was also active on behalf of women working in cigarette factories and tea plantations, and that issues such as morality and prostitution were similarly taken up (1980: 52). In 1940 the first women's trade union was established, the Peketja Perempuan Indonesia (Indonesian Working Women). Its members, who worked both in government and private firms, were teachers, nurses and self-employed women. Though its main activity was training, the union reportedly fought workplace discrimination regarding promotion and wages (Sukanti Suryochondro 1984: 132). Suffrage did not figure strongly in Indonesian women's organizations before 1928. Although women's suffrage associations already existed in many cities, in 1912 when the Dutch feminist Aletta Jacobs, accompanied by the American suffragist Mrs Catt, visited Indonesia during their world tour to propagate suffrage, they found these to be branches of the Dutch Association of Women's Suffrage (Vereniging voor Vrouwenkiesrecht) and their point of reference was Holland and Dutch women. 57 === [PDF page 99] === 80 Chapter 3 According to adat regulations however, Indonesian women had many more rights than European women at the time. As Petrus Blumberger observed: In the Dutch East Indies the political woman question seems." an insignificant part in the complex of mental currents of the indigenous popular movement of modem times... [This is] because she already has all rights - as a landowner the divorced or widowed woman participates in the election of village heads, either in person or via a replacement... In general it can be seen that her position is not much lower than that of the He noted that the Suffrage Commission's 1922 report accepted the principle of women's suffrage. Notwithstanding this, the 1923 and 1925 reports of the People's Council stated that indigenous women 'had not yet reached that stage' and that 'popular customs resisted the acceptance of women in representative bodies' (petrus Blumberger 1987: 151). Nevertheless, despite Indonesian women's 'high' position, they fought for full suffrage in subsequent decades, mainly in the representative colonial bodies. However, while the Colonial Government opened up some possibilities, albeit limited, for Indonesian men, they denied Indonesian women these rights. Dutch women's lack of rights influenced the colonial administrators more than any regard for the traditional rights enjoyed by certain groups of Indonesian women. The demand for women's suffrage was first taken up at the 1935 women's congress. A new colonial regulation allowed Indonesian women to be elected to certain offices but they could not vote. Intense protest was voiced against this regulation which, as Vreede-de Stuers (1960: 95) points out, was an affront to Indonesian women who, according to various adat regulations, had had the right to vote 'from time immemorial'. A campaign was mounted to nominate one Indonesian woman for the People's Council. The women's movement had unanimously proposed Maria Ullfah who, as the first Dutch-trained woman lawyer, possessed all the qualifications for the job. Instead, a Dutch woman was nominated, Mrs Razoux-Schultz (Locher-Scholten 2000). The Government's next move, to allow Dutch but not Indonesian women the right to vote on the municipal councils, was also met with 'tremendous protest'. A meeting of the Volksraad (9 September 1941) to discuss this issue was attended by a large number of people. After a heated debate the Government withdrew its proposal. However, === [PDF page 100] === The Garuda Takes Flight 81 although Indonesian women had won the right to vote (Vreede-de Stuers 1960: 97) they were unable to exercise this right for a long while to come. The fourth KPI congress in Semarang in 1941 was the last before the Japanese invasion. The congress declared itself fully in support of the proposal of the Gabungan Politik Indonesia (Indonesian Political Federation) (GAPI) which pushed for Indonesia's own parliament and the right to prepare militarily for the coming war. The women's congress insisted that Indonesian women must have full suffrage (Buku 1958). Working committees were set up to combat illiteracy, to fmd work for Indonesian women, to draft marriage regulations according to Islam and to improve the economic position of Indonesian women generally (Suwondo 1981a: 176; Vreede-de Stuers 1960: 98). Confronting Japan and Holland The Japanese dissolved all pre-war women's organizations, allowing only one organization at a time to exist. The fIrst mass movement the Japanese created was the Triple A movement. 58 Its women's section was Barisan Putri Asia Raya (Women's Troops of Great Asia). The Triple A movement was dissolved in 1942 and a new organization, Pusat Tenaga Rakyat (Centre for People's Power) (Putera) was created in March 1943. Its women's branch was Barisan Pekerja Perempuan Putera (Troops of Young Women Workers). In addition, the Government set up Fujinkai, which were local women's groups led by the wives of the highest local officials (Sato 1994; Suwondo 1981a: 177). In the fmal year of the war, the Jawa Hokokai Fujinkai was set up, which incorporated the local Fujinkai groups created in 1943.59 Membership was obligatory for wives of civil servants, whose positions in the organization corresponded to the position of their husbands in the government hierarchy; a pattern that was to be repeated for the New Order organizations of wives of civil servants, the Dharma Wanita. The general objective of the Fujinkai was to mobilize women's labour to support the Japanese army in the wider East Asia War. Its members visited wounded Japanese soldiers (and knitted socks for the healthy ones) and entertained Japanese and Peta soldiers. They were also trained to perform certain national defence tasks such as producing and distributing foodstuffs and running public kitchens. Local Fujinkai branches were to promote 'mutual help' (Rachmat-Ishaya 1990: 52). Their social tasks consisted of acting as === [PDF page 101] === 82 Chapter 3 local exemplars: fighting illiteracy; establishing health care and sanitation facilities; popularizing planting and gardening (and the simple lifestyle that became increasingly necessary as shortages worsened into famines (Rachmat-Ishaya 1990»; and being responsible for the Neighbourhood Associations (Rukun Tetangga) connected with the Hokokai.60 Although all pre-war women's organizations were dissolved, some former members continued to meet both within and outside of the Fujinkai. For instance, Mrs Trimurti was both a prominent member of the Fujinkai and engaged in underground activities (Racbmat-Ishaya 1990: 62). Furthermore, women members of the Socialist Pa.rtYi were eager to take advantage of Japanese military training in preparation for the struggle for independence. Women were also active in the underground network Syahrir and Amir Syarifuddin built up, as one of them remembers: 'We socialist women remained as active as we could during the Japanese occupation. We collected rice for the freedom fighters and we visited the men who were enlisted by the Japanese. The Japanese were suspicious, but we told them we discussed family affairs with them'.62 Communist women did the same thing. There were several communist groups at the time, including what Corsino (1982) distinguishes as the 'illegal PKI' (to which Arnir Syarifuddin and Syahrir later claimed to have belonged and which Aidit subsequently joined) - a Japanesesponsored communist movement which was allowed to carry out extensive communist propaganda - and the 'national communist' movement of Tan Malaka (Corsino 1982: 56-7).63 However, while women evaded Japanese pressure to devote themselves wholeheartedly to the Japanese war effort, they had no means to set (or revive) their own agenda in the formal organization. They could prepare quietly for the independence struggle but they could not protest against the economic havoc caused by the Japanese nor the rapes committed by the Japanese soldiers. Similarly, they were unable to organize against the practice of luring women away from home and forcing them into prostitution in military brothels; the so-called 'comfort women'.64 Immediately after the Proclamation of Independence, the Fujinkai was dissolved and its leadership, under Mrs Sunarjo Mangunpuspito, urged members to transform the local branches into organizations able to defend Indonesia's independence. The new groups were called Persatuan Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Federation) === [PDF page 102] === The Garuda Takes Flight 83 Male Indonesian nationalist leaders recognized the need for women's support for the evolving war for independence. Sukarno outlined his views on women in his book Sarinah/5 first published in 1947. Sukarno based many of his ideas on earlier European socialist texts on the 'woman question'. He accepted the prevailing Soviet view that women could not be both good wives and mothers and have fulltime jobs. Therefore he adopted the socialist proposal to collectivize a major part of domestic labour but did not question women's primary responsibility for such work (Sukarno 1963: 190-1). Specifically addressing women's participation in the struggle for the independence of the Indonesian Republic, Sukarno maintained that women's interests could only be met within the socialist phase that would follow the nationalist process. To hasten the arrival of socialism, women 'will have to participate actively in this national revolution' (1963: 248). Men, in turn, would have to understand that they could not succeed without the women. Men would have to educate themselves thoroughly, for even in socialist circles, 'patriarchal illness' and a 'Herren mentality' persisted (1963: 254). Sukarno called upon men to fight to make women the 'second wheel of our chariot, the second wing of our national garuda', (1963: 255-7).66 However, while Sukarno viewed women as indispensable to the revolution, their involvement was to be supervised by men (more specifically, by himself). They would have to participate fully but not with equal terms or conditions. Women did come to the fore and participated actively in the revolutionary struggle. The first women's fighting units, the Laskyar Wanita Indonesia (Laswi), had already been established by Mrs Arudji Kartawinata in Bandung in October 1945. This had not proved easy since few people were prepared to 'send their daughters with their sweet faces to the front lines to take up weapons' (Simamora 1979: 168).67 Members of the Laswi came from both the earlier Barisan Srikandi (Suwondo 1981a: 178) and from the Pemuda Putri Indonesia Qndonesian Young Women) (PPI). These women's fighting units mainly cared for wounded soldiers, organized kitchens for the front lines, sewed army uniforms, conducted literacy classes and carried out whatever else needed doing. 68 Many of them acted as messengers, an important and very dangerous task: We young women were entrusted with the task of taking messages around between the various dispersed guerrilla units. It was extremely dangerous, for Dutch soldiers patrolled everywhere. If you were === [PDF page 103] === 84 Chapter 3 caught you were tortured and killed. We used to hide the messages in our vaginas. The soldiers never dared to seek there. The farmers knew this and carried us over the rivers so the paper would not get soaked.69 There were women's troops throughout Java, in Central and South Sumatera and in Central and South Sulawesi. Other women joined the mobile hospitals or public kitchens. For many women who did not themselves participate in the independence struggle, the war for national independence entailed great hardship too. A moving picture of the experiences of 'normal Javanese women' during the war is painted in Umar Kayam's story of Sri Sumarah (1980). Women's participation in the guerrilla struggle had two important consequences. In the first place, it brought upper-class women - 'proud and feudal', in the words of one of them (Roswitha Djajadiningrat) into contact with the 'common people'. In the second place, some women came to realize that sharing the same struggle with the men could not of itself bring an end to male sexism. As Djajadiningrat wrote when she realized she could not even protest when male revolutionary leaders tried to use the women guerrillas for their own sexual pleasure: 'Marjani stopped me and said: "Don't Sister,... They can badger and break you in all manner of ways. They are the most powerful men of the whole region'" (1975: 59-60). In the meantime, formal organizations that could operate publicly were set up. Many were led by women who were already leaders before the war. In Jakarta, Wanita Negara Indonesia (Women of the Indonesian State) (Wani) was created to support the revolution. Led by prominent women such as Mrs Suwarni Pringgodigdo (lsteri Sedar), Mrs Sri Mangunsarkoro, Mrs Kartowiyono and Mrs Susilowati (PPI), the organization set up public kitchens and organized the distribution of rice to support the struggle (Buku 1958). Similar new organizations included the Barisan Buruh Wanita (Women Workers' Front), which was linked to the Partai Buruh Indonesia (Indonesian Workers' Party). According to different accounts, it originated either in Jakarta in 1945 (Subagijo 1982: 137) or in Klaten in 1946 (Sukanti Suryochondro 1984: 137) as a leftist workers' organization fusing several organizations of women workers. Mrs Trimurti, one of its leaders, gave cadre courses all over Java. Also in 1945, Mrs Sri Mangunsarkoro founded the first (and only) Indonesian women's party, the Partai Wanita Rakyat (Women's People's === [PDF page 104] === The Garuda Takes Flight 85 Party). It was a militant organization, with nationalism and monogamy as its two major principles (Suryochondro 1984; Wilmott 1957). Women from religious parties and organizations too reorganized themselves after the Japanese surrender. Aisyah and the Catholic women's organization, Wanita Katolik, merely resumed their meetings, with support for the revolution as one of their primary objectives. The female members of Masyumi set up the Muslimat of that organization in 1945. Some of the earliest organizations of armed forces' wives were formed at this time to provide mutual support in the absence (or death) of their men. The wives of members of the armed forces formed Persaudaraan Isteri Tentara Kartika Chandra Kirana (Sisterhood of Wives of the Armed Forces) (Persit) in 1946. In the same year, navy wives formed their own organization, which was renamed Jalasenastri in 1957. Police wives formed Bhayangkari in 1949. 70 Women also resumed national coordination as best as they could. At the first women's congress after the war, held at Klaten in December 1945 and chaired by Maria Ullfah and Sujatin Kartowiyono, Perwani and Wani merged to become Perwari. Chaired by Sri Mangunsarkoro (Buku 1958: 37), its major objective was to support the national revolution. The PPI, Aisyah and the Wanita Taman Siswa were all present at that meeting but did not join Perwari. However, the next attempt to bring together all the women's organizations was more successful. In February 1946, Kowani was formed at a meeting in Solo. Kowani was set up as a permanent organization with far-reaching decision-making powers. It proclaimed its total support for the Republic. 71 Perwari, PPI and the Christian women's organizations all joined Kowani, and Islamic groups also attended its next congress in Madiun in 1946.72 It was decided that Kowani would act as a federation, with a leadership consisting of representatives of all associated organizations. Kowani's major objective was to support the national revolution, but it also formulated demands regarding creches and prostitution. Unaware of the communist nature of the WIDF, Kowani applied for membership (Buku 1958: 39). The republican leadership, faced with the Dutch blockade, encouraged all attempts to build international links. Behind the lines, Kowani held its third congress in Magelang in July 1947 on the eve of the first Dutch 'police action'.73 It drafted a letter to the NVB protesting against the dispatching of Dutch soldiers to Indonesia. 74 === [PDF page 105] === 86 Chapter 3 Kowani held its fourth congress in Solo in August 1948 while the re· publican leadership was trying to win US support and Amir Syarifuddin's Front and the PKI were stepping up their protests against this policy. A motion by Muslimat, Aisyah and another Islamic women's organization, Gerakan Pemuda Islam Indonesia (Indonesian Islamic Youth Organization) (GPII), denouncing Kowani's membership of the WIDF was refused and these three organizations withdrew from Kowani. Instead, the meeting decided that WIDF help would be enlisted to protest in the UN against Dutch aggression. These three Islamic organizations also proposed, unsuccessfully, that Kowani function only as a contact body and that decisions should only be taken unanimously (Buku 1958: 39; Rambe 1983: 62; Suwondo 1981a: 182). The pancasi. la was accepted as the basis of Kowani and member organizations throughout Indonesia (including the Federal States) were encouraged to fight for national independence. The August 1948 conference also resolved to fight for the goals that the women's organizations wished to achieve after full independence. Three were decided: a legal committee to look into issues surrounding successional and matrimonial law (chaired by Mrs Maria Ullfah); a women's employment committee (chaired by Mrs S. K. Trimurti); and a social hygiene committee (Vreede-de Stuers 1960: 116).75 After Madiun, and in the midst of the chaos brought about by the second 'police action', Kowani's leaders felt that a further effort was needed to unite the women's movement behind the nationalist struggle. They met in Yogyakarta in May 1949 to begin preparing for a women's conference (Buku 1958: 41) to be held in late August in Yogyakarta. Kowani's Conference of Women of All Indonesia assembled representatives from 82 women's organizations from all over the country. The immediate political goal was to demonstrate, on the eve of the Round Table discussions/6 their determination to achieve full national independence. A contact body was established, with Maria Ullfah as its chair. The participants demanded far-reaching reforms: equal rights between women and men to be included in the Constitution of the Republic; all citizens to have the right to work; labour laws to be redrafted to protect women workers; and marriage laws to be drawn up in accordance with the stipulations of the different religions. They also demanded social provision for the families of war victims, mental and physical health care, creches, orphanages, homes for elderly women, anti-illiteracy campaigns, and a study fund for girls. On the economic front, they encouraged production and they favoured the creation of === [PDF page 106] === The Garuda Takes Flight 87 cooperatives (Buku 1958: 42-3; Pattipilohy 1988; Suwondo 1981a: 182-3; Vreede-de Stuers 1960: 177). Although during the national liberation war the women's movement achieved its greatest moment of unity, this had not been won on the basis of a common struggle for women's interests. Even in the midst of war, tensions between Islamic and non-Islamic women's groups had constantly flared. After the war these differences formed a major stumbling block to unity. The gender interests identified by the All-Indonesian Women's Conference either softened or omitted several pre-war demands. No consensus could be reached on marriage law, for example, and the pre-war demand for an end to polygyny (by Isteri Sedar, for instance) was dropped in an effort to maintain unity with the Islamic women's organizations (although the compromise did not relieve underlying tensions). The formulations regarding women workers were similarly vague, under-specifYing what 'protection' entailed. In the years to come, leftist women's organizations were to voice more radical demands. In the interest of national unity, the fight against male sexism had been shelved. The Indonesian national revolution was seen by the men who fought for it as a victory of male soldiers and male politicians. Women entered the struggle as actors with their own scripts which overlapped with those of the male leaders but were not always identical. Yet they were regarded by many men as mere appendages of the male leaders. The national bird, Garuda, could take flight but it was no longer seen to soar on two wings, men and women, who balanced each other perfectly. The Garuda was unified and that 'one' came to be defined as male. Notes Under this system, Javanese peasants were obliged to grow export crops such as coffee, indigo and sugar on part of their land. The Government had a right to one fifth of the produce of cultivable land and 66 days of labour per head of the family for the plantations. The rural elite were supposed to oversee this forced labour. This policy, introduced after the Java War (1825-30), yielded enormous profits to the Colonial Government. It was officially abolished in 1877 (Breman 1983; Fasseur 1975; Hiisken 1988; Van Niel 1968, 1992; Wertheim 1956). See Hiisken (1994) for a discussion of the various enquiries held === [PDF page 107] === 88 Chapter 3 into the 'declining welfare' of the Indonesian population between 1900 and 1914. Multatuli's novel, Max Havelaar (1860), played an important role in alerting the Dutch public to rural poverty in Java. However, its major theme is the cruelty of the indigenous rulers rather than colonial exploitation. It is a matter of debate whether the priyayi elite can be described as 'feudal'. The PKI and Sukamo consistently used this term when they referred to landlords. But unlike the European feudal nobility who had hereditary rights to private estates, the priyayi held only appanage rights, which gave them access to the labour and the produce of the rural population but no private ownership. Although the appanage benefices sometimes came close to the notion of hereditary ownership, ultimately the king retained the right to withdraw them and so remained in a strong position as personal dispenser of benefices. The lesser nobility held similar rights, so that a system was built up of personalized hierarchical relationships. See Onghokham (1975) and Robison (1986) for a discussion of priyayi land rights. See Locher-Scholten (1981) for a discussion of the major proponents of the Ethical Policy. This policy was based on increased state intervention. However, the prevalence of Dutch industrial interests meant that the welfare measures proved only of marginal benefit to the Javanese population (Cribb 1994; Wertheim 1956). Pesindo, especially, was very close to the PPI which was chaired by Mrs Susilowati. Interviews, Sujinah Harlinah, 16 February 1984 and Mrs Trimurti, 10 September 1994. Toer (l988b) wrote a biography of Tirto, Sang Pemula (The Pioneer), and fictionalized his life in his four-volume account of the emergence of Indonesian nationalism, the Buru Quartet (1980; 1984; 1986; 1995). See also Cote (1998). Geertz (1960) analysed the division of Islamic people in Java into santri and abangan. Santri followed the rules of the Qur 'an strictly. Many of them were traders or well-to-do peasants. Abangan, or 'reds' (who formed the majority), mixed their Islamic faith with many pre-Islamic elements. Their name probably derived from the red colour of their jackets. In the 1950s and 1960s the abangan were associated with the PKI and the name also referred to their political colour. After the 1965 coup, the term 'abangan' was more or less abandoned and those wishing to distinguish themselves === [PDF page 108] === The Garuda Takes Flight 89 from the santri and to dissociate themselves from communist activity described themselves as Islam statistik (statistically Muslim). 9. In the Minangkabau another wave of communist Islam followed the founding of Persatuan Muslim Indonesia (Indonesian Muslim Union) (permi) after the 1927 uprising. See van Dijk (1994); Noer (1973) Shiraishi (1990) for a discussion between the various strands of popular unrest in Java in that period. 10. See HUsken for an interesting illustration of the development of these organizations in the Javanese countryside (1988: 100-I). 11. Schrieke et al. (1928) provides an analysis of rural discontent before the 1927 uprising in Sumatra. See the introduction to Benda and McVey (1960) for an analysis of this and other major documents. See Kahin (1984) for a discussion of the aftermath of the 1927 Minangkabau uprising. 12. See Kartodirdjo (1973) for an analysis of earlier forms of agrarian unrest in Java and Benda and McVey (1960) and McVey (1965) for an analysis of the 'new' uprisings from 1926-27. 13. PNl initially stood for Perserikatan Nasional Indonesia (National Union of Indonesia). A year later it was changed into Partai Nasional Indonesia. The PNl was secular in character and only ethnic Indonesians could join. 14. Amir Syarifuddin was imprisoned and later executed. Among those imprisoned was Mrs Trimurti of the Partai Buruh Indonesia (Indonesian Workers' Party) which had joined the FDR (Soebagijo 1982: 170-8). Although some have claimed that Aidit and others fled the country for China and Vietnam (Mortimer 1974; Ricklefs 1981; TOrnquist 1984; Wertheim 1956), others maintain that he fled to his native Minangkabau (TOrnquist 1984). According to my information, he hid on a ship and was captured in Hong Kong. He was sent back to Jakarta where he was tried. On his release he went home to Minangkabau (interview with Darmini and Hersri, 11 September 1994). 15. Issue 12-13, 1951. Bintang Merah (Red Star) was the magazine of the PKI Central Committee. The article states that the 'Madiun provocation' was a consequence of a secret conference held in Sarangan on 21 July 1948 in which the so-called 'Red Drive Proposals' were agreed between Hatta and the USA. See also Anderson 1994; Kreutzer 1984; Southwood and Flanagan 1983. 16. One of the few authors to address gender issues in the history of Indonesia is Reid. In his discussion on the four queens who ruled === [PDF page 109] === 90 Chapter 3 Aceh between 1641 and 1699 - whose rule was described by contempomry observers as 'benign, orderly and encouraging to commerce' - he observed that one of the reasons for their decline was that 'female rule was never legitimate in the eyes of Muslim scholars, and therefore could not serve as a satisfactory model for later generations. The campaign of Acehnese ulama (religious teachers) against the queens of Aceh was fmally successful after they obtained a letter from Mecca declaring woman rulers anathema' (1993: 265-6). In general, 'women resisted the introduction of the new scriptural religions' (1993: 162). 17. See also Ann Kumar's (1980) article on the 'lady Soldiers' at the court of Surakarta in the nineteenth century and Reid's mention of the women bodyguards of powerful rulers such as Sultan Agung of Mataram, who had 10,000 female warriors (1988: 167). 18. There is a wide literature on the so-called 'precursors' of the Indonesian women's movement. See for instance Vreede-de Stuers (1960); Kowani (1978); Suwondo (1981a, 1981b) and various biographies ofindividual women such as Matuli-Walanda (1983), Ismail Yakub (1979) and Haka (1976). 19. See also Stoler (1995) on the influence of colonial education on sexual relations. 20. These bourgeois values followed the arrival of large numbers of European women. Earlier bachelor traders, planters or soldiers had no qualms about taking indigenous women, either as nyai (concubines) (Locher-Scholten 1992) or as prostitutes (Hesselink 1987). 21. Abendanon, who provided the first edition of Kartini's letters in 1912, thought it wise to delete passages that revealed the pain this caused her. Bouman (1954) was the first to discuss this issue, but mistook the nature of the marriage, calling her the concubine of the regent (Vreede-de Stuers 1979). She was officially married but, being of lesser social descent, could only become the garwa selir (Vreede-de Stuers 1979) or ampil (Siti Soemandari Soeroto 1977). The concept of 'secondary' is social rather than chronological. She was the daughter of a hadji, a rich copra-trader, not of a factory worker as Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1962) suggests. 22. Cote (1995) produced an English edition of the surviving letters from Kartini to Stella Zeehandelaar. 23. Door Duisternis tot Licht: Gedachten voor en over het Javaansche Volk (1912). This book became immensely popular. By 1923 it had already gone through four editions and had been translated into === [PDF page 110] === The Garuda Takes Flight 91 English under the romantic title Letters of a Javanese Princess (1920). In various periods in Indonesian history different aspects of her letters have been stressed. During the early 1960s, Kartini's opposition to indigenous feudalism and to Dutch colonial oppression received most emphasis. The complete correspondence between Kartini and the Abendanon family was published in 1987. See Wieringa (t.989b) for a review of this edition. There is a large literature about Kartini, including the excellent biography by Siti Soemandari Soeroto (1977), of which Vreede-de Stuers (1984) prepared an edition in Dutch. 24. The letters in which she expressed her bitterness at this situation were omitted by Abendanon but appear in the 1987 edition. The epigraph opening this chapter is an extract from one of these letters. 25. Official New Order Indonesian sources (for example, publications of the Department of Information on Indonesian women in 1968 and 1984) ignored Kartini's polygynous marriage and the pain it caused her. The same is true of Kowani's history of the women's movement (1978) and Sukanti Suryochondro (1984). This silence is all the more surprising since the issue of polygyny was one of the major themes of the Indonesian women's movement until 1974, when a new marriage law came into effect (this law still allows polygyny under certain conditions). I suggest that, given the New Order Government's position that women's emancipation was 'completed', Kartini's outcries against polygyny were unwelcome reminders of a time when the women's movement was still free to fight for the interests it had defined for itself. See Rutherford (1993) for historical shifts in the reception of Kartini. 26. Inquiry into the Declining Welfare of the Native Populations of Java and Madura, Vol. IXb3, 1914. For a resume of the articles written by these nine Indonesian women and included in the original report see Vreede-de Stuers (1960: 174-5, appendix E). 27. See also Mrazek (1994: 339) for an account of this episode. 28. Interview, Mrs Raden Adjeng Soekijah Ranoedimedja, 26 and 28 February 1983. 29. The weekly, it began publishing in 1913 and carried articles on child marriages and polygyny. In 1919 it carried an account of that year's feminist congress in Paris (Vreede-de Stuers 1960: 62). 30. These associations were probably created around 1915, although Petrus Blumberger supplies no date and neither Sukanti Suryochondro nor Vreede-de Stuers refers to them. === [PDF page 111] === 92 Chapter 3 31. Unfortunately, the position of these organizations on both SI-related issues and the gender interests identified by other women's organizations is not discussed in the available literature, making it difficult to discover whether the Serikat Putri Islam belonged to the 'red' or to the 'white' branch of the SI, although it is most likely they belonged to the 'white' branch. 32. Mrs Baroroh Baried chaired Aisyah between the 1960s and 1980s. Aisyah established women's prayer houses and mosques, which were possibly 'unique to Indonesia' (Peacock 1978: 51). The first mosque was established in 1922 in the Kauman, the santr; neighbourhood of Yogyakarta and birthplace of both Muhammadyah and Aisyah. It is still there and women can be observed praying in its serene atmosphere. 33. These are: (1) care for the husband's household; (2) make the husband happy; (3) follow the husband's orders; (4) look after your spiritual purity (kesutjian dirinja) and keep the secrets of the household; (5) look after the children; (6) help the husband to guide the children; (7) cover the body well; (8) do not interrupt people when it is not proper; (9) do not mix with men who are not close relatives (muhrim); (10) if you have to go out follow the instructions of the Tardjih Council; (11) stay at home and if you have to leave the house do not behave as a woman who does not know the teachings ofIslam (jahiliah); (12) do good deeds for family members, grandparents, neighbours and servants. 34. Both interviews were held on 5 January 1984. 35. Interviews, Mrs Kwari Sosrosoemarto, 6 January 1984, Mrs Doeriat, 6 February 1984 and Mrs Wahyudi, 9 January 1984. 36. Mrs Munapsiah was the chair of the women's department of the Sarekat Rakyat in Semarang (BG 61). When Gerwis was established she was still in Semarang. 37. These words are quoted from a text written around the mid-1960s, but a similar story appears in the Buku Gerwani (p. 61). Also, Doc. VI, which includes a history of the Indonesian women's movement and was probably intended for Gerwani cadre courses, states that the conference decisions 'gave inspiration to revolutionary women of the coming generations' (p. 8). This suggests that there were no written documents on this conference but that its results were widely debated within Gerwani. 38. On the matrilineal tradition of the Minangkabau see Abdullah (1972), Hamka (1984), losselin de long (1980), Kahn (1976). For === [PDF page 112] === The Garuda Takes Flight 93 a discussion on women's organizations in the Minangkabau see Wieringa (1995d). 39. Sukaesih, who was of priyayi descent (the daughter of an assistant wedana), was married off at a very early age to an elderly man and, unable to tolerate it, broke with her husband and her family. She later married a Dutchman and, after her release from Digul, emigrated to Holland. There D. van Munster published her memoirs as a protest against the 'police state' the Dutch had created in Indonesia. Sukaesih's memoirs confirm that body politics was a major issue for the women who joined socialist organizations at this time. 40. Notable exceptions are Rasuna Said (Permi), Trimurti (a trade union leader and the first Indonesian Minister of Labour) and Maria Ullfah (the Minister of Social Affairs in 1946-47). 41. Sukarno continued to use this image of the Garuda, the mythical bird in the wayang play (for example in his 1947 book, Sarinah (1963» as a device to draw women into the independence struggle. 42. The tabir of the meetings he attended in Bengkulu, however, was not so effective as to prevent Sukarno from spotting his third wife, Fatmawati, whom he married in 1943, having divorced his second wife (he had divorced his first wife before his second marriage). 43. Later Pringgodigdo, who at that time chaired Poetri Indonesia (Indonesian Young Women), the women's branch of Pemuda Indonesia (Indonesian Youth). 44. The novel Out o/Harness (the 'harness' of rules and regulations for government employment) depicts the atmosphere of police repression in which those schools had to operate. 45. Interview, Mrs Dharmo Susanto, 25 December 1983. 46. Interview, 9 December 1983. 47. She chaired Poetri Indonesia, an organization of female schoolteachers created in 1926. 48. Thirty years later, Kowani, in its commemoration book of the event, changed the name to PPPI, calling it instead Perikatan Perkumpulan Perempuan Indonesia (Union ofIndonesian Women's Organizations). Several authors - for instance Suwondo (1981a) and Sukanti Suryochondro (1984) - do the same; even Sujatin herself uses the abbreviation PPPI in her memoirs (1981). 49. The report of the 1928 PPI congress was already in Indonesian. 50. This is the first time that the issue of women's franchise was discussed in an Indonesian women's organization. The congress === [PDF page 113] === 94 Chapter 3 had not yet demanded the vote for women, but decided that a newly created 'Mediating Body' would 'study women's franchise carefully' (Kowani 1978: 38). 51. M. Abdoel Rachman, Indisch Vrouwenjaarboek (1936: 12). 52. The research group was chaired by Sujatin Kartowiyono. One of its first research projects concerned women batik workers in Lasem (Kartowiyono 1977). 53. Generally known under the name of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an economist and author of the novella The Yellow Wallpaper, first published in 1892. 54. Interview, Maria Ullfah, 9 December 1983; see also Rasid (1982: 53). 55. Interview, Maria Ullfah, 12 November 1981. 56. The batik report of de Kat Angelino (1930) alerted the women's organizations to the miserable working conditions of the women batik labourers. 57. Jacobs, concerned about the lack of educational opportunities for Javanese women, encouraged the Governor-General to open medical training to Javanese women (Jacobs herself was the first Dutch woman doctor). She complained that the 'Dutch women neglect their native sisters' (1915: 425). Regarding women's political rights, she noted in her travelogue that 'the Javanese women is more advanced than her Dutch sister in this respect! Isn't it shameful?'(1915: 485). 58. Japan saw itself as the Leader of Asia, the Protector of Asia and the Light of Asia (Ricklefs 1981: 190). 59. It was chaired by Mrs Sunaryo Mangunpuspito, who later became one of the leaders ofKowani. In Buku (1958), Mrs Mangunpuspito recalls her involvement in the Fujinkai. 60. The population was organized into cells of 10 to 20 families 'for mobilization, indoctrination and information' (Ricklefs 1981: 194). The New Order Government imitated the Japanese structure of neighbourhood associations as instruments to control the population. The heads of these associations were responsible, for instance, for keeping a check on the ex-tapol in their neighbourhoods. See John Sullivan (1992) for a detailed study of an urban kampung and its associations during the New Order and Norma Sullivan (1983) for the women's association PKK in such a kampung. See also Ruth Havelaar (1992) for a description of the life of an ex-tapol. 61. Socialist women did not create their own organization, Gerakan === [PDF page 114] === The Garuda Takes Flight 95 Wanita Sosialis (Socialist Women's Movement), until 1955. 62. Interview, Mrs Mansour Thaib, 25 and 27 September 1984. 63. The former PKI leader had returned secretly from exile in 1942, attracting a large following which, in 1948, formed the Partai Murba. He opposed the Stalinist line of Musso that had led to the disastrous Madiun revolt. Tan Malaka was killed in 1949 in a clash with a republican army unit (Anderson 1972). Influential followers included Chairul Saleh, Deputy Prime Minister under Sukarno, and Adam Malik, Vice President under Suharto. 64. Women were told, for instance, that they would become nurses (Japanische Fraueninitiave 1993; Racbmat-Ishaya 1990). According to Katoppo, some 200,000 Asian women were forced to become jugun ianfu (volunteer army comfort women). Of these, some 10,000 were Indonesian. A smaller number of women ofDutch descent were taken from concentration camps in Java (Jakarta Post, 30 August 1994). See also the Dutch Foundation for Japanese Debts of Honour's claim for compensation on behalf of 65 Dutch women, reported in the Volkskrant, 25 January 1994. See also Hicks (1995). 65. The title is a homage to his nanny, through whom he learned how to love the 'small people' (Sukarno 1963: 7). 66. Mythical bird, carrier of Rama in the Ramayana. 67. 'Special care was taken that no "immoral acts" were committed. There was a lot of resistance from the parents, for the girls had to wear trousers and they walked around with weapons and sat on trucks. Some girls had to run away from home to join us. We had our own uniforms and our own building. No men were allowed to enter oUI building; I myself stayed there all the time. After the war, the girls were all proudly accepted by their families, and they were all married' (interview with Mrs Arudji Kartawinata, 24 February 1984). Mrs Arudji insists 'there were no love affairs, for the Laswi girls were not allowed to disgrace themselves and when this rule was disobeyed the sanction was a bullet' (Arudji Kartawinata 1979). 68. This list comes from an account by Mrs Arudji Kartawinata, whose West Java Laskyar helped evacuate Bandung and supported the population during a flood. The Yogyakarta women's troops also committed acts of sabotage when the city was occupied by the Dutch (Arudji Kartawinata 1979). The women fought with hand grenades and other weapons (interview, Mrs Arudji Kartawinata, 24 February 1983). === [PDF page 115] === 96 Chapter 3 69. Interview, 22 December 1998, with former PPI member who wishes to remain anonymous. 70. Wives of members of the air force founded Persatuan Istri Angkatan Udara (Federation of Air Forces' Wives) (PIA) in 1956. 71. This slogan was widely used at the time and indicated resistance to the Dutch idea of a federation state. 72. Mrs Kartowiyono was elected chair. 73. Fujinkai's former chair, Mrs Sunarjo Mangunpuspito, was elected Kowani's new chair (Buku 1958: 40). 74. Withuis, who documented the history of the NVB, has analysed the ambivalent character of this organization that attempted to be a broad, 'progressive' organization of active women. Its activities made it very difficult for non-communist women to have a voice and it thus came to be seen as the women's wing of the Dutch Communist Party, especially as its courageous demonstrations against the Dutch war effort pushed it further into the 'Communist 75. Mrs Maria Ullfah was Minister of Social Affairs in the first Syahrir Cabinet, while Mrs S. K. Trimurti was the Republic's first Minister of Labour. 76. A Round Table conference was held at The Hague from 23 August to 2 November 1949. Indonesia gained its de facto independence, although for a short while a loose union of The Netherlands and the republican forces was agreed upon, with the Dutch queen as the symbolic head. Dutch economic interests were, to a certain degree, protected, and The Netherlands retained sovereignty over Irian Jaya. Leftist forces were strongly opposed to these restrictions on Indonesia's full independence. === [PDF page 116] === The Old Order: Nationalism, Communism and Feminism The Javanese do everything because it is in the course of events. Orders come from God, the gods or the king, and when people have obeyed those orders, they feel happy - until there is another order.... Punishment, my child, is the lot of everybody who cannot fmd his ordained place in the order of life. (Pramoedya Ananta Toer 1986: 56-7) Indonesia is no exception to a general pattern of dissatisfaction experienced by women's movements after national liberation had been won (Jayawardena 1982; Wieringa 1988a, 1995a), although Indonesia's case had its own particular edge. The personal life of the nation's first president, who had so successfully rallied the collective force of the women's movement behind the nationalist struggle as the 'second wheel of the chariot', contributed in large part to the defeat of the marriage reforms for which the movement had fought so consistently. This crucial aspect of the history of the Indonesian women's movement is almost totally neglected by 'male-stream' historians.' Indonesia entered the 1950s 'groping for doctrines, policies and government methods with which to fill the tabula rasa of the new independence', wrote Feith (1970: 3), one of the most acute observers of this period in Indonesian history. Political institutions were weak and thete were divisions between the intellectual leaders who had negotiated independence, the army who had fought for it and the rural masses who had harboured messianic expectations.2 The political leadership was fragmented and unconvinced by the system of constitutional democracy it was about to administer. The state was not firmly anchored since the major export-earning sectors were in foreign hands, the army loosely organized and the 97 === [PDF page 117] === 98 Chapter 4 political elite, who had largely evolved in opposition to earlier state systems, had no secure property base. A crucial question was whether the democracy to which many leaders aspired would survive existing authoritarian traditions (Feith 1962). The four major strands in pre-war Indonesia - nationalism, Islamic reform, communism and feminism - reconstituted themselves. Sukarno, the PNI and the army represented the nationalist wing. Various Islamic parties were formed which attempted to transform Islam into a political force. The Communist party attained unprecedented heights before it descended into the deepest abyss it has known. The women's organizations lost the political influence they had wielded when the male leaders needed their support. With the exception of Gerwani, the women's organizations seemed to accept their retrenchment behind a kodrat wanita, defining themselves as social, non-political organizations. When the Indonesian Republic was proclaimed a unitary state on 17 August 1950, centrifugal tendencies were strong and there was armed resistance in Sulawesi and West Java.3 The ideological vacuum left by the defeat of the colonial enemy was filled by Sukarno's populist version of nationalism and by the PKI's nationalist version of Marxism. These two sets of policies largely determined the space within which the women's movement of the Old Order operated, although this was further tempered by increasing army dominance and Muslim discontent. Sukarno's populist ideology of Marhaenism stressed homogeneity and gotong royong (cooperation).4 Sukarno's populism gained from his charismatic leadership and his revolution became a myth of permanent struggle that sought to create a mystical unity in the face of external threats (Wertheim 1971, 1978; Worsley 1967). This notion of unity was familiar to the Javanese as it reminded them of the mystical union between the rulers of Central Java and the Goddess of the South Sea, ruler of Java's spiritual world (Florida 1992). The PKI focused on class struggle, although its ideology was not as strictly Marxist as might be expected given its communist roots. Instead of constructing a party of dedicated, theoretically-schooled, articulate cadres who were consistently working towards class struggle, the leadership built up a huge and diffuse mass base. In creating a large 'communist family', the PKI had incorporated elements of the Javanese ideals of 'harmony' (rukun) on which Sukarno's Marhaenism was also built (Mortimer 1974). The PKI's notion of harmony, however, was not a national construction but an internal Party affair. It did not prevent the Party from waging class struggle in the countryside in the 1960s during === [PDF page 118] === The Old Order 99 the so-called 'one-sided actions', when peasants, dissatisfied with the pace of implementation of the Land Reform laws, decided to take the law into their own hands. Indonesia's capture of state power fundamentally changed political relations between women and men. Women now had to defend their interests by contending with male Indonesian politicians rather than male colonial officers. '[W]omen became competitors in the eyes of men, to be feared even, since they were now capable of managing public as well as their own private affairs' (Vreede-de Stuers 1960: 163). The struggle for a new marriage law brought conflicting gender interests that had been suppressed during the war out into the open. During the anti-colonial struggle, women had been both vocal actors in the political arena and 'good' mothers and wives. These two roles had merged, in fact, as women needed to play their political role in order to be good mothers (of the Indonesian people and the nation) and wives (as helpmates of the men in the struggle). With the common enemy gone, men claimed the field of politics as their own, leaving the social terrain to women. Most women's organizations, especially the religious ones, accepted this division of labour as consistent with their kodrat (see Chapter 3). This combines biological traits with a religiously-inspired paradigm of harmony. It is a continually contested set of norms. In the following extract from Sarinah, Sukamo gave his views on the matter: 'harmony can only be achieved when both [men and women] have an equal position. But each ofthem according to their kodrat. For whoever sins against the natural laws will eventually be demolished by Nature itself. Nature may be "patient"... but she cannot be conquered' (1963: 15). Even women's final major political battle - for marriage rights - was seen as a women's affair. The irony in this was brushed aside: 'politics' was male; women had been granted equal rights in return for their contribution to the revolution but they were to keep to their 'natural' sphere and follow a model of womanhood based on Sumbadra's character. Polygyny was related to marriage, an issue women could claim within their larger terrain of social needs and family welfare, so it was acceptable to maintain that struggle even if it was ultimately waged within the 'male' arena of Parliament. Gerwani was the only women's organization that claimed 'politics' in general as a legitimate field for women, just as Srikandi claimed the battlefield in the wayang theatre. The organization attempted, by skilful manoeuvring within the political === [PDF page 119] === 100 Chapter 4 space it occupied, to bridge the gap between 'male politics' and 'female social needs'. Another interesting theme in this period is the conceptualization of 'equality' and 'difference' in relation to gender issues. The established male view was that the two terms were not binary opposites and that equal political rights were not inconsistent with unequal marriage rights. Political rights had been earned through participation in the colonial war but should not extend to areas of 'natural' difference such as family relations. In general, the women's organizations were in agreement, accepting 'equality' and 'difference' not as mutually exclusive categories but as elements standing in a dialectical relation to each other. Differences among women also became more pronounced after independence. The Indonesian women's movement in the Old Order became more diverse and internally differentiated. Women's wings of male-led political parties emerged and, especially around the elections of 1955, many women's organizations (apart from Perwari which always remained aloof from party politics) were cooperating more intensely with political parties than with each other. Parliamentary Democracy Fails Under the Liberal Parliamentary Democracy created by the 1950 Provisional Constitution, President Sukarno's role was more limited than under the 1945 Constitution. The army was put under the control of civil politicians, and political parties played a prominent role (Cribb and Brown 1995; Schwarz 1994). The Islamic Masyumi and the nationalist PNI were locked in the Great Debate (Feith 1962) over whether Islam or the pancasila should become the basis of the Indonesian state,S and the PKI had begun to recover from the effects of Madiun. The Western-educated administrators of the PSI and the PNI who dominated the state sector opted for economic stability, even if it meant relying heavily on foreign-owned enterprises. The younger, more radical exfreedom fighters (both within and outside of the bureaucracy) agitated against the foreign interests that dominated the economic sector. The experiment in parliamentary democracy was unsuccessful. Bitter political in-fighting led to a series of unstable coalition cabinets (Cribb and Brown 1995; Feith 1962; Schulte Nordholt 1987) and public administration, which was carried out by poorly-trained and inefficient officials, became overwhelmed by a corrupt party system. While this experiment with 'Liberal Democracy', as Sukarno called it, was heading === [PDF page 120] === The Old Order 101 towards political bankruptcy, the country was also experiencing serious economic problems. The estate-based colonial economy had deteriorated as the Dutch lost the power to enforce the legal, political and fiscal framework on which it was based. Many estates had been seriously damaged by war and many labourers were squatting as subsistence farmers on estate land. While the PKI wanted an economy based on state power, the PNI favoured the establishment of cooperatives and the Masyumi defended the interests of private Indonesian entrepreneurs (Robison 1986). The socialist PSI, with its strong history of anti-Japanese resistance, counted many Western-educated intellectuals amongst its leaders (Reinhardt 1971). The PNI was based in Sukarno's populist Marhaenism. Most Masyumi members were located in the Outer Islands and West Java. The party represented the commercial, entrepreneurial interests of the indigenous, mainly Outer Islands, producers who suffered from the Java-orientated economic policy of the national state. In opposition to the modernist tendency of Masyumi, Nahdlatul Ulama (Council of Islamic Scholars) (NU) remained the party of conservative kyai and ulama. 6 It was strongest in East Java (Boland 1982; Feith 1962; Schulte Nordholt 1987). The PKJ's remarkable comeback after Madiun can be attributed to the young nationalists around Aidit (Nyoto, Lukman and Sudisman) who took over the leadership in 1951. They transformed the party from a 'weak, divided and dispirited organization to a dynamic, rapidly growing powerful movement' (Mortimer 1974: 29). The proletariat they sought to lead was numerically weak, while the peasant masses were essentially under-exposed to 'modem' organizations and were vertically divided (Hindley 1964; Mortimer 1974; Tornquist 1984).1 The outcome of the 1955 elections was surprising in several respects. The PSI, which had provided so many political and army leaders immediately after independence, was swept aside. The PNI emerged as the largest party, with 22.3 per cent ofthe vote. Masyumi received far fewer votes than expected: 20.9 per cent. The NU, with 18.4 per cent of the vote, triumphed over the Masyumi in East and Central Java. The PKJ gained a surprisingly strong fourth position with 16.4 per cent of the vote (Feith 1970, 1971). The elections were disappointing to women. First, very few women delegates were elected. & Second, the Partai Wanita Rakyat (Women's People's Party) failed to gain a seat. This party, founded in 1946 by Mrs Mangunsarkoro and advocating monogamy (Vreede-de Stuers 1960), disappeared after the elections. === [PDF page 121] === 102 Chapter 4 Third, none of the male-led parties had campaigned particularly vigorously for marriage reform. The PKI had established itself as an important national actor. Fear of the growing influence of the PKI led the Government to postpone the 1959 general elections. An anti-PKI front was set up by religious leaders, the military and some PNI leaders (Reinhardt 1971). Far from creating political stability, the election results exposed the fragility of the country's democratic institutions. Politically, the discontent in the Outer Islands increased when Vice-President Hatta resigned on 1 December 1956, declaring that he refused to be 'the prisoner of other men's policies' and Masyumi withdrew from the Cabinet (Harvey 1977: IS). To his supporters, Hatta had been the champion of economic development and regional autonomy. Early in 1957 Sukarno outlined his concept of 'Guided Democracy', a politics based on the unification of the four major parties with a national council as an advisory body that included representatives of functional groups. When the Cabinet fell Sukamo proclaimed martial law. In April 1957 the President installed a 'business' cabinet in which army and non-party members dominated. In May a national council chaired by the President was created (Lev ·1966), and although officially Parliament still functioned, parliamentary democracy was dead (Cribb and Brown 1995; Schwarz 1994). The army and functional groups had entered the political domain where they were to remain during the New Order. During 1957 the army firmly established its economic might, seizing Dutch plantations in the campaign to gain control over West Irian. The army, declaring martial law, moved in to manage the estates. Regional resentment against Jakarta and Java increased in Central and South Sumatra and in Sulawesi,9 Dissatisfaction was also directed against the army central command under General Nasution. Early in 1958, a rebel government was fonned in Sumatra, the Pemerintah Revolusioner Republik Indonesia (Revolutionary Government of the Indonesian Republic) (pRRJ), to which the Sulawesi-based Permesta (Piagam Perjuangan Semesta Alam) (Universal Struggle Charter) movement later allied itself. A few months later, Nasution sent the army under General Yani to crush the PRRIlPennesta uprising, although guerrilla activity continued for three more years (Crouch 1978). Although the PRRIlPermesta movement never posed a serious challenge to the power of Jakarta and the President, it had important political consequences. The authority of the central military command === [PDF page 122] === The Old Order 103 became even more deeply established. Masyumi, which had supported the dissidents, was thoroughly demoralized and discredited, as was the PSI, one of whose leaders had joined the PRRI. The PKI, on the other hand, seized the opportunity to remove the anti-nationalist taint left by Madiun and establish itself as the champion of national integrity (Aidit 1959).10 Guided Democracy The PRRI/Permesta rebellion strengthened the role of President Sukarno and discredited the party system. It also enhanced the prestige of the army, which pressed for a return to the more authoritarian 1945 Constitution (Cribb and Brown 1995; Schwarz 1994). The 1945 Constitution allowed for a strong president and opened up the possibility of functional groups sharing in political power. In early 1959 Sukarno dissolved the assembly and reinstituted the 1945 Constitution. The system of Liberal Democracy (which had, de/acto, ended in 1957) was finally replaced by the authoritarian system of Guided Democracy (Lev 1966). Sukarno granted almost absolute power to himself. Masyumi and the PSI were excluded from participation in the bodies that were to administer the new systemY Three important shifts had taken place. First, modernist Islam, as represented by Masyumi, had been excluded from power, while the orthodox NU retained its position. Second, the PKI was represented for the first time in all national bodies except the Cabinet. Third, the army had established itself firmly at the centre of political activities, both through its participation in the Cabinet and, through the functional groups it controlled, in the 'representative' bodies. Sukarno's 'Manipol' (Manifesto Politik, or Political Manifesto)12 speech on Independence Day in 1959 became the ideological basis of Guided Democracy. In vague terms ('the demands of the Indonesian people must be met in an overwhelmingly revolutionary manner') it outlined certain government priorities - food and clothing for the people, internal security and the continuation of the struggle against imperialism - and long-term objectives, including a 'just and prosperous society'. To carry out this programme, Sukarno exhorted his audience to 'throw out the system of Liberalism completely and replace it with Guided Democracy and Guided Economy', dismantle the 'old inefficient apparatus', and 'retool the executive and legislative body, the === [PDF page 123] === 104 Chapter 4 instruments of power, of production, distribution and the organizations in society' (Feith and Castles 1970: 105-7). The PKI enthusiastically adopted these slogans and set about implementing them vigorously. As presidential power increased and economic and social chaos ensued there was mounting pressure to couch everything in Sukarno's terminology, such as Manipol, 'socialism a la Indonesia', 'unfinished revolution'. Yet the boundaries of these concepts shifted and inter-party polemics turned into a struggle over the interpretation of Sukarno's words, an art in which the PKI proved to be most skilful. The political configuration of the final years of the Old Order was defined by the anti-imperialist campaigns in West Irian and Malaysia and by growing tensions both between the army and the PKI and between Muslim groups and the PKI. Sukarno coined two acronyms about the campaigns he waged: Trikora and Dwikora. Tri Komando Rakyat (Three People's Commands) (Trikora) was used for the Irian campaign to thwart the formation of a Dutch-run puppet state in West Irian, raise the Indonesian flag in West Irian and prepare for general mobilization. Dwi Komando Rakyat (Two People's Commands) (Dwikora) reacted to the Malaysia confrontation, to crush Malaysia and to overcome the economic problems. These slogans became immensely popular. The President maintained an increasingly precarious balance. Politics were played out through his person rather than through political institutions (Onghokham 1983). Economic deterioration and peasant unrest completed the picture. At the national level, women's voices were gradually drowned out by the rising clamour of these rivalries. The fact that West Irian remained under Dutch control was increasingly seen to be a blemish on Indonesian sovereignty, and in the mid1950s Sukarno stepped up the campaign to sweep away this last vestige of colonialism. In late 1960 Indonesia commenced hostilities and broke off diplomatic ties with The Netherlands. In 1961 small bands of trained volunteers infiltrated West Irian. In January 1962 an armed clash occurred during which Indonesia was badly humiliated. The USA forced the Dutch to the UN negotiating table, and in December 1962 the Dutch relinquished West Irian (Gunawan 1973; Hindley 1964; Mortimer 1974; Reinhardt 1971).13 The reasons for Indonesia's anti-imperialist campaign against the formation of Malaysia remain unclear. It is possible that Sukarno's 'romanticism... in the flow of the revolution' led the country on this dubious course (Reinhardt 1971: 93). What does seem clear is that the === [PDF page 124] === The Old Order 105 campaign allowed Sukarno to continue his populist rhetoric about the importance of national unity in the face of a foreign threat. In September 1963 mass demonstrations against the British and Malaysian embassies were held. The British Embassy was burned down; British enterprises were taken over and diplomatic ties with Malaysia and Singapore were broken. In September 1964 the UN Security Council condemned Indonesian aggression. This was a great blow to Indonesia's aspirations to become a leader of the non-aligned world, and when Malaysia gained UN membership in 1964 Indonesia left. Economically, Guided Democracy was disastrous. Mismanagement and corruption led to a sharp drop in export earnings, the major source of state income. Restrictions placed on Chinese domestic capital further damaged the economy. Sukarno's expensive international ambitions drained the national treasury. At its height, the West Irian campaign alone absorbed 75 per cent of state expenditure (Hindley 1964: 281). By the end of 1964, drains on government funds, the swelling bureaucracy, population growth and declining agricultural production had led to what Mortimer called 'economic anarchy' (1974: 247). The Guided Economy became 'a ramshackle, underpowered form of state capitalism operated by, and largely for the benefit of, politico-bureaucrats, notably the military themselves' (Robison 1986: 98). The PKI attacked these politico-bureaucrats (kabir, kapitalis birokrat) where they belonged to groups opposed to PKI's political ascendance; they did not attack the economic system itself. The PKI waged a campaign against the US/IMF-inspired stabilization measures: the May 26 regulations. This effort has been variously interpreted as a deliberate attempt to destroy the economy in order to build communism out of its ruins or as 'the most hopeful prospect for a reconstruction of Indonesian society that would have made possible sustained development combined with attention to mass social welfare' (Mortimer 1974: 11). The Malaysia affair put an end to the prospect of IMF involvement in Indonesia's economy.14 The following year the PKI supported a Maoist-inspired programme of import substitution and self-reliance (herdikari: an acronym of herdiri di kaki sendiri, 'stand on one's own feet'). Inflation soared, economic chaos was complete and Sukamo told the USA to 'go to hell' with its aid === [PDF page 125] === 106 Chapter 4 Sukarno's Ideology: Marhaenism Under Guided Democracy, adherence to Sukarno's terminology was a sine qua non for political survival. For the women's movement this posed a dilemma as Sukarno's private life increasingly clashed with the interests for which they fought. Great courage was needed to confront the absolutist power of the 'Great Leader of the Revolution'. Since women's interests had to be expressed using Sukarno's terminology, their subversive content can only be understood by first elaborating the most relevant concepts Sukarno introduced. Sukarno's overriding concern was national unity. Achieving this meant contending with the federalist tendencies in the Outer Islands as well as combining diverging ideological traditions. As early as 1926, Sukarno maintained that unity was possible between nationalism, Islam, Marxism and political practice because in Indonesia they were all rooted in resistance to colonial oppression. He linked 'true' Islam with socialism and identified feudalism as an enemy of both Asian Marxists and nationalists. He also argued that Marxists had to adapt themselves to the reality of colonial circumstances and accept Islam as the religion of the unfree (McVey 1970). Sukarno was to elaborate this overall theme throughout his political career, with anti-imperialism taking the place of anti-colonialism after independence. Under Guided Democracy this ideology became fixed in Sukarno's 'Nasakom' concept (an acronym of Nasionalism, Agama (religion) and Komunism). In Sukarno's ideology the population was seen to be unified (rather than stratified into social classes) and villages were ruled by traditional values based on the Javanese ideal of harmony with norms of gotong royong (cooperation) and musyawarah-mufakat (deliberation until consensus is reached). For all his socialist rhetoric, Sukarno's 'socialism ala Indonesia' never dealt with class struggle. The concept with which he replaced Marxian class struggle was Marhaenism. IS Sukarno cannot be understood without reference to the Javanese world of the wayang. Sukarno identified himself principally with the great Mahabharata warrior Bima, the second of the Pandawa brothers (Dahm 1964: 36). His great success among the Javanese abangan derived from his ability to appeal to their cultural values, not only the wayang but also the concepts of harmony and order based on an authoritarian political centre (May 1978). === [PDF page 126] === The Old Order 107 The Communist Party (PKI) In 1948 the PKI had received a blow that had almost destroyed it. By 1965 it had become the world's largest non-ruling communist party. After the coups it disappeared ~ a bloodbath unparalleled in Indonesian history. How to understand this erratic history? When Aidit took over the leadership of the PKI in 1951 the Party was beset with great problems. It was small, isolated, its leaders were divided and it had been tainted by Madiun. At first the new leadership continued the hard-line policy that had led to Madiun and organized a series of strikes, but this led to a wave of anti-communism and raids against communists (the 'Sukiman razzias'). Strikes were outlawed, many leaders were imprisoned and the remainder went underground (T5mquist 1984: 64). These experiences convinced Aidit that to achieve power the Party had to seek allies at the top and establish itself as a responsible national actor with a clear place in Indonesian history and culture. Central elements of PKI strategy included seeking political allies among the 'national bourgeoisie' in an effort to build a 'front from above'. At the same time they expanded their work among the mass organizations in order to build a 'front from below' and subordinated the class struggle to an ideology of fiery nationalism and antiimperialism. The Madiun affair firmly associated the PKI with the abangan. In the early 1950s the PKI leaders directed their attention specifically to the Javanese abangan peasants, filling the gap left by the PNI who had little interest in the countryside. This policy forged a link with Sukarno who also courted abangan values and, like Sukarno, the PKI kept its plans for a future socialist country rather vague, implying a bright, prosperous and happy Indonesia. Adherence to the pancasila was another element in the PKI's eclectic form of Marxism. In 1951 the PKI endorsed the pancasila, including its first 'sila' that stipulated the 'Belief in One God' as the country's national ideology (Hindley 1964). This position was reinforced in the PKI congresses of 1954 and 1957. The outcome of the 1957 regional elections in which the PKI had gained 27.4 per cent of the votes in Java increased conservative fears that the PKI would have to be accepted in the Cabinet after the scheduled 1959 general elections. During Guided Democracy the Party had teamed up with Sukamo and its policies became couched in Sukarnoist language. Their alliance was founded in part upon a shared fear of the === [PDF page 127] === 108 Chapter 4 growing power of the army. The relationship became so close that by 1963 the PKI's attitude to the President could be characterized as 'idolatrous' (Mortimer 1974: 88). This led to a paradox. The PKI wanted to establish itself as the responsible, democratic, revolutionary, truly socialist alternative to Indonesia's increasing chaos. But to achieve the political power needed to make an impact upon society the Party had to align itself to the very 'feudal' powers it wished to attack. The PKI partly solved this dilemma by creating the categories of 'friendly' parties (such as the left wing of the PNI) who would build up a national bourgeoisie and 'enemy' parties (mainly Masyumi and the PSI) who were denounced as 'compradore bourgeois' parties, willing to deliver Indonesia into the hands of its imperialist enemies. When Masyumi and the PSI were banned in 1960, the PKI turned on individual kabir who were denounced as corrupting Sukarno's policies. Criticism of government policies did not implicate Sukarno, who was portrayed as 'the glorious leader ill-served by unworthy aides' (Hindley 1964: 286). The West Irian and anti-Malaysia campaigns allowed the PKI to spread a great deal of propaganda on the socialist issue of anti-imperialism without confronting the other parties in an attack on social injustices within Indonesia itself. The 'front from above' the PKI had created included the youth organization Pemuda Rakyat, the trade union SOBSI, the BTl for peasants and Gerwani as a women's organization. Pemuda Rakyat was most strongly linked to the Party; the others had differing degrees of autonomy. These mass organizations (ormas) increased the Party's political clout through its united front policies and were a source of Party members and cadres. l6 They also allowed the PKI to agitate in areas that otherwise would have been closed to it (Hindley 1964). The Javanese family model of harmony was transformed into the 'communist family' in which each organization associated with the PKI played its designated role. The PKI, for instance, played the a11knowing father, leading and intellectually guiding the other groups. Gerwani was to 'help' the PKI and to play aspects of the womanly role, such as taking responsibility for childcare and food and supporting the PKI in all its nationalist ambitions, just as a Javanese wife is expected to stand by her wayward husband. While the Party was playing a numbers game extending its electorate, little attention was paid to educating the members of these mass organizations in Marxism-Leninism. l? Instead, a personality cult around certain leaders such as Aidit took the place of critical discussion at the === [PDF page 128] === The Old Order 109 grassroots level. Debates became further confused because of the vagueness of the populist notion of an undifferentiated 'People' in whose interests the Party worked. The result was that membership was based on very ill-defmed criteria. Individuals joined because they supported the Party's social work or its 'modem', progressive and nationalist image or because their landlord or family members had joined. This led Hindley to define a SOBSI member 'as someone who considers himself [sic] a member' (1964: 332). The PKI's peaceful road to power succeeded. By 1959 it had become the largest party in Java (Hindley 1964; Mortimer 1974; TOrnquist 1984). The PKI had gained mostly from among the Javanese abangan population. The santri had continued to vote for the Muslim parties. Yet for all its impressive electoral progress, the President, the ruling parties and especially the army were very reluctant to grant the PKI any real power. Until the mid-1960s the cabinets excluded them. Consequently, the Party's main avenue to political influence became the National Front (PKI 1960) which President Sukarno inaugurated in 1959 as his main instrument for mass mobilization. Aidit and Nyoto were nominated members and by 1962 all political parties and most mass organizations were enrolled. Although the PKI initially supplied the major part of the popular constituency, power remained frrmly entrenched at the top of this pyramidal organization (Hindley 1964; Mortimer 1974). The armed forces had a strong representation as well and it is doubtful whether the PKI's presence was sufficient to make any impact upon national politics. In fact, although the communists were indispensable for mobilizing the masses, Sukarno ensured that the Front was little more than a 'body capable of efficiently organizing mass demonstrations, which formed a permanent legitimization of Sukarno's power' (Gunawan 1973: 709). By 1965, the armed forces had outmanoeuvred the PKI and dominated the Front. United Front Vice-Secretary-General, General Djuhartono, explained their strategy: The origin of this national body was actually in the struggle for the liberation of West Irian, when the anny had set up the National West Irian Liberation Front. I had been nominated as one of the three secretaries. In those days I was still a colonel and it was felt that it was important to have anny people there, to guide the process. We saw that developments were not going in the right direction and we decided to build up mass organizations, not from above, as the political parties did, but from === [PDF page 129] === 110 Chapter 4 below. Actually the PKI was already doing that. We wanted to draw in the non-party groups, the engineers, the doctors and also the women's groups. They were weak, they had no sense of direction, so we put some new life into them. Only Gerwani didn't like that; they were clever, they were paving the way for the PKI and never joined our activities. When West Irian was liberated we were not yet ready. The political parties wanted to dissolve the National Front because they were afraid of the growing influence of the army. But we opposed that proposal. Around 1963 we started to put our plans into action. All those small organizations didn't know what to do; they needed an organization that could direct them. The political parties resisted our efforts to set up this secretariat but many organizations joined. We got the majority: the army got 70 per cent of the members. We were the only ones who could stabilize the country and achieve unity in line with the pancasila. Really, I am a true pupil of Bungl8 Kamo. Don't forget, he chaired this National Front, it was his idea. Bung said to us, "Djuhartono, with your help we can contain the PKI." But I never believed that. You cannot change communists; you can only exterminate them. So the National Front was revived, all the top ministers were put into it and it became the most important body of the period. I had to direct the unity of action which was necessary to implement the policies of the Front. I could decide which organizations could join. That was very nice, for now very soon all our friends entered and in 1964 we officially formed the Sekber Golkar [acronym of Sekretariat Bersama Golongan Karya (Joint Secretariat of Functional Groups)], which, under President Suharto, was changed to Golkar in preparation for the elections. The women's organizations joined too, apart from those that belonged to the banned parties. Gerwani also offered to join but we didn't invite them. We couldn't keep Gerwani out of the Front altogether, however, for the organization had already joined it as a mass organization of a political party. And so the big fight started. Pamphlets were printed, documents were stolen. It really was a very agitated period. Gerwani was opposed to the Sekber Golkar, for we controlled the floating mass of women and they wanted to extend their influence to that group. Via our organization we controlled some 40 million people and we were able to dominate the Front completely. Only the non-party women's organizations cooperated with us. Already since 1960, 1961, we had been training them. We organized political meetings of the non-party women's groups, analysed the political situation with them and trained them politically. 19 === [PDF page 130] === The Old Order 111 In the 1960s the PKI shifted to a more Maoist position, although the Party had never followed a 'purely' Soviet or Maoist line. The united front strategy had Soviet origins, but by 1954 the Party had already shifted away from (Soviet) class struggle in favour of a subordinate position in a top-level alliance with the PNI (Mortimer 1974: 24). Aidit borrowed strategic-political manoeuvres from both the Soviets and the Maoists and devised an original and unorthodox brand of Indonesian communism: its insistence on an alliance with 'national capital' was derived from the USSR and its aggressive anti-imperialist stand in the 1960s was more in line with China. From late 1963 onwards, both the PKI and President Sukarno took a drastic leftward plunge. The PKrs most consistent effort to wage a class struggle - the peasant actions in 1963-65 - indicate a growing accommodation of Maoist-derived concepts. The 1959 Sharecropping and the 1%0 Land Reform laws had improved the lot of peasants but fell far short of the PKI slogan of 'land to the tiller'. In fact, aside from East Java (where santr; and religious institutions might hold fairly large tracts of land) an overall shortage of land was the major source of difficulty for the small or landless peasants. Initially the PKI and the BTl exerted themselves to implement the laws faithfully, but poor recordkeeping and obstruction by landlords and religious leaders prevented the laws from having much effect. In July 1962 Asmu, the chief PKI spokesman on agrarian affairs, became the BTl's chair. The BTl radicalized and in late 1963 the onesided actions began. In December Aidit placed 'radical land reform' at the centre of the 'revolutionary offensive' (Mortimer 1974: 296) and in January 1964 the actions were stepped up. Aidit revived the old PKI demand for a 60:40 crop division. In April he called for the liquidation of the 'seven village devils' (Aidit 1964).20 The result was an enormous increase in unrest in the countryside, including violent clashes pitting PKI, BTl, Gerwani and Pemuda Rakyat activists against landlords and religious leaders (and their followers). Pent-up religious tensions flared, especially in East Java where the religious teachers affiliated to the NU controlled large landholdings. By June 1964 the alesi were causing considerable violence, especially in Central and East Java and in Bali, and had become the major national issue. In East Java, Ansor (the NU youth organization) gangs sided with landlords to attack BTl farmers. In addition to fomenting great unrest in the countryside, the ales; undermined the PKI's careful strategy of forging a 'front from above'. The PKI's enemies now included the NU and a large === [PDF page 131] === 112 Chapter 4 part of the PNI. The army, who had been involved in putting down the alesi, had been greatly antagonized and a large part of the population now viewed the PKI as troublemakers. l1 The PKI had upset 'the order of life', as Toer (1986) put it, and in attempting to reach power through constitutional means had resorted to illegal actions. Women's Organizations During Parliamentary Democracy Independence brought Indonesian women political equality22 and equal rights in several areas, such as the right to education. Women's organizations were able to step up their efforts to combat women's illiteracy and built numerous schools. New job opportunities became open to women, especially in teaching and medicine. However, women faced intense job discrimination and the legal stipulation of equal pay for equal work was constantly flouted. A major event in 1950 was the fusion of the two federative bodies into which the women's movement had split during the national revolution: Kowani, from which the Islamic organizations had withdrawn, and the contact body established at the Yogyakarta Women's Conference. In November 1950 they met in Jakarta, uniting as the Kongres Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Congress) (KWI).23 The congress accepted the pancasila as its guiding code. Its goals were defined as full national independence, the guarantee of women's rights as human beings and as citizens, world peace and security. Its longstanding ability to take swift and decisive action was much curtailed as unanimous votes would be needed on major issues. Effectively, this meant that the KWI would not be able to take a stand on monogamy. Decision~making power rested with the Majelis Permusyawaratan (Board of Deliberation) consisting of the leaders of all associated organizations, which was to meet every three or four months. The Secretariat was reduced to an administrative body to implement these decisions. Since the 'old' Kowani was officially dissolved at the congress, its WIDF membership automatically ended. It was left to individual organizations to establish international links. Gerwis took it upon itself to represent Indonesia in the WIDF. The women's congress urged the Government to draft a marriage bill and to appoint an equal number of women and men to the Committee of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which was to investigate the Marriage Law (Buku 1958; Kowani 1978). === [PDF page 132] === The Old Order 113 The growing inability of the women's movement to defend the interests it had fought for since its inception is the more striking since many ofthe leaders were powerful and, from the revolutionary days, influential women. Maria Ullfah24 had been a minister, as had S. K. Trimurti, one of the founders of Gerwis. 25 Suyatin Kartowiyono, one of the organizers of the first Indonesian congress in 1928, a leader of Kowani ever since, and in the 1950s chair of Perwari, is noteworthy for her personal courage and integrity.26 Sixty-three organizations attended KWI's 1952 congress in Bandung. Thanks to intensive preparatory work, agreements were reached on a wide range of issues. Several resolutions were passed and sent to the Government: the most important ones were on a new marriage law and on the appointment of women to the religious courts. Other resolutions stipulated that officials dealing with issues of marriage, repudiation (tatak) and reconciliation receive special training; that a committee on women's education be established to outline a system of education for women 'in line with the points brought forward by the congress and suitable to women's particular character' (Buku 1958: 47); that the number of women members on the Advisory Board for the Employment Bureau of the Ministry of Labour be increased; and, lastly, that publications of an immoral nature be more strongly regulated. The conference also urged women to vote in the coming elections, and discussed wage inequities, creches, the high level of illiteracy among women workers and the need for a women's vocational training centre. It recommended that regional consultation bureaus be established to deal with issues related to women's work, health, education and marriage arrangements (Buku 1958). In her analysis of the Indonesian women's movement Sukanti Suryochondro attempts to demonstrate that Indonesian women typically do not fight with the same degree of harshness or force (kekerasan) as Western women (1984: 107). However, while in the 1950s the Western women's movement lay largely dormant, the Indonesian women's struggle was employing boycotts and mass demonstrations (in which windows were.smashed!) to demonstrate its anger and frustration.'1:1 Many women felt very strongly about the need for marriage reform. Several of my interviewees, including members of Islamic women's organizations, linked their personal experiences in marriage to their decision to join the women's movement. Similarly, when Suyatin Kartowiyono toured the country in 1953 visiting branches of Perwari, === [PDF page 133] === 114 Chapter 4 she found that women were most concerned about problems of marriage and divorce. Immediately after independence there was a surge of marriage repudiations. Nearly half as many repudiations as marriages occurred on Java and Madura in 1950; the ratio was nearly 60 per cent in 1951 and 62 per cent in 1952 (Vreede-de Stuers 1960: 129). Men wanted younger wives (Rambe 1983) and more docile wives than the activist women they had valued so much as comrades during the struggle: Mrs Muninggar had married during the war. She wanted to join Perwari which had just been established but her husband prohibited it. She didn't want to accept that and went on with her activities. Their quarrels became very bitter. But actually he was looking for a chance to get rid of her; he was fed up with her independent attitude. He already had a mistress who was much younger than Muninggar. So behind her back he went to the Islamic court and filed for a divorce. The court agreed that the wife ought to serve and obey her husband, and easily granted him his request. Mrs Muninggar had never suspected that she would be divorced just like that. From one day to the next she could leave her house. 28 No general marriage law existed in 1950. The Republican Government's legislation in 1946 stipulated registration for marriages and advised against child and forced marriages. It also stipulated that couples be advised of their rights and that officials should try to prevent a repudiation by investigating both sides of the case. Unfortunately, in practice neither child nor forced marriages declined (Suwondo 1981a, 1981b; Ullfah Subadio 1981). The women's movement, arguing emphatically that this was unsatisfactory for a country with constitutionally-guaranteed equal rights for all citizens, demanded a marriage law that would bring about this equality in practice. Their insistence, together with a proposal made by the Women's Front in Parliament,29 led to the establishing in 1950 of a marriage committee to look into the matter. Members included male religious experts and various women leaders such as Nani Suwondo, Maria Ullfah, Suyatin Kartowiyono, K wari Sosrosumarto (of Wanita Katolik) and Mahmudal Mawardi (representing Islamic women's groups). The Marriage Committee was to produce drafts for one general law for all Indonesians plus separate laws for the religious groups (Ullfah Subadio 1981). Marriage was to be based on the free will of both === [PDF page 134] === The Old Order 115 partners and polygyny would be permitted only under strictly-defined conditions30 and if sanctioned by the religion of the partners. After lengthy debate with the women's organizations (for instance, the Muslim groups felt it was too 'indefinite', the Catholic women were opposed to polygyny under any conditions) the Committee submitted a draft law to the Ministry for Religious Affairs in 1954 (Suwondo 1981a; Ullfah Subadio 1981; Vreede-de Stuers 1960: 126). While the Marriage Committee was deliberating, the Government introduced Act 19 of 1952 which regulated the pensions for the widows of civil servants. In the case of polygyny, the pension would be twice the usual amount one widow would receive, to be divided equally among the widows (not exceeding four wives). To cover the cost, pension premiums for all civil servants were raised and polygamous male civil servants paid an additional charge. This meant, in effect, that polygyny was sanctioned and that society would have to pay the bill. Masyumi, the Muslimat of the NU, and two other Islamic women's organizations declared themselves in favour of the Pension Law. Perwari took the lead in protesting against it. In August 1952 a hearing was organized in which opposition to the law was voiced. By November, 19 women's organizations had declared themselves opposed to the 'waste of state money to pay for polygamy' which, in their view, would stimulate the growth of polygamous families (Suwondo 1981 a: 82-3). The protesting organizations called a demonstration for 17 December 1953, the anniversary of Perwari. However, the divisions within the women's movement, which had been glossed over during the struggle for independence, now emerged. No Islamic women's organizations participated, and while many members of KWI fully supported the demonstration individually, as an organization KWI did not. Tensions became apparent between Perwari and Gerwis. Gerwis resented Perwari's role as the major protagonist, as Mrs Siregar (First Secretary of Perwari at that time) remembers: It was a big demonstration; so many women's organizations joined. Even women of the Muslimat walked with us, albeit as individuals. At first Gerwis didn't want to join. I did not understand it at the time. Later I thought that maybe they felt resentful, that they wanted to have taken the initiative, for they sent abroad a photo of just their banner, right at the tail-end of the demonstration, which was publicized in the bulletin of the WIDF as if only they had organized it. But Perwari did; I was === [PDF page 135] === 116 Chapter 4 responsible for it. Perwari was the only organization without links to men. All the others had, and these men influenced them. 31 The women were received by the President, to whom they presented their demands: a repeal of Act 19 and a marriage law in line with the Constitution and the pancasiJa (Kartowiyono 1981). The demonstration was well publicized, but the Government was basically unresponsive. Parliament met on the subject in February 1954. Act 19 remained in If this issue had ended unsatisfactorily for women, President Sukarno's marriage to Hartini in 1954 dealt a staggering blow to the movement. 32 Sukarno's wife Fatmawati, initially doubting the need for a marriage law, soon had only Perwari to defend her. For Suyatin Kartowiyono, this was reminiscent of the concubinage at the court ofYogyakarta... There would be a fIrst wife, there would be a second wife and there would be women to have a good time with, women to be presented to another prince, or themselves presents from other princes. Ab, all so very degrading. Would this kind of feudalism be brought to life again? In an independent Indonesia? The relationship between the nation's president and the women's movement became increasingly strained as, supported by Perwari, Fatmawati 'left the palace and started to live separated from her husband, thoroughly annoying Sukarno. He started to hate the women's movement' (Maria Ullfah, in Rasid 1982: 117). Sukarno's wrath coincided with ever more pronounced internal divisions within the women's movement. As the struggle for marriage reform collapsed, KWI watched helplessly, Perwari took the lead and was sorely punished for its courage, Gerwis stood by somewhat uneasily and the Islamic women's organizations accepted both Act 19 and Sukarno's marriage. The atmosphere of this crucial period in the history of the women's movement is evident from the following interviews: Nan; Suwondo, Perwari: In 1954 Sukarno struck up his affair with Hartini, who was no more than a high-class call girl at the time. Hartini was very clever; she was some kind of a Madame de Pompadour. She stayed in Bogor and left Jakarta to Fatmawati. Some people say that the communists launched Hartini. I don't know, there has been so much === [PDF page 136] === The Old Order 117 gossip about this affair. But we do know that Gerwani, which had always been in the foreground about so many other issues, kept silent now. They never openly protested against Sukamo manying her.33 Mrs Siregar, Perwari: At the opening of the Prambanan34 it became clear that Bung Kamo was flirting with our representative from Salatiga. Hartini. This news was sent to Perwari headquarters: Bung Kamo is a vrouwengek [womanizer]! Fatmawati was very angry and sad; she wanted to get a divorce but Bung Kamo wouldn't hear of it. We tried to help her and sent her a lawyer. But no religious official was brave enough to give Fatmawati her divorce against the wishes of the President. Bung Kamo was furious, he wanted to close us down. Maybe he was encouraged by Gerwani, who knoWS?35 Sujinah Harlinah, Gerwani: Our prime concern as Gerwani was to remain good friends with Sukamo. Perwari had a much more consistent attitude than we had at the time. They remained frrm and protested strongly. We were tied hand and foot by party politics in this issue. Actually we were the only non-Islamic women's organization which didn't protest officially against Sukamo manying Hartini. But individually Gerwani members had joined the protests; for instance, the actions in Salatiga when the windows in Hartini's house were smashed. Bung Kamo was furious: he called Salawati and Mudigdio (two prominent Gerwani members) to the palace and told them that he would resign if those protests didn't stop. We decided to regard this issue as a private affair of Bung Kamo. But it hurt very much, for we fought so often for individual women who had problems with their men. We supported women who were beaten by their husbands or whose husbands wanted a younger, more docile woman. For it happened so often that men had married their comrades in the war for independence but that after a while they preferred a softerwoman. Once I interviewed him, and Sukamo asked me, "Why are you creating so much trouble whenever I many?" I told him, "Because you are a president, not a king." How can we construct a national revolution if the men harbour such feudal ideas?36 === [PDF page 137] === 118 Chapter 4 Hartini: What did I feel about the problems the women's movement had with our marriage? Well, on the outside they may have created a lot of difficulties but there never were any problems between Bapak [Father] and I. I have always fulfilled my duties towards him, I have stood by him until the very end, I have been a faithful wife and raised his childreno And whether Fatmawati agreed to our marriage... well, that was not important, was it? We only needed her consent, which she gave in the end. But of course she wasn't happy with the situation. There is no woman in the world who is happy when her husband marries another wife.. Women were his only weak spot. Some people are out for money, but Bapak only cared for women. Again and again all kinds of people who wanted something from him offered women to him. As they did with Dewi, in that Japanese nightclub. I had to accept that, for he always fulfilled his duties to me. 37 Perwari's valiant protest against Sukamo's marriage to Hartini cost the organization very dearly. Suyatin Kartowiyono, as the chair ofPerwari, received many anonymous death threats (Kartowiyono 1977). Later, efforts to improve women's position in marriage concentrated on parliamentary means and on making women aware of their rights under existing regulations. Both the Government and various women's organizations established consultation bureaus. The Marriage Committee's draft Marriage Law was presented to the Ministry of Religious Affairs in April 1954. However, it was not sent on to Parliament. Instead, in August 1954 the Government presented the old Law 22 of 1946 on the registration of marriages that had never been accepted. The Women's Front refused to discuss this law in Parliament, pushing instead for the Committee's more comprehensive draft legislation. Three years passed before a portion of the Committee's draft was presented to the full Cabinet (in September 1957), although it was never accepted. In March 1958 Mrs Sumari, a PNI member of the Women's Front of Parliament, orchestrated a brilliant move. Since the draft law, in which a restricted form of polygyny was accepted, was too radical to be discussed in Parliament, she proposed an even more radical bill. She presented a private member's marriage bill to Parliament which stipulated monogamy for all Indonesians and granted women and men equal rights in divorce. 38 This manoeuvre succeeded and in February 1959 both bills were discussed in Parliament (Suwondo 1981a, 1981b; Ul1fah Subadio 1981). === [PDF page 138] === The Old Order 119 Predictably, no agreement could be reached in Parliament. An interesting example of the type of male Islamic resistance to the proposed refonns is provided in the speech given in Parliament by Tuan Sidi Mardjohan, a representative of the Islamic party Perti: Among other considerations, [it must be acknowledged that] women age more quickly than men even though they may be of the same age when they marry. But after a woman has borne two or three children, her figure has already declined 100 to 300 per cent from the figure she used to have. The majority of women generally fade quickly while men are still strong and their lust is still powerful and they are still boiling with Ten women's organizations sent a letter of protest to the Chair of the Parliament and this speech was excluded from the minutes of the meeting (Suwondo 1981a: 91). No decision had been taken by the time Guided Democracy had been introduced and Parliament dissolved. In May 1960, half-hearted attempts were made to discuss the issue in a session of the working Cabinet, but its ad hoc Committee produced no results. The struggle for a marriage law continued through the national elections and KWI's 1955, 1957 and 1958 congresses. 39 In the years immediately preceding Guided Democracy the women's movement was weakened and divided. The KWI congresses, hampered by their rule of consensus, failed to progress beyond a habitual request for a fair marriage law. The rifts in the movement deepened, not only between Islamic and non-Islamic groups but also between 'progressive' women's groups such as Gerwani and those opposed to the increasing influence of left-wing forces centring around the alliance between President Sukamo and the PKI. Boundaries were redrawn. Most Muslim women's groups joined forces with their fonner fiercest opponents in the marriage struggle (perwari and Bhayangkari) in opposition to the progressives. Bridging these rifts demanded all of Maria Ullfah's considerable diplomatic skills. She was elected chair of the secretariat of the new structure adopted at the 1955 congress. The new secretariat included representatives of the four main organizations of this period: Perwari (Nani Suwondo), Muslimat, PPI and Persatuan Wanita Kristen Indonesia (Union of Indonesian Christian Women) (PWKI) (Buku 1958: 50). The congress found common ground in its discussions of the country's deteriorating === [PDF page 139] === 120 Chapter 4 socio-economic conditions and the implementation of the labour laws, particularly those dealing with women's labour. It also declared its opposition to the Miss Indonesia Contest and expressed concern about the dubious morality of the film Rock 'n Roll. The discussions on women workers continued in the 1957 congress, which established a special section for working women's issues. The congress also set up a special committee on West Irian, which led in 1958 to the creation of a Cooperative Body of Women and the Military (BKS Wanita-Militer, Badan Kerja Sarna Wanita-Militer). Finally, the secretariat was expanded to include representatives of Gerwani (Mrs Mudikdio) and Bhayangkari (Buku 1958: 56). This was the first time that a representative of Gerwani had been accepted to such a high position in the women's movement. Gerwani attempted to gain more influence within the KWI. In 1958 it set up a broad coalition of 'progressive' organizations and individuals called the 'mass movement'. This initiative was cut short by Maria Ullfah. Members of Gerwani, explaining the rationale for the mass movement, said that the Federation was actually rather sluggish in those days. We wanted to put some more energy into it and we wanted it to be more active on behalf of women workers. That is why we wanted to celebrate 8 March, International Women's Day, in Indonesia. Maria Ullfah was very vexed with us and we had to stop. But then the KWI became more involved with the Trikora activities around the liberation of West Irian and gradually became more progressive anyhow.40 Maria Ullfah, indeed, saw the mass movement as divisive: Around 1958 Gerwani started to agitate via their mass movement. Matters came to a head when the WlDF organized an Afro-Asian conference in Nairobi in 1958. The invitations passed through Gerwani and I was not invited, as I should have been. I called a meeting and asked the Gerwani members why they stabbed the KWI in the back like that. I told them that if they wanted to set up their own women's federation they should go ahead. But then they had to choose, for nobody could be a member of both the KWI and an independent mass movement. No one left the KWI and that was the end of it. But I must say, apart from this short episode, Gerwani was always very cooperative in Kowani. Just before the coup their attitude became more and more === [PDF page 140] === The Old Order 121 belligerent; but they were always among the most active Kowani members. 41 During the Liberal Democracy period women's organizations such as Gerwani, Perwari, Wanita Katolik, Aisyah and Bhayangkari pursued diverse social welfare or political goals that in many ways reflected their associations with political or functional groups. Perwari was founded in 1945 as a secular women's organization based on the pancasila. Its chair was not permitted to belong to any political organization, although ordinary members were left free in this respect. However, several members reported that they were 'advised' by male members of the political parties to which they belonged (PNI, Pesindo) to join Perwari. After independence Perwari lost members to the new women's wings of political parties and to other new women's organizations such as Gerwis. Many retained double memberships but were no longer active in the older organization.42 Although around the period of the women's demonstration in 1953 Perwari was the most vocal and influential of the women's organizations, even then its chair, Suyatin Kartowiyono, realized that the organization was becoming weaker (Kartowiyono 1981: 89). Its decline accelerated after Sukarno's marriage with Hartini, when many women became afraid to be associated with an organization so 'radical' as to dare to oppose the President.43 As an organization committed to social issues, Perwari was active on many fronts in the 1950s. It created schools, consultation bureaus, mother and child clinics and hostels for girl students and women workers (Kartowiyono 1983; Vreede-de Stuers 1960). In its preparations for the 1955 elections, Perwari initially neither joined any of the women's wings of the political parties nor campaigned for its own candidates. Instead, it confronted the parties directly with its own struggle programme, including a progressive marriage law, health and education issues, the extension of the police force (to curb prostitution) and price controls. The programme was sent to 15 political parties and discussed with several of them. In the end, only the PSI and the PNI expressed any agreement with the programme,44 although neither the PSI nor the PNI accepted any of the points in their own programmes. Neither party supported Perwari's stance on Sukarno's marriage to Hartini. Perwari decided to support those PNI and PSI candidates who were also Perwari members, but soon realized that these candidates put party interests above Perwari's programme. Only then did the organization === [PDF page 141] === 122 Chapter 4 finally decide to put up its own candidates, including Kartowiyono. None were elected (Wilmott 1957). Perwari's relationship with Gerwani, which had soured considerably after the 1953 demonstration, became irreparably damaged over the issue of Sukamo's marriage to Hartini. Although both parties were progressive, Perwari members felt that for Gerwani, 'party politics always had priority'.45 The members of Wanita Katolik, silent during the Japanese occupation, resumed activities as a group immediately afterwards, initially as part of the Catholic Party. In December 1949 the Congress of the All-Indonesian Catholic Community re-established the women's organization (Duriat 1964). Mrs Kwari Sosrosumarto, head of the women's section of this congress, put forward a successful motion that Wanita Katolik should extend its influence throughout Indonesia and not limit itself to its former boundaries in Surakarta and Yogyakarta. 46 Wanita Katolik was at the forefront of the drive to introduce a monogamous marriage law in the 1950s, although it was mainly concerned with social work (especially for members of the Catholic community), setting up creches, schools and women's religious study circles. Wanita Katolik was an important member of KWI during the Old Order and, locally, of the various women's federations such as the GOW groupS.47 Mrs Sosrosumarto recalls: It used to be very nice to work in Kowani. Several times we occupied leadership positions and, together with Perwari, we fought very hard to get a good marriage law. With Aisyah women we could work well on the local level. They didn't dare to oppose polygamy openly, but individual women would be very much opposed to it. We absolutely never cooperated with Gerwani. That was a purely communist organization. Communism simply is not accepted in Indonesia. 48 The necessity for women's organizations post-1965 to distance themselves from Gerwani may explain the difference between this account and the recollections of another Catholic women's leader of the period: One of the issues we worked very hard on both in the GOW and via the regional councils was prostitution. Here in Yogya we cooperated with the police in this, but also with other women's organizations such as Gerwani. These women were often school dropouts, who were forced into prostitution by socio-economic conditions. So we lectured to them === [PDF page 142] === The Old Order 123 in the presence of the police. Particularly the Christian women like us were active in this, for we were convinced that we could give them the spiritual strength to leave that kind of life. But we also realized that we must give them the material means to make another living, so we asked for sewing machines. We taught them how to sew. But it was not very effective. Most of them returned to their earlier profession, thanking us for the fact that now they knew how to make nice clothes and how to paint their faces. 49 Aisyah, which had begun as a branch of the Muhammadyah, was regarded by both parties as 'autonomous' by 1951. In fact their autonomy was rather limited: while Aisyah's statutes stipulated that the organization had the right to make and implement its own decisions, in reality it had to follow the decisions of Muhammadyah. Decisions taken by the Aisyah congress (to be held in parallel to that of the Muhammadyah) had to be validated by the Muhammadyah, and this included election results. The leader of Muhammadyah had greater authority than Aisyah's chair: He is our counsellor. If the counsellor is good, he will let Aisyah fmd its own way. But if the counsellor is bad he can restrict Aisyah. Muhammadyah has the right to veto our decisions but that is very rarely applied. They also can fire members of the Aisyah Board, which they have done in the past. We cannot frre them and we don't have a veto in their organization. You see, it is rather like a husband-wife relationship.50 Aisyah's statutes affirm that 'Aisyah is a special department of Muhammadyah, with an autonomous position'. Its statutory activities were, first, to spread Islam (especially to teach young girls and women to be 'true Islamic women') and second to promote education (Aisyah 1955). Aisyah viewed the emergence of Islamic reformism in Indonesia as benefiting Indonesian women (Baried n.d.). Baried believes that before the days of reform Indonesian women were uneducated; they were just in the household and had no religious conscience whatsoever,51 because all religious commands were believed to refer to the stronger sex... But since then, Aisyah urged them to be aware that they had the same duties as men, in === [PDF page 143] === 124 Chapter 4 running the household, building up the community and in the service of God... [so that] women who have felt Aisyah's guidance will realize that the important duty of a woman is in her home.... After having managed the household successfully she will realize that she has to do the same to her society. The most suitable place to do that is in organizations. (n.d.: 16-17) Baried saw Aisyah as a superior kind of school for housewives, able to produce social changes that could release housewives from being chained only to responsibilities and duties in the household. They can leave their home to do something which is necessary to upgrade themselves to be more useful to settle their household [and in the process make them]... conscious about their position and function as the saviours of the younger generation, as the mother of society... (n.d.: 18) The major issue that divided Islamic groups from the other women's organizations in the 1950s was the Marriage Law. Generally they accepted Act 19 (Sukanti Suryochondro 1984: 101) and in 1953 a gathering of II Islamic women's organizations rejected the draft Marriage Law proposed by the Marriage Committee and demanded an Islamic marriage law (Suwondo 1981a: 86-7). The cooperation between conservative Islamic women's groups, such as Aisyah, and Gerwani was somewhat strained: Our Islamic religious principles simply do not coincide with communist principles. For instance, they do not respect our central teaching, that there is one God. I do not know exactly what communism is, but I do know that they do not adhere to that principle. So there were many clashes between us. They were often very rude. They would spread gossip about us, for instance that Aisyah was against the Government. 52 Bhayangkari, the most 'radical' and influential of the functional organizations of wives of the armed forces, was established in 1949 by Mrs Lena Soekanto-Mokoginta, the wife of the Chief of Police, who declined to chair the organization but acted as its patron. At its inaugural meeting the group decided that their leaders should be educated women who would be responsible and dedicated to their work (Bhayangkari 1977: 8). Bhayangkari immediately joined the 1949 === [PDF page 144] === The Old Order 125 women's conference in Yogyakarta and began an increasingly important role in the KWI. Its first activities centred around assistance for policemen returning from duty in the guerrilla areas and for the widows and orphans of policemen killed in action. Bhayangkari gradually established branches allover Indonesia. Female police officers also joined and the organization actively defended their interests, concentrating on creating equal training opportunities with male officers. Bhayangkari was particularly active in the struggle for a marriage law. It opposed Act 19, it joined the demonstration in 1953 and it opposed Sukarno's marriage to Hartini. The organization decided not to enter the 1955 elections independently but to join the police campaign. In return for their support, the policemen's organization added three demands to their campaign: a just marriage law, the repeal of Act 19 and the establishment of a juvenile court. Later, as it became clear that the immediate future was not to include a national marriage law, Bhayangkari pushed for monogamy among the ranks of the police. At their second congress in 1956, they resolved that only first wives might join Bhayangkari. They attempted to include a requirement of monogamy in the police regulations and succeeded in inserting a clause that limited the possibilities for polygyny. In 1960 the Bhayangkari member of the committee drafting a police law managed to have a clause included on the 'importance of a harmonious family life for police officers and the important role of the wife' (Bhayangkari 1972: 47). The Women's Movement Under Guided Democracy After 1959, the influence of Sukarno's hegemonic politics and his Guided Democracy were felt very strongly within the women's movement. Since Gerwani had become the women's organization closest to the President, it also exerted a considerable influence on the KWIIKowani. The other organizations felt compelled to couch their activities in a language punctuated with Nasakom, Manipol/Usdek and other current terms. This increased tension between Gerwani and the other women's organizations, although at the local level cooperation continued between the various GOW organizations. These underlying tensions between Gerwani and groups such as Aisyah, Wanita Katolik and Bhayangkari help to explain the 1966 demonstrations against Gerwani. Gerwani's increased influence was strongly in evidence at KWI's 1961 congress, at which President Sukarno admonished the KWI for === [PDF page 145] === 126 Chapter 4 being a 'ladies' movement and 'lazy' (lamban) (Rasid 1982: 121). The KWI should 'cooperate in the effort to create a just and prosperous society' (Suwondo 1981a: 198). It adopted a new structure, replacing the secretariat with an executive board and replacing consensus decisionmaking with simple majority. This effectively meant that the Islamic women's organizations would no longer be able to block the KWI's insistence on monogamy. KWI increasingly turned to the left and towards Sukamo's politics. The Muslimat of Masyumi, as the women's branch of the banned Masyumi, was expelled from the KWI. Mrs Hurustiati Subandrio, the dynamic, leftist wife of the Foreign Minister (one of President Sukamo's closest associates) was elected chair. Maria Utlfah was replaced, probably because of her association with the banned PSI, but she remained on the Board initially. Gerakan Wanita Sosialis (Organization of Socialist Women) (GWS) temporarily escaped expulsion because it had always been independent from the PSI.53 In 1964 Maria Ullfah disappeared from the Board of Kowani altogether after marrying a prominent member of the PSI who had been imprisoned with Sutan Syahrir since 1962. Mrs Mudigdio, a Gerwani member, joined the Executive Board. After the 1961 congress, the only Islamic organization still represented on the Board was the Muslimat of the Nahdatul Ulama. The KWI strongly supported the struggle for the liberation of West Irian. In 1962 it joined the National Front. It was involved in all of its activities, from mass demonstrations to the training of volunteers for the Malaysia confrontation (panitia 1978; Suwondo 1981a). Although the KWI became more active - strengthening its links with the local GOW groups, teaching courses, creating cooperatives, establishing centres to help prostitutes and expanding legal aid activities (Suwondo 1981a) - it gave priority to national political issues, while specific women's interests became increasingly relegated to the background. The 1961 congress still called for a marriage law, but by 1964 the congress had replaced this demand with a focus on land reform and labour conditions (Suwondo 1981 a). During this congress, the last of the Old Order, adulation of Sukamo reached a climax. The President, who through his marriages had undercut the single most important struggle of the women's movement, was awarded the title 'Great Guide of the Indonesian Revolutionary Women's Movement'. The Federation decided to revive the acronym Kowani, but no further important structural changes were made. It continued its strong === [PDF page 146] === The Old Order 127 association with Sukarno, organizing a seminar to debate Sukarno's 1964 Independence Day speech, TAVIP,s4 in which he called on women to provide leadership in the struggle for basic needs and in the confrontation with Malaysia (panitia 1978). The atmosphere had become so politicized that the major demands of Mother's Day in 1964 were to crush Malaysia and the seven village devils, and to fight for Nasakom unity (AK NovemberlDecember 1964). In 1965 Gerwani could celebrate another victory when the Federation celebrated 8 March. Competition at the national level between the various women's organizations became intense. Perwari suffered heavily for incurring the President's wrath and narrowly escaped dissolution in 1964.55 The relationship between Perwari and Gerwani deteriorated as Gerwani could not accept Perwari's 'political diffuseness'. As a Gerwani leader explained, They were so diverse, they had no clear political line: so many colours, so many birds in that organization. Their members came from different political directions, most of them from the PNI, but also from the PSI and Masyumi. In general the ideology of the PNI and the PSI predominated and these people were prejudiced against us. But these differences were most pronounced in the cities; at the local level it was much easier to cooperate with them.56 Wanita Katolik, always a rather sedate organization of upper middleand upper-class women, felt similarly constrained by the vigour and dominance of Gerwani. They had become afraid of Gerwani and suspicious of its political motives: The Nasakom period was very difficult for us. Via the GOW, Gerwani members tried to push their policies all the time. They did it quietly but we were all very much at our qui vive. We tried to avoid antagonizing them for they would always create problems if you opposed them. They tried to change the GOW. But the GOWactually was only for social work. We didn't want it to be different. Gerwani would invite speakers on the topics they were involved with, such as land reform. We didn't want to attend those meetings so we just sat there passively, but we couldn't refuse. Now this land reform was of course nonsense. The farmers had inherited their land; it was theirs! But the PKI incited poor farmers to grab the land they wanted. We were very glad when this all fell apart. === [PDF page 147] === 128 Chapter 4 Have you met my neighbour yet? She was in prison until 1980. Her husband was killed. In those days she was the chair of the regional committee ofGerwani and we were both vice-chairwomen of the GOW here in Yogya. We tried not to have too much contact for we both had young children then and they would easily fight. Together we got a lot done in the social field. We organized, for instance, adoptions of maltreated children and flood relief. Actually, the proposals of Gerwani in the GOW were not all that bad. They gained a lot of sympathy through their work. They were also very active with us in the programmes for the eradication of prostitution. But behind the scenes they had different plans. When you started liking them they would push their ideas, such as atheism.57 In spite of Wanita Katolik's wish to remain active solely in what they classified as the 'social' field, the organization felt compelled to subscribe to the struggle against feudalism, imperialism and colonialism during the celebration of its 40th anniversary in 1964.58 The chair of Kowani, Hurustiati Subandrio, who also spoke on this occasion, reminded the assembled Catholic women that the women's struggle should parallel the struggle of Indonesian society, namely 'to implement the Dwi Komando Rakyat to dissolve the neo-colonialist project of "Malaysia'" (Wanita Katolik 1964: 22). Wanita Katolik was caught up in the revolutionary whirlwind which swept through Indonesia in the early 1960s and felt obliged to submit to the anti-Malaysia chorus. Aisyah also went through a difficult period and virtually withdrew from the Federation: In those Nasakom days we faced so many limitations. All the time we were given a red light. We needed a green light didn't we? Green is the colour ofIslam. The confrontation with Gerwani was particularly acute then. They also had their social ideas, but the focus of their ideology was communist. Kowani was not so happy with a religious organization either in the early 1960s. You see, for us social justice can only be achieved via religious rules. For them it was different: they just wanted to establish communism. Islam and communism do not coincide. We used to have an Aisyah member on the Board of Kowani. When she had to be replaced no one else was available. We just stayed here in Yogya and focused on our religious and social tasks. 59 === [PDF page 148] === The Old Order 129 The functional women's organizations began preparing to resist the revolutionary socialist direction their country was taking. Although they participated in all the revolutionary activities of the day and employed all the available slogans, they used their membership of the Golkar Secretariat to join the forces that were trying to build a front against the PKI and Gerwani. Bhayangkari joined the Golkar section through Mrs Memet Tanumidjaja, its representative in the Mutual Help Parliament established in 1959. In 1961 at its fourth congress it proudly listed its activities for implementing the Trikora and announced that many of its members had already joined the National Front for the Liberation of West Irian. In 1963 it sent a goodwill mission of army wives to West Irian to counteract Dutch propaganda and support the Indonesian claim to the region. After the West Irian conflict, Bhayangkari members diligently supported the Malaysia volunteers. The organization also joined every mass demonstration organized by the National Front, 'which by that time were held very often' (Bhayangkari 1977: 76). Bhayangkari did maintain one aspect of its feminist agenda: its opposition to polygyny among the male police officers. In 1963 it convinced the Ministry that Bhayangkari should be involved in matters of marriage and divorce of members of the police force (Bhayangkari 1977: 77). However, it spent relatively less time on women's interests than in the 1950s and even changed its statutes to reflect this shift. The 1952 statutes committed the organization to improving the position of the families of policemen 'and of Indonesian women in general' (Bhayangkari 1977: 12). By 1963 all of this had been dropped and the organization declared itself a functional group of Indonesian women Bhayangkari had a Janus face in the mid-1960s before the coups. Although it abhorred the PKI and its ideology, it had to show support for the President, who embraced many of the ideas of that party. Thus in 1965 Bhayangkari sent 50 members to a Nasakom training course and carried a banner with the Maoist slogan Berdikari on Independence Day, but it also actively participated in Sekher Golkar 'to stop the influence of the PKI' (Bhayangkari 1977: 82). And although Bhayangkari cooperated with Gerwani locally on many issues, it was in the forefront of the struggle against the 'mass movement' to take over Kowani and refused to join the 'days of the European Socialists, such as 8 March' === [PDF page 149] === 130 Chapter 4 Concluding Remarks While Indonesia was in foreign hands independence took precedence over most other concerns, both for political parties and for the women's movement. Nationalism was seen to be consistent with women's roles as wives and mothers. However, independence disrupted the unity between political parties and widened the gap between the parties and the women's movement. In this process, gender relations were redefined. Since women had gained (most of) their political rights, the maledominated political parties concluded that women's emancipation was complete. If they could vote and be elected and had access to all levels of education, women should be satisfied - the unresolved marriage law issue notwithstanding. Now that the political parties no longer needed women's support, their interest in women's issues noticeably dwindled and they clearly felt that women should leave politics and return to their homes and social clubs. Women had to give up their aspirations to be like Srikandi and should return to a kodrat based on the model Sumbadra represented. Parties whose political orientation should have supported monogamy, such as the PNI, the PKI and the PSI, did little to fight for marriage reform, presumably because they felt the issue was not worth a confrontation with the Islamic parties. Party politics came to be defined as a male preserve, while the interests the women's movement had fought for became narrowed to female (generally defined as social) concerns. Among the women's organizations and political parties only Gerwani disrupted this picture: they stuck to the Srikandi model. The other women's organizations chose to define their activities as 'social', ignoring the fact that many of the 'social evils' they were concerned with needed political solutions The women's movement also fought for the repeal of a colonial law, Inlandsche Gemeente Ordonnantie No. 212, that prohibited women from becoming village heads. 60 Thus in 1958 when three women were elected as village heads but were not allowed to take up their positions, KWI wrote to the Ministry of Home Affairs and later sent a delegation demanding that this colonial remnant be removed (Kowani 1978: 131). They succeeded and in 1962 the regulations on village administration were brought into line with the Constitution; men and women were equally eligible to serve as village heads (Suwondo 1981a: 137).61 The gap between the 'male' realm of politics and the 'female' realm of social work became less pronounced after 1959 when Sukarno's === [PDF page 150] === The Old Order 131 national politics began to dominate. Even conservative groups such as Wanita Katolik felt compelled to attend the mass rallies and to listen to political speeches, although their aversion to Gerwani (associated with 'male' politics and communism) increased. In the second half of the 1950s, Gerwani encouraged the KWI to become more involved in national politics as well. According to Maria Ullfah, who headed the Indonesian delegation to the 1958 Asian-African Women's Conference in Colombo, Gerwani's representative (Trimurti) proposed that the Indonesian delegation should take up the West Irian issue. 'Why should we discuss that issue here', she asked? 'What does it have to do with women's affairs?' Trimurti replied that 'it was important to bring forward the message of the people,.62 However, the sense that women's concerns were inherently social and that women should not 'meddle' in politics, remained. As one of Wanita Katolik's leaders put it: We worked in the GOW ofYogyakarta [which]... was concerned with social duties, for that is the task of women. All the time Gerwani tried to change that; they wanted us to occupy ourselves with politics. But that is for men. Women should not do that. Gerwani members were actually inSUlting our feelings of womanhood by their pushing. The GOW should only occupy itself with remedying social eVils. 63 National independence did not dismantle the structures of patriarchy, the 'He"en mentality' Sukarno had criticized in Sarinah. Nor did the majority of women's organizations confront these structures. After independence they defmed their interests as an extension of their domestic role. Male domination was considered regrettable but not a concern in itself, and the male claim to the national political arena was not problematized. Thus the struggle for national independence was an exception to the rule, not a preamble to a fundamental change in gender relations. Family law, on the other hand, was seen to be a legitimate women's concern, and here women fought a bitter battle against well-entrenched male privilege. The defeat of their struggle for a fair marriage law was brought about as much by women's willingness to leave politics to men as by women's lack of unity. Gerwani also contributed to this disunity by standing helplessly on the sidelines while Sukamo married Hartini. However, after some hesitation it did enter the 'male' political domain, albeit less on its own terms === [PDF page 151] === 132 Chapter 4 than on those stipulated by their male counterparts, the PKI and, in a different way, Sukarno. In the general political climate of Guided Democracy, politics became narrowed to a populist version of socialism, with which Gerwani became fully associated, in the views of the more conservative women's organizations. Politics was effectively reduced to leftist politics. Liberal Democracy witnessed the demise of the women's movement as an independent social force fighting for its own defined gender interests. The emphasis on women's equality with men dwindled. Instead, notions of their difference from men became more pronounced and were rationalized with reference to the different kodrat of the sexes. As men claimed their 'natural' right to dominate public life, women were pushed aside and their interests ignored. The Old Order also saw the emergence of the functional women's organizations. The case of Bhayangkari shows how these organizations developed from independent organizations concerned with particular women's interests into groups that formed part of the broad anticommunist front that was being built up (even while carrying banners with Maoist slogans). By the end of Guided Democracy, the power balance had shifted unmistakably. President Sukarno and the PKI still dominated the national political scene ideologically. The President had denounced 'communist-phobia' as disloyal to the doctrine of the nation. The PKI commanded the streets with its mass demonstrations but it did not command the barracks, the prayer houses, the political parties and functional groups associated with the Islamic community. If General Djuhartono is correct, the PKI had even lost out to the army in the very numbers game in which it believed it had achieved such great political success. 64 In the light of the army's growing political and economic influence under Guided Democracy, its 'sudden' leap to power after October 1965 is not a total surprise. The army had become part of the ruling elite under Guided Democracy, and many of its officers (such as General Djuhartono) had become skilled in political bargaining (Crouch 1978). Although the growing influence of the PKI may have appeared the most striking political feature of Guided Democracy. military, Islamic and other anti-communist groups were gathering an even greater force away from the limelight. === [PDF page 152] === The Old Order 133 Notes Cribb and Brown (1995), for instance, devote considerable attention to the right of the Chinese minority after independence was won, but they ignore women's rights. 2. Strong magical-mystical elements surfaced during the revolution. The rural masses believed that 'victory in the war and independence for Indonesia depended on the semangat (spiritual power)' of themselves and their leaders (Mortimer 1974: 104, quoting Anderson) and that independence would herald a new era of aftluence. 3. The Darnl Islam Movement in West Java, led by Kartosuwiryo, continued until its leader was captured in 1962 (Van Dijk 1981). An Islam-inspired guerrilla movement in Sulawesi, led by Kahar Muzakkar until his death in 1965 (Boland 1982), aimed to establish a 'Muslim House' (Robinson 1986). 4. The concept of gotong royong refers to a wide range oflabour relations (Koentjaraningrat 1961). For political purposes, the concept became imbued with notions of spontaneity and reciprocity. 5. Boland (1982: 47) dates the beginning of the break between Sukarno and the Masyumi to 1953 when Sukarno spoke out fmnly against the idea of an Islamic state (see also Van Dijk 1981). 6. The NU had been established in 1926. 7. The most significant division of interest here is between the abangan, adherents of the eclectic Javanese religion (combining elements of Hindu-Buddhism and animism with Islam), and the orthodox Mulsim santri (Geertz 1960; Jay 1969; Kahn 1978; McVey 1970). 8. There were only 19 women MPs: four from the PNI, four from Masyumi, five from the NU, five from the PKI and one from the PSI (Buku 1958: 249). 9. Harvey (1977) analyses the growing resentment against' Jakarta' in Sulawesi, the main area in which the Permesta movement would develop (Piagam Perjuangan Semesta Alam, Universal Struggle Charter). Yamin (1957) lists the Minangkabau grievances. Feith (1962) provides an overall account ofthe PRRIlPermesta uprising and of the role of the Masyumi. 10. See Jones (1971) for evidence of CIA support for the PRRIlPermesta movement, which had also secured some limited assistance mainly from Singapore (from which it smuggled arms) and Malaysia. === [PDF page 153] === 134 Chapter 4 11. These bodies were: a Supreme Advisory Council (Dewan Pertimbangan Agung), a People's Provisional Consultative Council (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Sementara) (MPRS), a Working Cabinet and a Mutual Aid (Gotong Royong) Parliament. 12. Often the acronym 'Usdek' is added: ManipollUsdek. Usdek stands for: UUD-1945 (the 1945 Constitution), Sosialism a la Indonesia, Demokrasi Terpimpin (Guided Democracy), Ekonomi Terpimpin (Guided Economy), and Kepribadian Indonesia (Indonesian Identity). 13. The UN solution stipulated that elections in West Guinea should determine whether the region were to become independent or a part ofIndonesia. A heavily-manipulated 'Act of Free Choice' was held in 1969, after which West Irian was incorporated into Indonesia as its 26th province. The Organisasi Papua Merdeka (Organization of Independence for the Papuans) (OPM) subsequently began a guerrilla war. 14. Specifically, when diplomatic ties were severed with Malaysia and Singapore, Singapore being the cornerstone of the stabilization programme (Tornquist 1984: 159). 15. Sukarno introduced this concept around 1930 after he met a peasant, Marhaen, who owned his own means of production and did not sell his labour (Dahm 1964). 16. Harian Rakyat (20 August 1965) reported the following membership figures for the PKI and its ormas: the PKI itself had 3.5 million members; the PR 3 million; SOBSI 3.5 million; the BTl 9 million; Gerwani 4 million; Lekra 5 million; and the HSI 70,000 members. 17. See also the criticism of Sudisman as reported in Feith and Castles (1970). 18. Literally 'elder brother'. This was a popular way of addressing Sukarno. 19. Interview with General Djuhartono, 19 December 1983. 20. The seven village devils were perfidious landowners, usurers, speculative buyers, dishonest middlemen, bandits, corrupt officials and the kabir. 21. This was one of the most frequent accusations I heard during my fieldwork; the PKI were creating trouble (bikin kacau), especially in East Java. 22. Article 27 of the 1945 Constitution stated that all citizens would have an equal position in law and government. In 1957, Law No. 80 explicitly agreed to the principle of equal pay for equal work. In === [PDF page 154] === The Old Order 135 1958, the December 1952 UN Convention on Political Rights for Women was codified in Law No. 68. Also, women were entitled to three months' maternity leave and two days' menstruation leave (Department ofInformation 1968: 19). 23. At that time it was decided that the full name of the federation, Kongres Wanita Indonesia, should be used. The acronym 'Kowani' was officially reintroduced only in 1964. In the literature this practice is not always followed and KWI and Kowani are often used interchangeably. For the sake of clarity and brevity, 'KWI', 'the Federation' or the 'women's congress' refer to the Federation from 1950-64 and 'Kowani' refers to the Federation more generally and during other periods. 24. Like many others, Maria Ullfah cited personal reasons for her decision to dedicate herself to the women's movement, and especially the struggle for a fair marriage law. When she was a girl, an aunt returned ill to her parents' house. There she received a letter of repudiation from her husband. The aunt was powerless and died of grief. The young Maria Ullfah decided to study law to improve the lives of women, becoming the first Indonesian woman to take a law degree at Leiden University, graduating in 1933 (Ullfah Subadio 1981). 25. Maria Ullfah Santoso had been Minister of Social Affairs in the second Syahrir Cabinet (March to October 1946). S. K. Trimurti had been Minister of Labour in the Arnir Syarifuddin Cabinet (July 1947 to January 1948). 26. As a schoolgirl, receiving a prize for a Kartini procession she organized in 1923, she refused to bow to the Sultan ofYogyakarta, protesting against feudalism in general but in particular against the way women were treated at the courts 'only as objects to be traded, taken as concubines whenever the princes fancied them, and given to another man when they had had enough of them' (Kartowiyono 1981: 236). As an adult, she broke off two engagements when the fiances concerned were unable to accept that her activities with the women's movement left her little time to spend with them. The first occasion was during preparations for the 1928 congress: her fiance, "'my Arjuna", became angry [that I was so busy with the congress] so I wrote him a letter... [ending] '" the engagement, as he had not passed the examination I had prepared for him' (1981: 41). This fiance was himself an activist in the nationalist movement. The second engagement was broken during preparations for the 1930 === [PDF page 155] === 136 Chapter 4 congress in Surabaya. 'Two congresses, two broken engagements... if the men feel that because I fight for women their hearts are broken, that is their problem' (1981: 43). 27. Such actions were described by my interviewees but are strikingly absent in accounts of this period by major Indonesian chroniclers. Among those who remain silent on the more violent aspects of the women's struggle for a marriage law were Nani Suwondo and Sukanti Suryochondro, both writing during the New Order when such acts were considered unimaginable. 28. Interview, Mrs Sujinah and Mrs Sulami, 18 November 1984. 29. Comprising of all nine women members of the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (People's Representative Council) (DPR) (Suwondo 1981 a; Wilmott 1957). 30. The conditions were that the husband must treat his wives equally well and the first wife must agree to polygyny. For Maria UlIfah this meant that in practice polygyny would never be possible, for even if a man could share his material goods equally he would never be able to do so emotionally: 'love cannot be divided' (Ullfah Subadio 1981: 11). 31. Interview, 31 January 1984. 32. This was actually Sukarno's fourth marriage, but his first polygynous one. He had divorced his first wife, a daughter of Cokroaminoto, when he married Inggit, his landlady in Bandung. This marriage was dissolved when Sukarno met Fatmawati. See Ramadhan (1981) for a romanticized account of Sukamo's marriage to Inggit and his subsequent 'betrayal' of her. He chose not to divorce Fatmawati. 33. Interview, Nani Suwondo, Perwari, 8 December 1983. 34. A temple complex near Yogyakarta. 35. Interview, Mrs Sriregar, Perwari, 31 January 1984. 36. Interviews, Sujinah Harlinah' Gerwani, 8 September 1984, 18 November 1984, 8 February 1984. 37. One of the words she used, pandai, means capable and here has a sexual connotation. Interview, Mrs Hartini, 9 February 1984. 38. See also her article in Rangkajo Toemenggoeng (1958), originally published in Harian Pemuda (1958). The bill allowed polygyny only as a form of pergundikan (concubinage) not as an official marriage. 39. It was not until 1974 that a marriage law was passed in which a restricted form of polygyny was permitted (Amak 1976). === [PDF page 156] === The Old Order 137 40. Interview, Sujinah, 21 January 1984. 41. Interview, Maria Ullfah, 9 December 1983. 42. The double membership of some Gerwani members became an embarrassment to Perwari after 1965, when it purged Gerwani members from its rank, including Mrs Susanto, a prominent Gerwani member and a member of both the Constituent Assembly and the DPR, who recalls: 'Perwari used to be the biggest organization but after independence was won they all flocked to their own rooms, emptying Perwari. I remained a Perwari member after I joined Gerwis until I was expelled from the organization just before they arrested me' (interview, 10 January 1984). 43. 'Sukarno sawall our actions for a better marriage law as one big demonstration against him personally, and he made us suffer for that' (interview, Nani Suwondo, 8 December 1983). 44. The more radical Partai Wanita Rakyat did not accept the struggle programme either as it wanted a monogamous marriage law. 45. Interview, Nani Suwondo, 8 December 1983. 46. Interview, Mrs Kwari Sosrosumarto, 6 January 1984. 47. KWIIKowani was active only at the national level. In the 1950s organizations such as Gabungan Organisasi Wanita (Union of Women's Organizations) (GOW) were created to coordinate among women's groups at the local level. They were not coordinated by KWIlKowani. 48. Interview, Mrs Kwari Sosrosumarto, 9 December 1983. 49. Interview, Mrs Wahyudi. 9 January 1984. 50. Interview, Mrs H. Baroroh Baried, 11 January 1984. 51. However, Reid (1988) sees consistent evidence for the autonomy of pre-Islamic women in Indonesia and observes that women, far from lacking religious conscience, actively resisted the introduction of the new scriptural religions such as Hinduism and Islam as they felt these clashed with the authority women commanded in adat. 52. Interview, Mrs H. Baroroh Baried, 28 December 1983. 53. Although never banned by the Government, it declined after 1960 and was finally expelled from Kowani in 1965 (Suwondo 1981a: 202). In 1984 it renamed itself Gerakan Wanita Sejahtera (Organization of Healthy Women) (GWS), using the same acronym and comprising the same women members (interview, Poppy Syahrir, 19 November 1984). 54. Acronym ofTahun Vivere Pericoloso, Year of Living Dangerously. === [PDF page 157] === 138 Chapter 4 55. Allegedly at Gerwani's instigation. Suyatin Kartowiyono (1977: 18) does not specify which issues Gerwani raised against Perwari. 56. Interview, Maasje Siwi. 6 February 1984. 57. Interview, Mrs Wahyudi, 9 January 1984. 58. Mrs Doeriat, chair ofWanita Katolik, said: To carry out these objectives [also the struggle for a Unitary Indonesia and ajust and prosperous Indonesia] we still experience many obstacles from outside... especially from the neo-colonial project to... establish "Malaysia".., The position of the Catholic community in general and Catholic women in particular is ftrm. Wanita Katolik will not stay behind; Wanita Katolik will not remain an observer; Wanita Katolik will ftght in its own fteld so that together with the whole Indonesian society we will be guided by ManipoVUsdek to fulftI the spirit of the Suffering of the People. (Wanita Katolik 1964: 26) 59. Interview, Mrs H. Baroroh Baried, 28 December 1983. 60. This law was drawn up in 1907. It is referred to as the IGOIB Law, 'B' standing for Buitengewesten, Outer Islands. 61. In 1964 six women were installed as village heads in Central Java (Suwondo 1981a). 62. Interview, Maria Ullfah, 9 December 1983. 63. Interview, Mrs Wahyudi, 9 January 1984. 64. The PKI claimed that the 'communist family' consisted of 20 million people through its mass organizations. This is probably an overestimation. Djuhartono's claim that Sekber Golkar controlled 40 million people is probably overestimated as well, but indicates that the anti-PKI forces were fonnidable. === [PDF page 158] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Women's Movement no longer are we gilded posies engaging when compliant exquisite when yielding enchanting when submissive to hell 'tis our duty to go to heaven permitted to follow and no longer are we blossoms cast aside downtrodden selling our sweat for next to nothing workers at half the price no security no equality only duty we have cried out from behind the walls of segregation from the clutches of the spiteful bed from the nightly business in the gutters from the revenge of unwilling wedlock "we are human beings!" Sugiarti (Lekra 1962: 65)1 Gerwani, like the non-Islamic and non-communist women's organizations in Indonesia, wished to achieve equality with men. Unlike these 139 === [PDF page 159] === 140 Chapter 5 organizations, they did not centre their struggle for equality with men on marriage reform, and so the disappointing outcome of the parliamentary debates on the issue was less debilitating for them. Gerwani shifted its focus from marriage to a struggle for equal labour rights for women and for equal responsibilities in the struggle for 'full national independence' and socialism. In the process, it came to regard itself as possessing a superior analysis and strategy, and thus as the vanguard of the women's movement. Their militancy had to come to terms with the traditional women's kodrat which, as the epigraph indicates, prescribes women's behaviour as 'compliant', 'yielding' and 'submissive'. Gerwani did not accept this Sumbadra-like behaviour and aspired to the militancy symbolized by the warrior princess Srikandi. In common with the other Indonesian women's organizations it never questioned the existence of a distinctive 'women's nature'. However, it attempted to imbue this construction with its own vision, maintaining an essentialist notion of womanhood while attributing women's problems to social conditions. It struggled for socio-economic reforms but it accepted women's traditional responsibilities in the household and as mothers. Gerwani, despite the PKI and Sukarno's populist insistence on unity, contained both a PKI-Ied communist wing and a more feminist wing throughout its history. The boundary between these two wings was unstable and at times they overlapped. The communist wing eventually prevailed in the wave of populist and socialist rhetoric that characterized the period of Guided Democracy. Feminists such as Mrs Trimurti were gradually pushed out of the organization and communist women, the most important of whom was Suharti, gained prominence. The activists, who had in various ways combined socialist and feminist aspirations, were gradually swept up by the communist tide to be scattered ashore as debris after 1965. In this chapter I will trace how Gerwani defined and prioritized gender interests and how it negotiated the shifting balance between 'social' and 'political' concerns against the backdrop of Indonesia's turbulent history. First I will sketch in the background to more detailed analyses of how Gerwani created its identity through negotiating its triple loyalty to feminism, socialism and nationalism - the subject of the following two chapters. === [PDF page 160] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Womens Movement 141 The Creation of Gerwis On 4 June 1950 representatives of six women's organizations met in Semarang to unite into a single organization, Gerwis. These organizations were: Rupindo (Rukun Putri Indonesia) from Semarang; Persatuan Wanita Sedar from Surabaya; Isteri Sedar from Bandung; Gerakan Wanita Indonesia (Gerwindo) from Kediri; Wanita Madura from Madura; and Perjuangan Putri Republik Indonesia2 from Pasuruan. The women were from diverse social backgrounds, many from lower priyayi origins, but they shared a common involvement in the nationalist movement. Many had fought in the guerrilla movement against the Japanese and the Dutch, some in the communist-inspired underground. Umi Sarjono, for instance, had set up a warung (food stall) in front of a camp of Peta soldiers that served as a liaison between activists in the camp and the communist group to which she and her husband (Sukisman, a PKI leader) belonged.3 The following story is just one account of how the underground communist movement worked and how women were involved: I was born in Sragen: my father was a village head. My elder brother had already been active in the anti-fascist struggle against Japan. He taught me about nationalism and anti-fascism. I joined the PPI in 1945. We organized the communal kitchen, buried the fallen guerrilla fighters, went to the villages to give them information and set up literacy classes. At the same time I worked in the Mojo sugar factory. I joined the Secretariat of the trade union. Later I worked at the national level of the trade union in Yogya when that was the capital of the Republic. In the meantime I had become attracted to the programme of the Party, especially where it concerned women's rights. I also listened to the speeches of Sukarno and studied his writings. When Musso returned to Indonesia in 1948, he set about correcting the Democratic Front of Amir Syarifuddin. The Front and all the parties that belonged to it, such as the Workers and the Socialist Party, had to become one party, the PKI. At the time of the Madiun provocation I was interrogated for seven days. Then we were released because everybody was needed to fight against the Dutch. I formed a women's unit to help the guerrillas, especially to give them information about the movements of Dutch troops. We cooperated with the guards of the sugar plantation, who were armed and secretly republican. Because we were betrayed we had to join the guerrillas === [PDF page 161] === 142 Chapter 5 outside Sragen. I joined the long march of the guerrillas to the south between 1949-1950. I rejoined the trade union of sugar workers. When the right-wing government under Sukiman conducted its razzias I was not caught. In 1951 I attended the first congress of Gerwis. I was very attracted to their programme because they not only fought for women's issues but also for the rights of even the poorest children in the villages. Although I was already a member of the national board of the trade union of sugar workers, I joined Gerwis. In the end I became the chair of Gerwani East Java. 4 Prominent leaders of Gerwis included Trimurti/ the first Minister of Labour, and Salawati Daud, who as Mayor ofMakassar had confronted Captain Westerling.6 Many of the younger women, such as Sujinah and Sulami, had been active in the PPF or even in the army.s Others had been supporting the revolution behind the lines, organizing the public kitchens or medical services.9 Other founding members included Tris Metty, Sri Panggihan (a prominent PKI member before Madiun), Sri Kusnapsiyah, Vmi SarjonolO and Suharti. Sri Panggihan, one of the older women, had inspired Trimurti, Suharti and others. II Mrs Tris Metty, the first chair of Gerwis, had chaired the politically independent Rukun Putri Indonesia (Association of Indonesian Young Women), one of the groups from which Gerwis originated: she had also belonged to the Laskyar Wanita of Central Java. She was pushed aside at the Yogyakarta preparatory conference for the first congress of Gerwis because she was 'too adventurous>l2 and Trimurti took her place. During this period, various leaders such as Vmi Sarjono, Suharti and Mrs Mudigdio (Aidit's mother-in-law) belonged to or were closely affiliated to the PKI. Communists had an important voice in the founding of Gerwis.13 Although Gerwis always insisted that, as stipulated in its statutes, it was non-political in that it was not affiliated to any political party, Party influence penetrated very deeply. As Mrs Chalisah, a founding member of Gerwis originally from the Minangkabau region, recalls: Already in 1948 the Party asked me to set up an organization of communist women within the Party. This group was really inside the Party, not a separate organization. Then we were asked to set up a broader women's organization. Most of us in Surabaya who joined Gerwis were members of the PKI.14 You see, the Party was less satisfied with the other women's organizations, such as PerwarL l5 === [PDF page 162] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard o/the Womens Movement 143 Sumarni Wardoyo, who was later to become chair of Gerwani Cilacap, recalls having participated in the 'anti-fascist group' of Amir Syarifuddin during the independence struggle. Before that, in 1946, she had already followed a cadre course with Tris Metty. This course was organized by Sukisman, the husband of Umi Sarjono, who was a communist leader before Musso returned. After independence she first joined Perwari and then a year later Gerwani as 'she was not happy with the Perwari membership, all wives of village leaders'.16 The communist desire to set up a women's organization it could control was certainly not the only factor that led to the establishment of Gerwis and, as indicated above, leftist women did not join Gerwis automatically.l? The founding members of Gerwis shared an ardent desire for national independence and for an end to 'feudal' practices. As one member recounted: I come from a family of lower nobility; both my parents carried the title of raden. My revolutionary spirit was kindled by the stories of my father's grandfather who had fought in the Java War on the side of Diponegoro. He hid himself near Mount Sumbing where he started farming. So the family had enough land to carry us through the difficult Japanese period. The family had progressive ideas about religion and education, sending its daughters to school. But as far as marriage relations were concerned their ideas were feudal. A wife could only have one husband to whom she had to remain loyal; the husband could have more wives or concubines. As young girls my sisters and I were taught that our husbands would be the lords of our world. We as wives should be submissive, loyal and ready to dedicate ourselves, and conform to the saying: if necessary a wife must wash the feet of her husband and wipe off his sweat with her hair. An ideal wife had to be like Sumbadra, the wife of raden Arjuna in the wayang. A man, on the other hand, only had to be a husband inside the house: outside he could pretty well do as he liked. As a consequence of this feudal principle it often happened that women in our family would languish away and die or become ill because they were divorced by their husbands or because their husbands had taken a secondary wife. 18 Another former member related: My father was a servant at the court of the Susuhunan [prince] of Solo. He hardly earned any money, but the whole family was very proud of === [PDF page 163] === 144 Chapter 5 the prestige his job carried. Once a month when he received his salary he spent it immediately by taking us all out for dinner. My mother was a batik trader and she paid for everything, also for my father's keris {ceremonial sword] with its golden hilt. From the age of five I grew up with an aunt. She was the last selir {secondary wife] of Susuhunan X of Solo, so I experienced all the miseries of that life. But because I was living with her, I belonged to the royal family so I had the opportunity to go to the HIS.19 When I was 14 years old I was to be married off. When my future husband came to see me I made myself as ugly as I could. I threw my hair in front of my eyes and behaved as if I was mad. He was so offended that he left right away. Then I went to live at the boarding house of the PPI and got to know Suharti. I joined the guerrilla movement. 20 And a third, a member of Gerwani in the Minangkabau, said: My father was a datuk [chief]. He was an important rich man, well respected for his religious activities. He was an active member of Masyumi. He kept marrying, one wife after the other, from time to time repudiating one if he had had enough of her. Ultimately he had married twelve times. I am the eldest daughter of his second wife and was very close to my mother. I could do nothing to help her. Every time my father added a new wife to his collection she was ordered to keep silent. I vowed that this would not happen to me. When I had graduated from high school they wanted to marry me off to a man who already had six children. I refused. I then went through a very difficult period. I could only leave home when I was 21 years old. I went to Jakarta where I joined Gerwani. 21 Almost all of the life histories of Gerwani leaders and members collected during this research tell of forced marriages, unilateral divorces, prohibitions on education or other deeply-felt humiliations. These experiences played a significant part in the radicalization of these women. Some were attracted to the PKI because they saw it as the only party that seriously opposed such practices. Sulami, for instance, related how she was brought up by a very severe grandfather who felt that an education for this highly intelligent girl should not go beyond primary level. (Her own father had left her mother, whom he had been forced to marry.) After the Japanese occupation she joined the PPI and later the army. She was introduced to the works of Clara Zetkin whom she had === [PDF page 164] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Women s Movement 145 already encountered through lectures by Bung Karno. Her 'spirit soared', she wrote, for now she saw a way out of the sufferings of her childhood and that her mother endured. She decided that joining a party that was based on the writings of such wonderful women would be the only way to fight for equal rights. She became a member in 1945. By 1948 when Madiun broke out she still understood little about communism, but the Party had taught her to speak in public, to conduct meetings and to write reports. She also learnt the English language. 22 Semarang was selected as the base for Gerwis because historically it was a 'Red City': the PKl had been established there. The immensely popular leader Mrs Munasiah, who had spoken so valiantly at the 1924 PKI congress and who had been banned to Digul, still lived there (she died in 1985). She had organized the famous 'bamboo hats' market sellers' strike (alesi caping keropak) during the independence struggle (Doc. XVII: 8).23 However, even in the early days not all members joined because of an ardent desire to fight for women's rights and to improve the fate of 'ordinary' women. Some had absolutely no idea what communism was all about. They were encouraged by husbands, brothers, other family members or friends to become active in a women's organization. They liked coming together, organizing things and being part of a general atmosphere of creating a new nation free from oppression. As Sukoni, later chair of Gerwani's Jakarta branch, recalls: I joined Gerwis because I was asked to join and because I liked to help people. If somebody had suggested to me to join Perwari I might have done that. But it is likely that I would have changed to Gerwani at some stage anyway, frrst of all because my second husband was a member of SOBSI and second because I really wanted to help poor women. My first husband had joined a communist guerrilla group. But I never understood what he was doing during his long absences. I had already been married to him for five years when I found out. I was very sad, for my grandfather had always taught me that communists didn't have a God. My husband taught me what a communist member was and what the struggle meant: that communists could believe in God and always had to behave in a simple, modest way, and that they had to help other people. Then he died in an accident. When I was a widow I joined Gerwis.24 In August 1951, as the new organization was busy organizing itself and setting up branches all over Java and on other islands, Prime Minister === [PDF page 165] === 146 Chapter 5 Sukiman's clampdown on social unrest led to the arrest of several Gerwis leaders, including Mrs Mudigdio and Mrs Trimurti, who were both held and interrogated for a week. Gerwis members were active in a committee to 'Defend the Victims of the August Razzias' (Doc. XIX: 12). When Gerwis held its first congress in December 1951 conditions were difficult since many representatives who should have attended were still in prison (DPP Gerwani 1954: 1). In line with the changes the newly-elected Aidit leadership (January 1951) imposed on the PKI, pressure was exercised within Gerwis to stop agitating against the Government (although with Masyumi in power the Government was considered reactionary) and instead to build up a 'front from below'. In its own historiography, Gerwani described the period between 1950 and 1954 when belatedly the new line was put into effect as 'sectarian'. As the Gerwani leadership stated in 1965: This illness of sectarianism should be seen as a sign that, amongst other things, there was an attitude characterized by an aversion to cooperation with other mass organizations and with the mass line. The name Gerwis itself, that is Gerakan Wanita Indonesia Sedar [Movement of Conscious Indonesian Women] means that the membership of the organization was limited. Only those women who already were conscious were received as members, while millions of women of the masses were not yet conscious and had to be drawn into the struggle.2s The first congress made changes at the top that were scarcely noticed in the daily practice of the members at the time but which had far-reaching consequences. Whereas in the beginning the communist and the femin-ist components of the organization were mixed, now a major step was taken to isolate the feminist wing and an attempt made to strengthen the PKI's hold on the leadership. However, the PKI candidate, Suharti, was considered too 'communist' by the majority of the congress and the PKI had to withdraw her candidacy, but it did block Trimurti's chairship. Trimurti was very popular because she had trained many Gerwis leaders during the independence struggle via the cadre courses she organized26 as chair of the Barisan Buruh Wanita.27 Umi Sarjono won the election, with Trimurti in second place and the PKI member Suwarti Bintang in third. Because Trimurti was unacceptable to the PKI, Umi Sarjono resigned, leaving the chair to Suwarti. They were all good friends nevertheless. Suwarti had cooperated closely with Trimurti during the independence struggle in the Barisan Buruh Wanita.28 Both === [PDF page 166] === Genvani: Towards the Vanguard ofthe Women s Movement 147 Umi Sarjono and Trimurti became vice-chairs. Trimurti describes this shift as follows: Actually the change... didn't mean so very much. There were also Gerwis members from the villages. Some of them were illiterate and later became leaders. National independence was just the start to improving women's lives; both Gerwis and Gerwani agreed on that. Gerwis too fought for a new marriage law. They both fought for higher wages for agricultural labourers. The most important thing anyhow was to make the women conscious of their rightS. 29 However, Trimurti's suggestion that this change at the frrst congress was insignificant is disclaimed by other sources. Instead of an activist-based women's organization, Gerwani developed into a huge mass organization. Many of its early activists deplored this development. 3o Trimurti herself, while still among the leadership, gradually became more inactive: in 1957 she withdrew from the leadership and in 1965 she resigned her membership.31 The long-term significance of the shift at the top is also suggested in the following account: I was a young member of the [Yogya] delegation to the 1951 congress. I had just returned to school after the guerrilla war. During the congress it became clear that the group that wanted to keep Gerwis really independent was being pushed to the sidelines. In the end Trimurti was voted down and Suwarti became the chair. There was a lot of discussion on this topic, but primarily among the leaders. The "normal" members usually just followed the lines of the leader of the group or region to which they belonged. Many members cried; they wanted Gerwis to keep its own face. I was angry too but powerless, and in the end I left the congress. Actually there were very few women who resigned then. So many general women's organizations existed already. We wanted to belong to a different movement, a truly politically conscious women's organization. At that congress the decision was taken to change the name of Gerwis to Gerwani, but because of the resistance a compromise was reached. For the moment the name of Gerwis was kept; the change would only become effective at the next congress in 1954. It was decided that by that time the mass line would be followed. 32 === [PDF page 167] === 148 Chapter 5 Gerwis grew. In 1952 Isteri Buruh Kereta Api (the Union of Wives of Railway Workers), with ten branches and 4,000 members, joined. In 1953 a final organization was added, Perwin (Persatuan Wanita Indonesia) of Menado.33 These organizations, like the many individual women who joined Gerwis in its first months, had been at the forefront of the independence war. They had actively opposed Dutch attempts to regain control over any part of the Indonesian archipelago and they had opposed the Round Table Conference which they saw as promoting the return of foreign capital to Indonesia. They considered other women's organizations to be too soft on this issue: 'Gerwis was especially attractive to those of us who had joined the armed struggle in the countryside. We wanted more action than the other women's organizations, many of whom we considered to be ladies' circles' (Sujinah, Doc. XVIII: 3). Not only were these organizations too sedate for these young activists, they were also too reluctant to discuss 'political' issues. They limited themselves to 'social' problems such as education and, although active in the struggle for a reform of the Marriage Law, they were less willing to fight rape, polygyny and child marriages on a daily, direct level. Lastly, they were not prepared to fight on behalf of poor, especially rural, women (Doc. Between the first and second congresses Gerwis was active on three fronts: on the political level it opposed 'reactionary elements'; on the feminist side it opposed PP I 934 and supported the general struggle for a democratic marriage law (carefully avoiding confrontation with Sukarno); and on the local level Gerwis members were involved in peasant campaigns to resist government efforts to oust them from the former plantations on which they had squatted. Most Gerwis groups were active in a combination of these elements. From its beginning Gerwis had pursued an actively anti-imperialist policy. The organization felt that the Government, dominated by the PNI, Masyumi and PSI, had been too lenient to foreign capital and imperialists in allowing the return of the foreign plantation owners, and that women, as mothers, suffered the most from this. This Round Table Convention legalized the exploitation of the country's wealth by foreign capital... For preparation for the American imperialist war, the people must pay different kinds of taxes. Sixty per cent of the whole national budget is allotted to the army, to the police and to prisons. The frrst victims of this reactionary economic policy are the === [PDF page 168] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Women:S- Movement 149 women. Unemployment increases daily. The land that had been distributed to the peasants is taken back and handed over to the foreign exploiters... in many places mothers are obliged to sell their children or to exchange them for food. The ideology of war has been imported to Indonesia, poisoning the minds and morals of the people with films and literature which exalt war, racial discrimination, etc.... The Indonesian women's movement, Gerwis, is participating actively in this fight against war preparations. 35 Gerwis was from its beginning the women's organization that was most active on the national political level. For instance, it signed the declaration against the 'reactionary elements' that had organized the 1952 'October 17 Affair'36 (HR 7 November 1952) and it joined the National Front that was set up in response to these developments (HR 20 November 1952). The organization also joined the protests against PP 19 and supported the demand for marriage reforms of the second congress of the KWI in 1952 (HR 25 November 1952). Its work conference held in Semarang in 1952 was organized around the themes of peace, children and women's rights (HR 1 December 1952). It also devoted much attention to literacy training and continued to establish schools and organize literacy courses (as did many women's organizations) until 1965. From 1952 onwards, Gerwani encouraged other Indonesian women's organizations to celebrate 8 March as a day of international women's solidarity (WW May 1952). Gerwis activists were heavily involved in rural actions supporting the BTI.31 These included the bloody struggles waged in 1951 by peasants and the Panitia Penghapusan Tanah Partikelir (Committee to End Private Landownership) around Semarang38 and the struggle against Dutch landowners in Kendal (Doc. XVII: 8). The cooperation between Gerwis and Sarekat Buruh Perkebunan Republik Indonesia (Union of Indonesian Plantation Workers) (Sarbupri) was particularly strong in Sumatra, where two-thirds of plantation workers were women. Together they carried out a campaign to educate these women about their legal rights and to assist them with labour and marriage problems. 39 They also supported the plantation workers in the violent confrontations that occurred when the Government began to evict them from the plantations. The Round Table agreement promised state assistance to evict squatters, and for eight months in 1953-54 the Chinese peasants in Tanjung Morawa resisted === [PDF page 169] === 150 Chapter 5 the 'yellow elephants' (tractors) sent to plough the squatted lands and evict them. Women were particularly active in fighting these 'death tractors'. They would form a cordon between the tractors and their men, daring the tractor drivers to drive through them: The resistance against the evictions meant a bloody war with the police, who killed many peasants over the eight months that the struggle lasted. We women would try to stop the violence. We organized a demonstration which functioned as a cordon between the government tractors and the peasants. We stood naked in front of the tractors and we drove them away step by step. The police didn't dare to shoot at us. It was very nasty, it was like war.40 However, organizing peasant women was not easy, as the following account from a cadre in Brastagi, North Sumatra, indicates: In 1953 Gerwani activists held a meeting in Brastagi, in the midst of Batak Karo country, to set up a branch to make propaganda for this women's movement led by our Party and to explain its politics, especially on polygamy, for women were always very much attracted to this issue. As usual, the majority of those present were men. Most women were students; there were a few Gerwani activists and one or two wives of Party leaders. At the end of the meeting there was an opportunity to ask questions. One of them asked: "is polygamy also prohibited for couples who have remained without a son for years?" I answered: "There is no exception. Gerwani opposes secondary marriages under all circumstances." "In that case", was the reply "I'd rather go home, we don't need such an organization here." As the room emptied I had to end the meeting sooner than I had planned. As I was from Java I wasn't aware of the traditions here. Among the Batak only sons can inherit. If a man dies without a son his male relatives will inherit his property. So a woman who has no son when her husband dies is lucky when he has a son with his secondary wife. In the rural areas this is extremely important. A young woman without brothers may fmd it almost impossible to marry as she won't have any land as bride wealth. So women who don't have sons are very eager that their husbands take another wife. We discussed these issues amongst each other and decided that the basic problem was women's unequal access to land. The PKI slogan that peasants should have individual property rights on the land was very === [PDF page 170] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard ofthe Womens Movement 151 attractive to Batak women for it opened up the possibility for them to own land. They kept asking: "Is this possible? Or is it only a trick to attract the hearts of women to vote for the hammer and the sickle at the next elections?" Also in another respect this was very important to them. Among the Toba Batak a high bride price is given. If a woman wants a divorce she has to pay back double the amount, which in general she will be unable to do as she doesn't own any property. This may make a woman so desperate that she rather prefers to jump into Lake Toba. You shouldn't see these issues as a struggle between men and women, by the way. We fought against the landlords. (Doc. IV: 1-7) Towards a Mass Line During preparations for the March 1954 Gerwis conference the pressing problems of female estate labourers whose labour rights had not been implemented were put forward for special attention, as was the need for creches, women's rights - including the rescinding ofPP19 - and peace (HR 24 February 1954). On the whole feminist issues figured prominently, as they had in the International Women's Day celebrations on 8 March.41 But pressure from the Party to become a women's mass organization under Party control was stepped up. The 25 March editorial in Harian Rakyat expressed the PKI's hope that Gerwani would become an umbrella organization to which all women, irrespective of ideology or religion, would flock. In its efforts to become a mass organization of women, the organization emphasized another issue women felt deeply about, namely lower prices for basic needs. This in particular distinguished them from most other women's organizations of the period. The congress themes were the rights of women and children, independence and peace (HR 27 March 1954). The demand for peace encompassed both a general anti-imperialist stance in which nuclear experiments were strongly condemned and a demand to quell the strongly anti-communist Darul Islam movement that was terrorizing the countryside, especially in West Java. In line with the decisions taken at the first congress, Gerwis became Gerwani. Vmi Satjono's election as chair meant that the feminist wing had successfully withstood PKI pressure.42 The new central leadership also included Suharti as vice-chair, Mudigdio as second vice-chair and Asijah and Darroini as secretaries; Kartinah, Mawarni, Patjani and Suwarti were ordinary members (HR 2 April 1954). Trimurti was no longer a member of this body but of the 35-member plenary (DPP Gerwani 1954: 42). === [PDF page 171] === 152 Chapter 5 At the congress Umi Satjono noted with satisfaction that 'with the disappearance of the sectarian attitude [of Gerwis] both in the organization and in its way of working, Gerwani will have a greater possibility to implement its responsibility as a women's movement which has to gather the broad masses and in fighting for the rights of women and children' (DPP Gerwani 1954: 1). As already mentioned, the organization had grown considerably in the years between the first and the second congresses. In Surabaya Gerwis had 40 branches with 6,000 members; by 1954 membership had risen to around 80,000.43 Suwarti's extensive report of the congress gives an interesting overview of the interests Gerwani fought for in this early period and of the ways the organization linked socialist and feminist concerns. The report notes that although women possessed equal rights, in practice they might be fired when they became pregnant or be the first to be affected by lay-offs.44 The increase in child marriages was attributed to high prices and widespread poverty in the villages, as was the increase in prostitution (not only in the cities but also in the villages and around plantations). Gerwani linked these and other evils to the fact that the economy was still controlled by foreign capital (DPP Gerwani 1954: 20-2). Suwarti's report provides a long list of Gerwis actions, many of a national political nature. They included protests against the 17 October Affair, opposition to the Darul Islam, support for a nationalist government and for the Government to round up Dutch conspiracies, support for Sarbupri, support for worker, peasant, student (DPP Gerwani 1954: 23-4) and youth actions and so on. 45 Although Suwarti refers to 'youth', 'peasants'and 'workers', she meant the various organizations ofthe PKI family: Pemuda Rakyat, BTl, SOBS!. The Gerwis leadership stressed the importance of cooperation with other women's organizations based on respect for their diversity: 'whatever our opinion, organization or religion we as women have the same interests: guaranteeing our rights as mothers, workers and citizens both in the laws and in daily practice' (DPP Gerwani 1954: 24) as well as defending women's rights, the happiness of children, national independence and peace. They emphasised that unity needed to be established not only on a formal level at the top but in daily actions carried out by the women masses (DPP Gerwani 1954: 24). Internally Gerwis carried out literacy courses and set up creches. It also tried to organize cadre courses, but these were postponed for === [PDF page 172] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Womens Movement 153 financial reasons and local branches were left to train their cadres without central guidelines. Financial difficulties also forced the organization to abandon the publication of its internal bulletin.46 One of the documents accepted at the second congress, The Goals and Obligations ofGerwani (1954), stated Gerwani's ideological position. It ascribed women's problems to the 'half-colonial and halffeudal' outcome of the Round Table Conference, 'which restored the power of the colonizers over the factories, the institutions of fmance and trade... and the plantations', deprived peasants of sufficient land and allowed terrorist groups to burn villages and kill peasants, and concluded that 'women's struggle could not be separated from the struggle of the whole Indonesian People47 for a fully democratized, prosperous and progressive Indonesia'. The Goals and Obligations included a directive to undertake women's 'ostensibly small' struggles for daily needs and for their rights alongside the organizations of workers and farmers and with other democratic organizations, continuing the legacy of Kartini. They also professed a patriotic national attitude and a profound sense of international solidarity, which is why Gerwani was proud to have joined the WIDF (DPP Gerwani 1954: 24). Gerwani's ideological position in 1954 can be deduced from contemporary accounts of the second congress. Its decision to become a mass organization is clear from its new statutes (Buku 1958: 312fi) which stated: (a) that Gerwani was an organization for education and struggle, not belonging to any political party;48 (b) that membership was open to all Indonesian women 16 years or over (younger if they were already married) and that since so many women were illiterate members need no longer sign or fill in a form; and (c) that double membership, for instance with SOBSI or any other women's organization, was permitted (BG: 49). The most important resolution passed by the second congress was its demand for a democratic marriage law. Other resolutions addressed the forthcoming general elections, national security, and a protest against nuclear experiments. Thus Gerwani combined essentialist ('we are all mothers') and constructivist ('and also workers and citizens') arguments, stressing women's sisterhood. But for all its avowal of respect for the differences among women, its communist-oriented desire for hegemony over the other women's organizations led them to link 'mothers' with 'workers', a combination that was not self-evident to, for instance, Perwari and Wanita Katolik. With the call for equal rights and marriage reforms, the essential differences from men were stressed, but in its definition of === [PDF page 173] === 154 Chapter 5 women as citizens equal to men, the differences were seen to derive from social conditions. Ultimately women were seen to be both essentially human (fighting with men against imperialism) and essentially feminine (protesting against immorality and marriage abuses). One of the attractions of Gerwani for young, enthusiastic and capable women was the opportunity it offered them to become leaders irrespective of their social background. In Java, with its hierarchical structure, women in other women's organizations such as Perwari usually only rose to leadership level if they belonged to the pamong praja (village leaders) or if they had received a good education, which meant that they belonged to the priyayi elite. Gerwani needed many cadres, especially after it had decided to follow the mass line, and provided those who showed promise with training courses to develop their organizational skills. Gerwani also deliberately recruited leaders from among ordinary kampung women as the organization wanted to learn from them first-hand about their experiences.49 This strategy was effective and many kampung women flocked to the organization because they felt it was the only one willing to help them with their practical problems (Sullivan 1994). Gerwani activists spread the results of the second congress to the members of their groups and to Indonesian women in general (HR 9 June 1954). One of Gerwani's most ambitious goals was to become a truly mass movement: the target was a membership of one million by the end of 1955 (HR 22 June 1956). Progress was meticulously calculated. In April 1955 they counted 400,000 members (HR 14 April 1955), the following year, 565,147 (HR 27 April 1956) and by mid-1956 640,460 members (HR 12 June 1957). By December 1957, when the third congress was held, Gerwani claimed 663,740 members (HR 18 December 1957). This fascination for figures mirrors the PKI's strategy to gain power through the sheer numerical weight of the 'progressive masses'. Although short of their target, the dedication of Gerwani's activists had achieved a spectacular growth rate for the organization. Training of these cadres had the highest priority, but financial and other constraints prevented the leadership from providing sufficient courses for them, and so step-by-step guidelines for cadres were promulgated (see Doc. XV). First, cadres were to study the conditions of the area and the culture of the inhabitants. This information was to be used to create a work programme in which the goals and character of the organization should be explained. Once the sympathy of the prospective members was won, === [PDF page 174] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard o/the WomenY Movement 155 small groups should be formed through which the women could become more active and taught about their rights. Since the marriage issue always attracted women this should be given priority. Care should be taken to build up the confidence of women, for generally they would have low self-esteem. The organization should then be consolidated and ways should be sought to cooperate with the men (although the men might have feudal attitudes to be overcome). If the potential for work among women workers existed then this should begin, and women should be encouraged to become active in the labour unions. The care with which new members were approached in this phase of Gerwani's history is also evident from the following account: As a cadre in Semarang I had to reach the masses. Our main activities were at the household level. We would, for instance, hold an arisan [lottery run by neighbourhood women] among neighbours, help with the distribution of rice, attend at births, assist with disabled children. We would organize a kampung creche to which everyone would contribute whatever they could. Women in the villages, for instance, gave the produce of their harvests. We would do so many things to help the women. Together with the young men of the Pemuda Rakyat we would, for instance, improve the house of a widow. And we would try to solve marriage disputes by talking with all parties concerned. If a man beat his wife we would approach him. And if he wouldn't stop we would help his wife get a divorce. If a husband was a member of SOBSI or the BTl we would approach him through those organizations.so After the campaign for the national elections was over, the central leadership could devote more energy to the training of Gerwani activists. In 1956 Kartinah, Suwarti and Darmini were responsible for drafting the curriculum of a IS-day training course. The largest number of sessions (seven) was devoted to organizational matters, six sessions covered the women's movement, four were devoted to women's rights and education and the remainder concerned national history, children's rights, 'general knowledge'SI and the other mass organizations (BG: 25-33). The cadres operated in a society that frowned upon women who broke away from their kodrat; their domestic duties could not be seen to suffer because of their work in the organization. The women confronted both ideological barriers (religion, culture, 'feudal' attitudes in general and distrust due to their association with 'red' politics) and practical constraints (how to divide one's time). They received advice === [PDF page 175] === 156 Chapter 5 on overcoming these barriers from Harian Rakyat, especially its 'Women's Comer'. Articles advised on keeping new members ('with great care') (HR 1 September 1954), on combining activism and domestic duties (HR 17 November 1954). on the importance of hard work (HR 22 June 1955) and on home visits (HR 12 October 1955), exhorting cadres to be 'loyal, hard-working and responsible' (HR 11 April 1956). They were advised to attempt to pacify their husbands by balancing their double role and, if possible, involving husbands in the work. The basic argument was that husbands who opposed their wives' involvement would be more problematic than would be the difficulties of balancing the two roles (HR 24 April 1957). In June 1956, just after the 1955 elections, Vmi Sarjono reported to the plenary meeting that Gerwani activists were experiencing many problems, including provocation, slander, threats, divorce over political differences, the double burden of activism and domestic responsibilities, low social esteem and even attacks on their self-esteem from their own husbands. She pointed out that this made it very difficult for women to become leaders and urged the plenary to support women so that their activism would not lead to the 'neglect of women's domestic duties or the erosion of love for the family and neighbours... [or] our ''womanly attitude" [sifat kewanitaan]'. She argued that Gerwani activists should cherish a womanly attitude that embraced love for husband and child, responsibility for domestic duties and simple and proper clothes, as well as fighting for the rights of women and children and for peace (Vmi Sarjono 1956: 12,30-32). She also argued that members should assist those cadres who were young mothers by providing childcare and by helping to mediate with their husbands to prevent misunderstandings. The following interview with Mrs Sumarni, chair of the Cilacap branch of Gerwani, gives a sense of the political atmosphere of those days: For us in Cilacap it was not very difficult to reach the women and make them interested in Gerwani, for of old the PKI was very strong in our region. The NU was the largest organization here, but they were moderate and we could work with them well. Initially we had a lot of trouble with the Darul Islam. They were in the mountains and used to come down to raid us. They would steal our food, kill our goats and burn our houses. We as Gerwani joined the self-defence committees which warned when the Darul Islam gangs attacked us and we looked after the victims. 52 === [PDF page 176] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Womens Movement 157 In the mid-1950s Gerwani focused primarily on the 1955 elections and 'feminist' issues such as rape and marriage reforms. When the runup to the elections began, they decided to support the PKI campaign rather than field their own list of candidates. However, they did negotiate some political independence: Gerwani members elected would not automatically have to join the PKI faction. Since previously Indonesian women had not been allowed to vote, activists provided information about women's political rights and the election process. Some 23,480 Gerwani members joined the campaign. Another campaign Gerwani waged was the repeal of the IGOIB laws, the colonial laws on village administration by which women could not become village heads (DPP Gerwani 1958: 57).53 Gerwani's leadership realized that dealing with the feminist issues of rape and marriage reforms would be a harder struggle than the one for national independence. Gerwani activists at the local level were deeply and genuinely concerned with the many marriage problems they encountered. Umi Sarjono reported in 1956 that in Java and Jakarta alone Gerwani cadres met with hundreds of cases of disregard for women's rights in marriage, such as wanton desertion, concubinage and inheritance conflicts. Men would leave their wives and children without food or resources of any kind and go off with another woman. Gerwani members tried to intervene in such cases, first of all by trying to reconcile the parties. If that proved impossible they would enlist the aid of religious officials in efforts to secure a divorce in which the women and children would be provided for. Not all cases could be settled to the satisfaction of the women, either because of insufficient legal knowledge of the women or because of 'the stubbornness of the men' (Umi Sarjono 1956: 16-18). As already noted, Gerwani participated actively with the other women's organizations in the Marriage Committee (DPP Gerwani 1958) but broke with other women's organizations over Sukarno's polygynous marriage. This controversy caused deep rifts within the organization. Mudigdio declared that a democratic marriage law was 'the most urgent, the most important' interest of Indonesian women (RR 21 December 1955), but Gerwani's public position was that 'undermining Bung Karno was not going to help millions of women... [instead,] the women's movement will be divided, which will not help women but [will help] the reactionary groups which keep obstructing the realization of a marriage law that will protect women' (HR 28 December 1955). === [PDF page 177] === 158 Chapter 5 Gerwani accused the other women's organizations of splitting the unity of the women's movement by paying attention to such 'minor problems' while millions of women were waiting for a democratic marriage law (HR 28 December 1955). Umi Sarjono even called the controversy over Fatmawati a 'private affair... in which no one should meddle... in line with the position of Gerwani that marriages should be free and democratic' and said that 'Gerwani regretted the attempts from various sides to push Fatmawati to a divorce' (HR 4 January 1956).54 Umi Sarjono's remarks are, of course, inconsistent with Gerwani's struggle for a democratic marriage law. If marriage is such a 'private' affair state regulation would be unnecessary. Gerwani decided to ignore the issue politically. 55 Within the pages of Rarian Rakyat, Api Karlini and other Gerwani papers, it is as if the marriage never took place. In essence, [t]he Women's congress, led by... Maria UUfah Santoso, proposed to hold a special protest meeting and that a copy of the book Sarinah would be returned to the President in his palace. We felt that this action was not only intended to defend women's rights but to make Sukarno lose his good name. So with a heavy heart we decided not to agree to these protests, even though it appeared strange, inconsistent, hypocritical, or other words which were whispered about us. Our arguments were the following: it was the President of the Republic who would be disturbed while he was engaged in strongly resisting the imperialist pressure of the US; his defilement would mean an opportunity for the US to enter Indonesia. (Sulami, in Doc. IX: 5) Not only did Gerwani isolate itself from the other women's organizations in its defence of the President, it also stood alone on two other issues - the Attamini (rape and murder) and the Maisuri (forced marriage) cases - where it might have expected support, for instance from Perwari. S6 The Maisuri case was presented in several Rarian Rakyat articles in early 1955. Rarian Rakyat denounced the forced marriage of a young girl, Maisuri, to a much older man, a kyai who already had 12 children from three wives. Maisuri had never met the man and was only informed of the marriage after it had been contracted by her father. She then ran away with her lover and managed to get married to him with an uncle's help. The couple was captured and sentenced to six months' imprisonment (HR 26 January 1955; 14 February 1955; 2 November === [PDF page 178] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Womens Movement 159 1955). Gerwani viewed this case as symbolic of women's struggle for a democratic marriage law. The Attamini case involved a poor girl in Malang who was raped and murdered, allegedly by Attamini, a rich Arab trader. The Gerwani plenary demanded the death penalty and conducted a wide campaign (HR 20 June 1956). A Gerwani delegation led by Mrs Mudigdio went to Besuki in East Java where the court session was held. The women were met with animosity in this strongly Islamic area: 'When we walked through the alleys in the kampung the women... didn't show a friendly attitude. They uttered prayers and closed the doors' (Doc. IX: 11). Gerwani was clearly considered to be anti~Islamic, especially for its position on polygamy.57 Although (with the possible exception of its first year) the period between the second and the third congress was Gerwani's most feminist, this does not mean that general political concerns were neglected. In 1955, the celebration of International Women's Day featured peace actions and protests against nuclear experiments and the Dutch occupation of West Irian. In early January 1957 the central leadership held a work conference which made various soci~economic demands to the Government, including a demand for the reduction in prices of basic commodities. 58 In March 1957 Gerwani conducted an intensive campaign supporting the 'Concept of the President' speech, in which Sukamo outlined the kind of constitutional changes that would lead to Guided Democracy.59 Throughout this period the organization kept up its efforts on behalf of poor peasants (DPP Gerwani 1958). Although PKI chair Aidit in his congratulatory telegram to the third congress of 1957 expressed the hope that' Indonesian women would not be left behind in rounding up the subversive plots which is now the most important task for the Indonesian people', the 'consolidation congress', as Umi Sarjono called it in her opening speech, charted its own course. Its new 27-point struggle programme began with nine points concerning equal rights for women in marriage, customary law and work. Further points addressed public services: schools, creches and health services. The remaining points were more heterogeneous: the prohibition of pornographic films, the repeal of the IGOIB laws, rural issues related to sharecropping and usury, high taxes and the rising prices of basic commodities, the eradication of subversive groups such as the Darnl Islam movement and the demand that nuclear experiments be purely for peaceful purposes (HR 8 January 1958). These were Gerwani's internal issues. Externally, the congress presented resolutions such as the 'liberation' of West Irian and put === [PDF page 179] === 160 Chapter 5 forward demands for a democmtic marriage law, affordable schoolbooks, adherence to the pancasila, severe punishment for mpists, efforts to prevent child delinquency (for example, by providing recreational facilities and by prohibiting pornographic films) and bringing the discriminatory regulations contained in the IGO/B into line with the Constitution (HR 8 January 1958; BG: 123). Towards Total Integration with Workers and Peasants The third congress resolutions indicate that Gerwani was increasingly caught up in the national political concerns of Guided Democracy, and this remained the case until the fourth and final congress. Socialist rhetoric came to dominate the organization's publications, especially those on the 'heroic struggle' against the Dutch in West Irian. It was 'just' and therefore would 'surely be victorious' against a 'colonialist conspimcy' to use West Irian as 'a springboard to attack the Republic of Indonesia and to carry out... subversive activities against the young republic' (Suwarti Bintang Suradi, WW February 1958). Gerwani's views on national politics were increasingly in line with Sukamo's populist rhetoric. Although in October 1958 a Gerwani work conference expressed its concern about the cancellation of the 1959 elections (HR 1 October 1958), only a month later the leadership stated that Gerwani supported Guided Democmcy and opposed 'free fight liberalism' (HR 14 November 1958). By the end of 1959 the organization had pledged its support for Manipol and the call for elections was no longer heard. By then Gerwani had started to cite the President in all formulations of its demands. For example, the umpteenth call for a democmtic marriage law was preceded by a reference to President Sukamo who 'emphasized that the revolution was not yet completed' (HR 30 December 1959), and by 1960 even its Mother's Day celebration accorded support for Manipol its highest priority, followed by peace, international solidarity and unity. This shift towards Sukamo and a greater concern with national politics was expressed most clearly by the Gerwani leadership on Kartini Day in 1961: the women's movement should become a 'truly revolutionary movement' and 'emancipation should be linked with the struggle against imperialism' (HR 21 April 1961). Gerwani's position in relation to the national political situation is outlined in a May 1961 speech that reports on a Gerwani plenary === [PDF page 180] === Gerwani; Towards the Vanguard o/the Womens Movement 161 discussion of the nation's newly-adopted eight-year plan. Gerwani promised to participate in efforts to increase the production of food and clothing and to set up cooperatives, but insisted that the plan could only be realized if the Government was 'retooled' as stipulated in Manipol and if the People were informed, prices stabilized and corruption eradicated. Gerwani had pledged its support because the plan could be 'in line with the hopes of women' if it was carried out in an 'anti-colonial and anti-feudal way' (BG: 141). There was also a shift in the organization's focus: rising prices for food and clothing gained more prominence while 'feminist' issues such as abuses in marriage and sexual violence received less attention. By 1961, Gerwani's new year's statement focused on prices and peace and failed to mention the marriage issue. Gerwani first sent a delegation to the Government to demand that prices be lowered in September 1958 (HR 17 September 1958). They then sent another delegation in March 1959 just before Lebaran60 (HR 17 March 1959). Several articles in Harian Rakyat recounted stories of increasing poverty and how the People were unable to celebrate Lebaran under these circumstances. 61 The delegations were unsuccessful and large demonstrations were organized in early 1960 in which female SOBSI members and members ofKowani participated. Further demonstrations were organized after the Minister of Trade, Arifin, angered a women's delegation by refusing to meet with it (HR 18 January 1960).62 Sukoni, chair of the Jakarta branch of Gerwani, recalls: I received many tasks from both the party and from Gerwani - even more so from the Party. But this issue of the anti-price rise demonstrations was really only ours. We decided to invite the leaders of the other ormas to join us, such as SOBSI and the PR. We called for a large mass demonstration to be gathered at Lapangan Banteng. When there was a request for someone to take responsibility for the demonstration I volunteered. So I was the one who was picked up by the authorities and I spent a week in jail. When I was released I was welcomed as a hero.63 Within the leftist family, Gerwani (as the women's mass organization) was considered responsible for organizing against the price rises. It was accepted that husbands were helpless and ignorant of household economy, but women were assumed to be able to make ends meet magically. Api Kartini, as the periodical directed at middle-class housewives, took === [PDF page 181] === 162 Chapter 5 the issue of the prices seriously, although it was not above being a little tongue-in-cheek: Father: What are we having for dinner?... Mother: The usual. Or have you forgotten that it is the end of the month? In short, today we have special food. Blouse vegetable with shirt cassava chips and salted fish brand trousers. Father: Whaaaat? Mother: Yes, fortunately barter trade is not yet prohibited, there is no risk that foreign exchange is involved. You see, Dad, I don't know when we ran out of household money. But fortunately your child Neng still had a blouse which doesn't fit her any longer. A shirt of yours doesn't have a collar any more and your trousers are tom on the backside and at both knees. So that resulted in vegetables, cassava chips and fried salted fish. Father: Well, you are really clever, Mum, you should get a recommendation at Mother's Day later this month. (AK December 1959: 10) The PKI paid almost no attention to prices, while Gerwani repeatedly demanded an end to the fast-rising prices of food and clothing. The President was attentive and when the demonstrations had reached a peak (January 1960) he promised that prices would go down to an acceptable level within two to three years (HR 30 January 1960). Gerwani did not manage to keep him to his promise and continued to organize anti-pricerise demonstrations and protest meetings throughout 1961. The price issue was important for Gerwani as it allowed the organization to be both 'social' (addressing the specific concerns of women) and 'political' (asking for sound macro-economic policies). It also revealed the weaknesses of its closest associates in the national arena, the PKI and the non-communist women's organizations. The PIG did not wish to concern itself with such mundane matters as making a household budget meet. In this they revealed their priyayi leanings, in which even the most underpaid court officials left the care for the food and clothing of their children in the hands of their wives. They themselves were concerned with 'higher' court matters, which were often considered spiritual even if they amounted to no more than carrying umbrellas. The other women's organizations, on the other hand, were reluctant to sympathize with an issue they considered 'leftist' and 'political'. === [PDF page 182] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard o/the Womens Movement 163 The pressure for a democratic marriage law had lessened but it had not disappeared. Nevertheless, the problem remained urgent: in 1956 half as many marriages had ended in divorce as were contracted and 60,000 secondary marriages were registered (Umi Sarjono, HR 22 December 1958). In Parliament, Umi Sarjono argued that the struggle for a marriage law should be seen as a struggle to complete the national revolution (Umi Sarjono, HR 10 February 1959). Within Gerwani, members opposed 'feudal remnants' among the men of the PKI and the other mass organizations who wanted to contract secondary marriages. Outwardly, the Gerwani members in Parliament, supported by certain PKI members including Peris Perdede, demanded legal reforms. In addition, Gerwani cooperated with the other mass organizations on this issue. To its international contacts Gerwani credited itself as the sole protagonist of marriage reforms, as it had during the 1953 anti-PPl9 demonstration. This must have irritated the women's congress, Perwari and others who fought consistently for a democratic marriage law, even opposing the President. However, even Gerwani was taken aback by the way the WlDF presented the issue in its Information Bulletin in 1958 and sent a request for rectification to the editors (Doc. XXXII). The Marriage Bill was submitted to the Parliament on March 5th 1958 and will be discussed in the next parliamentary session. The initiative to draft this bill and to put it on the parliamentary agenda was taken by the Gerwani leaders who are members of Parliament. (Iriformation Bul/etin, WIDF, Supplement, 1958 (9): 3 May) Gerwani did, however, use WIDF channels to portray itself internationally as the only representative of the Indonesian women's movement and as the rightful successor of such early eminent feminists as Kartini: After the Indonesian Women's Congress held on 22 December 1928 at Djogjakarta, the movement of Indonesian women entered a new epoch of struggle and became an inevitable part of the national revolutionary movement for independence. Recognising colonialism and imperialism, and not men, to be their real enemies, it no longer wanted the women's struggles to be isolated from the national movement in general. (WW March 1959: 31) Gerwani's efforts to influence the Indonesian women's movement were motivated by three interrelated goals. First, the organization wanted to === [PDF page 183] === 164 Chapter 5 lead the wider movement. They believed that its prioritization of Indonesian women's interests was the 'correct' one and therefore that Gerwani should supervise the unity needed to achieve these goals. Vmi Sarjono, in an interview with Api Kartini on the occasion of the tenth anniversaty of Gerwani, put it bluntly: Gerwani believes that every mother, every woman, wherever she is, has the same ideals; that is to achieve full emancipation and happiness of their families, and this is only possible when the oppression of humanity by other human beings will be altogether eliminated, when there will no longer be the threat of war and when the world will be in peace. (Umi Satjono, quoted in AK June 1960: 7) Second, they wanted to build a mass movement. They followed the PKI line on women's emancipation, stipulating that socialism should be achieved ftrst and that the best strategy to achieve that was to build up a front from below to pressure the Government. Gerwani was, in Aidit's view, responsible for uniting as many Indonesian women as possible behind the Party's ideas of what the front should strive to achieve. 64 Third, they wanted the women's movement to participate in national politics. They were influenced by Sukarno's ideas on the women's movement in general and the Indonesian women's movement in particular, and by his exhortation to the Indonesian women's movement to achieve 'total unity' in order to liberate West Irian. Gerwani, waging the most consistent effort in the national endeavour around West Irian, felt that its attempts to push the other women's organizations along the same line were fully supported by the rhetoric and policy of the President. One of Gerwani's battles for leadership of the movement centred around its calls for an Indonesian celebration of 8 March. Together with the celebration of 1 June as International Children's Day, these were 'socialist' celebrations, strongly supported by the WIDF. In 1959 the plenaty established a broad 8 March committee in Jakarta 'which took actions on the basis of the decisions of the WIDF', while 'it was considered correct to connect the preparatory work for 8 March with the struggle for peace' (WIB Februaty 1959: 18). This committee, composed of prominent women who supported Gerwani but who were not members, either because of their husband's function or because they belonged to other organizations/5 operated outside the KWI but exerted a great deal of influence within the congress through its prestigious members. Within the mass movement, Gerwani's old-time allies Persatuan Wanita === [PDF page 184] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard a/the Womens Movement 165 Murba (Federation ofMurba Women) (Perwamu) and Wani (Parkindo's women's wing) were strongly represented. While at the national level Gerwani was closer to Perwari than to Islamic women's organizations, at the local level this pattern was not always repeated. Perwari members were felt to be too much like 'ladies', while cooperation with women of the NU, for instance, was easier as they also worked with poor women. In the countryside Gerwani members cooperated closely with the BTL Mrs Sumarni of Cilacap explained that 'we always worked with the BTl on behalf of the female agricultural labourers. Together we managed to raise the share the women harvesters received from one twelfth to one sixth of the harvest'.66 Hart (1986) found that in the early 1960s Gerwani managed to outlaw the kedokan harvesting system in which harvesting rights were reserved for specific groups of women who could be easily controlled by the landlords. Gerwani argued that all women should have access to the harvest. When I did fieldwork in Mranggen, Central Java, in 1978, the village head told me that only now was he finally able to hire men with sickles to harvest his rice, which was far cheaper than to employ large numbers of women harvesting with the small rice knife, the ani-ani. Until 1965 this had been impossible; Gerwani and the BTl prevented it. By the end of the 1950s Gerwani was making determined attempts to control its cadres. Whatever power struggles engaged the 'feminist' and 'communist' wings of the organization, they were mainly contained within the central leadership. Discussions on the organization's purpose, such as those during the first congress, were no longer tolerated. Umi Srujono even rewrote history by denying that differences of opinion had ever existed: At the First Congress, 17-22 December 1951, all participants expressed their determination to fight harder to achieve national independence, democratic freedom, equal rights between men and women, a democratic marriage law and peace... you can see that the fight of Gerwis was focused on those aspects which were most needed by women, the People and the Country. (AK June 1960) Gerwani used two methods to persuade the growing numbers of cadres to toe the Gerwani line: cadre training and greater internal discipline. At the third congress Gerwani decided that cadre training should consist of four basic elements: the history of the national movement, the history of === [PDF page 185] === 166 Chapter 5 the Indonesian women's movement and the international women's movement (essentially that of the WIDF), and organizational issues. By the end of 1960 practical issues became included in the curriculum: women's rights, children, education, literacy, agitation, culture, and lectures on peace, cooperatives, problems of women workers and peasants, law and health. Course leaders were instructed not to dictate the course but to 'encourage, help and guide their students' and to promote 'self-study and self activity' (BG: 90-1). The leadership felt there were still too few cadres and too few training opportunities, and that cadre consciousness should be raised. The idea that cadres should go to the countryside and learn from the peasants was introduced. The Gerwani leaders considered the cadres the 'artery' of the organization whose 'holy task' was to be demonstrably not petit bourgeois (Sulami, HR 12 June 1957). Cadres were instructed, as they had been prior to 1957, to emphasize the 'small but successful' actions that would convince women in the kampung and the countryside that organizing paid off and that Gerwani cared about women's daily problems. At the same time, they advised Gerwani cadres to differentiate themselves carefully from other women's organizations and not limit themselves to an outdated and 'narrow feminism'. In short, they should not 'separate the struggle for equal rights from that for national independence' (BG: 128-9). As Lekra took shape, Gerwani began to link culture and politics, promoting the idea that Indonesia needed a national culture infused with patriotism and internationalism. They cited those parts of Sukarno's Manipol speech on cultural imperialism and the threats offered by rock 'n roll, cha-cha dancing and ngak ngik ngok music. However, they did not support Indonesian tradition uncritically, and protested against elements of 'feudal culture' such as the Javanese festivities with paid female dancers (tayuban)/7 while stressing the importance of regional cultural traditions (BO: 105-7). In 1958 Gerwani presented a report to the WIDF outlining the relationship between the centre and the regions, in which rights and responsibilities travelled in both directions: members... have the right to submit proposals, suggestions and criticism and the right to education, and the duty to respect the decisions of the organization and to observe discipline with regard to them. The organization has the right to expel a member in the case of disloyalty to the organization. (WIB October 1958: 20) === [PDF page 186] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Womens Movement 167 By 1961 the central leadership's grip on their regional cadres had become so strong that at the April plenary session they noted with satisfaction that women from the regions 'happily accepted all tasks the central leadership had given them' (HR 26 April 1961). Gerwani expected its cadres to demonstrate 'diligence, perseverance, courage, unanimity of opinion, and vigilance,... [to work] in high spirits and tirelessly... [and] to cooperate with other groups and work collectively, criticizing each other' (BG: 126--7). These qualities were required all the more if they worked in the villages, where 'feudal remnants' inclined many people to be 'indifferent' to the organization or even to 'obstruct the work'. Cadres, therefore, were expected to be well prepared, to work for wide support (also from other groups) and to publicize all successes, no matter how small, as widely as possible (BG: 130-1). Gerwani was organized on the principle of democratic centralism which, the leadership explained,68 did not mean that the central leadership should 'act as police officers' but rather that problems should be discussed and the leadership should help to solve them. The central leadership should 'help and control the lower levels, not just give out instructions' and in order to do this should 'go down to the masses and base itself on the wishes of those who compose the basis of the organization' (BG: 127--8). Mrs Suwarni, a regional leader, recalled that the relationship with Gerwani's central leadership was rather hierarchical: '...if they asked us to write petitions for the Attamini or Maisuri cases we naturally did that. And if we were asked to increase the membership of the organization we put every effort in reaching the target set'.69 To the very end the Gerwani leadership paid particular attention to the important role the cadres played in the organization. As Umi Sarjono wrote in 1964, 'Our cadres work hard, full of dedication to make Gerwani a broad, dynamic, revolutionary mass organization of women... Gerwani builds cadres who are courageous, capable, cultured and possess three good characteristics: they work well, they study well and they have good morals'. Their task is not easy, she added, for 'the colonialists and their puppets try hard to inject the needles of subversion into the heart of the Indonesian people... yet our experience in West Irian shows that the best way to evict the imperialists is by armed struggle'. In general the 'four kinds of counterrevolutionaries should be fought: the imperialists, the comprador capitalists, the bureaucratic capitalists and the evil landlords' (Umi Sarjono 1964: 3-14). === [PDF page 187] === 168 Chapter 5 Yet despite Gerwani's depiction of the two-way communication between the national leadership and the local cadres, the cadres themselves repeatedly insisted that they 'received their tasks from the central level'. These tasks included calls to send volunteers for the West Irian struggle and to increase the membership. The reaction ofthe cadres was often to do little more than explain why the target set was too high. The educated women of the 'intellectual' Gambir branch of Gerwani who lived in the upper-class Menteng neighbourhood of Jakarta similarly did as they were told; for instance, to give courses to the teachers of the MeIati creches or sewing or cooking courses to members of other branches.70 The epithet 'intellectual' of the Gambir branch referred to the education ofits members and not to the quality oftheir input into the thinking of the Gerwani national leadership. The plenary session in April 1961 71 noted a number of successes: (a) a seminar of women peasants had been held and generally the work with women peasants had been intensified; (b) the organization had made every effort to fulfil its national duty in the struggle for West Irian and to build up the United Women's Front; (c) with Manipol accepted by the MPRS as state guidelines, Gerwani had striven hard not 'to be left behind in these efforts', and it had stepped up its attempts to increase production and to set up cooperatives; and (d) it had organized many creches, without which women would have been unable to join in all those national tasks (BG: 95-9). The plenary noted two urgent requirements: (a) to provide further training and a national consultation bureau to help cadres outside of Java and also those cadres working on issues of marriage and divorce; and (b) to attract more housewives (BG: 102-3). The preceding four years of hard and dedicated organizational work had yielded few political successes. These were summed up in the programme Gerwani adopted at its fourth congress in December 1961 in which it was noted that much of the existing work programme remained valid. Society was still half feudal: the loolB laws had yet to be repealed and Parliament still had not passed a marriage law. The only portion of the 1957 work programme that could be dropped concerned sharecropping: the new law made this redundant (Hart 1986). The paragraph on prices had to be strengthened as the issue had become even more pressing 'in spite of all our actions, delegations sent to officials, meetings and demonstrations, which we do not organize because we like to demonstrate, but because of the tears of our hungry children' (OPP === [PDF page 188] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Women s Movement 169 As President Sukarno had emerged as the central political figure in Guided Democracy, Gerwani saw his support as vital to the PKI family, including Gerwani. The leadership tried to find a way to invite the President to give the opening speech at the fourth congress. Despite later allegations that one of Sukarno's wives, Hartini, was 'Gerwani Agung' (high-up) and that the organization was very close to the President, at that time the members of the Gerwani leadership lacked the social or political influence that would have permitted them to address him directly. Charged with finding a way to proffer the invitation, Sulami engineered an invitation from a palace official to a wayang performance at the Jakarta Palace. Mrs Subandrio was also present. We told her of our plan to make the President meet Umi Satjono so she could invite him to open our Congress. Mrs Subandrio agreed to help us and sat down close to the President. When at five 0' clock in the morning he went to the toilet, she invited us up front and introduced us to the President when he returned. He agreed to give the speech. In his opening speech to Gerwani's fourth congress President Sukarno repeated the theme of Gerwani's role in enforcing the total unity of the country based on Nasakom as well as his aversion to a 'ladies' movement'. Sukamo, who in Sarinah had so eloquently advocated women's emancipation and the need for marriage reform, now hardly referred to the gender interests Gerwani was fighting for. Prices, he conceded, were high and he understood that women felt this issue very deeply. But this was part of the necessary fight to liberate West Irian. He also referred to Kartini as the 'symbol of cooperation between intellectuals, workers and peasants' (HR 15 December 1961). Aidit's contribution72 was no more inspiring. He reminded Gerwani that it should strengthen the United Women's Front, build up the organization and complete the August 1945 revolution. He professed dissatisfaction with Gerwani's growth (exceeding one million members), saying he would have preferred 'two, three, four, or five million'. He told them that as a revolutionary women's movement with the 'double task of fighting for women's rights and of building up the new society' they would have to base themselves on the 'masses of women farmers and workers'. Furthermore, they should help to implement the new land reform laws and take an active part in destroying imperialism (HR 17 December 1961). === [PDF page 189] === 170 Chapter 5 Gerwani's chair, Umi Sarjono, echoed many of these themes: the work on West Irian, the growth of Gerwani's membership/3 and the number of Melati creches (605). Unlike Sukarno and Aidit, however, she mentioned Gerwani's efforts - especially at the local level - to support women with marriage problems, and she stressed the need to work more intensively with housewives and women farmers. The resolutions adopted by the fourth congress were prioritized as follows: West Irian, helping to implement land reform, a democratic marriage law, national security, reduction of prices and peace (AK January 1962). No major changes in the leadership took place/4 although the statutes were amended, the major change being to add adherence to Manipol to the preamble. The struggle programme covered women's rights, children's rights, democracy and security, full independence and peace - the fIrst issue being the most elaborate. The 'women's rights' in the struggle programme were as follows. First, they demanded equal rights in marriage and work,'s the right to serve in elected positions and in political bodies, and equal land rights. Second, they were directed towards combating the problems of women farmers. Third, they included the fIght for lower prices and for more health clinics (DPP Gerwani 1961a: 8-16).76 Thus, despite their loyalty to the goals formulated by Sukarno and Aidit, Gerwani still gave priority to women's rights in the practical work that their struggle programme stipulated. In the Cauldron The whirlwind created by Sukarno's populist rhetoric, the nation's economic deterioration, the anti-Malaysia campaign and a growing polarization between the PKI and right-wing forces raged from 1962 until 1 October 1965. Gerwani was caught up in it too and clearly located itself within the PKI family and on the side of Sukarno. Within this complex confIguration the Gerwani leadership strove to maintain its own identity. The struggle for women's rights was never completely exchanged for political participation in the Sukarno-PKI axis. Gerwani's official ideology in this period was that the struggle for women's rights could not be separated from the struggle for a socialist society or the struggle against imperialism, and for that reason Gerwani had to participate in the struggle for land reform and the confrontation with Malaysia. Although at the public and most visible level Gerwani agitated actively on these fronts, at the local level far more diverse actions were === [PDF page 190] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard o/the Womens Movement 171 carried out, both in cooperation with the local GOW groups and internally. They also worked to gain greater attention to women's interests within the PKI family. Several Gerwani cadres were sent to the Outer Islands to set up Gerwani branches there. Mrs Rukinah Noto, for instance, was sent first to the Moluccans, and then to West Irian: Before the third congress in Solo in 1957 Gerwani central leadership asked me to help in the Moluccans. It was a very backward region. I went from one island to the other. A representative of the Moluccans was sent to Solo so she could see the progress made by Gerwani with her own eyes. In those days Ambon and the other islands were very backward. There wasn't even tempe [soy bean cake]. The atmosphere was still like the jungle. The roads were narrow and not yet asphalted. The whole region didn't even have a teachers' training college. I was very lonely. Then, back in Jakarta in 1962, the Gerwani leadership asked me whether I was willing to go to West Irian as part of the framework of the National Front. Together with volunteers from other organizations we were trained. It was very difficult for us to enter West Irian. We were first sent to the Moluccans and had to wait for several months before we could proceed. By the end of 1963 we were sent there as "technical staff". There were three of us. We represented the National Front Women's Department. I became the secretary of the Front. We were responsible for guiding the masses and we had to receive the many guests who arrived all the time. It was still prohibited to set up organizations. Many felt that that might create unrest. Still others argued that the local population would be able to integrate more quickly into Indonesia if they could join the national organizations. Only in July 1965 were we allowed to set up organizations. I immediately registered Gerwani. People flocked to join the organization. Then in early October we were invited by the Resident, Mr Iskandar. He told us that something had happened in Jakarta. Then General Sucipto invited me to return to Jakarta, so I left via Biak. There the police commander arrested me and asked me whether I had known Lubang Buaya. I had never even heard of the name. I was imprisoned and not released until 1976.77 The interview indicates how far Gerwani was involved in the national effort to make Indonesia 'modern' and 'progressive'. Thus, the civilizing and Javanizing efforts of Gerwani and the National Front are stressed ('still jungle', 'not even tempe'). === [PDF page 191] === 172 Chapter 5 In the final years before the fall ofGerwani, critical voices within the top PKI and Gerwani circles were calling for a return to a small, militant, revolutionary cadre party.78 Some leaders felt that the party had grown too fast and had begun to resemble a giant with feet of clay. Lower leaders and common cadres were not privy to such discussions. Sulami, for example, worked in Gerwani's Secretariat for years and had been a Party member prior to Gerwis's establishment, but was unaware of the political machinations at the top: After the fourth congress in 1961 political activities gradually were brought in line with the political development of the Sukarno Government, which became more and more 'leftist'. So Gerwani came to implement many 'inflammatory' political activities such as those related to Dwikora - that is, the confrontation with Malaysia - and actions against the US. The political anti-imperialist temperature against the US made the right-wing pro-imperialist forces more and more wild. Many of those political intricacies were beyond the understanding of the lower cadres. The political decisions were in the hands of the PKI Central Committee. In general, the old cadres who had been to Digul [the Dutch concentration camp] became critical of the situation. They felt the party was sliding down into becoming bourgeois; they had become sluggish, had acquired bourgeois tastes, ignoring the forces which could lead to the victory of the proletarian revolution... An internal party struggle followed which was only known to those in the top. Cadres at my level didn't know anything clearly... sometimes I felt really confused. (Sulami, in Doc XXI: 5-6) Gerwani's support for the PKI and Sukarno was fed by a general sense ofthe 'progress' socialist societies had achieved in the area of women's rights. In Harlan Rakyat and Api Kartini, the tone remained optimistic: if Indonesia became a truly socialist society there would be democratic marriage regulations, women would no longer be discriminated against in the workforce and sufficient creches would be provided. Invariably Gerwani delegates to international socialist congresses would return with positive stories. The Gerwani representatives with the WIDF in East Berlin voiced no criticism either, even though they had a more intimate acquaintance with the socialist system than did the travellers from Indonesia, who were guided through model factories, clinics and communes. === [PDF page 192] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Women ~ Movement 173 This optimism was fanned by the organization's successes. By its fourth congress, 15 members ofthe organization had seats in the MPRS, 12 were in the Gotong Royong Parliament and 12 were in the National Council,19 The statutes adopted at the fourth congress claimed that the national revolutionary consciousness of women was growing, stimulated by the positive influence of progress in the socialist countries where women enjoyed full rights (DPP Gerwani 1961b: 3-4). The leadership viewed the enormous shortcomings in Indonesian society (women's low and unequal wages, inadequate social security, the scarcity of creches, the many problems of female farmers, unequal marriage rights and high prices) as due to the fact that Indonesian society was still 'not fully free' and was 'half-feudal'. Thus they believed that Indonesian women had to struggle for a socialist Indonesia and had to support Manipol, although by statute Gerwani remained an organization of education and struggle unaffiliated to any political party (DPP Gerwani 1961 b: 13-7). It never identified itself completely with the PKI and until the very end had both communist and non-communist members. so As Mrs Rukinah's story shows, from 1962 onwards Gerwani tried to enlist young women in the national campaigns to 'liberate' West Irian and against the formation of Malaysia. In part, this was because Gerwani wanted to support President Sukarno and to make it clear to him that the organization was not a 'ladies' movement'. In addition, the leadership felt that they would broaden women's social and political role by putting them forward not only as mothers and housewives but also as fighters: Srikandis in spirit. They believed that if women were seen to be making vigorous and militant efforts for the honour of the nation and 'were not left behind' in the general struggle, men would be unable to continue to deny them their full rights: '[w]ith such great fighting spirit as at present under Trikora, no one can say any longer that women are weak creatures, and that their task is only in the kitchen' (AK April 1962: 1). Another influence that undoubtedly played a part was the fact that Gerwani's leaders had all been involved in the national liberation war during 1945-50 and were all militant nationalists. The February 1962 issue of Api Kartin; was dedicated to this recruitment effort. Its opening article was illustrated with a row of stern-looking young women in uniform, their rifles at the ready. The caption read: 'Indonesian girl students are not left behind in meeting the call of the Mother Country to undergo armed training to free West Irian'. The accompanying article told of the warship the Dutch had sent and of the === [PDF page 193] === 174 Chapter 5 genocide the Dutch were perpetrating, 'as is commonly known'. The issue also carried interviews with female volunteers and the following reflection: The spirit of Srikandi is not yet extinguished, it will burn brightly as long as a single inch of our country remains under colonial occupation. Just as 17 years ago the Women's Laskyar, the women's front in the public kitchens, the Red Cross, even the couriers in the occupied areas, were not afraid of a rain of bullets, just as the women guerrillas in the mountains in the year 1945 indicated the fmnness of the Indonesian women to defend their country, also our young generation, the young women who 17 years ago were still in the cradle of their mothers, clearly already possess the readiness and the desire to fight for the full independence of our nation, from Sabang to Merauke. (AK February 1962: 5) All through this period Gerwani organized anti-imperialist actions. These were directed against Dutch imperialism during the Trikora struggle for West Irian and against the British during the Malaysia Confrontation and Dwikora. The actions varied. For example, in support of the nationalization of the British oil company Caltex, Gerwani and SOBSI jointly organized a boycott action: domestic servants refused to cook and clean in the houses of their foreign employers. The action spread and restaurants and shops refused to serve foreigners The personal cost to women of these actions clarifies the interconnectedness of political actions and women's rights. The husbands and families of women activists sometimes would not allow them to become involved because this required being away from home for days on end or returning late at night: 'I was once involved in the case of a woman activist whose husband had taken another woman because he felt that his wife neglected him' ('Ratna', Vrouwengroep n.d.: 24). Gerwani's efforts to train female volunteers hardly warranted the fear they generated in other women's organizations and social groups. First, although the training was carried out under the auspices of the National Front, the individual organizations had to pay the costs themselves and Gerwani, with its very limited funds, could organize military training only for 50-70 young women. Second, the major thrust of the training was directed at work behind the front lines, especially at raising the levels of production, and much ofit was a promotion ofManipol, on which Ruslam Abdulgani lectured to the women (Doc. XXXII). === [PDF page 194] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard o/the Womens Movement 175 Cooperation intensified with the other women's organizations, which had always existed at a local level in work on social issues. As already indicated, this cooperation had never been without its conflicts and at times had been stronger with the Islamic women of the NU than with the non-Islamic feminists of Perwari. This was because the KWI had made a leftward tum and Mrs Subandrio, an ally of Gerwani, was now its chair. From 1961 onwards, the KWI Secretariat and the Gerwani leadership collaborated more closely, especially on the price issue. Joint delegations were sent to the President and to other bodies, and in 1965 thousands of women in Bandung (FIR 15 January 1965), Surabaya (HR 29 January 1965 and HR 30 September 1965) and other cities took to the streets. The women's organizations also fought side by side for the repeal ofIGO/B against corruption and, in 1965, against US imperialism. The difficulties Gerwani had reported to the WIDF in 1956 ('mistrust and doubts on the part of the women's organizations towards Gerwani' (WIB June 1956: 5)) seemed in the eyes of the Gerwani leadership to have been overcome by 1965. Gerwani was apparently unaware of the growing resentment in the other organizations. It assumed it was the right organization to guide the others: In celebrating the 35th anniversary of the women's movement Gerwani sent out guidelines to the regions to celebrate this day together with other women's organizations in the spirit of unity and high national vigilance, to raise the level of the women's emancipation movement to participate in the implementation of the present revolutionary tasks. This vigilance is needed because the President... clarified that subversive elements used the women's movement to weaken the struggle front to crush neo-colonialism. Clearly needles used to inject poisonous drugs allow the subversive and counter-revolutionary [elements] to penetrate circles in the women's movement to break women's unity... ... [T]o commemorate the next KWl congress it is our task to encourage this body to implement more firmly the instruction of the President to cleanse itself of counter-revolutionary elements and to adjust itselfto the level of the national struggle to implement the demands of the national revolution - [to be] democratic and... [to have] the courage to leave behind the feudal traditions which oppress and humiliate women. (Umi Sarjono 1964: 9-10) The resentment felt by the other women's organizations is reflected (and very probably amplified, given its date) in Kowani's 1978 report === [PDF page 195] === 176 Chapter 5 preparing for the commemoration of 50 years' unity of the women's movement in Sragen: The PKI and its mass organizations could safely implement its policy of intimidation and political terror towards parties and individual people which they considered to be enemies of Nasakom, accusing them of being counter-revolutionary/anti-Bung Kamo/neocolonialist agents... This tense atmosphere also started to influence the women's movement, since Gerwani managed to occupy a seat in the leadership of the KWI in 1957. The influence of Gerwani increased when the structure of the leadership of the KWI at its twelfth congress in 1961 in Jakarta was changed... Intimidation and pressure started to be practised towards the leaders of the women's organizations, especially the anti-communist ones. Between 1961 and 1965 the women's movement was pushed to become a 'tool of the revolution'. (panitia 1978: 41-2) In the countryside too, although the content of Gerwani's actions may have been acceptable, its methods were met with resistance at times. Gerwani assumed the Marxist-Leninist position of being the ideological vanguard of the women's movement, with the 'correct' recipes for social change. This 'moralistic and didactic stance of superiority towards the rural membership' with which Gerwani 'attempted to exercise command over what is traditionally a village affair' (in this case ending a practice of food exchange) (Jay 1969: 424-(6) at times alienated local women. Gerwani's 'reformers were plainly pushing it as a Gerwani programme from above, practically as an order to the villagers' After the demise of the mass movement (see Chapter 4), Gerwani devised more in-direct ways to strengthen its connection with the KWI (in addition to Mrs Mudigdio's direct influence as a member of the KWl Secretariat) and to extend its policies to other circles within the women's movement. It achieved this through the Committee for the Celebration of 8 March and the Women's Meeting (Musyawarah), a new inter-organizational forum consistent with Sukarno's populist call for unity of the women's movement. Early in March 1962 Mrs Subandrio chaired the fIrst inter-women's organizations' meeting on rising prices (HR 3 March 1962). Two weeks later she won KWI support for a Musyawarah, which was attended by some 300 women. 81 The Musyawarah focused on the high prices, which were explained in terms of the absence of full implementation of === [PDF page 196] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Women s Movement 177 Manipol, corruption and the continuing struggle over West Irian (HR 21 March 1962). Another Musyawarah was held in August of that year. These meetings did help to create a general women's platform on which organizations could speak out on economic issues. They also pushed Kowani to become more active on the price issue, after both Musyawarah, Kowani demanded an end to price rises. The report in Api Kartini on the first Musyawarah commented 'that women are not only able to cry, they are also able to counter the economic problems and take up their responsibility in the same way as men' (AK April 1962: 17) but also recognized women's particular responsibility 'to make ends meet. Women try to fill one hole with the other, selling journals, bartering old clothes etc.' (AK April 1962: 17). Gerwani's major activities between 1962 and October 1965 were dominated by interests related to national political concerns, although feminist issues had not disappeared altogether. In September 1962 the first Trikora training session was held. Women were trained in the use of weapons and in civil defence, and lectures were provided on Manipol, the National Front, land reform, illiteracy and West Irian, and general knowledge was provided (HR 29 September 1962).82 Topics that had figured prominently in earlier cadre training, such as the history of the national and international women's movement, were absent. It was advocated that ties with the National Front be strengthened and calls were issued for Gerwani members to 'strengthen both the front lines and the home front' (Umi SaJjono, HR 17 August 1962). By 1963 the economic problems had become so acute that the Gerwani leadership made them its main focus for 1963 (HR I January 1963). The slogan was 'with Manipol strengthen the Women's United Front for democracy, emancipation, food and clothing' (HR 7 January 1963). Nonetheless, Gerwani kept up its fight for women's rights. S3 In March Gerwani opened its consultation bureau for women's rights and issues of marriage and adat, chaired by Mrs Mudigdio (HR 30 March 1963). In December the first calls to destroy Malaysia were heard (HR 11 December 1963). In 1964 the leftist family announced that land reform would make the villages into 'mountains of wealth' (HR 9 January 1964). In Gerwani's plenary session Umi SaJjono called upon the organization to strive towards a 'total integration with women workers and poor peasants' (1964). The political actions discussed included demands for women's rights and better living conditions, nationalizing Britishowned enterprises, land reform, a demand for economic reform84 and the === [PDF page 197] === 178 Chapter 5 fonnation of a Nasakom cabinet (HR 24 January 1964). The organization claimed 1,750,000 members (HR 31 January 1964) and expected to grow to three million by the end of 1965. The 8 March 1964 celebration was devoted to Malaysia and the problems of securing sufficient affordable food. Later in March Gerwani instructed all its members to enlist as volunteers in the confrontation with Malaysia (HR 18 March 1964). In addition, Gerwani continued to stress women's interests: its demands for Kartini's Day included women's education and greater attention to be paid to women's culture (HR 2 April 1964). The struggle for the repeal of the IGOIB regulations continuedK5 and in September another training session for Malaysia volunteers was held,K6 together with a housewives seminar in November. In 1964, the Government instructed all mass organizations to link themselves to a political party.K7 As political tensions grew, the Gerwani leadership acknowledged their organization's position within the communist camp, a situation they intended to formalize at the fifth congress to be held in December 1965. In January 1965 the slogans for the Gerwani plenary session included references to Dwikora, an increase in production, support for the economic programme of the President and land reforms (HR 14 January 1965), as well as the need to Nasakomize society. In the cauldron ofIndonesian politics, all organizations had to affiliate themselves to one of the Nasakom partners or to Djuhartono's 'neutral' functional groups. No organization could escape taking sides, and Gerwani was no exception. President Sukamo had given a fiery speech at International Women's Day in 1964, resolutely denouncing the imperialist forces. The following day a bomb was dropped on his palace. Also a grenade was thrown into the PKI office in Raya Kramat, destroying part of the building. There had been other attempts to assassinate Sukamo. The forces involved were related to the PRRI uprising and the Darnl Islam movement and actually had already been in existence since the defeat of the PKI in Madiun. We leftist activists had to choose whether we wanted to remain in the leftist forces or join the lines of those who fought against Bung Kamo. We opted for remaining within the leftist forces, accepting all consequences this brought with it, such as the accusations that Gerwani did not fight consistently for women's issues. That is the background of our refusal to cooperate with Perwari which since the beginning had opposed Sukamo. And also because they never defended actively the rights of poor women in the villages. (Sulami, in Doc. XXXII: 26-7) === [PDF page 198] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Women s Movement 179 As Gerwani felt closest to the PKI the decision was taken that at the next congress in December 1965 the organization would officially affiliate itself to the Party. Umi Sarjono would at last be replaced by Suharti. 88 Encouraged by Umi Sarjono's rousing speech, the plenary decided that the status of Gerwani would change from that of a nonpolitical organization based on education and struggle to a mass organization of communist and progressive non-communist women (HR 28 January 1965). It was also decided to establish the Sri Panggihan Institute to study Marxism (named after the woman who had inspired so many Gerwis members). The plenary decided to make Marxism the basis of instruction in Gerwani schools (HR 4 March 1965). It seemed as if the feminist wing had lost out completely. Trimurti left Gerwani, declaring she was 'unable to peddle two boats' and wished to stand by her husband who had been involved in an anti-communist movement (HR 18 January 1965). Even Kartini's Day was celebrated in the spirit of Dwikora and Tavip, with education and health added on (HR 21 April 1965). In June 1965, when Gerwani celebrated its 15th anniversary, the first eight of the twenty-one celebratory slogans dealt with Dwikora, Malaysia and other anti-imperialist issues, and many others referred to various national leftist political issues.89 Marriage reforms, often the primary issue in the 1950s, had been relegated to slogan 16 (HR 4 June 1965).90 In the final days before the military putsch of Untung and Latief the situation was tense. Gerwani members joined the mass demonstrations against the US Embassy and Marshall Green (HR 5 August 1965). Meanwhile, as preparations for the fifth congress continued, a last big demonstration was held in Surabaya in which thousands of women participated, demanding a reduction in prices (HR 30 September 1965).91 Then came the coups and it was all over. Concluding Remarks There is some confusion as to how many women were members of Gerwani. During the 15th anniversary of the organization in 1965 Gerwani claimed three million members and set a goal of four million by the end of that year (Doc. VI: 3). However, this figure seems rather inflated and other sources maintain that Gerwani never counted more than one to one-and-a-half million members (Doc. XII: 3). Whatever the exact number, Gerwani had undoubtedly become a mass movement and had lost much of its original character as a group of politically- === [PDF page 199] === 180 Chapter 5 conscious women fighting for what they defined as women's interests. It had also become less personal. Whilst previously cadres visited members in their homes to announce a meeting or to invite the women to an activity, by 1965 the women were gathered in trucks. Gerwani's adherence to democratic centralism and Leninist organizational principles92 had resulted in an organization in which the decisions were taken by common approval but political policies and strategies were devised by a narrow circle of women at the top who were close to the PKI. The most prominent of these women were Umi Sarjono (Gerwani's chair) and the PKI hard-liner, Suharti. Gerwani's 1965 slogan 'total integration with workers and peasants' demonstrated that the leadership had replaced sisterhood or equality with women (initially one of Gerwani's central tenets) with other interests. They had abandoned the concomitant struggle for marriage reforms in favour of an emphasis on unity that was linked to both Sukarno's populism and the PKI's communism. Furthermore, they clearly believed this to be superior to the strategies of other women's organizations: they believed Gerwani alone possessed the 'correct' perspective and strategy. In this they echoed concerns that other communist women's organizations voiced during those years. The Chinese Women's Federation, for instance, also tried to unify women peasants and labourers (Siu 1981). And the Chinese, the Russian and the Indochinese Communist Parties had insisted that while women should strive to build a movement of their own, they should prioritize the 'revolutionary struggle' and whatever interests were dermed by the Party leaders in the name of that revolutionary struggle. At the same time, within the 'communist family' the leadership emphasized activities that were an extension ofthe traditionally feminist concerns (prices, morality, children) consistent with its definition of women's kodrat. This created the space that allowed Gerwani cadres at the grassroots level, while acceding to the political agenda of the leadership, to continue fighting for what they saw as women's interests and maintain the struggle against marriage abuses even after it was shelved by the leadership. At the local level, Gerwani activists joined members of other women's organizations in activities related to 'social needs'. But they did so with a particular edge. Their model was not Atjuna's meek, refined and devout wife Sumbadra but Srikandi, the warrior princess. This militancy was evident in both the initial focus on feminist activism and in the military training women underwent to prepare for === [PDF page 200] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Women s Movement 181 service in Sukarno's anti-imperialist campaigns. Although numerically the effect of the training was insignificant, ideologically it had wide ramifications, promoting Gerwani's militancy and its defiance of the submissive, domestic image upheld by the more conservative women's organizations. Gerwani increasingly embraced both a humanist position that was constructivist- and socialist-defined (we are all human beings and as workers and peasants we have the same socio-political concerns) and a 'womanly' view (as women we are all mothers and wives and thus concerned with morality, children and food), in which the priorities of the leadership and the local cadres might differ. It saw this combination as superior to the ideology of any other women's organization, hence its claim to be the vanguard of the Indonesian women's movement. Reflecting on the disaster that struck Gerwani after October 1965, Umi Sarjono recognized that while they were so active on the national level something had disappeared along the way 'while we didn't stop to realize what we were losing'.93 She asked herself, What did we do wrong? We were just talking and fighting for the best. And then such heavy punishment. Now nothing is left. Not only has the movement been shattered but the people themselves have been killed. The cultural struggle and the fight for equal rights in marriage was too heavy. We tried to convince all these young girls that we were fighting for the people, for justice. They believed us. They struggled so hard. Now look at them. What has become of them? We must have made many mistakes. Probably our struggle against polygyny was too severe. If one of our members consented to become the second wife of somebody she was thrown out of Gerwani. Maybe we went too fast?94 Other former members also attribute the brutality of the murders after October 1965 to Gerwani's position on polygyny.95 However, their position was less consistent than that of, for example, Perwari, and cannot fully account for the hatred Gerwani had aroused in conservative forces. Their aversion was associated rather with Gerwani's growing leftist militancy. Notes Sugiarti, the author of the poem, was one of the most prominent women members of Lekra, the cultural organization associated === [PDF page 201] === 182 Chapter 5 with the PKl. She never joined Gerwani but contributed regularly to Api Karlini (interview, 24 February 1982). 2. This is the women's section of the Barisan Pembrontak Republik Indonesia (the Insurgence Front of the Indonesian Republic) (BPRI), led by the popular guerrilla fighter Bung Torno. It was not a communist group. Later its chair left Gerwis, while many members stayed on (Doc. XXXII). 3. Interview, Umi Satjono, 28 August 1994. 4. Interview, Doc. XXXIII, No. 1. 5. For Trimurti's years during the independence war see Trimurti (1980a, 1980b) and Soebagijo (1982). She had been a member of various anti-colonial parties before the war. In colonial times she had served prison sentences for distributing anti-colonial pamphlets. 6. Interview, 2 February 1984. Captain Raymond 'Turk' Westerling, one of the most infamous figures of the independence war, was responsible for the killing of thousands of young republicans in South Sulawesi. In January 1950, after sovereignty had been formally transferred, he again moved against the Republic (Ricklefs 1981). This time his actions so discredited federalism that they hastened the constitution ofthe unitary Republic ofIndonesia. See also the account of the guerrilla years of Mrs Salawati Daud in AK April 1962. 7. The Pemuda Putri Indonesia (Indonesian Young Women) (PPI) was a young women's socialist-inspired movement in the independence struggle. Suharti, who later chaired the Women's Department of the PKI, chaired the important Yogyakarta branch, where she inspired many younger girls such as Sujinah (interview, 1 September 1994). 8. Interview, 17 December 1983 and Docs. IX, XVIII, XIX. Other leaders such as Suharti Harsono had been in the Barisan Pelopor (Doc. XVII). 9. For example, Mrs Dharmo Susanto, who was active in Isteri Sedar before the Japanese occupation and had joined the actions against the Wild Schools Ordinance. One of the founders of Perwari in Klaten, she changed to the more 'progressive' Gerwis in 1953. She later became a member of the MPRS and the first woman to chair a regional council (DPRD) (interview, 23 December 1983). 10. Umi Sarjono had set up the women's organization Gerakan Wanita Indonesia (Gerwindo) in 1948 in Kediri. === [PDF page 202] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard ofthe Women ~ Movement 183 11. After the Japanese occupation Sri Panggihan became active in Putera women's branch, Surabaya. There she taught Suharti Harsono (later a member of DPR-GR, MPRS and DPP BTl), Kartinah (later Secretary-General of DPP Gerwani), Supariyam and Alinah. She then moved to Semarang where she opened a revolutionary bookshop and became one of the founders of Gerwis (Doc. XVII). 12. After the event Sujinah learned that the reason was probably that she was lesbian (interviews with Sujinah, 21 January 1984 and Mrs Susanto, 10 January 1984, mentioned that Tris Metty was quite open about her lesbianism which was probably why she was replaced). She was a firm feminist who did not agree with the mass line. In addition, because Gerwis was based in Jakarta, she would have had to resign her job as a civil servant in Semarang, which she did not wish to do. In the historiography of Gerwani, Tris Metty is ignored. Apart from p. 4 of Doc. XXI, she appears in none of the sources consulted during this research. 13. The PKI had not yet reconstituted itself as a party. Parliament had a progressive faction (1949-50) consisting of leftists of various hues, which hotly contested the results of the Round Table Conference (Sukadi, 30 August 1994, in Doc. XXXII). 14. After 1957 the women members of the PKI were called Wankom (Wanita Komunis). In 1963 the Women's Department of the PKI, the Depwankom, was officially established, with Suharti as chair (interview, Umi Smjono, 1 September 1994). IS. Interview, Mrs Chalisah, 8 September 1984. 16. Interviews, Sumarni Wardoyo, 10 and 13 December 1998. 17. As Sulami recalls: 'I had already joined the PKI in 1946, when I was still with the army. When Gerwis was set up the Party ordered me to become involved. But the major attraction to me was my own desire to join a women's organization' (interview, 10 September 1994). 18. Summarized account by Suharto Harsono, Doc. XVII: 1-2. 19. Hollandsch-Indische School (Dutch Indian School) which admitted only Europeans and upper-class Indonesians. 20. Interview, Sujinah, 2 September 1994. 21. Interview with an ex-chair of a Gerwani branch in Minangkabau who wishes to remain anonymous, 3 November 1983. 22. Doc. XIX: 3-5. 23. According to Doc. XV, reasons for the selection included 'the way === [PDF page 203] === 184 Chapter 5 the city was governed, its adat, its socio-economic conditions, its location and its culture' as well as the number of workers, landlords, heroic struggles local cadres of the PKI, and the Sarikat Rakyat, such as 'the legendary Mrs Munasiah' (Doc. XV: 1-2). 24. Interview, Sukoni, 23 December 1998. 25. Doc. VI: 2. This document is the text of a speech prepared for the 15th anniversary of Gerwani on 4 June 1965. 26. Trimurti (1951) is a training manual she used for her courses in the Partai Buruh. For Trimurti's views on the labour movement and the struggle for national independence see Trimurti (1980a). 27. In an interview (30 August 1994) Umi Sarjono said: 'Trimurti was very disappointed about the PKI's dominance. The women they pushed were dropped on the organization from above; they were almost new to the organization'. 28. Doc. XXXIII: interview, Suwarti Bintang, July 1993. 29. Interview, Mrs Trlmurti, 15 March 1983. 30. Mrs Muninggar, for instance, who originally belonged to Umi Sarjono's Kediri-based Gerwindo, writes that she was happy with Gerwis as 'we really needed a women's organization to defend women's rights.,. I didn't agree to the change from Gerwis to Gerwani as we... needed conscious women, not this mass line' 31. Before she resigned she wrote the most feminist column in Api Kartini, 'Mak Ompreng' (see Chapter 7). 32. Interview, Sujinah, 21 January 1984. 33. There is considerable confusion about the names of the various organizations and the times at which they joined, with various documents providing different lists. The most complete list is contained in Docs. VI: 17 and DPP Gerwani 1954: 40; see also HR, 13 September 1960. However, this last list has Perwin joining Gerwis in 1950, while according to an interview with Darmini, Perwin joined in 1953 (WW Sonderausgabe, January 1954). In some publications the Isteri Sedar group of Bandung is called (Persatuan) Wanita Sedar. Many later sources have Perwin and the Isteri Buruh Kereta Api join Gerwis just prior to its 1954 congress. 34. Peraturan Pemerintah 19, Government Regulation No. 19 which arranged for the pensions of wives of polygynous male officials 35. Excerpts from an article 'The Women of Indonesia' in WW, May 1952, and probably written by Darmini, then representing Gerwis in the wmF in Berlin. === [PDF page 204] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Women s Movement 185 36. The so-called' 12 October Affair' in 1952 was a revolt of the high anny command against civilian moves to curtail their power. They brought troops to the presidential palace and demanded the dissolution of Parliament. Sukarno convinced them to disperse the same day. 37. Women were active in the BTl from the beginning, although its women's department was not formally established until 1957. The women's department supported the BTl in its regular activities such as the implementation of the land reform and the struggle against the 'seven village devils', but also demanded equal inheritance rights for women and men, an end to concubinage and increased women's wages for agricultural work (Suharti Harsono, 22 August 1994, in Doc. XXXII). 38. This committee was particularly concerned with the many Chinese landowners. Some 115.6 ha of land were distributed at the time. 39. Interview, Dannini, WW Sonderausgabe, January 1954. 40. Doc. IV: 9-10. Case B in the research report, Womens Organizations in Indonesia (Wieringa, Pattipilohi, Pattynama 1985: 132). 41. The 8 March event stressed demands for women's rights in marriage, attention to morality and other feminist issues (HR 9 April 54). 42. Interview, Umi Satjono, 9 September 1994. 43. When it was created in 1950 Gerwis had 500 members. The 80,000 membership figure is approximate. The Gerwis leadership report for the 1954 congress states 74,977, while its editors, counting the lists which the branches had handed in, put the figure at 88,551 (DPP Gerwani 1954: 22). 44. Gerwani was also concerned by conditions in the batik factories in which 'feudal' rules still reigned. Despite the health hazards (hot wax, fumes) no medical care was provided and there were no creches, so that small children were also exposed to the unhealthy atmosphere in the workshops (DPP Gerwani 1954: 20). 45. Including actions against the release of the American film Desert Fox, which was considered to contain imperialist propaganda, and joint actions to collect and burn pornographic booklets (DPP Gerwani 1954: 24). 46. The bulletin was initially called Wanita Sedar (Conscious Women) and later renamed Berita Gerwani (Gerwani News). Another bulletin, Berita Berkala (Occasional News), was also published for === [PDF page 205] === 186 Chapter 5 a short period. Unfortunately I have not been able to acquire copies of these bulletins. 47. The word for 'People', Rakyat, is consistently spelt with a capital 'P' in publications originating from the 'progressive' family. When referring to these documents I have followed this practice. 48. This was emphasised in a publication for Gerwani cadres a few years later: Gerwani wasn't an 'onderbow' [sic] (branch) of any political party, the congress which would meet every four years was the highest body (BG: 49). 49. This theme emerged in many interviews I held. See also the interview with Mrs Rukinah Noto (Doc. XXXIII). 50. Interview, Mrs Rachmani, 15 March 1983. 51. The article 'The History of the Development of Society', which was probably intended as course material for this topic, draws heavily on Bachofen and socialist authors (reproduced in BG: 33-41). 52. Interview, Mrs Sumarni, 22 December 1998. 53. In August 1957 the first female village head was elected - PKI member Siti Hartini (later also called Sri Darningsih) (HR 10 August 1957) - in the village of Buloh in the Central Javanese BIora district. However she was not allowed to take office at the time (HR 28 August 1957). 54. This is a direct criticism of Perwari, which had decided to help Fatmawati. 55. This issue marked the end of the friendship between Sukarno and Trimurti, who had been the only woman present at the Declaration of Independence. They had been closely associated during the independence war, but Sukarno refused to speak to her after she published an article opposing the marriage (interview, Trimurti, 10 September 1994). 56. At that time Harlan Rakyat was also interested in these 'women's issues'. Various stories were published in Harian Rakyat of marriage abuses and Gerwani's efforts to help the women concerned. On 11 June 1955 Harian Rakyat published an article about Ningsih, a victim of a forced marriage who managed to get a divorce and became a member of Gerwani. On 24 August 1955 it published another story of a second marriage and a wife who divorced her husband. Mrs Mudigdio wrote a long article with several case studies of women who suffered from marriage problems on 16 May 1956 and a similar article appeared in the === [PDF page 206] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard of the Women s Movement 187 'Women's Comer' of23 May 1956 ('although men say they agree to equal rights, in their hearts they don't... because offeudalism'). 57. Gerwani was unable to establish a branch in the area: only the women working in a nearby sugar factory had joined. Similarly, it was difficult for Gerwani to gain any strength on the island of Madura, which was inhabited by devout Muslims (Doc. IX). 58. The Marriage Law wasn't even mentioned (HR 4 January 57). 59. See, for example, Sulami's long article in the 'Women's Comer' of 13 March 1957. 60. The Islamic fasting month, at the end of which gifts such as batik cloth are exchanged. 61. For instance, the Harian Rakyat 'Women's Comers' of 18 March 1959 and 8 April 1959. 62. An Api Kartini editorial complained that after the Government had taken drastic monetary steps 'we women and especially we house· wives' expected the Government to honour its promise to reduce the prices of basic needs. Instead, prices had risen even higher and the Minister had refused to receive the women' (January 1960: 1). 63. Interview, Sukoni 23 December 1998. 64. Within this general perspective the adulation of the Soviet system extended so far that Yuri Gagarin's space trip was seen as proof of the system's superiority. A speech at Gerwani's 1961 plenary included the following passage: 'We congratulate the Mothers in the USSR because they have managed to teach their sons so that many of them have become world heroes to support peace such as 65. Members included: Arudji Kartawinata, founder of Laswi, who belonged to the socialist-inspired Islamic party Permi; Dr. Hurustiati Subandrio, chief of the Cabinet of Health Ministry; Ratu Aminah Hidajat, wife of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and chair of the Indonesian Peace Committee; and Utami Suryadarma, who chaired the women's section of the Committee on Asian-African Solidarity and whose husband was Air Force chief. 66. Interview, Mrs Sumarni, 22 December 1998. 67. These dancers are called ledhek or ronggeng. Tayuban is the typical name for such events in Java, although the practice of hiring professional female dancers with whom men dance on certain occasions is known allover the archipelago under different names. It is often associated with prostitution, which is not regarded as immoral when it is 'controlled' in this way (Hughes-Freeland 1993: === [PDF page 207] === 188 Chapter 5 103). For an interesting description ofa tayuban dancer see Linus Suryadi (1985: 24, 68-9). See also Pigeaud (1938) and Koentjaraningrat (1985). 68. This is drawn from an unsigned and undated internal document entitled Memperbaiki Tjara Kerdja untuk Suksesnja Plan Peluasan Organisasi (Improving our Method of Working to make a Success of the Plan to Expand the Organization) which forms part of the Wason Collection of Gerwani documents, the Buku Gerwani. It was clearly written before the fourth congress, probably in preparation for either the congress or the plenary in early 1961. 69. Interview, 10 December 1998. 70. Interview, Jane Oey Djoen, 20 December 1998. The widow of Amir Syarifuddin was the 'advisor' of the Gambir branch. 71. In 1960 no plenary was held as no permission had been granted by the authorities (BG: 95). 72. He only wrote a letter to the congress. Aidit never attended any Gerwani congresses. 73. At the third congress the goal for the fourth congress was set at twice the 1957 membership (that is, 1.3 million by 1961). According to Umi Sarjono the 1961 membership stood at 1,120,594. 74. Umi Sarjono was re-elected chair, while Mudigdio, Suharti, Trimurti and Salawati Daud were vice-chairs. Maasje Siwi was elected general secretary, while her vice-secretaries were Kartinah Kurdi and Sulami (RR 17 December 1961). The Secretariat further consisted ofParyani (women's rights), Suwati (organization), Lies Supit (children's rights), Darmini and Sujinah (foreign affairs). 75. See also Suharti (1960b), Sundari (1960) and Umi Sarjono (1960b) for Gerwani's position on marriage reforms at the time. See Setiati Surasto (1960), Suharti (1960a) and Umi Sarjono (1960a) for Gerwani's position on the issue of equal pay for equal work. 76. See also DPP Gerwani (1962b, 1962c). 77. Interview, Mrs Rukinah Noto, Doc. XXXIII. 78. It is difficult to assess the importance of this 'red' wing within the PKI. If they did wield substantial influence, appeasing them may have been another reason why Aidit decided to side with Untung and his allies. To my knowledge no attempt has been made to investigate this issue. 79. One of the issues discussed in Parliament was Umi Sarjono's successful amendment to Law No. 62 dealing with citizenship. It === [PDF page 208] === Gerwani: Towards the Vanguard ofthe Women ~ Movement 189 allowed for a period of three months in which a foreign woman marrying an Indonesian man or an Indonesian woman marrying a foreign man could decide which country's citizenship they preferred. It had been developed in close cooperation with Mrs Rusyiah Sarjono, Minister of Social Affairs, and was supported by Perwari members (interview, Umi Sarjono, 9 September 1994). 80. This is in contrast to Pemuda Rakyat, whose statutes read that it was a 'loyal helper' of the PKI. 81. Two of the three speakers were prominent Gerwani members, S. K. Trimurti and Sri Ambar (SOBSI). Mrs Ronosodarmo, a member of the Greater Jakarta National Front, had also been involved in organizing the Musyawarah (AK April 1962). 82. These training camps fuelled fears that Gerwani and the other members of the 'communist family' were building a 'fifth force'. 83. Parjani Pradono reminded the organization that 'its first task was to fight for women's rights... but feudal remnants and old-fashioned adat stood in women's way' (HR 6 February 1963). 84. Namely to repeal the so-called '26 May Regulations' of that year, which were seen as an imperialist plot by the PKI. 85. An article in the Harian Rakyat 'Women's Comer' recalled a myth from colonial times, that women were considered to be unsuitable to become village heads as they wouldn't be able to catch thieves which, the author remarked dryly, 'male village heads don't do either'. By that time five female village heads had been elected and installed (HR 8 May 1964). 86. This time it was called the Tavip TC. The Api Karlini of October 1964 reported that apart from drilling and other military exercises TC topics included Sukarno's Tavip speech, Marxism and issues related to production. Mrs Subandrio also lectured on the women's movement to 'cadres [who] will strengthen the ranks of the progressive revolutionaries... [and] have to be especially wary of the hypocrites who, while mumbling they agree to Tavip, actually make it powerless and castrate Tavip.., At present our country is threatened by the neo-colonial plot of Malaysia... But we are not a soybean cake [tempe] people, we are disciplined by the bitter experiences of colonialism and in this training women workers will not be left behind' (Sri Ambar, AK October 1964: 3). 87. This was another of Sukarno's efforts to unite the population. See the statement by Sukadi, vice-chair of the Jakarta branch of the National Front, 30 August 1994, in Doc. XXXII. === [PDF page 209] === 190 Chapter 5 88. Interviews inter alia with Sujinah, 21 January 1984 and Umi Sarjono, 9 September 1994. 89. For instance the slogan 'combat the five evils', which was completely couched in the Maoist jargon popular at the time, referred to (1) 'Malaysia', (2) the seven village devils, (3) US imperialism, (4) kahir and (5) modem revisionism. 90. That women's interests had almost completely disappeared is implicit in their near-absence in an anonymous author's account of Gerwani's history in Harian Rakyat. Doc. VI contains the full text (HR 4 June 1965).. 91. The article in Harian Rakyat fails to mention that the Governor's house was ransacked on this occasion; the Museum of the Treachery of the PKI located at Lubang Buaya in Jakarta devotes one of its. diorama displays to the scene. 92. They saw 'Leninism... [as] the most competent science to solve the problems of the Indonesian revolution' (Doc. VI: 4). 93. Interview, Umi Satjono, 9 September 1994. 94. Interview, Umi Satjono, 25 and 26 February 1982. 95. For instance, Mrs Sugiarti Siswadi in an interview, 24 February 1982. === [PDF page 210] === Gerwani: Between the PKI and Sukarno Now we are no longer just giving birth to worker soldiers. We too are worker soldiers. No longer just wives of people's heroes, we too are people's heroes And when the fortresses of absolute time are smashed and workers' power stands proudly in our land we shall no longer only tend the graves read the prayers and weep for the dead we shall be part of the foremost ranks. Freedom by Sugiarti (Lekra 1962: 66) Gerwani's political position threatened conservative powers in Indonesia. The depth of this perceived threat helps to explain the fury that was unleashed upon them after October 1965. In this chapter I analyse the shifts in Gerwani's 'political' position by focusing on its relationship with the PKI and President Sukarno. Even by its own definition Gerwani entered a male domain by engaging in national politics, thus violating traditional ideas of womanhood which, as we have seen, constrain women to the 'social' domain. From 1954 through to 1965 Gerwani defined itself as a non-party political organization. Only in 1965, when the Government instructed all groups to choose a political partner within the Nasakom formula, was Gerwani forced into an affiliation with the PKI. However, this decision was taken in the January 1965 plenary session and could only be ratified by the congress scheduled for December 1965. 191 === [PDF page 211] === 192 Chapter 6 Throughout its history, Gerwani distinguished the 'male' realm of party politics from the 'female' domain of women's gender interests. It never defined its struggle for gender interests as 'political' in the sense of party politics and national issues but, effectively, it did broaden the domain of 'politics' as it took the issue of prices and the accessibility of food (women's domain) into the streets, which were considered to be men's domain. Gerwani aspired to an ideological position based on the Srikandi figure. While Srikandi was a warrior princess, she was also a wife of the virile hero Atjuna. These two aspects appealed to Gerwani. The organization tried to be the active, warlike and assertive wife to its partners, the socialist nationalism increasingly embodied by the Party and Sukarno. Just as Srikandi never questions the spiritual superiority of her husband Atjuna, so Gerwani always followed the political lead of its political partners. Gerwani did so not in the meek, self-effacing way of Sumbadra, Atjuna's other wife, but rather in a militant, independent manner, asserting its right to define and prioritize its own gender interests. Although Gerwani's position shifted during its short history, its view that politics wasI party politics and, more specifically, the 'correct' politics of the PKI, was already evident in Gerwani's preparations for the 1955 elections. The thousands of Gerwani volunteers sent out to inform the female electorate of their rights to vote, campaigned on the PKI's programme in order to get votes for Gerwani candidates. Their canvassing was repeatedly described as 'providing the women with political training'.2 Resistance to these PKI and Gerwani cadres was strong, especially from conservative Muslim groupS.3 Granting women their constitutional political rights was very controversial in the villages where the conservative reaction was fierce. 4 Throughout its history Gerwani's views on socialist ideology and politics remained vague, although Aidit and the PKI's indifference to the 'woman question' left it considerable scope. Instead, Gerwani focused on its practical work with women at the grassroots level, while following the wavering (at least so far as women's issues was concerned) line of the PKI and Sukarno. The advantage of this vagueness was that it allowed the organization to juggle socialist and populist concepts and slogans with an eye to the mass membership they considered to be the only route to success. Gerwani's lack of theoretical clarity must be seen in relation to both Sukarno's equally vague populism and the PKl's desire to remain linked to Sukarno. The public discourse of Gerwani, which forms the major source for this chapter, is drawn mainly from the PKI newspaper, Harian Rakyat, === [PDF page 212] === Genvani: Between the PKl and Sukarno 193 other party publications and from Gerwani's publication, Api Kartini. This latter glossy periodical was produced to appeal to a middle-class audience. Gerwani cadres did not always appreciate it: '...it was nonbloc, it had no colour. It was not interesting for the women in the villages or in the city kampung'.5 While there are differences in focus among these sources, dissenting voices were rare and this may give a false impression of homogeneity. Yet the doubts about the wisdom ofPKI and Gerwani's mass line that I recorded some twenty years after the destruction of communism in Indonesia may have been afterthoughts. If some women felt ill at ease with certain aspects ofGerwani's policies, as they expressed to me, they were unable or unwilling to make their voices heard at the time. Gerwani and the PKI Communist women had participated in establishing Gerwis and this close relationship continued when the Aidit leadership took over in 1951. When the PKI, recovering from Sukiman's assault, decided to build a 'front from below', it encouraged Gerwis to become the women's mass organization it wished to create. Yet the emphasis the PKI gave to organizing women did not translate into any sustained and serious attention to women and the 'woman question'. Generally, PKI speeches were rather condescending and insensitive on this point, often referring to women's 'backwardness'. The general purport of their arguments was that only socialism would grant women equal rights so women had to support the only party that was consistently striving for socialism. The PKI view on what constituted 'equal rights' for women was rather dimly lit, however, and rarely went beyond equal rights on labour and political issues. The only two 'feminist' issues that the party consistently supported were a democratic marriage law (peris Pardede 1960) and the abolition of the IGOIB laws. Despite this lack of vision and the PKI's failure to press issues beyond the point at which Sukarno might become antagonized, the PKI saw itself as the vanguard that would ptovide women with a political education. It needed Gerwani to increase its support among women. Gerwani never publicly questioned the blessings of socialism. Yet it did not stress the same points as the PKI. Gerwani recognised that the 'ideal socialist family' did not always include a consistent male effort to share in domestic duties. The insistence on monogamy for PKI cadres also caused a degree of resentment. Yet rather than organize === [PDF page 213] === 194 Chapter 6 open resistance to the 'feudal remnants' within PKI, Gerwani strove to enforce equal rights within the Party by enlarging their revolutionary role: 'women will not be left behind'. The PKI leadership seems to have publicly addressed women for the first time on 8 March 1953.6 On 7 March it had issued a message 'to all women' stating: (a) that while women in socialist countries had achieved full equal rights, in capitalist countries women were still oppressed; (b) that women's fate was even more sobering in countries that still had 'feudal remnants', such as Indonesia; and (c) that as Stalin, 'the champion of peace', maintained, no major movement to end oppression could succeed without women's participation (HR 7 March 1953).7 In December 1953 (on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Indonesian women's movement) Harian Rakyat published a congratulatory article by Aidit in which he conveyed the appreciation he and aU Indonesian communists had for the women's movement, while calling on women to unite because 'the Indonesian women's movement cannot be separated' from the general struggle for national independence (HR 21 December 1953). This call was juxtaposed with a recognition that the demands to end child marriages, forced marriages and wanton desertion voiced at the first women's congress in 1928 had not yet been met. This early statement indicates that Aidit was aware that the women's movement was largely motivated by the struggle for marriage reforms. It also presages the PKI's later expectation that this unity would be achieved under Gerwani's guidance (in 1953 Gerwis was still too small to be called openly to this task). Finally, it states his insistence that the goal towards which the united women's movement should strive was full national independence dermed along socialist lines. This became a consistent message to Indonesian women: unite yourselves under the leadership of Gerwani to support the struggle led by the Party for full national independence/socialism. But Aidit's 1953 recognition of the importance of the marriage law struggle appeared to have little effect on his agenda for the women's movement. As early as 1954 he was manufacturing symbols for the women's movement, praising Kartini, for instance, for being 'a hero, a democrat and a warrior, who fought against the royal adat, the colonial occupation and who advocated cooperation with men' rather than for her struggle against polygyny and for women's education (HR 21 April 1954). In 1957, Sudisman, the first Party leader to speak with some sensitivity on women's interests, quoted Lenin in addressing the need to === [PDF page 214] === Gerwani: Between the PKl and Sukarno 195 increase the Party's influence on the women masses. He stressed the need to learn about women's and children's rights, to understand the double role of women in the Party and the household and to take seriously the need for a democratic marriage law. Sudisman also admonished male cadres and the Party for discriminating against women, for example, by delaying full membership of individual women and by keeping their wives at home to do all the housework. 8 He argued that the Party would attract more women if it paid more attention to women's rights: namely a fair and democratic marriage law, equal rights in relation to work and land rights for women (HR 5 September 1957). In 1958 Aidit made his most elaborate statement on women while opening the first (and only) national conference of communist women. By defining communist women as 'PKI members with the same rights as men' he argued that there were no women's issues as such, only general issues which could 'create the tools and work forms which will enable... [the] Party, and especially Communist Women, to give a more effective contribution to solve the political problems related to the political development of our country as a whole'. Thus Aidit saw the national conference not as a forum for women's interests but as a way to raise women's national political consciousness, 'because women in a country like ours are still under the sandals of the reactionaries so they are far removed from political life'. Aidit's interest was in the approximately 100,000 Wankom members and in the resource represented by hundreds of thousands of members of 'a women's mass organization which is very close to our Party owing to the activities of party members within it' and in the substantial number of women ready 'to dedicate their intellectual capacities, their wishes and feelings towards constructing the new society which is laid down in the Programme of... [the] Party'. However, by implication, women could not be trusted to construct this new society on their own. The Party would need 'to teach women the qualities they would need to build up the new society' to ensure that they did not fall prey to bourgeois reproaches, such as 'men don't want to give women their freedom' which would rupture the links between women's emancipation and the struggle against 'feudalism, imperialism and the reactionaries'. Aidit argued that women should study Marxism-Leninism under the guidance of the Party and that the Party had to make a special effort to educate women. Thus Aidit, who in 1953 had been quite reverential to the achievements of the women's movement, was openly deriding the same === [PDF page 215] === 196 Chapter 6 movement in 1958 as bourgeois, divisive and narrow (unconcerned with politics, as defined by the PKI), and in need of Wankom's support if it was to 'lose all that might make the mass organization narrow and to... grow into the millions... [and] strengthen the whole movement of the Indonesian working masses'. Aidit argued for a 'broad, militant mass movement, guided and disciplined and truly conscious' which would 'construct a new Indonesia' and entail the end of the oppression of one person by another. But throughout this speech, which was directed at women, women were being quietly subsumed under the 'organized masses'.9 Aidit thus executed a political 'disappearing trick': communists must give up the kind of 'backward thinking of both men and women that societal evils are decreed by fate and cannot be changed' (Aidit 1958: 247) and, as progressive revolutionaries, proclaim that women are equal to men. Since this is the case, they must also wage the same struggle. Finally, because the only struggle is that of the proletariat against the capitalists, women must join this struggle and give up their claim to an independent movement. The Wankom conference also discussed the abolition of the IOO/B laws,1O the PKI's draft Marriage Law and the national elections. Reporting on these discussions, Suharti stressed (as Sudisman had earlier) the Party's responsibility to make greater efforts to understand the realities of women's lives (HR 4 June 1958). Following a tack consistent with Aidit, she also noted that women in general had a low self-esteem and that women members should study and work hard to understand politics in order to overcome this (BM XIV 1958: 255). She also wanted more attention for women's issues in general, especially marriage rights, not only because women were particularly attracted to the issue but also because it was important to 'correct the moral attitude of male PKI members' (BM XIV 1958: 259). While for Aidit communist theory and the practice of the PKI in themselves guaranteed women's equal rights and there was no need to go beyond this, for women PKI leaders the superiority of communist theory did not obviate the need to change the daily practice, not only of women, but of male PKI members as well. They saw the resistance of male PKI members to paying special attention to women's issues such as marriage reforms and to the daily practice of sharing an activist's life and household. II Yet in the end the communist women, and the communist members of the Oerwani leadership with them, toed the party line: the Wankom decided to support women's struggles and 'to provide === [PDF page 216] === Gerwani: Between the PKI and Sukarno 197 leadership to enlarge the role of women in completing the national revolution' (Umi Sarjono, BM XIV 1958: 286).12 As the PKI grew stronger, its neglect of women's interests became more obvious. Aidit's message to Gerwani on its tenth anniversary praised them as 'a mass organization of revolutionary women who fight consistently for full national independence, for democracy, women's emancipation in the framework of the social freedom of the whole working People, for the special interests of women and children, for a reduction of prices, for the prevention of war and the consolidation of world peace' (HR 3 June 1960). Women's interests are a detail, an afterthought. Aidit's bias also caused him to overlook work being done in the movement. For example, he realized that 'if women wouldn't take an active part the land reform would not succeed' and decided that more city women should go down to the villages and learn from the peasants (Seminar Nasional Wanita Tani 1962: 56), apparently unaware that women were already doing this and had developed very specific demands. The 1961 BTl Peasant Women Seminar, organized by Gerwani members Dahliar and Suharti Harsono, recorded that female peasants often were forced to do unpaid labour for landlords; that as wives and mothers they suffered from forced marriages, child marriages, rape, wanton desertion and other social evils; that as workers, though they were most productive, they had no social security; that as citizens their political rights were denied by the IGOIB laws; that many were illiterate and that there was much superstition; and finally that, while peasants, they lacked land rights. Those present had declared it their duty to 'awaken women to demand their rights' (Seminar Nasional Wanita Tani 1962: 9-13)P Aidit seems not to have absorbed any of this. In 1964 his famous report on the results of research among peasants and the peasant movement in West Java made no mention of wife abuse in its analysis of the 'seven village devils', nor did the four kinds of feudalism he distinguished include the 'feudal' marriage relations still prevalent. His recommended 'six good things' did not include either women's land rights or the need for a democratic marriage law. In a cavalier fashion he dismissed the specific problems female peasants faced by remarking that 'women are already convinced that the struggle for women's emancipation cannot be separated from the struggle to fight imperialism and feudalism' (1964: 67). He even termed the fight against 'corrupt morals' an anti-feudal struggle, claiming that polygyny, the === [PDF page 217] === 198 Chapter 6 frequent turnover of wives, hidden prostitution, gambling and drunkenness (all of which were common) were 'generally limited to the circles of landlords, upper-level rich farmers, evil power~holders and other village devils', and that if prostitution occurred among agricultural labourers and poor peasants it was caused by the 'broken-down economy' (1964: 79). This justified his conclusion that 'the domination of feudal remnants... causes the great backwardness of female peasants' (1964: 80). 'The landlords, kabir, and imperialists have the monopoly, not only over the best arable land, but also on all evils, obscenities, pornography, moral corruption and sins, such as concubinage, gambling, prostitution, cockfights, waste of money, drunkenness etc., which are altogether alien to agricultural workers and poor peasants' (1964: 83). In Aidit's analysis of prostitution and unequal marriage relations, it was not the men who pursued these 'feudal customs' who were backward but the women who suffered the consequences. 14 Only in 1965, when Gerwani had become a huge mass movement and had pledged its allegiance to the PKI, did Aidit speak of the organization with satisfaction. On 8 March 1965 he expressed his happiness that Gerwani 'was no longer snail-paced' and called on women to study revolutionary Marxist theory in order to create a new type of personality (HR 15 March 1965). Thus, while the PKI was convinced that the struggle would not be won without women, they intended to enlist women in traditional roles in the areas of health, education and propaganda, and in particular within the 1001 Movement which was to increase food production in a thousand and one small ways, such as planting a garden (HR 26 March 1964). But while Gerwani's magazine, Api Karlini, did publish articles on how to raise food production, Gerwani itself envisaged a more militant role for women, as evidenced by their publication of pictures of women in military attire. ls PKI cadres saw Gerwis as 'their' women's organization and Gerwani took up such 'communist' campaigns as the defence of the Rosenbergs in the USA. 16 As Gerwani grew closer to the PKI, its 'feminist' wing slowly lost out and gradually the organization's links to the Party were more publicly recognized. This shift can be traced from the 1955 election campaign through to the adoption of communist themes after 1961 and [mally to the withdrawal of 'feminist' leaders such as Trimurti. In June 1954 Umi Sarjono and other Gerwani leaders were already supporting the PKI's candidates (not all of whom were Party members; === [PDF page 218] === Gerwani: Between the PKl and Sukarno 199 see HR 18 June 1954). Six Gerwani members were elected as part of the PKI slate: Suharti Suwarto, Mudigdio, Salawati Daud, Suwardiningsih, Maemunah and Umi Sarjono (HR 19 July 1955). Subsequently Umi Sarjono joined Mr Suprapto's non-party development faction in Parliament. In the constituent assembly elections, more Gerwani members on the PKI list were elected: Mrs Amir Syarifudin, Mrs D.D. Susanto, Suwardiningsih, Setiati Surasto, Suwarti, Maemunah, Sundari, as were five PKI women, including Nuraini (Doc. XXXII).17 Women from the PKI slate were also elected at the provincial level, namely D.D. Susanto, Suwarinah, Sulami, Napsiyah, Sundari and Suwati (HR 26 September 1955 and 27 September 1955). Gerwani members supported the PKI because they felt that the PKI programme guaranteed emancipation and equal rights for women, especially for poor women, and because the PKI had opened its list to non-Party members. IS Others became attracted to the Party because of their work among the poor. Mrs Genuk recalls: After participating in the guerrilla struggle against the Dutch in the Students' Army, I went back to university. Then I got a job in the Department of Agriculture in Semarang. Because I had already mixed a lot with poor peasants as a guerrilla fighter, I was often sent to the countryside. So I got to know their difficult lives very well. This awakened my heart, and in 1960 I joined the Party.19 Despite Gerwani's support for the PKI, women's issues were low on the PKI list of priorities. Women ranked ninth among the 19 groups to which the PKI programme made promises; they were positioned after youth, students and artists but before religious groups and small producers (HR 18 September 1955). However, the PKI campaign did include demands for a democratic marriage law (highlighting the Maisuri case) and for women's equal rights in general, including land rights for women and equal wages (HR 14 December 1955). Thus Gerwani members in Parliament could use the platform to present their demands. From 1960 onwards Gerwani was increasingly under the ideological hold of the Party, while the Party itself paid diminishing attention to women's issues, which were not included among the 'general' problems because it 'wasn't sex which caused the disequilibrium in society, the discrimination towards women... but it is all a part of a system of oppression based on the class division in society' (Sundari Rachman, HR 18 May 1960).20 === [PDF page 219] === 200 Chapter 6 By 1961 Gerwani appeared to have adopted this position too (issues of imperialism and colonialism dominated its 8 March celebration). Members were called upon to struggle for 'peace'21 and to strengthen the national unity of women to 'liquidate the remains of colonialism and feudalism' (HR 8 March 1961). As they moved away from gender interests, Gerwani's central leadership ventured into international politics. At the Housewives' Seminar in 1964 they called for an end to US intervention in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (HR 21 July 1964), although this was somewhat out of step with Aidit's more domestic call (in his letter to the same seminar) for women to equip themselves 'in these revolutionary times' with a sound knowledge of Marxism that would enable them to form revolutionary families (HR 7 November 1964). In the 1960s, Gerwani became ever more closely tied to the PKI, both ideologically and through its top leadership, as the Party managed to put loyal Wankom members in leadership positions (for instance, the replacement of Umi Satjono by Suharti that was to take place at the fifth congress). Further, while one testimony (by Ubed Zubaeda) during the post-coups trial of four Gerwani leaders that from 1965 onwards only PKI members could sit as members from the leadership of branch (cabang) level upwards22 is contradicted by Gerwani's statutes, it is very likely that such a move was indeed under way or had already been implemented. Yet both wings remained in existence, with the communist women pushing for more work on behalf of poor women in the urban kampung and in the countryside and feminist women pushing for attention for women's issues such as a better marriage law; issues which were also important for middle-class women. The differences between both wings may seem trivial with hindsight. Communist women pushed for a simple, modest way of life and disagreed with anything that in their eyes resembled the lifestyle of the new rich. 'We all had to be dressed like workers'.23 Some feminist women resented that; they wanted to dress up sometimes and wear make-up. To the communist women this was a sign of decadence, proof that they had not left behind their priyayi backgrounds. The PKI had become very influential in the 1960s. Yet it never acquired the steady authority that the PNI possessed, for instance. It was still considered such a threat to powerful conservative forces that it was often thought wise to hide one's membership, as the following example reveals: === [PDF page 220] === Gerwani: Between the PKl and Sukarno 201 At a very early age Sukoni was married to a man 15 years her senior. Those were the days of the independence struggle and she was more or less on her own. Her father belonged to the Solo palace, but her mother had fled from the palace because she couldn't stand having to cope with the many concubines of her father. Her stepfather was of IndonesianDutch descent, so the family was in trouble during the national revolution. The husband of young Sukoni, whose name was Mardiman, worked in a bicycle repair shop. She gradually started loving him, and she admired him for he became a leader of the workers. In 1951 she joined Gerwis and helped establish a branch in Jakarta. She became involved in many activities, amongst others the anti-pornography demonstrations. She gradually realized she wanted to become a Party member. When she eventually joined she was told to meet up with a certain comrade who would instruct her. This turned out to be her own husband. (Sukoni Sasmita, Doc. XXIV) The Party had a strong grip on its members who also belonged to any of the ormas, such as Gerwani. In my interviews with such Wankom communist women, two phrases appear again and again: 'saya ditugaskan' (I was given the task to) and 'saya dipanggi/' (I was called to). The Party attempted to instil a sense of discipline into its members, which was justified by the 'necessity' of the political situation. It was this influence of the Party on Wankom who doubled as Gerwani members that led to the involvement of these members in the 'events' of Lubang Buaya, while Gerwani as an organization was taken by surprise. PKI men did not always find it easy when women shared their political work and prestige. Gerwani cadres had to wage a continual battle against such 'feudal remnants' in their families, in the Party and in other mass organizations. The general view that politics was for men helped 'justify' male jealousy when Gerwani members reached high positions. For example, during the East Java regional elections Sulami, though campaigning on women's interests, was pressured to change her affiliation from Gerwani to the Party by a male leader who told her that it was inconceivable that a Gerwani member would receive a PKI seat. In the same East Java campaign, male Party members would marry Gerwani members in order to prevent them from being activists (Doc. XIX: 14). Male cadres found it even more difficult to forego the privileges successful men had always claimed as their right, such as acquiring secondary wives. They resented the fact that Gerwani was very strict on === [PDF page 221] === 202 Chapter 6 this issue, excluding secondary wives from membership and denouncing polygynous Party cadres. Two male PKI members were even recalled from Parliament because they had married polygynously and abandoned their first wives and children (Doc. XXXII). Gerwani cadres helped such women secure divorces, however difficult the case: Such stories are of course very sad. So the women's organization accepted that and helped so that the ex-[secondary] wife should not become very frustrated. Work was sought for her in another city and she was guided not to be resentful. She was conscious that by marrying a man who already had a wife she had been wrong and that she had to carry the responsibility. Such divorce cases often happened... In general, although it was difficult for the Party functionaries, they submitted themselves to Party discipline and I know of only one man who chose to be evicted from the Party because he wanted to continue his polygamous marriage. Because of this strong discipline the women felt safe to marry a Party member. (Sulami, Doc. IX: 14) Yet however hard Gerwani worked on this issue, and in spite of the moral pressure exerted on male PKI members to behave in a 'progressive, socialist' way, the sexist attitude of some PKI men persisted: Many of our husbands also belonged to the Party or a mass organization. But they didn't always make it easy for us. Some men, for instance, didn't want their wives to be members also. One man locked his wife out if she came home late from a meeting. Many men objected to their wives attending meetings at night, so we would all see them safely home. Other men found it very hard to accept if their wives proved to be cleverer than they were and got ahead in the organization. Once a man burnt all his wife's books from the cadre course she was attending. Yet she didn't give up. And then there were all those male leaders who wanted girlfriends. 24 Although Gerwani leaders repeatedly argued that within Party ranks individual men were not behaving according to the PKI's moral code (see Doc. IX, for example), with the exception of Sudisman's supportive speech, Party leaders ignored the issue. Gerwani leaders argued with PKI leaders about mistresses or second wives and (at least in retrospect) wondered how it was possible 'that men with such a consciousness could become leaders of the PKI... deep inside there was something === [PDF page 222] === Gerwani: Between the PKl and Sukarno 203 very wrong... the mass line was propagated, but consciousness-raising was neglected'.25 As part of the 'communist family', Gerwani supported the other mass organizations of the 'family' in their actions in various ways. Branches of Gerwani sometimes assisted SOBSI or the BTl directly. Individual Gerwani members who belonged to SOBSI or the BTl also coordinated or carried out joint actions, especially from the late 1950s onwards, as the women's departments of these two mass organizations grew stronger (Hindley 1964). In addition, some Gerwani leaders were also leaders in other organizations: for example, Setiati Surasto (Sarbupri), Sri Ambar (SOBSI) and Hartini Harsono and Dahliar (BTl). Gerwani also cooperated with other women's groups by organizing several seminars on peasant or labour issues and by assisting the women's departments of the other ormas to do the same.26 Gerwani worked with the women's departments on issues such as sexual harassment in factories (HR 28 December 1952), the implementation of the 1951 labour laws on menstruation and pregnancy leave, equal rights,27 child and forced marriages, wanton desertion and the conditions in textile and batik factories. In general such cooperation was heavily orchestrated from above. However, the growing unrest in the countryside meant that there were also 'spontaneous' actions: one of the best-known occurred during the unrest in Jengkol, Kediri, in 1963, when the army fired upon squatters and a woman peasant was killed (Doc. XI, Doc. XXII).28 Cadres in the countryside (whether within Gerwani or one of the other ormas) were caught between the opportunities for 'spontaneous' action and the heavy hand from above: I happened to be in Nglegok, Blitar, when the Jengkol affair broke out some 12 kilometres from the village. Only on the third day the news reached us. When I had to give a speech for Gerwani in Magetan the following day I was followed by two soldiers. Although we had been given permission for the gathering we were not allowed to use amplifiers or a big building. The meeting had to be held behind closed doors. After that meeting I secretly went to Madiun where I attended a BTl meeting led by Asmu [BTl's chair]. The meeting decided to support the peasants in Jengkol because they were not fighting the Government; they only wanted to exchange the land they had squatted and tilled for other land outside the plantation area. Already two peasants29 had been killed and the area had been closed off. I was assigned the task oftaking === [PDF page 223] === 204 Chapter 6 two women peasants out of the village so they could present their case in Jakarta. With a lot of difficulties I managed to do that. Finally the affair was discussed in the PKI Central Committee. There it was decided that the actions of the peasants in Jengkol were too leftist and couldn't be taken up as a national issue for then it might shatter national unity. The political line of the Party at the time was 'national unity above all'. That is why our plan to send a delegation of the leadership to the Government was cancelled. In this way democratic centralism meant that those lower in rank had to submit, although they were not satisfied with that. 30 The role of Gerwani in the one-sided actions in the mid-1960s has not been described in any depth in the historiography of the period. Yet about half of the peasants imprisoned were women and it was Gerwani leaders who made frequent visits to the prisons and helped the BTl cadres to free the prisoners (Doc. IX: 8). This was not always easy: It was very difficult to enter the area in Jepara where a land action was going on. I had to cross through rivers and a forest and use a code which had to be given in sequence along the road to ascertain whether the one who passed was a friend or an enemy. After I passed the last guard who sat in the top of a huge jati tree we crossed a river and came into rice fields which spread out widely with green rice. But three fields stretched out empty as far as one could see. "Why haven't those fields been planted?" I asked. The answer was, "That is the property of the landowner; the peasants here aren't willing to work on it. He is the enemy of the peasants, a friend of the police and the army, who are our enemies. Let the weeds grow and let them eat weeds, for they have made hundreds of our friends go into prison. Cannot you please go to visit them in the prison?,,31 Gerwani cadres described demonstrations they organized in front of prison gates to gain the release of both male and female peasants imprisoned because of the one-sided actions. Together with BTl women cadres, Gerwani members also fought for women's land rights where land could be distributed and tried to obtain a higher share of the harvest for women harvesters. 32 Gerwani also cooperated with SOBSI which, although kept on a tight leash by the Party, was allowed to organize actions supporting the === [PDF page 224] === Gerwani: Between the PKl and Sukarno 205 implementation of women's legally-provided rights. Together, Gerwani and SOBSI held demonstrations for equal wages, menstruation and pregnancy leave, and women's rights to promotion and equal treatment within factories and government institutions. The SOBSI Women's Bureau was established in 1962 by Setiati Soerasto, one of the leading women communists/3 although SOBSI had already been paying systematic attention to women workers since February 1956 when its National Council passed a resolution calling for the implementation of existing laws covering women's work, an end to discrimination and for particular rights for women with regard to pregnancy, confInement and work conditions (Hindley 1964: 208-9). SOBSI actively recruited women for leadership positions within SOBSI and its member unions. 34 By September 1957 the SOBSI leadership had come to recognize that women workers were most effectively organized in their own departments. Special cadre courses for women were established and the number of women cadres increased. In February 1958 SOBSI held the first national seminar on women workers.35 In 1963 Sri Ambar (former head ofSOBSI's Department of Financial and Administrative Affairs in the General SecretariatY6 took over the chair of the SOBSI's Women's Bureau from Setiati Soerasto. Both women were members of SOBSI's National Council. In the Women's Bureau, activism focused on the enforcement of existing laws, as Sri Ambar's stoty makes clear: In 1946, the period of the national independence struggle, I joined a revolutionary journal. Mrs Supenp7 worked there too. I was young then and only typed for the journal, but I read a lot, listened to all the discussions and learnt a great deal. In 1947 I joined Pesindo. When at the Pesindo congress of 1950 Pemuda Rakyat was founded, I became a member. In 1952 I joined Gerwis and within a year I became the head of the Department of Socio-Economic Affairs. By that time I had married. My husband was much older; he had joined Parindra already in 1937.38 In Gerwani I became the secretary of the National Desk on Women's Rights and I also worked with SOBSI. SOBSI got involved in women's issues when it was realized that women's wages everywhere, in the textile industry or the plantations, were lower than those of men, even for the same work. If the work was different their skills were evaluated lower. After a few years of carefully organizing women around these issues, the frrst national conference of women workers was held in 1962 to gather information about wages and === [PDF page 225] === 206 Chapter 6 social security. In February 1964 the second conference of women workers was held. This time we aimed at analysing the data gathered and drawing conclusions from this information... [and also to prepare] for the world conference of women workers which was held in May of that year in Romania. I headed the delegation of eight Indonesian women. After the frrst conference we went to the shop floor to investigate the conditions in which women worked. I myself went to a cigarette factory in Malang, East Java, to a plantation in West Java and to cigarette and textile factories in Central Java. In those days the Government was not interested in these issues. Women were not recognized as heads of families with the same privileges as male heads of families. For instance, it was difficult for a widow to be considered for a government credit for housing. Also on-the-job training courses were less easily accessible for women. Whenever we came upon great injustices we would try to do something about it. After a visit to a batik factory, for instance, I wrote an article in Harian Rakyat about the batik workers. The women had to suckle their babies while they kept working. It was very dangerous, for the wax with which they work is very hot and drops from their canting [wax pen] would cause burns on their babies' heads. We managed to set up a creche in Salatiga for these batik workers, which was also open for the bakul [small traders]. Also in Malang, at the cigarette factory, a creche was fmally organized. It was not always easy to organize the women workers. They were so shy, they wouldn't dare to open their mouths when men were present. But they would come to the meetings we organized. And then they also talked about the problems they faced daily: that the male workers would laugh at them, for instance, and wouldn't take them seriously, and that the supervisors would want to sleep with them. In some cases women were fired because they had become pregnant from their bosses. To gain equal rights for women such as equal wages and the social security rights they were entitled to, local demonstrations were held focusing on individual factories. These actions were directed against the owners, for actually we didn't have any legal problems: the laws were all right, the women were simply not given their rights. Law 25, for instance, which Mrs Trimurti had drafted, already guaranteed equal wages for equal work, so it was not necessary to fight against the Government. Only the issue of equal treatment of female heads of household had to go through government. Our actions were directed at the Panitia Penyelesaian Perselisihan Perburuhan Daerah (Regional Committee to Solve Labour Disputes) === [PDF page 226] === Gerwani: Between the PKl and Sukarno 207 installed by the Government in which owners and trade unions were included. The women's rights stipulated by law included two days' menstruation leave. At that time we managed to bring that into effect. With this present [New Order] Government nothing more has been heard of the issue. We also faced opposition at the time, even from the other women's organizations. Yetty Noor of Kowani wanted to discuss this issue with me. She was opposed to our campaign to implement the menstruation leave, which she said would harm the Government. I stuck to our point of view and told her that Indonesian women are not strong and that they need this protection. She didn't know anything of the lives and labour conditions of female workers. Sometimes women from the Wanita Marhaen and from the PSI would join our activities, but the other women's organizations usually kept silent. Only with Gerwani members we cooperated closely, attending each other's meetings and activities. We were much inspired by what we learned about the labour conditions in countries of the Eastern Bloc. I myself twice visited the Soviet Union, I went to China, to Romania and also to Vietnam and Burma, but that trip was mainly to ask for support for the West Irian campaign. We did have some successes in those last years. We were so proud when we managed to set up those creches and when the wages of the women workers were raised to the level to which they were entitled, or if a woman managed to rent a house as head of her household. We felt we had only just started when disaster struck US.39 A striking element in this account of the work of SOBSI's women's department is its restraint in relation to the state. Individual factories were singled out for actions, but with the exception of the issue of female heads of household (which was not pressed very hard), the state was not addressed. When SOBSI women leaders confronted sexual violence and sexist attitudes, these were treated as unfortunate acts by individual men rather than evidence of an institutionalized system of male domination. Other conflicts were typically solved with the owners. This was consistent with both PKI and SOBSI policy. At SOBSI's national congress (August 1960), for instance, six of the eighty demands directly refer to the rights of women workers (Hindley 1964: 148). Similarly, the PKI election manifesto of March 1954 included specific demands for women's rights: equal pay for equal work, equal land rights and equal rights in marriage (Hindley 1964: 201). The 1957-58 === [PDF page 227] === 208 Chapter 6 Surabaya election programme also included demands to end wage- and work-based discrimination against women (Hindley 1964: 157). However, while these organizations were prepared to fight for women's rights, they would not fight against male domination per se. SOBSI's women's branch and women from the PKI also supported Gerwani's anti-price rise activities. Although the countryside had not been deeply affected by soaring inflation (because their economy partly depended on barter and because high rice prices and successful harvests meant more income for those with surplus to sell), the Government's price policy was disastrous for the poor urban population and especially poor women in the city kampung. Members of Gerwani, SOBSI and the PKI staged street demonstrations to demand cheap rice: for example, the rally in Bodjonegoro in December 1963 in which some 4,500 people Women members of Lekra, the association of leftist artists, were involved in several of Gerwani's activities. Women writers such as Sugiarti Siswadi regularly published poems and short stories in Api Kartini. Relationships with the male members were usually friendly, but there were also exceptions. The case of the celebrated artist Sudjojono. who had introduced modem painting to Indonesia, is exemplary. He had joined the Party in the 1930s and by the 1950s was a prominent member of both the Party and Lekra. When he formed another relationship with a woman while he was still married he was thrown out of both the Party and Lekra. Lekra's secretary-general met with a similar fate. Gerwani members were attracted to the PKI mainly through the promises offered by socialism. However, their knowledge ofthat world was both limited and biased. To a large extent it was fed by Sarinah, as Sukamo had quoted liberally from socialist authors. Other sources were speeches and articles by PKI leaders and by the few Gerwani members who visited socialist countries. Very few women had access to non-Indonesian sources: the Indonesian translation of Clara Zetkin, the most popular of the early socialist women writers (who was read mainly in relation to 8 March), had not yet been printed in October 1965.41 However, although little attention was paid to other socialist foremothers such as Rosa Luxemburg or Alexandra Kollontai, the socialist example was deeply ingrained into the minds of Gerwani members. I recorded the following conversation between Suwami and Sujinah. They met for the first time after their release from (different) prisons. === [PDF page 228] === Gerwani: Between the PKl and Sukarno 209 Suwarni: I am so happy I am still alive, even if I have to run this little food stall. I was on the verge of becoming bupati [regent]. IfI had really become that... [she doesn't fmish her sentence, which Sujinah does by making a cutting movement along her throat]. Sujinah: What happened to your children? Every time I met you at some congress or other you had another baby suckling at your breast. Suwarni: Yes, there was no family planning in those days. I just didn't know how to prevent it. I was afraid of the herbs Uamu] or an abortion. The last one was born after the 'events'. My husband died in prison. My children have become rather alienated. All the time they were told that Gerwani members were whores and all of a sudden up pops a mother who tells them that she has been a member of Gerwani. [turning to me] Yes, we bred like rabbits. That too was Soviet influence. After your tenth child you became a mother hero, didn't you? Sujinah: They had a shortage of labourers, you see, so they needed all those children. But we here in Java actually had plenty of people. Still we followed the Soviet mode1. 42 Beginning in the early 1950s, Harian Rakyat regularly carried articles on the blessings of socialism, particularly for women. Their themes matched Gerwani's interests and presented socialism as the only way to end the 'semi-feudal' conditions by which Indonesian women were oppressed. In September 1954 the Harian Rakyat's 'Women's Corner' carried several articles on women in the Soviet Union, where people were 'polite and happy': there were creches (HR 8 September 1954); the sexual division of labour had been abolished (HR 9 September 1954); prostitution had been eliminated and women truly etljoyed equal rights (HR 13 September 1954); and the Marriage Law was based on monogamy (HR 12 September 1954). In 1956 Harian Rakyat praised China for banning prostitution (HR 21 July 1956) and reassured women that while Soviet workers were disciplined 'the women nevertheless were very feminine' (Sri Kusnapsijah, HR 28 November 1956). This was a response to accusations that Gerwani cadres had lost their special feminine nature. Although Tanti Aidit, Aidit's wife, returned from her tour of China and North Korea with the cautious observation that 'discipline for === [PDF page 229] === 210 Chapter 6 everybody was the first rule' (HR 23 July 1958 and 30 July 1958), her trip resulted in Gerwani promising to support China in the conflict around Taiwan (HR 19 September 1958). From 1959 Gerwani's interest in China eclipsed that of the Soviet Union. A Chinese people's commune was pictured as having liberated women from 100 I domestic burdens while increasing the health of children (HR 28 May 1959). The Chinese commune offered: canteens [to] really lighten the work of women who can now work in the fields for... they have been liberated from "a centuries" old load,... three meals a day,... [good care for] the elderly... while women receive their own wages, just as the men do... So... equal rights between women and men have been realized.43 China became even more popular when Hartini, Sukarno's secondary wife, visited the country and praised the benefits it had brought women (Hartini, HR 3 October 1962).44 And because Gerwani wanted to prove that it was not being 'left behind' in the national revolutionary flow of events, Suwati's report that Chinese women were as responsible for the progress of their country as the men (HR 5 December 1962) was particularly welcomed. Moreover, in relation to their struggle to have the IGOIB laws abolished, Gerwani could draw on the example of another East Asian socialist country, Vietnam, where female village leaders had been elected (AK May 1963). These reports on the socialist world dwindled as the Malaysia confrontation proceeded, perhaps because the Malaysia cause was less popular with the socialists than the West Irian issue had been. (Gerwani repeatedly and proudly reported the WIDF's support on West Irian.) The only exceptions were reports on Cuba, but these stressed the evils of US imperialism more than socialist achievements (HR 1 August 1963). In any event, allegiance to the PKI seemed the route for Gerwani to realize the promises socialism held out for women. If they harboured any doubts about the Soviet or Chinese system, they did not speak openly about them. After publicly acknowledging their adherence to the theoretical basis underlying socialism in 1959, Gerwani leaders began reading the socialist authors who paid most attention to women: Clara Zetkin, Engels and Bebel. The first article on women and socialism in Harian Rakyat appeared in 1959 and concerned the 'merits of Engels towards women's emancipation' ('Women's Comer', HR 5 August 1959). Api Kartini === [PDF page 230] === Gerwani: Between the PKI and Sukama 211 started out with a general article on Clara Zetkin's life and ideas, stressing that women's prime responsibilities were to fight the negative influence of capitalism and to teach children to support peace and fight for socialism and freedom (AK March 1960).45 With Guided Democracy in full swing in 1961, Api Kartini tried to convince its readership of the close ties between Manipol and socialism, arguing that a just and prosperous society meant a socialist society, and that creating such a society required a revolutionary women's movement guided by revolutionary women. It cited President Sukarno as affirming that those who most needed socialism were women because women were tied to the domestic duties that capitalist society forced them to perform, working themselves to death like 'a donkey pulling two carts'.46 Api Kartini linked this call for socialism to an exhortation for women to work for the immediate implementation ofland reform as 'Indonesian women were heirs to Kartini who refused to retreat7 in the face of all her difficulties and obstacles' (AK February 1961: 3). Api Kartini's editors again linked Sukarno's Manipol with socialism in August 1961, arguing that the 70 per cent of Soviet doctors who were women, together with the example offered by Chinese communes, proved that 'women freed from feudalism and capitalist oppression can employ their talents without obstacles' (AK August 1961: 8). Sukamo's socialism 'socialized' domestic labour rather than shared it with men. This optimistic and superficial construct borrowed from the Soviet Union and China retained women's responsibilities for domestic duties and childcare but relieved them of the hard work involved. For men this was a comfortable idea because their tasks were not increased and no fundamental change in the sexual division of labour was envisaged. The PKI's pressure on Gerwani steadily increased as it tried to confine the women to Marxism. In response to Aidit's urging (HR 10 January 1963 and 7 November 1964) Gerwani directed a sudden burst of attention to Lenin and the Russian Revolution. 48 However, while Gerwani published articles calling for a deeper understanding of Marxist-Leninist theory in relation to women's emancipation, they were not particularly enlightening on the topic. It is likely that most Gerwani members had little more than a vague notion that socialism was linked to the national revolution and a promise to end women's oppression. Those Gerwani members who doubled as Party members received their Marxist-Leninist education from the Party.49 This left the terrain of the Marxist-Leninist discussion ofthe 'woman question' almost untouched. === [PDF page 231] === 212 Chapter 6 The Sri Panggihan Institute was intended to fill this gap but had been unable to achieve much in the few months between its establishment and October 1965. After 1962, when Sukarno's slogan 'No Nasakomphobia' was in wide use, Gerwani organized Nasakom indoctrination courses in which Aidit spoke about Marxism, Ruslan Abdulgani about ManipollUsdek and Perti discussed religion and peace (Doc. XXXII). Gerwani and Sukarno The PKI's influence on Gerwani merged to a large extent with that of Sukarno. Beginning with Guided Democracy's emphasis on anti-imperialism, the two became increasingly difficult to distinguish. In its relationship with the WIDF, Gerwani could draw comfortably on the ideologies of both. But where the President was concerned, Gerwani also fought for interests different from his, for marriage reforms and against price rises. Before Guided Democracy, Harian Rakyat made scant reference to Sukarno in relation to women's emancipation. In the early 1950s some articles approvingly quoted Sukarno's view that the time had come for Indonesian women to struggle alongside their men rather than against them, as he claimed the women's movement advocated (HR 15 November 1952). In 1955 Harian Rakyat reported on a speech in which Sukarno elaborated this point. This was in the midst ofPerwari's boycott (related to his marriage to Hartini the previous year) and appears to have been a move to deflate his feminist opposition. Sukarno classified the women's movement into three phases. In the first, women concentrated on attracting men by wearing make-up, cooking, making batik and embroidery, and so on. In the second, women demanded equal rights and to take part in sports, become members of Parliament and so on. In the third, women would struggle with their men against imperialism. Harian Rakyat reported that the audience showed particular enthusiasm for the dubious slogan 'let women remain women and men continue to be men' (HR 7 March 1955). According to the President (and Gerwani agreed), organizations such as Perwari were stuck in the second phase, while Gerwani had progressed into the third phase. This view was reiterated in 1959, although the first phase had been redefined by then as synonymous with Kartini's kind of feminism, which intended to abolish women's backwardness. By 1959 Sukarno was also saying that only a socialist society could make women happy and that creating this required cooperation between women and men (HR 16 April 1959). === [PDF page 232] === Gerwani: Between the PKl and Sukarno 213 Having weathered the effects of protests over his marriage to Hartini, Sukarno now wished to draw the women's movement as a whole back into line with his policies. Thus he admonished the fifth congress ofIndonesian Women in Jakarta in 1961 to 'correct themselves and scrape off all inclinations which were not healthy', while emphasizing that the movement should 'adapt itself to the development of the time' (BG: 124). He argued that because the Indonesian women's movement was no longer a 'ladies movement' (Sukarno used the English term 'ladies movement' and the Javanese word for noble ladies, ndoro or ndoro den ayu, interchangeably) it should cease to struggle against men and work in 'total unity with Nasakom as its axis to make West Irian part of the nation' (see also Sukarno's opening speech at the fourth congress) (HR 15 December 1961). Gerwani gave its full support, both on anti-imperialist grounds and because Guided Democracy promised greater scope for action against the 'internal revolts' of the PRRl/Permesta (HR 23 Februaty 1957). From the very start it worked to popularize these views: articles appeared in Harian Rakyat (for example, those by 'Mira' on 28 February 1957 and by Sulami on 13 March 1957) and seminars were held (HR 5 March 1957). But this support was not unconditional: in return, Gerwani wanted more female ministers in the new Cabinet and a democratic marriage law (RR 28 March 1957). In both issues they were to be disappointed. Gerwani's support for Guided Democracy also derived from its strong opposition to the 'fascist' PRRl (see, for example, its report to a WIDF conference in Harian Rakyat, 17 July 1957) and from its decision to make the 'liberation' of West Irian a major issue around which it would organize.50 The West Irian position (explained by Suharti in HR, 29 January 1958) was allotted pride of place during the 8 March 1958 celebrations (HR 26 February 1958) and developed into a major confrontation with the other members of the Indonesian women's delegationatthe Asia-Africa women's conference in 1958 (see Chapter 4). Gerwani's position was that the continuing revolution implied resisting the PRRl/Permesta and incorporating West Irian into Indonesia. This required a strong state (Sulami, HR 5 March 1958) and because Guided Democracy could provide this, it should receive full support (HR 14 November 1958). Yet while the Gerwani central leadership supported Guided Democracy and the anti-imperialist policies on which it seemed to focus, they continued to point out that for Gerwani (and for all Indonesian women) the provision of basic goods was more important. === [PDF page 233] === 214 Chapter 6 (For instance, Mrs Mudigdio listed this as the fIrSt issue women demanded of Guided Democracy in an article that dryly enumerated the various aspects of the return to the 1945 Constitution (HR 29 July 1959». Thus the central leadership declared its support for Manipol and welcomed its promises of a firm stand against the remains of the PRRIlPermesta groups and against foreign subversive elements, but stressed that in the short term the Government should ensure that daily needs be met (HR 31 August 1959). They also reminded the President that Sarinah promised a 'modern life' for women once socialism was achieved and that the Gotong Royong Cabinet should deliver for women in the form of 'washing machines for instance, electric cookers...' (Sulami, HR 29 June 1960). So, in stressing the links between Manipol, Guided Democracy and socialism, Gerwani emphasized the aspects that corresponded most to the interests of women, as they were defined by Gerwani. However, Gerwani did not take advantage of the unarticulated aspects of Sukarno's socialism that concerned gender. Gerwani seems not to have advanced much beyond the themes of the day. For instance, it welcomed Sukarno's 1960 Independence Day speech by agreeing to prioritize land reform and the 'retooling' of government apparatus (HR 26 August 1960) By all appearances, they were content to quote Sukarno's position, that Women have the greatest interest in realizing a socialist society as they are the ones who suffer most from capitalism. In a socialist society where food enough will be provided and there are sufficient technical tools to relieve women's load, women will have enough time to fulfil their duties as perfect women, loyal women, ideal women, women in their position as mothers, as wives and as members of society. (HR 23 December 1960) Gerwani also repeatedly pledged its support for the President in its middle-class periodical, Api Karlini, again with no real scrutiny of his ideas on women. The periodical's raison d'etre was a response to the President's call for a 'continuous revolution, to keep the revolutionary fire burning' and to 'carry on the fire [api] ofKartini' (AKJanuary 1959). Api Kartini also printed this speech, even though it rather belit-tled Kartini by characterizing the women's movement's first (Kartini) phase as one 'in which women only pursued the perfection of their womanhood, for instance in relation to the household' (AK January 1959). === [PDF page 234] === Gerwani: Between the PKl and Sukarno 215 Two years later, Api Karlini called upon its readers to carry forward the policies prioritized in the President's Independence Day speech (DjareklDjalan Revolusi Kita (the Path of our Revolution», namely land refonn and the provision and distribution offood and clothing. The editors went on to elaborate upon Manipol and Sukarno's views on women's need for socialism: We are all Manipol '" nowadays you will fmd no one who is antiManipol. But do we fully bear the consequences of our words? For socialism means women's rights, happiness of women and families, happiness of children, peace, et cetera, and this struggle cannot be separated from the national revolution. So what can we do to bring this about?... carry out the land refonn. For... to change the character of the countryside which is very backward, so it becomes progressive, dynamic and prosperous is the utmost duty, both for the Government and for all of us. (AK February 1961: 3) Api Karlini then began a concerted effort to educate its readership about Manipol and its relevance for women. In June 1961 it explained the three major points of Manipol (AK June 1961). The following issue was almost completely dedicated to Manipol; with articles not so much on land refonn, as one might expect from their reporting of Sukamo's speech, but on prices, cooperatives and vegetable gardens (AK July 1961). The August issue was filled with slogans such as 'smash feudalism and imperialism which hinder women's freedom' and a lengthy article again explained why women in particular needed socialism, ending with the optimistic observation that the Chinese communes 'prove that with socially organized life the giant power of women, which is hidden now, tied down by heavy domestic work which is boring and economically inefficient, can be freed and rearranged in a more constructive direction in the area of development and the production of daily needs' (AK August 1961). From the early 1960s onwards both Harian Rakyat and Api Kartini were dominated by West Irian and Trikora, Malaysia and Dwikora, and Sukamo's speeches such as Resopim (Sukarno's 1961 Independence Day speech: Revolusi, Sosialisme, Pimpinan Nasional (Revolution, Socialism and National Leadership» and Tavip (Sukarno's 1964 Independence Day speech: Tahun Vivere Periculoso (the Year of Living Dangerously» along the lines of '[t]he women warmly welcome Resopim' (HR 13 September 1961) 'as do women labourers' (Sri Ambar, HR === [PDF page 235] === 216 Chapter 6 27 September 1961). Thus Women's Day in 1961, as far asAp; Karlin; was concerned, centred on the President and West Irian: 15,000 women assembled at the palace, echoing the presidential command of 19 December to 'crush the Papua puppet country' (AK December 1961: I). Api Karlin; also saw its Women's Day issue as the appropriate vehicle for an explanation of Trikora, the President's command to resist the formation of a Dutch Papua, to raise the Indonesian flag there and to prepare for general mobilization to defend the independence and unity of the country. Gerwani's call for democracy (expressed in its acceptance of Guided Democracy as neither liberalism nor a fascist dictatorship (AK December 1961», rather like its demand for a democratic marriage law, was not maintained consistently. When the UN decided on a plebiscite in West Irian, Gerwani urged its membership to resist this (Umi Sarjono 1964: 6). Sukamo's belligerent populism appeared to have prevailed over Gerwani's earlier principled belief in pacifism and democracy. Accepting Trikora required an ideological shift within Gerwani away from its earlier concern for peace at any price to a guarded acceptance of war. It needed to justify its willingness to have its volunteers trained for service in West Irian. Therefore, both Harian Rakyat (for example, HR 1 February 1962) and Ap; Karlini (for example, AK January 1962) called upon their readers to mobilize to 'liberate' West Irian, and the same issue of AK used a review of Bertha von Suttner's pacifist book Die Waffen Nieder (Weapons Down) to detail Gerwani's new position on peace. The review explained that not all wars are cursed, only the imperialist and colonial wars,... whereas the wars to liberate oneself from the chains of colonialism are righteous... the Trikora is also just, so all progressive forces and all forces who love peace support it' (AK January 1962: 20). The relationship between women's issues and West Irian was described in nationalist terms, as an Api Karlin; author explained: I often hear women say: "I don't care about this issue of West Irian. Why should we women get mixed up with it? The important things are rice, sugar... why should we get a headache thinking about West Irian?" But... thousands of women have registered as volunteers, a thing we are very proud of. We still remember how courageously women fought in the 1945 revolution, both those in the Lasmi and in the Srikandi lines. Now in the time of implementing the Tri Komando Rakyat no woman should be left behind in this general mobilization. There are many tasks === [PDF page 236] === Gerwani: Between the P Kl and Sukarno 217 behind the lines for those who don't join the anned struggle. (AK March 1962: 1) Several ofthe 'tasks' listed in this article relate to the provision of basic daily needs: how women could help to raise production, implement the agrarian laws and so on. As the PKl and Gerwani moved ever closer to Sukamo, the President in turn chastised those who suffered from 'communist-phobia, leftistphobia, People's-phobia', declaring that the 'efforts to establish a national front often were thwarted by people suffering from such phobia' (AK July/August 1962). Immediately following the West Irian campaign Sukarno plunged into his Malaysia adventure, and again if Gerwani harboured any doubts these were not raised openly. The organization pledged its support through such declarations as 'we love peace but we love national independence more' (Umi Sarjono, HR 3 July 1963). The central leadership of Gerwani proclaimed the creation of Malaysia a threat (HR 11 July 1963) and from 1963 until the coups they called for its destruction (HR 11 September 1963). They also supported Sukarno's March 1964 Dwikora command to mobilize all efforts to crush Malaysia and to build up a volunteer force (HR 10 March 1964). Gerwani's support for Sukarno's international political positions included welcoming his decision to refuse all US aid (HR 15 April 1965) and (at the Housewives' Seminar) denouncing US intervention in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, while supporting the move to take over British possessions in Indonesia (HR 21 July 1964). Gerwani also reported on its efforts to promote the President's Thvip speech and land reform in those villages in which the organization worked (HR 11 February 1965). As the mobilization and training of volunteers for Malaysia continued (see Chapter 8) Gerwani even declared it was willing to send volunteers to Vietnam to fight US imperialism (HR 30 March 1965). But Gerwani did voice opposition to the Government in the antiprice rise demonstrations: Every time there were price rises we held demonstrations. Sometimes we were joined by members of another organization, for instance the Wanita Marhaen, who were in some ways like us. Wani, the women's branch of Parkindo, also at times joined one of our demonstrations but most of the times we went alone. When it came to organizing, collecting the women, doing the publicity, it fell to US,.51 === [PDF page 237] === 218 Chapter 6 Gerwani maintained its opposition to rising prices during Guided Democracy, even as it gradually shelved its 'feminist' interests. Gerwani's moral justification for its insistence on affordable food and clothing was derived from the kodrat. Their demonstrations and other actions on this issue indicated that Gerwani, for aU its militancy in non-traditional fields, accepted the traditional moral obligations of women to look after their children and households. Whilst the PKI was busy manoeuvring for power, Sukarno engaged in nation-building, palace politics and seemed unconcerned about economics, Gerwani wanted to bring home a brilliant socialist future just that bit sooner in the form of cheap rice and well-fed children. On 2 September 1959, two days after the Gerwani central leadership's decision to support Manipol, a Gerwani delegation (Umi Sarjono, Mudigdio and Chalisah) went to the Government to complain that financial reorganization had not resulted in the promised lowering of prices. On the contrary, prices had risen and certain goods had disappeared from the market altogether. The delegation pressed the Government to meet the daily needs of the people (HR 2 September 1959). In October, another delegation (Salawati Daud and Sri Kusnapsijah) complained about rising prices to the Minister of Trade (HR 27 October 1959). Gerwani consistently insisted that the Government and ultimately the President were responsible for the disastrous economic policy that was causing such misery for millions of Indonesians. For example, the first issue of Api Kartini in 1960 sharply criticized the Government's drastic monetary steps for ignoring the promise to lower prices of basic necessities. Instead, women, and especially housewives, had to endure further price rises and the disappearance of many items such as textiles and milk. Api Kartini complained that women's attempts to meet politicians had been refused, and it appealed to the Government to listen to women's problems and use its authority to lessen their burden (AK January 1960). In February 1962, Salawati Daud, a member of the Gotong Royong Parliament, issued a strong statement urging the President to put an end to the misery of the price increases (HR 14 February 1962). Gerwani's anti-price rise demonstrations were militant at times and the Government warned Gerwani leaders that these actions must stop (Sulami Doc. IX: 10). However, while Gerwani responded by giving higher priority to issues of national interest such as West Irian and Malaysia, the demonstrations continued and it severely criticized the === [PDF page 238] === Gerwani: Between the PKI and Sukarno 219 Government's economic policy (see. for example, the report on the Housewives' Seminar in HR 21 July 1964). Peace, Imperialism and the WIDF The WIDF was established at the 1945 International Congress of Women in Paris. Its founder and president (from 1945 to 1967) was Eugenie Cotton, who had been active in the French resistance movement against the Germans. It focused on defending women's rights as mothers, workers and citizens; securing the rights of children to life, well-being and education; supporting national independence; abolishing apartheid, racial discrimination and fascism; and assuring lasting peace in the world (WIDF 1985: 5). Gerwisjoined the WIDF in 1950 and it became Gerwani's most important link to the international political world. 52 Gerwani built up this relationship relatively independently of the PKI and Sukarno, although both fully supported it but for different reasons, the PKI because the WIDF was a member of the international 'communist family' and Sukarno because the WIDF was yet one more international body to support his anti-imperialist campaigns, or at least the struggle for West Irian. During the first decade of their association the relationship was one of mutual support and a certain awe on Gerwani's part. But from the early 1960s the friendship soured, culminating in the quarrel at the 1963 WIDF congress. This alienation was brought about in part by Gerwani's increased militancy and its growing rapprochement with the Chinese. The WIDF repeatedly claimed from the time of its establishment to represent 80 million women in 40 countries. By 1955 it claimed to represent 200 million women in 80 countries (see, for instance, BG: 23). Given its fascination with numbers, it is unsurprising that Gerwani was greatly impressed by these figures. During the 1950s the WIDF was both a way for Gerwani to mobilize international support for Indonesia's national concerns such as the 'liberation' of West Irian and a way to learn from the experiences of women in other countries (BG: 46). On the national level, Gerwani's link with the WIDF took the form of the celebration of International Women's Day on 8 March. The history of the WIDF became an important topic at Gerwani's cadre courses well into the early 1960s. Gerwani reported regularly to the WIDF and some of those reports became articles in WIDF publications. Harian Rakyat's first report on === [PDF page 239] === 220 Chapter 6 the WIDF covered the 1953 World Congress of Women in Copenhagen, which had adopted a declaration on the rights of women that Gerwis enthusiastically supported: 'this declaration... is our guideline ' (BG: 81). Harian Rakyat also reported that the congress declared it to be women's obligation to maintain peace as this guaranteed improving the lives of children (HR II June 1953), as well as reporting on its opposition to colonial exploitation (HR 16 June 1953). Peace and protests against US nuclear experiments remained a persistent theme for Gerwani throughout the 1950s. This must be seen in relation to the Cold War: the Soviet-dominated WIDF, with Gerwani in its wake, advocated the Soviet model of peace. As noted earlier, there was no perceived contradiction between Umi Sarjono's 1954 call for Indonesian women to unite against the nuclear threat ('Women's Comer', HR 11 August 1954) and calls to strengthen women's united front to claim West Irian as part ofIndonesian territory by force if necessary (HR 15 December 1954). In 1955, peace was the dominant theme in Gerwani's 8 March celebrations (HR 16 February 1955) and in its report on the World Congress of Mothers in Lausanne: '[W]e are hundreds of millions of women and mothers who want peace. We are a force signalling life, happiness, progress. Those who are preparing for war will not ask the opinions of us mothers. That is why we must strive to make our voices heard' (HR 11 May 1955). Harian Rakyat's 'Women's Comer' quoted approvingly congress's declaration that because the primary duty of women was to defend life 'women allover the world were opposed to nuclear experiments' (HR 22 May 1957). Gerwani began to emphasize the support it received from 'millions of organized women all over the world' after January 1958, when a prominent member of the WIDF (the Italian Maddalena Rossi) in an interview in Harian Rakyat after Gerwani's third congress said she fully agreed with Indonesia's claim to West Irian, that Indonesia could count on '200 million organized friends who supported the struggle of the Indonesian People and that in every country actions would be organized to that effect' (HR 13 January 1958). The WIDF's fourth congress (Vienna 1958) adopted a manifesto condemning nuclear experiments and calling for disarmament. As with the third congress, Gerwani was enthusiastic (HR 9 July 1958), quoting with approval the congress's resolutions concerning children's rights to education in the spirit of peace and friendship between the peoples (HR 15 July 1958) and supporting its demand for women's === [PDF page 240] === Gerwani: Between the PKl and Sukarno 221 rights in marriage, work and politics, as citizens, mothers and wives (HR 17 July 1958). The first rifts between the WIDF and Gerwani became apparent early in 1960, a few months after a session the WIDF bureau held in Jakarta (a 'great honour' (Umi Sarjono in HR 22 January 1960». During the session, the 'beloved friends' from the wmF were welcomed with flowers and smiles and the atmosphere was very friendly (HR 3 February 1960). The WIDF was portrayed as a 'warrior for peace and a defender of the interests of women and children' (HR 23 January 1960) and the session was intended to 'strengthen the friendship ofIndonesian women with their sisters in other countries [as]... a sign of happiness for Indonesia and the world, because friendship will bring understanding and tolerance and that will cause the danger of war to disappear' (HR 1 February 1960). The session covered familiar ground: ending nuclear tests in the Sahara; campaigning for disarmament and an end to the Cold War; and fighting feudal oppression, colonialism and various forms of discrimination (Umi Sarjono, HR 1 February 1960). Everyone seemed pleased with the outcome: a telegram to the French Government to cancel the Saharan nuclear tests; a letter to the leaders of the Big Four nations asking for peace on behalf of 'millions of women in 80 countries' (AK added to HR's report: 'for we want to raise our children in a peaceful world' (AK February 1960»; and a resolution on the progress and ideals of Asian and African women in relation to their rights and their contribution to their countries' independence (HR 4 February 1960). Api Kartini also added in relation to the 'progress' made by Asian-African women that 'there are still many obstacles dating from feudal times, from the colonial occupation or from an independence which is not yet fully realized' (AK March 1960). The international struggles against colonialism and for world peace were also the main points in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of International Women's Day. In Indonesia, however, it was stressed that women fought together with the People for the 'liberation' of West Irian, for democracy and equal rights and for a just, prosperous and peaceful society (AK February 1960). However, not long after the bureau session, the 'Women's Corner' warned that 'Indonesian women hate war but that they are ready to liberate West Irian' (Suwarti, HR 11 May 1960). The central leadership stated that Gerwani, 'on behalf of its 710,000 members, was ready to fight against the Dutch' (HR 16 May 1960) and that the Government should seize the Dutch capital hidden in mixed companies and stop === [PDF page 241] === 222 Chapter 6 reimbursing for the nationalization of Dutch companies (HR 16 May 1960). Between 1960 and 1963, when the differences between the WIDF (which advocated peace) and Gerwani (which justified Sukarno's aggressive foreign policy) became clear, both Harian Rakyat and Api Karlini greatly reduced their reporting on the WIDF and peace in general, as well as women's specific responsibilities in this respect as mothers. In 1961 Api Kartini carried a curious article on the 'correspondence between two woman leaders who share a desire for lasting peace'. Nina Popova (from the USSR) argued that because the USA was engaged in an arms race, playing into the hands of the revanchists in Bonn, the USSR had no option but to resume nuclear experiments, which she asked Ratu Aminah Hidajat 'as a mother, a woman, a citizen' to understand. Hidajat replied that only arrogant colonialists and imperialists still wanted war (AK November 1961). This was the last reference to nuclear experiments in either Harian Rakyat or Api Kartini, a lacuna that paved the way for a further shift towards justifYing Gerwani's militancy and its insistence on the training of female volunteers; that is, the position that 'not all wars are evil' (AK January 1962). In 1963 the relationship with the WIDF soured definitively. At the WIDF congress in June, controversy arose between the majority who wanted to steer the WIDF towards what Umi Sarjono called a 'feminist and pacifist' line and those, Indonesia included, who declared that it was impossible to achieve peace while imperialism still existed. Gerwani, who earlier had fought consistently for peace and had considered it an issue of particular relevance for women, now professed the same militant line advocated by the PKI and Sukarno. The West Irian issue had been resolved but Sukarno was preparing Indonesia for a confrontation with Malaysia. Apparently the WIDF viewed the struggle to acquire West Irian as a 'legitimate' anti-colonial struggle but could detect no such anti-imperialist justification for supporting Indonesia in its antiMalaysia campaign. Gerwani had expected the WIDF's support from one campaign to transfer to the next: We have supported the WIDF for so long and we cultivated it so that it would be loyal to its tradition of revolutionary, democratic, anti-fascist and anti-imperialist struggle, flrnlly continuing the lofty ideals of Clara Zetkin. But honestly it is rather disappointing that recently the cooperation within the WIDF has been hindered by revisionist inclinations which want to change the character of the WIDF from an international women's movement which is revolutionary democratic, anti-fascist and === [PDF page 242] === Gerwani: Between the PKI and Sukarno 223 anti-imperialist to become some kind of a feminist and pacifist organization... We cannot have a neutral attitude in the anti-imperialist struggle and for concrete peace... They try to prevent for 1001 reasons the anti-imperialist struggle from being discussed and they only emphasize the struggle of women for abstract peace based on the principle 'peace for peace'. It is impossible to achieve peace while imperialism still exists... We must continue to be enamoured of the militant slogan: 'we love peace but we love independence more'. Those who want to draw the WIDF back often say that we should speak 'women's language', that is that we shouldn't speak about politics but only about the kitchen, children, the household etc. But women's interests cannot be separated from the interests of the political struggle, the struggle to chase away the various reasons for women's suffering, especially imperialism and feudalism. (Umi Sarjono 1964: 18r3 Umi Sarjono's definition of 'women's issues' falls revealingly short of Gerwani's own, at times militant, feminist history. She continued to stress the 'threat' constituted by the formation of Malaysia (HR 11 July 1963), and after China, Albania and North Korea voted (like Indonesia) against the WIDF programme, more articles on Chinese and North Korean women and their achievements began to appear in Api Karlini. Gerwani's growing independence from the Soviet-dominated WIDF and the shift towards Asia and the Chinese camp was also prompted by Indonesia's growing international self-confidence and its increasing dominance in Southeast Asia. Gerwani's potentially more important role in international affairs was discussed by Umi Sarjono (1964), who outlined a number of international responsibilities for Gerwani in 1964, including a Ore-arrangement of Gerwani proposals for the next session of the WIDF' (unfortunately not specified) and the 'exchange of experiences with Nefo women who fight against imperialism and specially with the women's movement of South East Asia' (1964: 20). Meanwhile, because the struggle against imperialism had eclipsed the struggle for peace, women's special responsibility to defend the lives of their children was no longer mentioned. As with the other shifts, this was reflected in the themes for the 8 March celebrations in 1964 and 1965. Everything revolved around Malaysia, imperialism and Manipol. Peace and women's rights, so prominent in the 1950s, had faded away. === [PDF page 243] === 224 Chapter 6 Concluding Remarks Gerwani operated in the political arena in an ambiguous fashion. It strove for equality with men and 'didn't want to be left behind' yet it entered the political arena from a traditionally female side. Gerwani always justified its political activities with either an appeal to motherhood (peace is important for the future of our children; prices are too high, we cannot feed our children) or wifehood. Gerwani acquiesced to the leadership of the male~dominated PKI and the Father of the Nation, President Sukarno, as far as theory and national political strategy were concerned. They were more like loyal wives, helping out where they could, than independent women fighting for their self-defined interests, the attitude they demonstrated when fighting on their own field. However much Gerwani clung to its woman's role in the 'communist family', by its very insistence on a role in national politics the organization alienated itself from its sisters in the other women's organizations at home and abroad. This estrangement was disguised behind the populist blanket of Sukarno's rhetoric in which all Indonesian women were to unite behind Manipol. But it was clear that Gerwani responded more enthusiastically than any other women's organization to his call for political participation, especially in the training of female volunteers, where it resembled most the ideal represented by Srikandi. Gerwani was important to the PKI for strategic reasons: the Party needed the mass support of women. But Party leaders were uninterested in the 'woman question'. Their speeches tended to be ill-defined and thoughtless, and did not extend much beyond the habitual call for women to join with men as both sexes possessed the same interests. Rather than the more common socialist admonishment that women should join the forces of social production, the PKI stressed women's increased political participation. The PKI thus denied the specificity of women's struggles. In theory Gerwani agreed with the PKI's call for equality; in practice the organization raised many issues that divided them from their male comrades. Gerwani did not reflect on this inconsistency nor did it fill the theoretical vacuum left by Aidit. By taking up their role in the 'communist family', however, they managed to win PKI support for a democratic marriage law and the abolishment of the IGOIB laws. From the period of Guided Democracy onwards, Gerwani supported Sukarno's each and every move, with the single exception being its === [PDF page 244] === Gerwani: Between the PKI and Sukarno 225 attempts to manoeuvre on the issue of rising prices. Gerwani did not attempt to present its own views on Sukarno's 'Indonesian socialism', although the organization had its own particular programme in the area of sexuality and marriage relations. Somehow the realms of politics and ideology were kept separate, or if they mixed at all it was in the context of fighting cultural stereotypes that deemed women unfit for politics. The price for the shelving of the feminist agenda was paid by women, who continued to shoulder much more than their fair share of domestic labour and responsibility. Although the way Gerwani participated in national politics was not really surprising, the fact that they participated at all, and so vigorously, was innovative and threatening to conservative forces. This resistance was stronger at the local than the national level, because although Nasakom and Manipol became the dominant political guidelines in the late 1950s, in the countryside even local government officials might sabotage Nasakom policy. Often permission was not granted to deliver speeches, especially if the topic was polygyny (Sulami, Doc. IX: 11). It was never easy to be a communist. The political training Gerwani members received led them to be outspoken in matters of national concern. This contradicted traditional ideas of Indonesian womanhood, as represented by the Sumbadra figure. Even the military who interrogated Gerwani members after the 'events' noted with a mixture of respect and irritation that these women always had their answers ready.54 Not surprisingly, Islamic and other conservative groups were the most suspicious about this blend of women's and communist politics and the challenge Gerwani presented to essentialist notions of gender. Their aversion may have increased during the one-sided actions but it was already present. In 1954, for example, Harian Rakyat reported that Masyumi was slandering the PKI, saying it wished to attract women because the communists wanted to take the wives of other men and that the PKI was against religion (HR 13 October 1954). The tensions between Islamic groups and the PKI were fanned by the PRRI/Permesta affair and the subsequent banning ofMasyumi (although this time it was the PKI who linked its adversaries with promiscuity, claiming that Dahlan Djambek, chair of the Dewan Banteng - a forerunner of the PRRI - 'collected Minangkabau girls for indecent acts' (HR 9 May 1958». There was nothing new in playing out the conflicts between the PKI and Islam along sexual lines. === [PDF page 245] === 226 Chapter 6 Notes For example, Mrs Muninggar, a PSI member since 1947, declared that 'later she became attracted to politics' and spent five months in prison after Madiun as a PKI-sympathizer (Doc. XXII: 1). In her view the PSI didn't count as 'politics'; only the PKI did. 2. For instance by Umi Sarjono (1956: 12). To emphasize this association of politics with the PKI line, the Harian Rakyat's 'Women's Comer' stressed the importance of political education for women, quoting Stalin at the first women workers' and peasants' congress in 1923 (HR 24 February 1954). 3. Umi Sarjono reported that Darul Islam groups were responsible for the death of 93 activists from the Electoral Committee of the PKI, while 74 people disappeared. Two of the victims were women (1956). 4. Interview, Mrs Marto (pseudonym), 28 January 1984. 5. Interview, Mrs Marto (pseudonym), 30 December 1983. 6. Harian Rakyat is an excellent source for the PIG's views on women and on Gerwani as it regularly printed all major speeches of the Party leaders. Gerwani's own publication, Api Kartini, rarely mentioned the PKI and its policies, the first being in the January 1963 issue, the second in October 1964. Other sources on the views of Aidit and his comrades include their addresses to Gerwani conferences and events, their contributions to the 1958 Conference of Communist Women (Wankom) and to the 1961 National Seminar of Female Peasants (Aidit 1958, 1962; Djadi Wirosubroto 1962). No complete archive of Harian Rakyat exists. The collection at Cornell University has a few issues from 1952, rather more for 1953 and all issues from 1954 onward. 7. This was the last time Stalin was quoted approvingly. Two days later Gerwis was mourning Stalin's death (HR 9 March 1953). 8. Sudisman noted that women were so busy with domestic chores (he listed ten) that they were considered unfit for any great task. 9. This speech is quoted in full in Bintang Merah XIV, June 1958: 241-47; portions were published in HR 27 May 1958 and 29 May 1958. 10. These were described as being particularly insulting to women, who were categorized with children and insane men as ineligible to become village heads (Suharti, HR 29 May 1958). 11. Male PKI members reportedly resisted their wives becoming active === [PDF page 246] === Gerwani: Between the PKI and Sukarno 227 in the Party as they were afraid the household would suffer, and women shied away from Party discipline which they experienced as too heavy (Sundari, BM XIV 1958: 258). 12. The speeches ofWankom members Suharti and Sundari are quoted in Suharti (1958) and Sundari (1958) in Bintang Merah (XIV, June). 13. The Land Reform Law contained a clause on women's land rights but it was not implemented. As female peasants were very shy, Gerwani advocated going slowly in the villages and to start with 'actions with small results'. Especially effective in this regard were women's rights issues, for instance in marriage or divorce disputes, so long as the cadres were careful 'not to·flare up a fight between men and women, for the common enemy was the feudal remnants, and the goals of these actions were... especially to unite with male peasants to increase an anti-feudal consciousness' (Seminar 1962: 15). 14. Aidit's analysis of the 'purity' of poor peasants is reminiscent of Marx's 'happy proletarian family'. See Coward (1983) for a discussion on the family in Marxist theory. 15. Although Gerwani was the most vocal organization in this respect, it was not the only women's organization that advocated militancy. The Dwikora and Trikora military exercises were also followed by members of Wan ita Demokrat, Wanita PSII and other organizations within the National Front. 16. In January 1953 Gerwis called for the release of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (HR 16 January 1953) and in July 1953 protested against the Rosenbergs' sentence (HR 2 July 1953), adding a typically feminine touch by expressing concern for the Rosenbergs' children (HR 6 January 1954). The Rosenbergs were executed in 1953 at the height of the Cold War for having betrayed nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. Recently the Soviet official responsible, Feklisov, declared that although Julius Rosenberg had betrayed military secrets he knew nothing of the US nuclear programme. According to him, Ethel Rosenberg had never been 17. In 1960 President Sukarno appointed additional women members of the 'communist family' to the Constituent Assembly: Tuti Darti, Ting Suwarni (SOBSI), Suharti Harsono (BTl), Kartinah Kurdi (Gerwani) and Ismiyati (Consentrasi Gerekan Mahasiswa Indonesia) (Concentrated Indonesian Student MovementXCGMI), === [PDF page 247] === 228 Chapter 6 and Trimurti was appointed to both the National Planning Board and the National Advisory Council (Doc. XXXII). 18. Setiati Surasto, member of the Sarbupri Plenary and of Wankom, HR 22 May 1955. See also Umi Sarjono, HR 13 September 1955. 19. Interview, Mrs Genuk, Doc. XXXIII. 20. In 1958 Sundari Rachman had defended the importance of work among women as a way to secure a victory for the PKI in the parliamentary elections of 1959, which were never held (Sundari 1958). 21. This coincided with the struggle for the 'liberation' of West Irian for which Gerwani did not advocate a peaceful solution at all. Until the confrontation in the WIDF, Gerwani's calls for 'peace' can only be understood within the Soviet deftnition of the concept. 22. See Sulami's defence speech, 17 April 1975, Doc. XXVIII. 23. Interview, Jane Oey Djoen, 12 December 1998. 24. Interview, Mrs Sumarni, 9 September 1984. 25. Interview, Sujinah, 21 January 1984. 26. Examples are the SOBSI congress of 1955 in which many women's problems were discussed (HR 18 January 1955); the peasant women seminar in Central Java in 1960 (HR 5-7 September 1960); various peasant women seminars in 1961 (HR 7 January 1961) in preparation for the big peasant women seminar of January 1961 (HR 17-23 January 1961); the conference of women workers in 1963 (HR 22-25 July 1963); peasant women seminars in Central Java (HR 28 October 1963), North Sumatra (HR 6 February 1%4) and East Java (HR 13 March 1964) in preparation for the national peasant women seminar of 1964 (HR 28 May to 6 June 1964). 27. Especially around ILO Convention No. 100, which guaranteed equal wages for equal work (RR 27 August 1958; 23 June 1962; 11 July 1%2). 28. The identity of the (evicting) owners at the time of the incident is unclear. Sulami mentions only that the land had belonged to foreigners. They were probably Dutch plantation holders whose land had been taken over by the army in 1959. The managers at the time would have been military men, which would partly explain the PKI leadership's decision to hush up the affair. 29. One of whom was a woman called Sundari (Doc. IX: 7) 30. Sulami, Doc. XXI: 2-3. 31. Sulami, Doc. XXI: 2-3. 32. Interview in Yogyakarta with two former women BTl members === [PDF page 248] === Gerwani: Between the PKI and Sukarno 229 who wished to remain anonymous and Mr Martono, 15 January 1984. See Chapter 5 on the landlords' attempts to replace the aniani with the sickle. See also my documentary film Maybe Women Are More Economical... for an analysis. See also Franke (1972) and HUsken (1988) for an analysis of the commercialization and modernization of rice cultivation in Java. 33. In 1957 she wrote an article about attracting women to the PKI, 'Memperluas Keanggotaan Partai di Kalangan Wanita' (Extending Party Membership among the Group of Women). See Hindley (1964: 201-2) for a discussion of this document. 34. In 195845 per cent of the membership of the estate workers' union (Sarbupri) was female, as were 4 of the 39 members of its central council; 65 per cent of the cigarette workers' union was female, as were 9 of its 29 leaders; and 65 per cent of the textile workers' union was female, as were 3 of its 21 leaders (Hindley 1964: 209). 35. It dealt with women's rights, their socio-economic problems and ways to attract women to SOBSI (Hindley 1964: 209). 36. Member contributions accounted for 90 per cent of SOBSI funds. The remainder were individual contributions from important people such as Chaerul Saleh and Subandrio or from 'progressive', often Chinese, entrepreneurs (interview, Sri Ambar, 15 March 1983). 37. A well-known women's leader of the period who later became a prominent member of Perwari. In 1948 she became chair of Kowani, she was an outstanding member of the PNI and Indonesia's first woman ambassador. 38. Her husband, Mr Thohir, was also a SOBSI leader but never reached a position as high as his wife's. 39. Interviews, Sri Ambar, 15 March 1983 and 14 December 1983. 40. This demonstration also demanded the abolition of the 'IMFimposed, imperialist' 26 May regulations (HR 19 December 1963). 41. Interview, Sujinah, 7 September 1994. 42. Field notes, 9 September 1984. 43. Note the ambiguity here: 'their own' wages are not 'equal' wages. Wage discrimination between female and male commune members was common. See, for instance, Davin (1976) and Croll (1978). 44. From this visit onwards Hartini moved closer to Gerwani. 45. No reference was made to Clara Zetkin's withdrawal in the mid1920s from active involvement in the International Women's Secretariat (of which she had been a prominent member) at a time === [PDF page 249] === 230 Chapter 6 when many feminists, disillusioned with the politics of the communist movement, resigned. Among these were Sylvia Pankhurst (Kruks et al. 1989) and Henriette Roland Holst (who resigned from the Dutch Communist Party, 'tired of what she called the intellectual suffocation and the dogma of the Comintem' (Waters 1989: 39). No mention was made either of Lenin's rather disparaging remarks on the need for a women's movement made in a discussion with Zetkin (Lenin 1985). 46. Sukarno borrowed this phrase from the Dutch socialist, Henriette Roland Holst. 47. In fact, she retreated twice, first when she felt obliged to decline the offer to study in Holland and again when she felt compelled to marry a man who already had wives and children. 48. For example, SuwardWngsih's 1963 article on 'revolutionary days' such as the October Revolution, which mentions the LeninlZetkin thesis on women's emancipation and the role of a women's mass organization in creating a communist society (HR 7 November 1963). Also, the issue of Api Kartini which carried the results of the Housewives' Seminar congratulated the Soviet Union on the 47th anniversary of the October Revolution, loosely linking this to the struggle against imperialism and colonialism. Lenin was called the 'professor of the lofty proletariat' but his ideas were not explained (Sulami, AK NovemberlDecember 1964). 49. See, for instance, the interview with Napsiyah Suwarno, a member of Gerwani and leader of Pemuda Rakyat. She insisted that the topics discussed in the cadre course of the Party at the lower levels focused on party discipline, organizational skills and discussions on the present situation. There was little space, she recalls, to discuss ideological issues, even though certain texts of Lenin were discussed, or to engage in self-criticism. On district level the focus was on explaining the political situation that made it 'necessary' for the Party to act in particular ways. Only cadre courses at national level paid serious attention to ideological issues (Doc. XXXIII). 50. '200 million women support our struggle!' (HR 13 January 1958); 'West Irian is in the hearts ofa11 women!' (Sulami, HR 15 January 1958). 51. Interview, Mrs Suning, 4 November 1983. 52. From 1951 Gerwani had a representative in the WIDF Council, in which all affiliated organizations were represented. Until 1953 it was Darmini who lived in Berlin. She was succeeded in 1953-5 by === [PDF page 250] === Gerwani: Between the PKI and Sukarna 231 Maasje Siwi, who in tum was replaced by Sujinah in 1956-8 and by Sulami in 1958-61 and again in 1962-4. In 1960 Gerwani managed to get a seat in the Bureau, the highest decision-making body after the Congress (HR 14 December 1960). 53. See also Doc. XXI for the debate on 'war versus peace' within the WIDF. 54. Interview, Sujinah, 22 November 1984. === [PDF page 251] === Militant Mothers: Gerwani's Ideology Women We are no longer flowers for decoration1 which wither in their vases Pretty in obeying attractive in surrender beautiful they don't defy to hell they must follow to heaven only as passengers.2 Also we are no longer flowers to throwaway trampled upon in life. Sellers of cheap sweat labourers for half the price without protection without equality overburdened by our loads. We already cry out from behind the wall of our confmement from the hated concubinage from the trade in the alleys of the night from the grudges of forced marriages: "We are humanity". Damairia3 (Api Karlin;, March 1959: 2) 232 === [PDF page 252] === Militant Mothers 233 This chapter explores Gerwani's discourse on morality and feminism: its changing concepts of 'good' and 'evil' and its ideas on sexuality, womanhood and the happy family. It explores the evolving concept of what a 'modem', revolutionary family should look like as well as women's roles within it. Although Gerwani always accepted a naturalizing women's kodrat, it also deviated from traditional views about Indonesian womanhood in important ways that became increasingly disconcerting to conservative social groups. Where the previous chapter explored the organization's communist wing, here the discourse of its feminist wing is elaborated. Gerwani's incursion into politics was viewed as a disruption of the 'natural' order of things, but Gerwani also transgressed the kodrat in the domestic sphere, fusing a Srikandi-like militancy with a traditional acceptance of women's primary role as mothers. The existence of two wings underlies the conflicts that occurred between Gerwani's feminism, with its focus on difference from men, and its communism, which stressed equality. In reality, however, it is not always easy to separate the two wings as they mostly converged and certain elements were interwoven through the discourse of both. Furthermore, the meanings of 'feminism and 'communism' fluctuated over time within each wing. A major question is whether anything in the feminist discourse can explain why, after the 'events' of October 1965 Gerwani should have been accused of encouraging prostitution, indecency and 'mad dancing'. Morality The values Gerwani promoted the most in its members were independence, hard work and dedication to the struggle, for which education was a requirement. Gerwani wanted women to stand on their own two feet and to choose hard work over the leisure and wealth of being kept women. The organization strongly opposed the notion of women as appendages of their husbands. While not entirely immune to the practice of matching a woman's standing to her husband's, Gerwani did not automatically consider the wife of a male PKI leader to be eligible for a position at the same level in either Wankom or Gerwani, as has been the case in the women's organizations of Suharto's New Order. Aidit's wife Tanti Aidit, for example, never aspired to become Gerwani's chair; she had her own career as a doctor and although she headed the Gerwani clinic and was a respected member of the plenary === [PDF page 253] === 234 Chapter 7 she never was to Gerwani what Aidit was to the PKl. The two young and brilliant women who led Gerwani were Suharti and Umi Sarjono. It was also possible (although sometimes resented) for the wife of an activist to acquire a higher position in Gerwani than her husband had in the PKl, as did Mrs Napsiah, a regional leader whose husband was an ordinary member. 4 The debate on women's independence from men took a new turn when it was spearheaded by Mak Ompreng (Mrs Trimurti) through the pages of Api Karlini. She was the most feminist writer in Api Karlini and Harian Rakyat, her columns appearing from early 1960 until the end of 1961. Mak Ompreng was witty and sharp, bringing the perspective of an old lady from the lower classes (although Trimurti's friendship with Sukarno during the independence struggle had given her remarkable insight into palace politics). Mak Ompreng was irreverent, as this abridged translation of her first column on Kartini's Day in 1960 reveals: Mak Ompreng thinks it is wonderful to celebrate Kartini's Day. But do men truly understand about women's rights? Of course, when the men take to the stage... my dear! Action! They hold fiery speeches, press women to go on fighting, for they have equal rights. That is, if men can be drivers, so can women. If men can climb coconut trees, women can do that too. But... in the household?... [She lists the tasks for which women are solely responsible]... Actually, this is everywhere in society. Look at the cards of invitation, even to the palace. Those cards are already printed. And they always say "Mr so-and-so and his wife". So, does the Republic only have male servants? Strange. Suppose a female civil servant is called to the palace, for instance Mrs Umi. Will she also be expected to take a wife with her? Well, the police might feel this is a case of offending public decency, a woman married to another woman. (AK April 1960: 9f Her witty attacks on convention highlighted different facets of her argument. Another column reversed roles to tackle the issue of the uncertainty inherent in the benefits derived from conventional privilege. About the divorced wife of a rich man: The woman was certainly an important woman, that is, her husband was important. So, she joined him in being important... It appeared that her marriage certificate was more important than a letter of appointment... === [PDF page 254] === Militant Mothers 235 a marriage certificate can change the status of a woman!... But important men are in great demand so when some other woman who was more coquettish managed to win him over, the old wife was 'retooled'... With her letter of divorce she suddenly became an ordinary woman again. (AK May 1960: 17) Mak Ompreng's discussion of whether the First Lady's role and conduct should be a matter oflaw again reverses traditional attitudes to make her point: Well, Mak says, as we now have emancipation it is possible that in future we may have a woman for president. Should we then also prepare a law for the husband of the President? I asked some men if they would like it if there was a law that would, for instance, prescribe whether the husband of the President should walk on the left or on the right side, how he should wear his tie, what colour it should be, the kind of shoes he should wear and, for that is also important, how he would have to sway his hips. The men wouldn't agree, for that would mean they would just be seen as the appendages of their wives. So why should women? (AK June 1960: 17) Similarly, Mak argued against the Western custom that was becoming more common of calling women by their husband's names, which is not Indonesian: When I was visiting the house of a friend, the wife of an ambassador, she asked me "to please sit down, Mrs Atjep". I was astonished! Since I was a child I have always been called Ompreng. My husband's name is Atjep, yes. But why should I be called by that name? Only in the West are women forced to change their names. And even there the Queens don't like it. Queen Juliana [of the Netherlands] was never called Mrs Bernhard, was she?' (AK October 1960: 19) Mak Ompreng's column was the only place in either Api Kartini or Harian Rakyat where President Sukarno was openly criticized. While the Gerwani leadership declared its loyalty to Guided Democracy and Manipol and supported the President in his rebuke of the women's congress and other organizations belonging to the Indonesian women's movement, Mak wrote a scathing satire of his preference for Western terminology while criticizing US imperialist culture: === [PDF page 255] === 236 Chapter 7 Mak was visited by a neighbour who asked whether she understood what the President meant by 'ladies'? In Javanese this word means rancid and sour, the smell a person has who doesn't bathe regularly. Did the President mean maybe that those rich women have such expensive clothes but they don't wash them regularly and that their clothes smell? No, Mak explained, it is English. One rich woman is a lady and more of them are ladies. So the President meant that the women's movement consists of "important" women and has not spread itself to the people. (AK September 1960: 16) She exposed the hypocrisy in Sukarno's words by again reversing gender roles to reveal the stereotypes beneath: if Indonesian women and men are equal no distinction should be made between 'itnportant' women who were denounced for being 'ladies' and 'important' men who were praised for being freedom fighters. And the same should apply to matters of personal dress and sexual attractiveness: As the President has been saying so often and recently again at the women's congress, a certain phase of the women's movement was characterized by what the Dutch women's leader Henriette Roland Holst said was "to attract men" so as to draw the attention of the comrades of Mak Ompreng. Is that really true? Do women like to be attractive? Yes, of course. Although Mak herself is old, she arranges her wad of tobacco in her mouth in such a way that it looks attractive. But women don't only dress up to be attractive to the "Adams", they also do it for themselves. And what about the men? Yes Adams, don't be shy, you also like to dress up. We call that equal rights. (AK February 1961: 16,25) Mak Ompreng's column was not the only manifestation of Gerwani's creed of independence. Their election campaigning pushed beyond the limits of women's role. The political outspokenness of the thousands of Gerwani volunteers who joined campaigns outraged members of the more conservative social groups. Gerwani members also had to fight for independence within their own families; some were even divorced by their husbands (Umi Satjono 1956: 13). Within the PKI as well politics was considered a 'male' preserve and men resisted women's political activities. It was harder for women to be accepted as full PKI members. Male party members shared domestic chores only reluctantly in order to allow their wives enough time for political activities. Gerwani itself was ambiguous on this point and on several occasions encouraged === [PDF page 256] === Militant Mothers 237 women not to neglect their duties in the household so as to retain their 'natural' femininity. In their training courses, cadres were admonished to work hard and study well, to be diligent and build up their organization with great dedication, notwithstanding the difficulties they had to overcome in order to visit peasant women in far away villages. Hard work was necessary to achieve their revolutionary goal but it also possessed its own merits. Diligence was considered one of the characteristics that a woman inspired by revolutionary ideals should possess, in contrast to idleness that was associated with feudal times (Kartini's golden cage) and the reactionary c1asses.6 Education was not only seen to be women's fundamental right - one of the major demands of the pre-war women's movement - but also as the path to a superior consciousness. Both Harian Rakyat and Api Kartini encouraged women to read, not only to increase their knowledge of political affairs (HR 4 May 1955) but also to better educate their children (HR 8 June 1955). They were urged not to limit their reading to household matters but to learn about the history of Indonesia and the women's movement (HR 7 May 1958). Reading was seen to be a major element in both the political education of cadres and also the consciousness of individual women, so that the proud exclamation 'We are humanity' in the epigraph to this chapter (one of the most feminist poems ever to appear in Api Karlini) would be realised for all Indonesian women. Within the 'communist family', children and their education were considered the responsibility of Gerwani. The organization established creches, debated children's education and attempted to guard children from what they considered to be bad influences. Gerwani never questioned its responsibilities in relation to children. On the contrary, many of its activities, such as its campaign for peace and the anti-price rise demonstrations, were justified in these terms. But while Gerwani did not question the kodrat that prescribed the social extension of women's biological childbearing capacities, it did put its own stamp on women's 'natural' role of childrearing in its desire to raise Indonesian children to become 'true patriots' and 'true members ofa Manipol family'. During its second congress Gerwani resolved that women's rights and children's rights could not be separated from independence and peace (HR27 March 1954). Children'S rights were seen to include educational and health facilities and a brighter future without child labour, forced marriages or prostitution (HR 3 August 1954). A year later Umi === [PDF page 257] === 238 Chapter 7 Sarjono added that children's rights should also include sufficient creches and peace (HR 1 June 1955). Gerwani realized that village girls were particularly vulnerable to child and forced marriages and to hard labour in the fields (HR 7 June 1954), and in its struggle for a democratic marriage law frequently referred to the abuses girls suffered. The interests of children were also used to justify women's political participation: It is true that many women still say, let the father of my children be politically active, I will just attend an arisan. That is of course an inheritance from the colonial system when the Dutch attempted to alienate the Indonesian People from politics. Yet many women also feel that they have the same responsibility as the men have. The problem is that they have too little time left after caring for their husbands and children. Fortunately there are already many women who know how to divide their time well, so they don't need to spend the whole day on their household duties... Also the husbands of GelWani activists often say it is enough if one of us is politically active... they prefer their wives to stay at home... But it is exactly for our children that we have to be politically active. We don't want our children to be killed by the cruelty of war.., If we propagandize world peace then we are already politically active, in a political activity which is directly linked to the life or death of our children and families. 7 Women's particular role as educators of their children was also invoked in relation to Gerwani's crusade against the morally corrupting influence of US films. Children's education and anti-imperialism were directly associated in Gerwani's analysis. Thus, Gerwani's involvement with the Film Censorship Board was linked both to children and to imperialism: ifin feudalism women were transformed into 'empty flowers without any thinking of their own', imperialism was worse, turning them 'into commodities for sale' (HR 5 November 1964). In 1960 Gerwani formulated for the first time the pancacinta, the 'five kinds of love to teach our children': (1) of our nation; (2) of parents and humanity in general; (3) of truth and justice; (4) of friendship and peace; and (5) of the natural surroundings (AK February 1960).8 This was printed in the context of a discussion about the Congress of All Indonesian Youth Organizations held in 1960 with the intention of uniting them behind Manipol, and was in a sense a response to the major problems facing Indonesian (male) youth: the economic crisis because of which 'our youth cannot develop all its talents, making it easy for a === [PDF page 258] === Militant Mothers 239 cynical imperialist culture to penetrate their hearts', unemployment and the threat of war. Indonesian daughters suffered additional problems: in imperialist culture they become sex objects, while working girls were subject to further humiliations related to marriage, love, workplace discrimination and poverty, which might force them to sell themselves (AK February 1960). At the National Conference for Children's Education Gerwani organized in September 1963, a slightly different version of the pancacinta or five loves - of nation, other people and peace, science and culture, work, and parents (AK March 1963) - were put forward as the basis of education for children in line with the pancasila and Manipol. The pancacinta was to be promoted along with the Pancawardhana developed by the Ministry of Basic Education and Culture under Professor Pryono, which indicated the five areas that should underlie the entire Indonesian school system: intellectual, moral, technical, artistic and mental development. Gerwani also linked the pancacinta to national politics {for example, Malaysia, Ganefo, imperialism in general and US aggression in particular, and economic issues (RR 3 October 1963)), the idea being that 'our children would become perfect [paripurna] patriots' (RR 1 June 1963) with the help of these 'five loves'.9 Gerwani's campaign for peace in the 1950s contained many references to the consequences of war for women and children. Widowhood, poverty and prostitution were cited as reasons for women's special bond with the struggle for peace. In its reporting on a national peace conference in 1954, Harian Rakyat approvingly quoted a woman from Solo who explained that war was in opposition to the 'refined [halus] feelings' of women: 'Women want peace so they can calmly and safely fulfill their tasks as mothers, teach the children, arrange their households' (RR 27 January 1954). This sentiment was in hannony with the goals of the WIDF, whose President Eugenie Cotton had declared that peace guaranteed an improvement in the lives of children {with 'divine inspiration provided by the USSR' (RR 11 June 1953)). This was reiterated in Gerwani's 1955 campaign to collect signatures against the nuclear threat (RR 30 March 1955). For the sake of peace {'women know how terrible war is because they know the pain they feel when a child has disappeared' (RR 11 May 1955)) Indonesian mothers were admonished to join the WIDF World Congress of Women: 'Let us all together fight for life instead of death, friendship instead of hatred, peace instead of war, for there is no one who can stop === [PDF page 259] === 240 Chapter 7 the direction of our struggle to achieve a happy future for our children' (HR 11 May 1955). Gerwani's concern with the price of basic goods, which can be traced back to the days of Gerwis (HR 24 April 1953), was also linked to their roles as mothers and housewives. Later, while Gerwani supported the PKI position on overall economic policy, as the housewife within the 'communist family' it focused on the prices of consumer goods. Stories in Api Kartini highlighted the problems mothers and housewives faced in feeding their children and managing their households under deteriorating economic conditions (for example, AK November 1961). Mak Ompreng used the story of a hard~working housewife who, after 11 years of saving in order to be able to set up a little food stall in front of her house, sawall her savings wiped away by a government measure, to discuss the economic crisis - although in this case Mak concluded reassuringly that 'the President promised he would soon set it right' (AK January 1960). As communist ideology believed women to be responsible for the care of children, it was Gerwani and not the PKI who was responsible for the creation of childcare facilities. Gerwani's record in establishing creches (the Melati kindergartens) is impressive: nearly 1,500 creches had reportedly been established by mid-1964. 10 In the early 1950s the establishment of creches was justified by reference to the opportunities they provided mothers (rather than fathers, who apparently were not held responsible for their children) to work and study (HR 20 July 1954). By the 1960s creches were used as a recruiting tool to build up a massive Gerwani membership. Women who enrolled their children in a Melati creche were asked to sign a Gerwani membership form as weIl. H These efforts in the I 960s built upon Gerwani's efforts to set up simple creches (especially following the second congress, where children received a great deal of attention and a creche was provided) (HR 20 July 1954). Childcare was regarded not as a responsibility of the state (as in the Soviet Union) but as something women should provide themselves (Darmini, HR 20 July 1954). Yet not all women were immediately convinced of the desirability of a creche. Patjani layed out the arguments in an article in Harlan Rakyat's 'Women's Comer'; those who believe that it is women's duty to stay at home and that husbands should work to provide an income might feel that creches were unnecessary. But this ignored the fact that such women would be economically dependent on their husbands. It also ignored the fact that workers and peasants worked from necessity and that it was precisely these === [PDF page 260] === Militant Mothers 241 women for whom a creche was important since rich women could afford domestic help (HR 22 September 1954). Apart from allowing women to go out to work, creches would make it easier for Gerwani members to attend meetings. Husbands, apparently, were not reliable in this matter. The quality of the creches was also important to Gerwani, who distributed information about how they were organized in the USSR (HR 6 January 1957), China (HR 1 July 1959) and other socialist countries. In the 1960s Gerwani organized courses for women creche workers. In 1963 it was decided to create a foundation for the Melati creches, whose personnel would devote themselves entirely to creche work, allowing Gerwani to concentrate on its primary task, the struggle for women's rights (HR 3 October 1963). This was the first time that an issue relating to women's traditional role as mothers was seen publicly to be in conflict with the struggle for women's emancipation. Gerwani's conceptualization of women's kodrat did not include the notion that members should appear shy and meek in public life, Sumbadra-style. Gerwani's pride in the militancy of its volunteers for the Malaysia campaign in the 1960s had been preceded by a concerted effort to stimulate women's revolutionary activism in the 1950s, and the roots ofGerwani's readiness for combat were found in the personal histories of many of the original Gerwis members who had fought in the war for national independence. Tanti Aidit, for example, reminded women of their experiences in the 1945 revolution, when they had proven 'that they could struggle by the side of their men' (HR 18 August 1954). After independence, Gerwani fought against the restoration of traditional norms of womanhood, encouraging women to overcome the 'old-fashioned opinions' and 'decrepit traditions' within families. Activists had to show 'perseverance and militancy' to conquer such attitudes within the ranks of women and to overcome the many material and logistical difficulties of public life (Suwarti, HR 14 July 1954). During the 1950s women's militancy was particularly needed internally to build up the organization. But it was also directed externally to promote the national ambition of 'liberating' West Irian. Gerwani's efforts were directed at ensuring that women should not 'be left behind', a phrase which in the 1960s referred almost exclusively to the national campaigns in West Irian and Malaysia but which in the 1950s was linked to women's wish to become 'modern', that is 'progressive in thinking' and 'truly wishing to defend the rights of women and children' (S. Djin, HR 1 December 1954). === [PDF page 261] === 242 Chapter 7 The 1950s militancy cannot be equated with the arms training of the Malaysia volunteers. In the 1950s the organization was very careful not to be accused of unfeminine or anti-male behaviour. Cooperation with men for a happy family and a new society was the key: To achieve our ideals: we cannot implement this ourselves, but we must do it together with the men and our weapon is an organization that... [will not] cause our husbands to hate us or to become the enemy of our weapon.... it is our duty to attract our husbands so that they not only appreciate our organization but also help us. (RR 19 September 1956) To this end, it was deemed that women should dress nicely, prepare special dishes for their husbands, make clothes for their in-laws and playthings for the children, to 'prove that besides their organizational activities, they still pay attention' to their families (Suwarti, HR 19 September 1956). While in the 1950s militancy and traditional notions of womanhood were in conflict, in the 1960s connections between women's interests and revolutionary activity were stressed. Gerwani no longer felt the need to accommodate its activities within a kodrat that favoured Sumabadra-like behaviour. It encouraged its members to develop characteristics more associated with Srikandi. Under Guided Democracy, Gerwani no longer expressed the same fear of antagonizing men, declaring that women could be 'proud... that we take an active part... in preserving the results of the revolution... [and] hopefully will be alert and ready and not be left behind in preparing ourselves in confronting the struggle for West Irian' (Umi Sarjono, HR 23 August 1961). Api Karlini carried pictures of uniformed girl students carrying weapons and the woman volunteers were regularly compared to the warrior-wife Srikandi (AK February 1962). The 'woman warrior' motif was linked to Indonesia's heritage through Kartini ('How can I win if I do not struggle?' (HR 18 April 1962» and to socialism through, for example, Clara Zetkin, (the 'great mother of the international proletariat' (HR 8 March 1963» who was portrayed as both warrior and housewife (Sulami, HR 9 March 1964). Interestingly, the middle-class Api Kartini stressed women's aptitude for armed training and combat while the communist Harian Rakyat emphasized women's role in the 'defense of the home line' (HR 21 December 1961). For Api Kartini, women's struggle should not be limited to those national campaigns or issues that were closely related to === [PDF page 262] === Militant Mothers 243 motherhood, such as the creches, but to the struggle for women's emancipation in its totality: Truly the ideal girl that Kartini desired is in line with the call of the revolution, a girl who is not only characterized by an attitude of 'narimo ing pandum' [a Javanese expression for women's acceptance of their fate] but adroit, standing upright in the same line as their male friends in all fields... Kartini's spirit... always rebelled against seeing injustices, the ties of old customs and the suffering of women and the people. (AK January 1963: 23) For Harian Rakyat, on the other hand, women's struggle was usually defined more narrowly; that is, in line with the PKI view. For example, an article signed 'our correspondent' (usually indicating a PKI view) on women volunteers for Malaysia described women's primary responsibility as the provision of sufficient food, with lesser roles in health, education and information. More concretely, Harian Rakyat suggested that women plant a garden; an idea also promoted by the 1001 Movement. While both Haria» Rakyat and Api Kartin; published many articles in which examples were given of what to grow and how to garden, in Harian Rakyat such advice was more prominent (HR 26 March 1964). Cultural Imperialism Gerwani's denouncement of moral corruption dates from its early history and echoes a major concern among Indonesian women's groups in general. However, if the other women's organizations were concerned with morality in general, to Gerwani it was particularly fascism and imperialism that were tinged with moral corruption. The similarities and differences between Gerwani and other groups are important because after the 'events' the most vehement attacks on Gerwani were on moral grounds, accusing them of promoting prostitution and organizing 'mad dancing'. Interestingly, Gerwani used the same terminology for its own cultural and moral criticisms. Gerwani paid particular attention to the corrupting influence of imperialist culture (particularly US films) and to prostitution. Muslimat women, later among their fiercest adversaries, joined many of their protests on these issues. The earliest reference I have found to this describes the 1954 resistance (together with Pemuda Rakyat) to the === [PDF page 263] === 244 Chapter 7 Indonesian release of the 'fascist' film The Desert Fox, which Gerwis managed to have banned in Rembang. 12 At around the same time, in an article denouncing the PP19 regulation, Umi Satjono blamed the 'feudal remnants' in society for making Indonesia particularly vulnerable to the corrupting influence of the USA: The weakness in realizing progress and women's rights in Indonesia is responsible for degrading the lives of women and is the reason why pornographic influences, such as American films, can easily penetrate: they destroy the morals of the Indonesian People but are misleadingly propagandized asa form of "high culture". (HR 13 October 1954) While economic conditions and pornographic books both contributed to moral corruption in Indonesia, the main culprits were US films [which encourage] rapes, recent murder cases, idle young men who harass women in the streets at night and boys who play cowboy games or who fight or play with pistols, all games they copy from... sinful films... presented as if for leisure but which have no merit whatsoever. ... [For example, the film Rock 'n Roll whose music might] poison the souls of our young men and women... and endanger our national culture [although]... [t]ortunately, the Government has already taken steps against this film.... as should also happen... with gangster films and pornographic films. After all, our People are engaged in the struggle for a full national independence. It is impossible that everyone makes the necessary contributions if they watch these unhealthy films. Coordinated actions of all women's organizations are needed. (Nj Asijan, HR 17 October 1956) Gerwani's protest against the film Rock 'n Roll was strongly supported by Lekra and the PRo Its release was also opposed by the Islamic Youth and internationally Gerwani was backed by a resolution of the WIDF on children's education and culture (Doc. XXXII). The following year Gerwani's central leadership demanded that the films Rock Around the Clock and Don ~ Knock the Rock be banned from the Bandung Film Festival (HR 23 February 1957). Gerwani wanted bans on rock, gangster and other 'pornographic' films. It also asked the Government to ban the hula hoop as offending 'Eastern politeness', another instance of 'infiltration of foreign culture' that could lead only to the 'corruption of the bodies and minds of our children' (HR 17 March 1959). === [PDF page 264] === Militant Mothers 245 Indonesian films could also incur the wrath of the 'communist fam~ Hy'. For example, an Indonesian production, Indonesian Women, that dealt with topics such as women in Parliament and the Indonesian women's movement was denounced for promoting a lifestyle full of snobbery, ambition and empty careerism. However, in the final resort Western culture was again held responsible: the film demonstrated how deeply the 'poisonous' influence of American films had penetrated Indonesian culture (Samandjaja, HR 18 November 1959). On closer scrutiny it is US imperialism more than Western influence as a whole that offended Gerwani. While Api Kartini worried about 'people like Elvis Presley and Pat Boone... who have become rich overnight, and the obscenities and sex children can read about in the Sunday newspapers' (AK March 1959), not all Western films nor all representations of sexuality were regarded as morally corrupting. For example, Brigitte Bardot, the French film star who had long been regarded in the West as a sex bomb, escaped Gerwani's critical eye. An Api Kartini article devoted to French film stars ignored her roles in what were regarded at the time as 'sex' films. Instead, she was portrayed as a 'victim of publicity' who would soon get the 'epithet of being an antiwar hero' once she returned to the cinema after her suicide attempt. Bardot escaped censure first because she was French and France was the country in which, during the French Revolution, 'the seeds of women's emancipation were sown'. Second, 'the export of French films... makes the American film industry decline'. Third, Bardot had signed a manifesto denouncing the colonial war in Algeria (AK July 1961). So, while for Gerwani 'sex' films were undoubtedly evil, US imperialism and colonialism were far worse during the heyday of the West Irian campaign. The same ambiguity emerges in an article in the following issue of Api Kartin; in 1961 on a fashion model contest. The many glamour schools that had sprung up 'like mushrooms in the wet season' were a good thing if women wished to adorn themselves (as opposed to the 'worn~out clothing and tousled hair' of revolutionary times), but should not signal a retreat 'to the days of the palaces when women were satisfied with sitting on the throne of their housewifely duties'. The fact that these schools and the clothes that they popularized were clearly beyond the reach of the majority of Indonesian women was balanced, perhaps uneasily, by the idea that under socialism the 'profession of a clothing model would be a matter of course' (Sjaraswati, AK August 1961: 14). Later, Salawati Daud was more severe, denouncing these contests as === [PDF page 265] === 246 Chapter 7 absolutely inappropriate 'in the midst of the struggle for West Irian' (HR 19 December 1961). However dubious modelling, dressing up and glamour schools were in themselves, in a socialist context they would become acceptable. By 1962 the issue of cultural imperialism had achieved national importance. Gerwani had spearheaded the resistance to US cultural influence in the 'communist family' and welcomed the establishment of the People's Film League to 'effectively fight imperialist cultural penetration' as 'our revolution was not only a material, but also a spiritual revolution' (a phrase ofSukamo's) (AK May-June 1962). One ofGerwani's influential sympathizers, Mrs Suryadarma, called for a 'guided import' of films 'for the sake of our youth': she considered the apparently unguided import of US films 'dangerous for our culture which is based on Manipol and anti-imperialism' (HR I November 1962). As the Malaysia campaign gained force boycott actions were staged against US films.13 Western imperialism was presented as corrupting Indonesian morality through Western dance and music; for example, the 'mad dancing' of the rock culture and what Sukamo described as ngik ngak ngok music. The link between dance, music and moral corruption is not selfevident. Indonesia too has traditional forms of dance and music that are associated with sexuality or prostitution, such as ronggeng and tayuban. Even the refined dances of the royal Javanese courts such as the Bedhaya Ketawang were not free from associations with sexuality, whatever other mystical, religious or cultural functions they may have fulfilled (Pigeaud 1938; Florida 1992). Again, it was the association with US imperialism that seems to have weighed most heavily. Gerwani had wide support on this issue. The nation was outraged when the American Women's Association invited Indonesian women students to a dance party with marines from a visiting warship. The Minister of Information, 'prominent mothers of Yogyakarta' and the Muslimat NU joined the protests. Gerwani member of Parliament Sundari declared that this invitation 'hurt the feelings of Indonesian womanhood' (HR 4 November 1959). After Sukamo pronounced himself against 'mad dancing' and ngik ngak ngok music, Gerwani intensified its campaign against US cultural imperialism: In Jakarta there is much talk about ''mad dancing" which without passport creeps into our country. Mothers of the high classes witness with apprehension how their children don't stop playing Western ngak ngik === [PDF page 266] === Militant Mothers 247 ngok music and learn how to move their bodies as people who are trembling with fever. The ''twist'' fever is spreading over certain groups, not only among the youth, but also among older people who don't want to be called conservative.... [How can we stem the tide of this] imperialist danger which is in no way in line with the pitch of the Indonesian revolution? (S. Djin, AK May-June 1963: 5,28) Oddly, this 'cultural-imperialist aggression' was only applied to rock and roll and the twist. Ballet, ballroom dancing and the dances of Africa and Latin America escaped censure as these somehow 'pointed out the refinement and softness of women's attitudes in those countries' (S. Djin, AK May-June 1963: 5,28) As the difference in the level of corruption between dances such as the tango, the salsa and the cha-cha-cha on the one hand and the twist on the other hand does not immediately spring to mind, it appears that Gerwani's resistance to foreign influences had narrowed itself down to those elements of foreign culture that the President had defined as corrupting. Gerwani joined Lekra in its struggle to 'devour' the Cultural Manifesto of 1963 (HR 3 September 1964) and to implement boycotts against US films.14 Housewives and mothers were intended to play an important role in the PKI's and Lekra's New Culture Movement, following Sukarno's call for a revolutionary Indonesian culture in his 1965 Independence Day speech. The New Culture Movement was primarily directed towards fighting' Americanism and feudal immorality', the latter consisting mainly of gambling, drinking, drug use, prostitution and theft. Women were to spearhead the fight against these 'Five Evils HS by encouraging healthy recreational activities such as arts and sport (HR 9 September 1965). Sexual Politics Prostitution was another Gerwani target. As with films, Gerwani found its allies primarily among the other women's organizations. Gerwani's attention to prostitution withered in the 1%Os when national politics gained prominence. It was never a central topic of analysis and never achieved the importance it held in the women's movement before the Japanese occupation. Again, Gerwani had its own interpretation and took pains to demonstrate that in socialist societies such as China (HR 8 December 1954) and the USSR (HR 9 March 1955) prostitution had been virtually eradicated and the prostitutes rehabilitated. === [PDF page 267] === 248 Chapter 7 Like the PKI, which in its 1955 election campaign had also cited the examples of China and the Soviet Union, Gerwani declared that prostit-ution would no longer exist in Indonesia under socialism and that 'it was not women's fault that they had been forced into prostitution' (HR 28 September 1955). While awaiting the socialist victory, it was better that the women received some education than that they were captured and kept in the so-called 'Melati bungalows' of Jakarta (HR 3 August 1959).16 However, Gerwani neither developed a consistent policy to combat prostitution nor made a concerted effort to analyse it. The discussion on prostitution and moral corruption was influenced by Gerwani's romantic vision of revolution and socialism and its analysis of the problems in non-capitalist societies. This is clearly demonstrated in a series of curious articles on love that appeared in Harian Rakyat. They are unsigned so it is not clear whose view they represented, but they certainly do belong within the 'communist family'. They maintain that 'healthy love' is impossible under feudalism and capitalism because in a feudal to a capitalist society women are always in an oppressed position, humiliated and enslaved. In such a situation which is not in equilibrium it is very difficult to talk about healthy and happy ties of love... In these times, imperialists, feudal remnants and bourgeois compradors still have the power in the society... they show many films and distribute many stories and songs which are obscene, which increase prostitut-ion and the moral decline of society... They paint humanity as ifthey act as animals which spend recklessly all their desires... we must clean up such a dirty mess '" The view of life of healthy revolutionary people is the basis of healthy love....A healthy love is the love which is based on a collective struggle in the revolutionary effort which is able to generate a spirit of helping each other... It is wise not to fall in love with a class enemy... (HR 19, 20, 21 January 1956) Gerwani was not very outspoken about sexuality. The organization demonstrated the same shyness on sexual matters as Indonesian women in general are supposed to show in public. As the above extracts indicate, they rejected a pattern in which people followed their basic === [PDF page 268] === Militant Mothers 249 instincts. For Gerwani, love should be mutual, based on respect and preferably take place in the context ofa revolutionary and, after 1959, Manipol-oriented family. It should also be heterosexual, as indicated by the removal of Tris Metty from her position as chair of Gerwis. In this they sided with the emphasis on sexual austerity in a comm-unist country like China. There, as in other socialist countries, heterosexual marriage was portrayed as a naturalized state. All other lifestyles, such as female celibacy or 'deviant' forms of sexuality were regarded as abnormal, caused by sickness or psychological disorders. 'Socialist monogamy' was portrayed as emancipatory. On the whole, female sexuality, if properly controlled, was seen to stimulate the development of a higher social and moral order, while unfettered and autonomous it might endanger society and lead to chaos (Evans 1997). Gerwani was adamant about its marriage policy: monogamy was the norm. The first entry I found on women in Harian Rakyat is a rejection of the PP19 regulation (HR 6 September 1952). Motherhood was normal and unwanted pregnancy was not discussed. Children should preferably be born in wedlock, but Gerwani (in Api Kartini) did show a liberal attitude to teenage pregnancy in a story by Setiawati. The moral was that the young people have not acted responsibly for they were not in a position in which they could care for a baby... [and because the boy's parents] had other plans for him [he would be unable to marry the girl. But while fonnerly]... she would leave school, be sent to some family far away where a poor boy would be found to marry her... [now her mother would have to support her, the girl should continue her education and learn a profession so she] could be both mother and father to the baby. (AK January 1960) Gerwani took a firm stand on individual rape cases (such as that of Maisuri) but it did not take up the issue of rape systematically. After the Maisuri case no other campaigns were waged and in the 1960s the issue was almost totally neglected, apart from some routine references to the evils of imperialism. Young girls were warned 'not to go out alone at night' (AK May 1960). As in both the Maisuri and the Attamini case rich Muslim men were the culprits, it is difficult to escape the suspicion that class and religious issues may have been one of the reasons why these two cases were singled out for such concerted campaigns. === [PDF page 269] === 250 Chapter 7 The promotion of the psychoprophylactic (painless) method of giving birth, which in the 1950s formed one of the weapons with which communist women tried to demonstrate the superiority of the Soviet system,!' almost completely passed Indonesia by. Harian Rakyat devoted only two rather general articles to the topic. The first introduced Dr Lamaze, the French doctor who had learnt the method in Leningrad and enthusiastically propagated it in the West (RR 4 November 1953). The second congratulated Dr Pavlov, who developed the method, for receiving an award from the Pope (HR 21 January 1956). Gerwani appealed to the Government to send Indonesian doctors to learn the method, but nothing more was heard of it. Adat and Islam Gerwani's fascination with the 'progress' and 'modernity' promised by socialism led it to neglect Indonesia's traditional culture and religion, especially Islam. References in Harian Rakyat and Api Karlini to adat and religion are rare and are generally concerned either with exposing the 'backwardness' of 'feudal remnants' or with examples of resistance to these 'old customs'. The very scarcity of allusions to cultures outside of Java reveals the Java-centredness of the 'communist family'. In the 1950s Gerwani concentrated on 'backward' marriage customs. In 1955 an indignant Mudigdio returned from Bali with a report on young women who had been jailed because of their resistance to 'oppressive adat', namely their refusal to marry old men (RR 2 and 22 February 1955). On Kartini's Day in 1956 Gerwani called on the Government to 'correct old adat customs '" and to replace it with national laws' (HR 19 April 1956). In a rare report on the matrilineal adat of the Minangkabau Api Kartini noted that in this region polygyny was still permitted (AK March 1959). No mention was made of any advantages matrilinearity may have offered Minang women. 18 Yet Gerwani made clear that the 'modernity' it was striving to achieve was not the sexual looseness of the West. Gerwani tried to steer a middle course between 'oppressive, old' customs and 'modem' ways. A revolutionary women's organization that kept a clear eye on the specificity of Indonesian culture was seen as the only way to bring this about. The clearest example of Gerwani's arguments in this regard is given in an article in Api Kartin; in 1960: === [PDF page 270] === Militant Mothers 251 Happily, young Batak women in the cities are not tied down any more by customs from the period of slavery or feudalism. There are no objections to their meeting with boys. But we should not compare it to the lifestyle of the American capitalists which we see on the silver screen, for that does not suit our Indonesian style. Western people are not shy to caress each other in front of a multitude of people or to bathe half naked on the beach. Yet Batak women have not escaped completely from the half-colonial, half-feudal atmosphere in Indonesia. It still happens that a Batak man who has no son gives up his Christian religion to marry polygynously. Together with women from other regions Batak women now want a democratic marriage law and land reform. Actually they have not asked for this formally by way of petitions for they are not yet organized. To realize the above, Batak women must join a revolutionary women's organization. (AK September 1960: 7, abridged) The relationship between communism and Islam had been problematic from the 1950s, although there were still 'red haji', as in the days of the 'red' SI and the Minang-based Persatuan Tarbijah Indonesia (Indonesian Union for the Improvement of Education) (perti) (see Chapter 3). The non-Islamic women's organizations had always opposed the Islamic organizations on the issue of marriage reforms, so the relationship between Gerwani and Islamic groups was strained from the outset. Essentially Gerwani ignored Islam (a neglect that cost them dearly), with the few references in Harian Rakyat about women and Islam focusing on the atrocities Islamic groups committed in the 1950s (for example, forced conversions in Sulawesi in 1954 and related, or at least concurrent, rapes (HR August 1954)). Two women did try seriously to bridge the gap between Gerwani and Islam: Mrs Arudji Kartawinata (who, along with Mrs Suryadarma and Mrs Subandrio, was one of Gerwani's prominent women sympathizers) from the PSII and Mrs Chalisah who was a Gerwani member. The PSII was the only Islamic organization whose women members occasionally joined actions and demonstrations organized by Gerwani and SOBSI's women's branch around socio-economic issues. 19 Mrs Arudji Kartawinata, outlining her views on Islam and women in a seminar on women and the struggle for the liberation of West Irian, listed convergences between Islam and the 'worldly sciences' such as Islam's emphasis on mutual love between husband and wife and the fact that Islam did not prevent women from becoming economically active. She also stressed Islam's opposition to speculation and usury (HR 11 March 1958). === [PDF page 271] === 252 Chapter 7 Mrs Chalisah came from the Minangkabau and attended the women's Islamic school in Padang Panjang. She divorced her ftrst husband when he took a secondary wife, although this was not easily granted as she was teaching religion in various places. Her second husband was a communist haji who explained to her that if she wanted to work with the People she had to join the PKI, which she did (she was one of the PKI members who helped set up Gerwis). She returned to the Minangkabau and became the vice-chair of Gerwis in Bukittinggi. The chair at the time was Mrs Chalid Samsua, whose husband had chaired Perti. Chalisah had also joined Aisyah and found nothing difficult in the combination since, as Bung Hatta had said, in a democratic society people should join whichever organizations they liked. When I interviewed her, Mrs Chalisah continued to see no contradiction between Islam and Gerwani since, 'as the Prophet had said, "whoever honours women is the more honourable, and whoever insults women is the more lowly"'. With her knowledge of Islam and the Qur 'an, Mrs Chalisah was sent to strong Islamic areas or to regions where speciftc problems had arisen around religion. For example, she went to West Java where more than 100 Gerwis members (tea pickers who had also joined Sarbupri) had been told by an Islamic teacher that Gerwani wished to destroy religion. All but seven had resigned. But Mrs Chalisah explained what Gerwani really stood for and all returned. 20 The Struggle for Monogamy The discussion on democratic marriage rights was one of Gerwani's dominant themes during the 1950s. After 1959 when the draft Marriage Law failed in Parliament, Gerwani shelved the issue, at least as far as public debate was concerned. It is difficult to ascertain whether the PKI exerted any influence on this strategy, but Gerwani's declining public profile on this issue coincided with a general climate of conformity to Sukamo's popUlist Nasakom policy. Debate on an issue that the President did not favour was unlikely to be prioritized. Instead, the 'true Manipol family' came to dominate the discussion on relations between marriage partners. At the same time, although Gerwani's position on marriage reform was less radical than Perwari's, Gerwani incurred the wrath of such large sectors of the population that Umi Sarjono (and others) wondered whether it was this that triggered the mass murders after the 'events' of === [PDF page 272] === Militant Mothers 253 October 1965. Certainly Gerwani's actions on marriage reform differed from those of the other women's organizations in scale (thousands of cadres in the field) and range of activities. Gerwani was not the only women's organization to extend its activities to village level. Islamic organizations were also working in the villages, although they concentrated mostly on religious instruction. However, Gerwani reached a far larger proportion ofthe rural masses than did the other secular organizations and so was the best-known women's organization opposing polygyny, forced marriage and child marriage. Gerwani had made tremendous efforts to reach the countryside. As a former activist in both PR (women's department) and later Gerwani (whose husband was a member of Lekra) recalled: When we worked in a new village it was easiest to draw attention to our work via the arts. It was difficult to approach people directly as many would be very afraid. We would approach a friend or an acquaintance and ask them whether they would like to learn some music. We would coach them until they could playa little bit themselves. We would live with the villagers, eat the same simple food as they did, sleep in the houses of the poor peasants, never of the village leaders. We would walk barefoot from village to village until our feet were sore and open. But our work was effective. We helped clear the village roads from weed. We were seen as members of the family. Among the issues which were most important for the young women were forced and child marriages. We tried to prevent these from happening if we were informed in time, discussing with all parties concerned about the possible consequences. We would then encourage the girls to attend school. Sometimes there were problems if the girls wanted something that their parents did not approve of, which they felt went against their tradition. We then went to the parents to discuss it with them until they understood it was only for progress, that it was in the interest of their children.21 Other former Gerwani members too recalled that marriage abuses were among the most significant reasons why women joined the organization. Gerwani opposed PP19 (see, for example, HR 6 September 1952), as did other women's organizations in the early 1950s, and regarded polygyny and forced marriages as major social evilsP Up until 1954, Gerwani and the other women's organizations shared more or less the same line on marriage reform. Gerwani even joined, albeit hesitantly, Perwari's big demonstration against PP19 in 1953.23 === [PDF page 273] === 254 Chapter 7 Yet Gerwani differed in the examples it published to promote monogamy. It praised China and the USSR, where families were happy and the women were better off because of a marriage law that guaranteed monogamy.24 One of the few articles to appear in Api Karlini on the Marriage Law was about China's Marriage Law (AK SeptemberOctober 1962).25 During the 1950s when Gerwani was still pushing hard for a democratic marriage law, activists took up the issue both in the neighbourhoods and villages in which they were working and within the PKI. They opposed PP19 (Umi Satjono, HR 13 October 1954; Umi Sarjono 1956: 10) and used the Maisuri case to symbolize Gerwani's struggle. The organization fought on every available front, realizing very well what kind of opposition they might expect. They knew that the Marriage Ordinance of 1937 had been rejected because the Islamic community had vehemently opposed it and because the women's movement had not fought for it consistently. They also knew that a similar danger confronted the women's movement, since the two proposals that the Committee on Marriage Reform had produced (and which were to be discussed in Parliament) contained similar clauses: If we might think that this time it would be different '" let us realize for the umpteenth time that a large number of the men in powerful positions don't consider a change in the Marriage Law a matter of any urgency [and that therefore]... unity of the women's movement and firm actions were necessary. (Sukendah Hanafi, HR 4 January 1956) In 1958 Gerwani declared its support for the draft law proposed by Mrs Sumari of the PNI (HR 6 March 1958). The PKI Marriage Committee proposed the following principles upon which a new marriage law should be based: monogamy; a free choice of marriage partner; a prohibition on wanton desertion; a prohibition of child and forced marriages; a requirement that marriages be officially registered; the protection of the rights of children in cases of divorce or birth out of wedlock; and separate laws for marriages based on religion and on mixed marriage (HR 3 June 1958).26 In the discussion in Parliament the PKI faction came up with its own suggestions on marriage reforms, the most important addition to Mrs Sumari's proposal being that equality between husband and wife should be explicit in the law (HR 13 March 1958). The other differences between the PNI (Sumari) and PKI proposals were not substantial (HR 5, 19 and 26 === [PDF page 274] === Militant Mothers 255 November 1958) and mainly concerned issues of legality, ceremony and registration. When Mrs Suman's draft law was finally discussed in Parliament, Islamic groups - even the 'radical' PSII - voted against it (HR 10 February 1959). Umi Sarjono (see her full text in HR 15 April 1959) and Mudigdio both spoke in support of the proposal, with some additions (HR 11 February 1959). Umi Sarjono later attributed its rejection to the fact that the women themselves had not been united (HR 4 June 1960); the same reason why the Marriage Ordinance of 1937 had been rejected. During the 1960s, other than within its own ranks and with the PKI, Gerwani only dealt with the marriage issue in relation to the peasantry27 or to backward adat in general (for example, forced marriages near Solok, Sumatra (HR 8 October 1960)). By 1962, marriage reforms had become demoted to one ofthe 'small result actions' that were important only because they attracted women to the organization but not sufficiently important to risk 'a fight... between women and men as that might break the unity of the struggle'. 'Feudal remnants' rather than men, were defined as the central problem (Peasant Women's Seminar 1962: 15).28 The True Manipol Family Discussions about the construction of a revolutionary family were not always as one-dimensional as they became towards the end of Guided Democracy. They started out as a reinterpretation of the traditional Indonesian family, and along this path certain obstacles were noted (such as a skewed sexual division of labour and 'backward' culture) which in the end were ignored rather than resolved. In general it was accepted that women were responsible for making ends meet, while men could be occupied with their political work without making any money. The earliest reference to family life I found in Harian Rakyat described an 'ordinary Soviet family'. The article focused on the material aspects of the household, social security (no unemployment or health care for all) and the general prosperity and security of Soviet life (HR 23 December 1953). The lifestyle of an activist woman in Indonesia was still far removed from the socialist ideal. Instead, What difficulties a mother with many children has to face! Looking after the children in itself already occupies a considerable amount of time, === [PDF page 275] === 256 Chapter 7 then she has to look after the husband who has to work hard to provide for the family while his wage is not big. It takes a mother of a large family who has to do all the domestic duties, while food is limited, much physical strength and thinking, the more so if she becomes an activist and a vital cadre of the organization while not damaging her duties as wife, mother and caretaker of the household. (Suwarti, HR 14 July 1954) In 1954 the socialist family was portrayed as inward-looking, concerned about food and daily needs, with an omnipresent wife/mother as the provider and a husband/father who was unable to look after himself. In these families, women were not only responsible for domestic duties but also for the moral well-being and harmony of the family members (HR 3 November 1954). Women were encouraged to look further than their households, but without changing the traditional sexual division of labour. At the end of the 1950s the debate on the family took a new turn. The new draft Marriage Law had been discussed in Parliament, and for the first time monogamy, family life and the sexual division oflabour were linked. The responsibility for a harmonious family life was no longer put solely on the shoulders of women. For example: A woman activist has to attend a meeting in relation to the parliamentary discussions on a new marriage law and the husband stays behind to look after the baby (husband: "I took over my wife's task to feed the baby"). The husband reflects that he had fallen in love with his wife because both of them were activists. They had promised each other that their work for their organizations would not suffer from their marriage. But he had had to swallow often when four children were born and his wife kept going to meeting after meeting. So gradually evil thoughts began to enter his mind. He began to toy with the idea of leaving his wife because he felt as if his wife had taken Gerwani as her lover: "So why shouldn't I take a concubine myself'. (Abridged translation, HR 26 March 1958) In this account the wife is still responsible for the household. The husband feels awkward about his wife's request to feed the baby and he is clumsy, he almost drops the bottle. But he does help out and he fights his desire to divorce her or take a second wife. The seeds of the 'true Manipol family' were sown in the late 1950s when the happiness of both partners was located in their both being === [PDF page 276] === Militant Mothers 257 activists. This was clearly a response to the fact that many women activists ceased their work for the organization after they married and became mothers. These women couldn't cope with the double workload, and as the men began to realize that they needed their wives by their side in the struggle they were forced fmally to help out in the home. In the discussion on the sexual division of labour too, men were urged to help their wives not because it would be 'fuir' or because women wished to work outside the home but because women needed time to attend the meetings of 'the women's mass organization'. Men's share in the domestic duties was couched with revolutionary fervour and the desire to strengthen the whole 'communist family'. A family in which both partners shared domestic duties required a different kind of relationship between them. The 'feudal' or 'backward' situation in which the husband was free to do as he wished while his wife did all the work, prepared his meals and conformed to his whims was no longer acceptable. A woman's new role in a family dedicated to the revolutionary struggle would be that of 'sister, comrade in struggle and faithful wife'. The husband, meanwhile, was to become her teacher, 'for that would be most needed... in the organization'. In such a life 'every second would be filled with intimacy and there would be no emptiness and isolation' (RR 9 March 1959). Harian Rakyat was trying to convince the men of the 'communist family' that life with an activist partner would be well worth the relatively light responsibilities this new situation would entail. Meanwhile, Api Karlin; was devoting itself to women in revolutionary families. In its Mother's Day issue in 1960 Api Kartini discussed womanmotherhood. 29 Mak Ompreng countered any imagined slight that men might feel by remarking that 364 days (and nights) in the year were for men. 'Cannot men very well please themselves? Aren't they honoured by their wives and daughters? Aren't they served immediately when they want to eat?' (AK November-December 1960: 11). The revolutionary family, though, did include a very busy mother. Api Kartini drew on Kartini's views on mothers to stress that women were not only the ones who organized the household but they were also the companions of their husbands and the ones who taught their children to become useful members of society. It was 'mothers [who] should raise their level of knowledge, especially of the Indonesian revolution as outlined in Manipol, to encourage their children to become true patriots and... to devote themselves to liberating their nation from all forms of colonial occupation and oppression [and1 to construct a society which === [PDF page 277] === 258 Chapter 7 was just and prosperous, a socialist Indonesian society' (AK November-December 1960: 5). By the mid-1960s the most striking characteristic of the 'true Manipol family' and women's role within it was its outward-looking orientation. The efforts of all family members were to be directed towards the anti-imperialist struggle and a rather unspecified 'Indonesian socialism'. Women were indispensable actors in 'finishing the revolution' but their exact role remained vague as it had in Sukarno's populism and Aidit's socialism. There was never an analysis of male domination as such. Gerwani, who in the 1950s had battled so fiercely against rape and marital abuses, now accepted that weeding out 'feudal remnants' was the answer: the struggle for socialism (or, in populist parlance, against imperialism) was the key to private as well as public life. Mak Ompreng's protests against the unequal sexual division oflabour within the household were drowned out, or, as a former member said, 'We did discuss the sexual division of labour within the household amongst ourselves. We felt that if husband or wife were both working outside the household they should share the domestic duties. Privately we tried to convince our husbands to help. But there was no official discussion about it'.30 So, while Gerwani did discuss the problems women faced in the household, their analysis was that women were especially burdened by their domestic duties because of the economic conditions which necessitated them to 'do all the work alone as they could not afford a domestic helper'. They pointed the finger at 'feudal remnants' which meant that women's position was not equal and 'capitalist/feudal oppression' in general, which led women to be 'backward in understanding, consciousness and culture so that women wanted to struggle but didn't know how'. In all cases the solution was the same: join the revolutionary struggle and in the meantime form groups of housewives to share shopping.31 The revolutionary task of the 'true Manipol family' was to complete the August 1945 revolution by fighting against the 'Four Evils': Malaysia, the seven village devils, the USA (as the 'world imperialist devil ') and modem revisionism. Women were to guard against falling into the 'valley of being self-satisfied' where they would no longer heed the revolutionary call and become vulnerable to revisionism. They might wish to 'enjoy the fruits ofthe revolution', they and their families acquiring 'bourgeois traits and come to hate the working People. The children might even become crossboys or crossgirls'32 (unsigned article, HR 10 December 1964). === [PDF page 278] === Militant Mothers 259 Women in 'true Manipol families' were to possess an elevated political consciousness, for only then could the family 'destroy all efforts to divert the revolution, to make our families militant and firm fighters to rapidly create a socialist society' (a general report by Gerwani's central leadership, HR 5 November 1964). A revolutionary consciousness was the key. This was to be developed mainly by political training, but cultural factors were also important, especially for women who were the educators of future generations of anti-imperialist fighters. In 'true Manipol families' women were to guide all members on the revolutionary path. Their leadership was moral rather than intellectual: to protect their children from the evil influence of US culture; to prevent their husbands from falling into feudal 'immoral acts'; to be politically conscious; to be active in their own movement, Gerwani; to plan their time well so they could fulfill all their domestic duties; and to sing and dance in a 'healthy manner'. They were not to show their weariness at the end of the day nor their frustrations about the economy, but to be militant fighters, confident of the brilliant socialist future awaiting them. In short, they had to be 'modern', 'moving energetically, striding forward with active steps and speaking intelligently in meetings' (HR 21 April 1965). In addition to its work on marriage reform, Gerwani organized the National Housewives' Seminar in 1964 which discussed, among other things, 'true Manipol families' in which all members would be geared towards the revolution. So how did the ideal family look to Gerwani? The participants of this seminar reportedly urged Gerwani members to step up the struggle to complete the '1945 revolution and implement Dwikora' and to promote the formation of 'true Manipol families' that would constitute 'strong fortresses' against the influence of imperialist culture. The seminar singled out the 'many families who had not joined the struggle yet' and who could be considered 'stupid, unconcerned and passive masses' as candidates for gradual incorporation into the revolutionary struggle (HR 12 November 1964). Gerwani resolved first to create model 'true Manipol families' to demonstrate the revolutionary path to unenlightened families. Within these model families: 1. All family members should join the revolutionary mass organizations of the youth, women, workers, and peasants that were implementing Manipol. === [PDF page 279] === 260 Chapter 7 2. Study and reading groups should be fonned, libraries established, post-literacy courses set up and families should attend speeches in order to heighten their political and cultural consciousness. 3. The families should engage in recreational activities to help integrate them with the working People, especially the peasants. 4. People's art fonns (dances, singing and so on) and sports should be encouraged. 5. Mutual cooperation between families should be encouraged and good neighbourhood relations fostered in neighbourhood associations able to confront the 'needles of subversion and counterrevolution' that deliberately destroy the People and able to plant the belief in revolutionary unity based on Nasakom. 6. Among the younger generation in particular the spirit of love for the nation, love for work and love for the labouring People should be planted and, from childhood until adulthood, they should become accustomed to activities that carry responsibilities in line with their physical and mental development. (HR 12 November 1964) This 'true Manipol family' was to be entirely geared towards the revolution. Its aspirations and activities were to be dedicated to the national tasks defmed by Sukamo (Manipol, Nasakom) and supported by the 'communist family'. Recreation, study, work, education were all to be in line with the lofty, though vague, goals of the revolutionary forces. However, a number of aspects of family life were omitted, in particular the way in which power was to be distributed among the members of a 'true Manipol family' and ideas about the sexual division oflabour, love and sexuality. Life was particularly hard for women in these 'true Manipol families', but enthusiastic, ardent believers in the bright future the PKI, Sukamo and Gerwani were to achieve could be extraordinarily inventive: We were a true Manipol Family. My husband worked full-time in SOBSI, for which he only got his expenses paid. I was the chair of Gerwani in Jakarta and assistant to the PKI faction in Parliament. To make a living I also worked as a receptionist with two consecutive governors of Jakarta. I arranged their meetings and later joined in === [PDF page 280] === Militant Mothers 261 giving Manipol courses to social workers who were working in the neighbourhoods. The salary I received for that work was barely sufficient to clothe my family and to send my two children to school. Our food I earned by sharing a foodstall with a friend. Of course I never had somebody to help me with the domestic work. We were all supposed to be equal, weren't we? I never understood how some of the priyayi Gerwani women accepted the services of a servant. We who were more concerned with sharing the lives of the poor could never accept that. 33 The Sexual Division of Labour Gerwani almost never discussed the sexual division of labour and publicly the existing division was rarely attacked. The major change that Gerwani advocated was not so much that men share domestic duties but that women become engaged in revolutionary activities, assisted (in some unspecified manner) by the socialization of domestic labour and perhaps with their husbands' 'help'. Men's work in the household was not encouraged in the name of some feminist ideal of justice and equal sharing but for the sake of the revolution. There were dissenting voices (and in this respect Api Kartin; was more 'feminist' than Harian Rakyat). However, their problem was that it was very difficult to attack the widely-accepted kodrat in any fundamental way. Such an attack would entail not only the domination of a social over a biological discourse but also a violation of culturallyaccepted and even religiously-based norms: the reversal of 'nature' itself. Even Trimurti, one of the most 'feminist' Gerwani leaders who felt free (as Mak Ompreng) to write scathing criticisms of male domination, dared not go so far. In her speech on Gerwani's third national congress she declared that women had the same duties as men to be socially active but that this weighed heavily on women, because 'their biological tasks' (the kodrat of their lives) required that their work not 'hurt or reduce their womanly duties as mothers, educators, guardians of their offspring' (HR 15 January 1958). Fears that emancipation would mean that men would be told to go to the kitchen and that gender roles would be eroded were countered in Harian Rakyat with reassurances that such anxieties were 'really stupid [for this] had nothing to do with emancipation' but occurred only when 'there was no domestic worker' and women were too heavily burdened to do everything alone. In such cases the 'cooperation === [PDF page 281] === 262 Chapter 7 between husbands and wives' might mean a husband helping his wife, but 'women will always be women. Their two functions cannot be separated. Women as Mothers and women as fighters in the spirit ofKartini are one.,. with their whole souls' (Sulami, HR 19 June 1957). Women's political function was seen to be derived from their functions as mothers and moral guardians. In the struggle around West Irian, for instance, the most 'suitable' work women could do was to raise the consciousness of West Irian women, to educate them and to be active in the health campaigns (HR 30 October 1957). These political tasks were all extensions of women's supposedly 'natural' role in the household, and women were to cope with these different demands by planning their time well (see, for example, S. Djin's advice to a young activist in HR's 'Women's Comer', 31 October 1962). The debate on the sexual division of labour was not particularly prominent in either the communist Harian Rakyat or in Api Kartini. Mak Ompreng initiated it in her column about equal rights (AK April 1960). She returned to the theme in a more radical fashion in 1961, suggesting that both the implementation of the existing labour laws and women's double workload should be discussed: 'when their husbands come home they can relax, while women... work deep into the night'. In relation to women's labour rights, Mak toyed with the idea of a birth strike to force the owners to implement the labour laws: 'Iho, the whole world would be a graveyard' (AK March 1961). The only article in Api Karlini I found dealing specifically with men's role in the household appeared in the April 1963 issue. It attributed the scarcity of male labour in the household to the 'backward' belief of 'the older generation' that it would bring bad luck if 'a man opened a storing place for rice' or 'helped in the kitchen'. It also blamed the economy for making it 'so difficult for a woman to keep the wheels of the household turning'. Men should 'help out' to show that they were 'not backward' by joining their wives in thinking of ways to cope with rising prices and should avoid 'terrible suspicions... for instance that the wife is wasteful'. That they could also help (as indeed some did) by 'carrying sacks of rice or containers with oil' from their offices where these goods were distributed and by going to the market showed that 'the low esteem' of shopping was already 'much eroded among men' (AK April 1963: 10). This not only reveals traditional beliefs about men sharing domestic duties but also reveals how far women were seen to have primary responsibility for the household (the men were mainly expected to 'help think') and that domestic labour had low status. === [PDF page 282] === Militant Mothers 263 Clearly even Gerwani had little hope that men would continue to 'help' once the economy improved. The obstacles to building a revolutionary family in which wife and husband would cooperate in daily tasks were considerable. For women, household duties were always to take precedence, and despite their responsibility to provide guidance (keeping their children away from imperialist films and their husbands away from gambling, drinking and prostitution) it was the men who were seen as the family's spiritual and intellectual leaders. It was their task to encourage political consciousness, the purpose of the 'true ManipoI family', and the highest level of consciousness women, and men for that matter, could possess. In the revolutionary family, the unequal sexual division of labour was simply ignored. The 1964 Housewives' Seminar was the only major event at which the unequal sexual division of labour was discussed. It was carefully prepared, with research on the problems of housewives carried out by 2,000 Gerwani cadres (Doc. I). According to seminar participants, women protested at their double workload and the lack of male participation in domestic labour/ 4 but the seminar's achievements published in Harian Rakyat gloss over this debate, reporting the major issue to have been how to encourage housewives to join the revolutionary process. The seminar identified three factors: women's limited and narrow general knowledge, economic problems and the lack of freedom caused by traditional husbands, parents-in-law and adat (HR 22 October 1964). The Gerwani leadership proposed that women should 'strengthen the Dwikora home front', 'save the youth from the poison of imperialist culture and education' and 'form true Manipol families' (HR 22 October 1964). On the practical level, the seminar boosted the drive for more creches and called on health programmes for mothers and children to be implemented (Doc. XXXII). Aidit addressed the seminar about the international struggle in Vietnam, for instance, and called on women not to 'be left behind' (HR 6 November 1964). The Gerwani leadership suggested that housewives were 'backward' because of the burden of their domestic duties and proposed that women should manage their time better and study Marxism, Manipol and Tavip (HR 14 January 1965). Api Kartini, predictably, was more sensitive to the feminist issues discussed at the seminar. While their report also made clear that the purpose of the seminar was to find ways to make women join the revolutionary movement, they also stressed the need to raise the consciousness === [PDF page 283] === 264 Chapter 7 of both wife and husband, the crucial importance of cooperation between family members and the need for honesty in the relationships between members of the family: 'the husband should not tty to lord it over his wife and act as a kind of regional war administrator' (AK November-December 1964: 3-5). Towards Revolutionary Emancipation Gerwani's conceptualization of feminism was ambivalent. In retrospect, former Gerwani members felt that they 'never discussed feminism as such' (Doc. IX: 20). Indeed, the organization's documents I studied make scant reference to 'feminism' except in a rather pejorative fashion, although its practice remained feminist throughout its history. Besides Gerwani's 'general' political activities, they fought for equal rights in marriage, in the workforce and in politics, they helped women who were victims of marriage abuses, domestic violence35 or rape and they defended women's economic interests. Gerwani can be classified as a 'feminist' organization, both in terms of a 'narrow' definition of feminism as 'equal rights for women' and in terms of a broader definition including transformation towards a society in which women's sexual, social and economic interests are respected. Yet Gerwani shrank from the concept because they accepted Sukarno's Leninist definition of feminism as anti-male and a fight against male oppression only. Gerwani wanted to fight for full national independence together with their male allies and so they found this definition unusable (Sukarno 1963; Doc. XII; Doc. IX). Instead, in the quagmire of shifting conceptualizations of feminism, socialism, nationalism and imperialism, Gerwani finally came up with the term 'revolutionary emancipation' which, again, they never elaborated. Over time feminist priorities gradually faded and socialist rhetoric became the hegemonic discourse, symbolically expressed in the transformation of Kartini and the appropriation of Clara Zetkin. In its early history Gerwani more or less balanced equal rights and national political concerns. However, by 1965 national politics had eclipsed the public debate on equal rights and other 'feminist' concerns, although in practice Gerwani continued to fight for those issues. This shift is distilled in Gerwani's definition of 'full national independence'. In 1953, full national independence included achieving equal rights and wages and ending polygamy, forced marriage, prostitution and the double workload (HR 16 December 1953). By mid-1965, Gerwani === [PDF page 284] === Militant Mothers 265 consistently linked the struggle for full national independence with socialism and the Malaysia confrontation. In the early 1950s Gerwis defined women's social and economic issues and equal rights36 as its concerns. It believed that women had 'a special duty' to fulfil their roles as mothers, wives and keepers of the household, and that the problems associated with these roles derived from social conditions37 and could be combated by social struggle. However, Gerwani advocated active resistance, although this special duty excluded the passivity with which women were traditionally expected to bear misfortune, in accordance with a kodrat based on the meek Sumbadra. As Sulami explained, 'we must break with the idea that the problems women suffer from are influenced by fate' (RR 6 October 1954). Gerwani never explicitly addressed how the social struggle could end women's double workload, marriage abuses and sexual violence. Would equal rights in marriage prevent men from deserting their wives and put an end to wife abuse? Would socialism ever be able to do away with domestic labour, the only solution to women's double workload in the absence of a change in the sexual division of labour? These problems were never discussed. Instead, Gerwani seemed entirely absorbed by the national political discourse and its annual events - the celebration of 8 March (international solidarity, peace, marriage rights, rights of peasants and labourers), Kartini's Day on 21 April (emancipation, marriage rights), Mother'S Day on 22 December (marriage law, equal rights, education) - and its national congresses, plenary sessions and conferences. In the mid~1950s, when the women's interests it defended and the political concerns it was fighting for were in balance, the central leadership declared that 'the rights of women and children cannot be separated from independence and peace' (a report on the second congress, RR 27 March 1954). And indeed it did carry out activities on both fronts. The same formula continued to be used throughout Gerwani's lifespan but the inferences became different: if women's rights could not be separated from the struggle for socialism it might be better to focus on the struggle for socialism, for women's rights would come in the wake of its victory. Gerwani's priorities shifted gradually, but since there were no overt markers of these changes they have to be deduced by comparing the interests foregrounded in specific periods. These shifts can also be uncovered by considering how Gerwani characterized itself vis~a-vis other women's organizations. In addition to === [PDF page 285] === 266 Chapter 7 the rights of women as mothers and citizens, Gerwani distinguished itself in its concern for the rights of female labourers and peasants. 38 Gerwani's constituency was different as a result. It fought for a 'more complete' range of interests and the solutions it proposed, drawn primarily from the socialist world, were also different. This difference, which Gerwani came to characterize as 'revolutionary emancipation', never developed into a 'grand theory' of what Gerwani stood for. 'Revolutionary emancipation' seems to have surfaced first at a conference in Medan in 1957: Mrs Umi Sarjono explained that women will not be able to win if they don't base their struggle on revolutionary emancipation, that is a combination of the struggle for women's rights with the struggle for national independence, peace and democracy. Women should not be characterized as a stupid mass, sitting idly with their hands in their laps, standing outside the fence of the country, just observing the movements which shatter the unity ofthe Republic of the Proclamation... It has already been said that women have made a considerable contribution to win this revolution. That is why women's interests should not be treated in a stepmotherly way, and a marriage law which guarantees equal rights has to be quickly promulgated. (HR 24 September 1957) This theme would be emphasized even more in the period that marked the confrontation with Malaysia, and the achievement of women's rights would come not through direct struggle but more as a reward for women's participation in the national struggle. Women's rights were not considered to be due to them (for instance, because Indonesia had signed the UN Declaration of Human Rights and had introduced a clause to that effect in its Constitution) but had to be 'earned' by proving that women were militant fighters and true patriots equal to men. This was what 'revolutionary emancipation' entailed. Increasingly the struggle for women's rights was linked to and consumed by current national concerns (regional uprising, West Irian, Malaysia) and the fight for internal socialism against 'feudal remnants'. The next step, now that national and socialist concerns were seen to be overriding, was to characterize the ideology of the other women's organizations as 'narrow', which Umi Sarjono did on the occasion of Gerwani's tenth anniversary: === [PDF page 286] === Militant Mothers 267 the present struggle for emancipation has to be in line with the path of history. It is no longer the time for a narrow feminism, especially for a movement of sewing and embroidery and household issues only that doesn't want to consider the fate of millions of suffering women. (HR 3 June 1960) What Umi Satjono meant by the <path of history' is not elaborated. It was a phrase used widely and suggested the historic, evolutionary inevitability ofa bright (socialist) future. Sometimes it was used to refer to the actual national struggle for full national independence and the <libera-tion' of West Irian. It might also be a reference to Sukarno's ideas on the history of the women's movement, as outlined in Sarinah. In the 1960s, after the defeat in Parliament of the marriage reforms and with the growing hegemony of Sukarno's thinking in Guided Democracy, Gerwani's feminism became dominated by the ideology of Manipol and Nasakom. Their solidarity was no longer with all women. The unity evoked in the struggle for marriage reforms had disappeared. 39 Gerwani directed itself to achieving 'total integration' with the labouring and peasant classes and saw rich women as 'obstacles' (HR 4 April 1962) to full national independence. Yet in reflecting now on their daily work with poor women from the kampung and the villages, former Gerwani members feel that their concerns were feminist throughout the organization's history, even if they did not use the term at the time (Doc. XXXII). There were mighty forces at work to prevent Gerwani from focusing on the domination of Indonesian men. The first Gerwis leaders and cadres had fought with their male comrades for national independence, and Aidit's socialism and Sukamo's nationalism stressed women's cooperation with men. To put it another way, both the PKI and the President realized that their goals could not be achieved without the participation of women and so they directed the full thrust of their ideo-logical apparatus towards convincing Gerwani and other women's organizations of the commonality of their goals. Gerwani itself recognized that socialism and full national independence were common interests of both women and men. Yet Gerwani also realized that male domination and not just <feudal remnants' was an important·issue and that individual men could be held to task for engaging in 'feudal' practices. They saw their own former male comrades taking younger wives when they returned from the guerrilla struggles, discarding their <old' wives.40 Gerwani also recognised === [PDF page 287] === 268 Chapter 7 that men divorced wives who were activists in the social struggle ('Women's Corner', HR 22 December 1954). They observed that although 'men said that they agreed to equal rights, in their hearts they didn't' ('Women's Comer', HR 23 May 1956). Nor did the relationship between money and sex escape their attention: a report from Kalimantan stated that if the rubber prices were high the men took mistresses and if they were low they divorced their wives (HR 30 December 1957). While such phenomena were attributed to 'feudalism', I wondered all the time how it was possible that these "feudal" men were allowed to become members of the PKI... even rising to leadership positions. I believe that this mass line was to blame. It was a great mistake, there was too little consciousness, too little discipline. I myself once approached a local PKI leader [in Yogya] whom I knew and reproached him for having a girlfriend although he was married. He replied that I shouldn't interfere. This was a human, private affair. It was not related to party politics. But all the time we were fighting for marriage reforms!41 Criticism of male arrogance, of the prerogatives men felt were 'naturally' their due, was drowned in the call for cooperation with men. The pressure to focus on the 'common enemy' was particularly strong during Guided Democracy and the differences between the communist women's group of the PKI and Gerwani became less significant. On 8 March 1961, the Communist Women declared that 'Indonesian women have to strengthen... their alliance with anti-feudal workers and peasants... after all, as the President had said, the women's movement should leave behind all traces of being a movement of high ladies' (HR 8 March 1961) and the Wankom Chair called on her audience 'to fight the four counter-revolutionaries... imperialism, capitalist bureaucrats, compradors, and evil landlords' (Doc. XXXII). In the 1961 National Seminar for Women Peasants, in which 'feudal remnants' had been diagnosed as the 'common enemy', the goal was not to deal with 'social' or 'humanitarian' problems but 'to awaken the revolutionary movement among female peasants' (Seminar 1962: 15). How this 'revolutionary movement' intended to solve the problems42 of these female peasants was not specified. In this ideological battle all means were permitted. Kartini, who had fought so bitterly against polygyny, was rather surprisingly put forward as a 'highly valued guide in the growth of the Indonesian women's === [PDF page 288] === Militant Mothers 269 movement which is not feminist and not narrowly limited to the household... the Indonesian women's movement has always been fighting together with the men for full national independence' (AK May 1960: 22). In 1962 and 1963 Harian Rakyat published a series of articles on Sarinah that argued for the same cooperation (HR 19 September 1962). During Guided Democracy Gerwani underwent a process in which its ideological orientation strayed far from its earlier more outspoken feminist perspective, and the concept of 'feminism' was nearly discarded. This process is marked by a number of indicators. The fust is the choice of subjects on which the organization focused. Chapter 5 documents Gerwani's changing priorities, showing how marriage reforms and issues such as rape and prostitution were fiercely debated in the 1950s but almost disappeared from Gerwani's discourse in the 1960s, although not from its daily work. 43 The organization also defended women's economic and social interests: it seems that their mass demonstrations and political rallies were additions to their practical work, not substitutions for it. In the tumultuous political climate of the early 1960s Gerwani's political ideology gained momentum. Here two other indicators of the process in which Gerwani 'lost its feminism' can be observed: their choice of heroines and their selection of intellectual mentors. One of Gerwani's principal mentors was Sukarno via Sarinah. This book was the most important intellectual beacon for Gerwani's leaders. Surprisingly few feminist authors were read. 44 Clara Zetkin is the only woman whose name was mentioned regularly in Harian Rakyat or Api Karlini. Part of the explanation for the lack of interest in other women intellectuals lies in the Cold War climate in which Gerwani developed. At this time, the divide between the socialist authors and the so-called 'bourgeois feminists' had become so wide that any women's organization that associated with the socialist camp could not easily refer to nonsocialist authors. Yet within the socialist world there was a considerable literature on the 'woman question' (for example, Rosa Luxemburg and Alexandra Kollontai). Even the writings of Clara Zetkin herself were rarely used directly, being more generally quoted through Sarinah (see, for example, the long article on Zetkin in HR 5 March 1964). Clearly Gerwani was more concerned with its daily practical work and its political manoeuvring within the Indonesian arena than with finding a broader identity among authors writing on women's issues. Gerwani's other main mentor was the PKI. However, the contradictions between the positions of these two protagonists were never === [PDF page 289] === 270 Chapter 7 debated publicly nor was the contrast pointed out between Gerwani's struggle to defend women's interests (and their daily practical work in this regard) and certain teachings and lifestyles of these actors. Rather, the organization seemed to drift without much internal intellectual debate towards a position in which it declared that class and not sex was the problem (Sundari Rachman, HR 18 May 1960), and therefore class struggle rather than patriarchy should be women's concern (Suwardiningsih, HR 2 September 1965). Of the male Marxist thinkers Lenin was the most important and he too was usually referred to via Sarinah. His thinking was generally condensed to one slogan used by Sukarno and Aidit alike: 'Without women we will not win' (HR 21 December 1963). The virtual absence of non-Indonesian authors on women's issues in Gerwani's discourse does not imply that Gerwani did not have its heroines. Its major symbols of women's resistance were the mythical Srikandi, Arjuna's warrior wife, and the historical figure, Kartini. Kartini was such a brilliant and prolific letter writer on such a broad range of topics - of which the most important was polygyny - that her writings could be quoted for many purposes. It is interesting to see how Kartini was transformed from the symbol of the struggle for marriage reforms (in 1928) to a socialist and anti-imperialist writer. The campaign to follow the example of Kartini was boosted when she was declared a national hero on 2 May 1964, although this was due more to her anti-imperialist than her feminist writings. When the stage was reached where her ardent feminism was eclipsed by her hesitant anticolonialism4s in Gerwani's ideological presentation of her, she could be replaced by that other more eloquently anti-imperialist protagonist, Clara Zetkin. In one of the first and most elaborate articles on Kartini in Harian Rakyat 'Women's Comer' in 1954, she was portrayed as a 'pioneer of the emancipation of Indonesian women' who 'devoted herself strongly and courageously to the interests of Indonesian women'. Her resistance to the 'feudal-colonial' oppression of her day was admired and an appeal made in the name of her ideals for women's unity 'irrespective of political orientation, religion, ethnicity and together with the People' (HR 21 April 1954). Api Kartini naturally paid a great deal of attention to her life and ideals. In the first issue Setiawati wrote a long article on Kartini in which she stressed her socialism and her emotional reaction to the Boer War as evidence of her anti-imperialism (AK January 1959). The author === [PDF page 290] === Militant Mothers 271 quoted Bouman's (1954) book on Kartini which gave 'new insights' into her life, but strangely enough she failed to mention that one of those new insights was his insistence that Kartini was a daughter of one of the concubines and not of the 'first wife', which must have influenced her character profoundly (Bouman 1954: 14).46 Api Karlini's next issue quoted Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who at the time was studying Kartini (AK February 1959). He did much to revise the popular image of Kartini, stressing her 'philosophical insights' and her nationalism. His book Just Cal/Me Karlini was published in 1963 and reviewed in Api Karlini. The review did not mention Kartini's fight against polygamy but instead presented her as a 'pioneer of Indonesian nationalism' (AK February 1963).47 By then Suharti had already written an article in Harian Rakyat in which Kartini was ranked alongside Clara Zetkin and other fighters for women's emancipation (HR 8 March 1960). Both Aidit ('women are the primary victims of the economic crisis') and Sarinah ('only in socialism Indonesian women and the Indonesian people will find happiness') were quoted extensively. Other articles stressed Kartini's anti-colonialism and fighting spirit. In Api Karlini Sulami appealed to Indonesian women to 'follow Kartini's footsteps' and implement Trikora (AK April 1962: 1), and she described Kartini's Day 1962 as 'a day of anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism'. As 'followers of Mrs Kartini Indonesian women must become a strong force of the national revolution' (HR 25 April 1962). With Kartini's anti-polygamy and her other feminist issues ignored, the road was free to declare that 'Kartini possessed the spirit of Clara Zetkin' (HR 9 March 1964) and to pay greater attention to the celebration of March 8 and Clara Zetkin than to Kartini's Day,48 although there is no evidence that Gerwani went as far as PKl leader Lukman, who declared that the best way to follow the ideas of Kartini was to become a good communist (HR 27 April 1964). Between Nature and Culture Shifts can be observed in Gerwani's discourse between what was considered 'natural' and what 'social' and in the combination of those elements. Women's reproductive capacity became a 'natural' construction of motherhood, while Gerwani's women at the same time demonstrated their determination to overcome the social barriers placed upon women through militancy, education and perseverance. These characteristics were to effect a change in women's position from that offeudal colonial === [PDF page 291] === 272 Chapter 7 times (in which they were presented as victims) to the 'brilliant' socialist future awaiting women in which women's rights would be guaranteed and the 'happiness of their children and families' ensured (BG: 89). In this future women would once again play their 'natural' role as those responsible for the rearing of children and harmony in the household. The content of what Gerwani considered to belong to the 'natural' realm of women shifted over time. In the mid-1950s Gerwani leaders stressed women's femininity, apparently fearing that the militancy of Gerwani cadres might antagonize men. For example, in 1956 Umi Sarjono herself opened the discussion in a speech for the third plenary in which she admonished the cadres to maintain a womanly attitude: The experience has shown that without a persevering struggle, without militancy, determination and sacrifices, women's struggle certainly will not make any progress... But it is altogether wrong if the tasks we have to carry out in our organizations cause us to sacrifice all our household duties, or that our love for family, house and yard disappears... We must not give up our womanly attitude... This womanly attitude is the love for husband and children, the organization of the household, being dressed properly and in a simple manner, and join in the struggle of women to defend the rights of women and children and for peace. (HR 25 June 1956) Women were to combine their duties in the household with the demands of the organization. 'Neither of these tasks should be neglected' (HR 21 November 1956). In the 1960s, with its insistence on the overall mobilization of Indonesian society to achieve the national goals the President had formulated, the discourse was more on mutual assistance between men and women than on femininity and on motherly militancy rather than dedication to household duties. The resistance Gerwani experienced to its militancy indicates the strength of the traditional women's kodrat which prescribes servility and meekness for women. In those years Gerwani not only tried to preserve certain elements of the essentialist, difference-based kodrat, it also proclaimed women's equality with men: 'we are humanity' (AK March 1959: 2). During Guided Democracy the rhetorical emphasis shifted from marriage === [PDF page 292] === Militant Mothers 273 abuses towards matching the revolutionary militancy of communist men. Sumbadra was eclipsed by the militant Srikandi. Gerwani's conception of womanhood was not limited to motherhood; it also spanned the areas of work and civil society. Two apparent contradictions can be observed here. The first concerns Gerwani's insistence on national identity and its abhorrence of Western imperialist culture versus the adoption of elements of non-Indonesian cultures; for instance in the attention Api Kartini paid to Western fashion. The second is between the militancy Gerwani promoted and the ideals of femininity it upheld. The first contradiction is not so sharply defined as it might appear. First, Gerwani never accepted Indonesia's culture in its entirety. 'Feudal remnants' and 'backward adat' were consistently denounced. The kind ofIndonesian culture Gerwani upheld was never specified but contained elements of a socialist-inspired peasant-worker culture, characterized by sincerity and simplicity. The role models Gerwani provided from Soviet life were more European than Indonesian. Second, the majority of the Western fashion features were interpreted through socialist values; simple dresses rather than extravagant, luxurious clothes. Further, Api Karlini, which contained most of the Western fashion features, was intended for an audience of middle-class women. The majority of articles had an ideological orientation intended to raise the consciousness of the readers, but those readers had first to be attracted by the recipes, fashion designs and articles on housekeeping. These were intended as bait and it would be misleading to pay much attention to their ideological meaning as such. Many cadres considered Api Karlini too 'bourgeois': 'We hardly ever read Api Karlini; that was non-bloc, independent, it had no colour. It was not interesting for the women in the villages or in the city kampung'.49 In fact, Gerwani abhorred the kind of 'sexual freedom' it associated with Western norms. If it did adopt certain Western 'modern' standards, the organization's leaders chose them with care. The second contradiction probably would not be regarded as such by Gerwani members. To them they were women and their kodrat was 'naturally different from men' (feminine and with a 'motherly instinct' (Doc. IX: 18», and at the same time they were citizens and workers who desired the same rights as men. Gerwani's most elaborate statement on women's rights appears in a document contained in the Buku Gerwani, most probably a text used for the cadre courses in the late 1950s. After observing that the implementation of the legal provisions on equal rights === [PDF page 293] === 274 Chapter 7 was being hampered by 'feudal remnants' that led women to suffer the double burden of work in the household and oppression in society, the paper specified the rights that women desired. As wives they required a democratic marriage law. As workers they suffered from wage discrimination despite the International Labour OrganiZAtion (ILO) Convention on Equal Wages which had already been ratified by the Indonesian Government. Women were more easily fired than men and their chances of promotion were lower. As citizens women demanded the abolition of the IOO/B laws (BG: 79-89). The solution to this apparent contradiction was found in segmenting women's lives. 'As women' the kodrat prevailed (albeit in a militant form), as 'workers and citizens' equal rights were demanded and 'as wives' they sought the sisterhood of other women's organizations. For Gerwani these various aspects did not demand contradictory analytical responses but were perceived from a holistic perspective in which the contradictions were dialectically reconciled. The accusations directed at Gerwani after the 'events' are not supported by Gerwani's ideology or practice. The organization opposed prostitution, defended rape victims and fought against the 'moral corruption' associated with 'mad dancing' and ngik ngak ngok music. In fact, its sexual policy was rather puritanical but with an emphasis on egalitarian values. Of course this to some extent deviates from the cultural norms of the Javanese population, at least. On the other hand, in the sober manner with which Gerwani stuck to its role as 'moral guardian' of their (Manipol) families and society as a whole they conformed to the prevailing kodrat. Gerwani was innovative in other ways too. It did advocate a measure of change in the sexual division of labour, although it maintained its position that domestic duties ultimately were women's concern. Gerwani also stressed that its activists should not be meek and submissive, following the example of Sumbadra. Their women need not be sexually subservient to their men but should be their companions. They should work hard, study, be sincere, simple and persevering, and optimistic about the bright socialist future awaiting both men and women. What probably most alarmed the conservatives was the particular combination Gerwani cadres represented: mothers who were politically aware and militant patriots, challenging men in a public arena that traditionally was seen to be a male preserve. === [PDF page 294] === Militant Mothers 275 By mid-1965 Gerwani members had ceased to be the 'flowers for decoration' described by Damairia in epigraph to this chapter. In the process they had antagonized conservative forces so deeply that they were to be 'trampled upon' in ways totally unanticipated. Notes A pun on nuptial chambers. This refers to the Javanese saying: swarga nunut neraka katut (to heaven [women] join [their husbands], to hell they are taken). 3. Pseudonym of the Lekra poet Sugiarti Siswadi. Hersri assisted in translating this poem. 4. Interview, Mrs Mu1yadi, 27 January 1984. 5. In Api Karlini, July 1960, Mak Ompreng asked similar questions about the opening of the new Parliament. 6. Api Karlini published several short stories on this theme, such as Necklace by S. Ruk Kertapati (AK January 1959) in which a young woman prefers a hard-working Hfe beside an honest freedom fighter to life with a black-marketeer, and S. Djin's story of Minah, a domestic worker, who is favorably compared to the lazy, rich Hasannah (AK July 1959). 7. An abridged translation of PKI and Gerwani member Parjani Pradono: 'Are women allowed to be politically active?' ('Women's Corner', HR 20 June 1956). 8. This was not an entirely new idea. It echoed an earlier, unsigned article in Harian Rakyat which listed love of the nation, truth, justice, community (living together) and nature (HR 29 July 1959). The pancacinta repeats many of the same themes. 9. The composition of the 'five' is not fixed. This Children's Day declaration listed love of: the nation, life, work and the working People, friendship and peace, and parents (HR 1 June 1963). 10. The reported totals leapt from 550 (HR 27 July 1961), 605 (HR 26 October 1961),989 (HR 8 May 1963), 1,374 (HR 17 October 1963) to 1,478 (HR 11 June 1964). 11. Interview, Sttiinah, 16 February 1984. 12. HR 20 March 1954; see also Doc. XII on related demonstrations. 13. In 1964 Harian Rakyat reported that Gerwani and SOBSI joined hands in an appeal to continue the boycott of US films (HR 23 August 1964) and that the actions were quite successful in the villages (HR 16 August 1964). === [PDF page 295] === 276 Chapter 7 14. Gerwani supported the Panitia Aksi Pemboikotan Film Imperialis AS (Committee to Boycott US films) (papfias) and declared that attempts to dissolve that committee were not in line with Tavip (HR 4 September 1964). They were supported in this action by the students of the CGMI. 15. The New Culture Movement also fought against illiteracy and promoted better hygiene and health care. Women were expected to be particularly active in these fields (S. Djin. HR 9 September 1965). 16. This article on the Melati bungalows used case studies to show that concubinage and marriage problems caused some women to enter the trade. 17. See Chapter 10 of Withuis (1990) in which she provides an analysis of that discussion within the NVB. 18. On the contrary, a series of articles on the Minangkabau stressed the need for land reform without pointing out that women's source of power in that region lies in their control ofland (HR 14, 15, 16, 17 March 1961). See Wieringa (1995d) for a discussion on Minangkabau matrilinearity and women's organizations. 19. Interview, Sri Ambar, 15 March 1983. 20. Interviews, Mrs Chalisah, 16 February 1984,8 September 1984. 21. For these kinds of activities 18 members of Mrs Mumi's family were murdered after the 'events' and a few were still missing at the time of the interview. 'We are the garbage of society now', she said bitterly (interview, Mrs Mumi, 15 March 1983). 22. Harian Rakyat, for instance, published a story of a woman who killed her infant and hanged herself over her husband's polygyny (HR 3 June 1952). They also recorded that in 1953 2.000 students protested against the forced marriage of a 14-year-old girl to 60year-old man (HR 6 October 1953). 23. One of the few times the name ofPerwari was mentioned in Harlan Rakyat was the announcement of this demonstration on 16 December 1953. As indicated earlier, Gerwani exaggerated its role to the WIDF, much to Perwari's annoyance. 24. Articles on the Marriage Law in China appeared in HR 11 November 1953 and the 'Women's Corner' ofHR 25 August 1954. The USSR was praised in the 'Women's Corner' of HR 25 September 1954. 25. As Api Karlini only began publishing after 1959, when Gerwani had given up its public interest in marriage reform. 26. This article didn't spell out to what extent these 'special marriage === [PDF page 296] === Militant Mothers 277 laws' were applicable. Suharti later explained that monogamy and equal rights of women and men in a marriage were fundamental to all marriage regulations, as these conditions were contained in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (HR 5 November 1958). 27. While poor peasants suffered from child and forced marriages, polygyny occurred among the rich peasantry. This posed an interesting problem for the Land Reform Committees, because although the law stipulated that a polygynous household should be counted as one household, often the wives of a rich landlord asked to be counted separately - a request some officials apparently felt was reasonable - and some polygynous households were allowed more land than monogamous families (HR 8 January 1962). 28. In a report of the Peasant Women's Seminar, Jakarta, 1962. 29. Hari Ibu, or Mother's Day, is 22 December, ibu meaning both 'mother' (its primary meaning) and 'woman' (reverently). 30. Interview, Mrs Suning, 4 November 1983. 31. This analysis was the outcome of a Seminar on Women in the Household in Lampung organized by the regional leadership of Gerwani (HR 22 October 1964). 32. Young people who rebelled against the prevalent social norms enjoyed rock dances, US films and ngik ngak ngok music. 33. Interview, Mrs Sukoni, 23 December 1998. 34. Interview, Sujinah and Sulami, 18 November 1984. 35. The Marriage Consultation Bureaus also dealt with cases of sexual violence. 36. For instance, increasing unemployment, menstruation and pregnancy leave, democratic rights and security, and education were mentioned in an interview in Harian Rakyat (23 April 1953). Gerwis also demanded that the prices of basic goods should be reduced (for instance, HR 24 April 1953). See also Harian Ralcyat's 'Women's Comer' of 18 November 1953. 37. Thus the admonition to work with 'perseverance, patience and firmness of will' while realizing that the problems women experienced 'were problems of the society in general' (HR 19 November 1953). 38. See, for example, Setiati Surasto's speech at the second congress. She also insisted that all women's organizations should fight for the interests of women in all their capacities (HR 24 March 1954). === [PDF page 297] === 278 Chapter 7 39. In 1961 Umi Sarjono spoke on women's support for Manipol, stressing that women's demands focus on the struggle against 'feudal remnants' and for land reform. Marriage reforms were not mentioned in her speech (HR 23 August 1961). 40. The fact that BTl leader Asmu had two wives angered Gerwani. The first wife was an activist, the second was not. Both were sent to prison after the 'events', the non-activist wife serving 14 years. Only after they were released were they reconciled (interview, Sujinah and Sulami, 1 September 1994). 41. Interview, Sujinah, 21 January 1984. 42. They were diagnosed as including forced and child marriages, rape, wanton desertion and a high maternal mortality rate. 43. See, for instance, HR 22 August 1963 and 11 February 1964, and my interviews with Gerwani leaders such as Sujinah, Sulami, Maasje Siwi, Mudigdio, Tanti Aidit, Salawati Daud, Trimurti and Umi Satjono. 44. This is surprising considering the number of intellectually outspoken and vocal women among its leaders - for example, Umi Sarjono, Suharti, Suwarti, Darmini, Maasje Siwi, Sulami and Sujinah - most of whom had a good knowledge of Western languages and some of whom had spent some time abroad. 45. While Kartini strongly and passionately denounced the racism and bluntness of certain colonial administrators, she also admired the feminism and socialism she encountered in Holland. She was supported by Dutch friends who recognized her independence of spirit and intellectual brilliance of her struggle against the constraints of Javanese court traditions and polygamy. 46. Actually, the rank of her mother was selir (secondary wife). Bouman provided more information on Kartini's own marriage than had been known hitherto, but he had no access at the time to those of Kartini's letters in which she wrote of the pain it caused her that her future husband already had several selir. Bouman described him as a 'widower'. This term is correct in the sense that his 'first wife' had recently died, but his other wives were still present. 47. Pramoedya had presented Kartini's mother as the daughter of a poor sugar factory worker. In 1959 Api Kartini published an interview with Kartini's son, Mr Susalit, who told the reporter that his grandmother, Ngasirah, was the daughter ofModirono, a sugar factory worker in the Majong factory (January 1959: 5). But see === [PDF page 298] === Militant Mothers 279 Chapter 3 for a denial by Kartini's relatives of this. 48. In 1965 Harian Rakyat carried 11 articles on 8 March and Clara Zetkin and only four on Kartini's Day. 49. Interview, 29 December 1983 with a cadre in East Java. === [PDF page 299] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown The wet twilight clams the burning forest. Vampire bats descend from the dark grey sky. Smell of munitions in the air. Smell of corpses. And horseshit. A pack of wild dogs eats hundreds and thousands of human bodies the dead and the half dead. And among the scorched trees of the forest puddles of blood form into a pool. Wide and calm. Ginger. Twenty angels come down from heaven to purifY those in their death throes but on earth are ambushed by the giant vampires and raped. A vital breeze which travels gently on moves away the ringlet curls of the corpses makes circles on the lake of blood and inflames the lust of angels and bats. Yes, my brothers, I know this is a view which satisfies you for you have worked so intently to create it. Twilight VIew (Rendra 1974: 210) The transition from Sukarno's Old Order state to the New Order of President Suharto was heralded by the so-called 'October 1965 events', instigated by the G30S group (Gerakan-Movement-30 September) - a putsch of leftist colonels who claimed to be protecting President Sukarno from a right-wing Council of Generals. An unprecedented 280 === [PDF page 300] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 281 campaign of sexual slander against Gerwani followed, in the wake of which an estimated million people were killed.' In the process Gerwani was defamed, Sukarno overthrown and Suharto founded his New Order Government. There is a vast body of literature on this crucial period in Indonesian history.2 Yet there are still, more than 35 years after this bloody night, major gaps in our knowledge of what actually happened, although the broad outline of events is known. In a combination of the manipulation of the Indonesian collective unconscious and brutal repression Suharto carefully paved the way for his ascent to power. It is important to study the bloody origins of Suharto's New Order, as 'the tacit acceptance of repression and covert political violence that have become almost institutionalised as mechanisms of social control' (Mackie and MacIntyre 1994: 1) need to be understood in this context. Although class and religious factors are seen to have played an important part in the destruction of the PKI and the overthrow ofSukarno, the gender aspects are either overlooked or their importance downplayed. The campaign had major consequences for the women's movement. Gerwani was destroyed and the other women's organizations' room to manoeuvre became severely curtailed. From that point onwards, the New Order state would define the interests women's organizations could take up. The campaign infiltrated the deepest psychic levels of Indonesian society, linking communism (and later liberal, critical thinking in general) to fitnah, the Islamic concept of sexual disorder. 3 Through an analysis ofthe final months of 1965, a dimension so far ignored in the literature,4 I suggest that the 1 October putsch should be seen as a prelude to a much more profound disjuncture that laid the political and moral foundations of the military regime of President Suharto. The second coup, the actual change of presidents/ was founded on a careful manipulation of sexual symbols. The PKI became associated with disorder symbolized by women's perverse sexual behaviour. Society could only be saved from this chaos by a systematic cleansing of communism and the re-subordination of women. As the symbol of virility, the army - and President Suharto in particular - took care to emerge as the only force capable of restoring and maintaining an orderly society. Their hold on power was continually justified by recreating over and over again the myth of the perverted communist beast. Women's subordination, their 'proper' behaviour, became the pillar of New Order society. Gerwani, meanwhile, had become associated with loose and amoral behaviour. === [PDF page 301] === 282 Chapter 8 In this episode gender relations in Indonesia became restructured in a particularly violent fashion. Gerwani's insistence on the equality of women in the political field and their symbolic embrace of the militant woman warrior Srikandi in favour of the meek Sumbadra became regarded as so unacceptable a breach of a conservatively-dermed women's kodrat that the slander the army constructed about the 'events' at Lubang Buaya became widely believed by large segments of society. Women were beaten into what was considered their rightful place, differing fundamentally from the male domain both physically (behind the walls of their own organizations) and ideologically (within the confmes of the kodrat that limits women to the household and the 'social' arena). The Coups By mid 1965, tensions in Indonesian society were reaching a climax. In the countryside the BTl's unilateral actions had thoroughly disrupted social relations. Rising levels of inflation were leading to extreme poverty. The relationship between army leaders and the PKI became increasingly tense, with Sukarno leaning ever more towards the PKI. The confrontation with Malaysia was used by the PKI to press for its 'fifth force', a militia of workers and peasants/ that was strongly opposed by the army under General Yani and by Defence Minister Nasution. At the same time, Sukarno's anti-Western attitudes had provoked mass protest and led to Indonesia's withdrawal from the UN.? Despite the professed 'socialist' content of national politics, the gap between rich and poor had increased dramatically. Several army generals had amassed immense fortunes through the confiscation of Dutch and British property and the PKI responded by stepping up its campaign against these kabir. Only Sukarno seemed able to hold society together. Six assassination attempts on Sukarno caused the PKI to worry that the President might be unable to protect them for much longer (May 1978). Rumours of Sukarno's illness led to even greater unrest. 8 In this tense situation several middle-ranking army officers staged a military putsch. They wanted, so they testified later, to protect the President from an alleged Council of Generals which was conspiring to overthrow Sukarno on 5 October, Armed Forces Day. The rebel officers (Lieutenant-Colonel Untung bin Syamsuri (commander of one of the three battalions of President Sukarno's palace guard, Cakrabirawa), === [PDF page 302] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 283 Colonel Latief (commander of the First Infantry Brigade) and Air Force Major Suyono were also discontented with the corrupt and decadent lifestyle of some of the generals, in particular Yani. They had developed their plans with Syam, head of the PKI's Special Bureau (the existence of which had been kept secret) and Supono. Since 1957 or earlier Syam had been in direct contact with Aidit (Crouch 1978).9 According to Wertheim he had also been in contact with Suharto (1979: 203). Southwood and Flanagan (1983: 131) cite a CIA report from 1968 which refers to Syam as a long-time professional informer on military intelligence, who reported on the PKI and other parties. The officers' plans were discussed in several meetings of the PKI politburo. IO Three of the seven members, including Nyoto, felt the plans were far too premature and that the PKI should not become involved. The other four felt that although the PKI should not remain entirely aloof the cadres should not become involved directly (Utrecht 1970: 33). The conspirators managed to obtain only minimal military support: some 3,000 soldiers and an additional 2,000 volunteers who had been trained for the Malaysia campaign and belonged mainly to the Pemuda Rakyat. The tank battalion Untung had expected from Bandung failed to appear. During the night of 30 September seven squads of soldiers set out to kidnap the Generals believed to belong to the Council. This operation was carried out in such a 'mixture of cold-blooded ruthlessness and panic' (May 1978: 95) that the kidnappers killed three of their hostages immediately, including General Yani. General Nasution escaped, although they captured his aide and shot his daughter. The six Generals (dead and alive) and the Lieutenant were taken to a former training field for Malaysia volunteers at Halim Air Force Base, known as Lobang Buaya (Crocodile Hole), which at the time was being used for the training of anti-Malaysia volunteers - young men and women mainly from Pemuda Rakyat. The Generals who were still alive were killed and all their bodies were thrown into a deep well. The conspirators took President Sukarno to Halim on the pretext that from there he could be easily removed to safety. If the conspirators had intended originally only to abduct the Generals and had hoped to win the President's approval for their actions they could not have bungled the operation more. When Sukarno was informed of the bloodshed he refused to endorse the operation and ordered the messenger, General Supardjo, to put an immediate end to the undertaking in order to prevent further bloodshed. Aidit was also present at Halim, but he seems not to have met Sukarno. When he learnt that the coup had misfired, he fled on === [PDF page 303] === 284 Chapter 8 the advice of Syam (Doc. XXXII) to Central Java where he was later captured in November and killed before he could testify.ll In the meantime other rebel units had occupied the telecommunications building and the national radio station at Merdeka Square and had taken up positions near the presidential palace. A fourth side of the square, General Suharto's Kostrad headquarters, was left unoccupied. Air Marshal Omar Dhani's air force units at Halim supported the operation. In addition to the abductions and murders of the Generals, the 30 September Movement denounced the Cabinet over the radio and stated that the operation had been carried out to prevent a counter-revolutionary coup on Armed Forces Day; that President Sukarno was safe under its protection; and that a 45-member Revolutionary Council, chaired by Untung, had been formed (many of whom later reported that they had not even been consulted). Its composition reflected the Nasakom pattern, with a broad representation of military men. Before the day was over, Suharto's Kostrad forces had managed to cajole and threaten half of the rebel forces into submission12 and the remaining soldiers withdrew to Halim. President Sukarno, meanwhile, decided not to appoint Suharto who was next in line to replace the murdered Yani, possibly because he considered him too 'strong-willed' (Anderson and McVey 1971). Instead he appointed a junior general, Pranoto Reksosamudro. Suharto ignored the orders of his President to allow Pranoto to go to Halim and instead warned Sukarno to leave the airbase (which would soon be taken) for his palace at Bogor. He issued his own radio announcement that he had taken over the army leadership in order to restore security and order (Crouch 1978: 132). Two weeks later Sukarno was compelled to replace Pranoto by Suharto. Apart from the murdered Generals there were remarkably few casualties in Jakarta. Subsequently some equally ill-planned and bungled insurrections flared up in Central Java which were promptly suppressed. Unlike earlier armed insurrections (the 17 October 1952 Affair and the Pemerintah Revolusioner Indonesia (Revolutionary Government of the Indonesian Republic) (PRRl), for instance), the victors showed no leniency. An estimated million people were massacred and over 100,000 people were arrested (and detained for many years). Broadly speaking, there are three interpretations ' ) of the 'events' of October 1965 which marked the end of the Old Order. The army version is that the PKI was the dalang (puppeteer) behind the coup through its === [PDF page 304] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 285 Special Bureau. The PKI maintained initially that it was an intramilitary affair and this version was supported abroad by a 1966 paper authored by two researchers from Cornell University, Anderson and McVey.14 A third interpretation is that Suharto and possibly the CIA were behind a conspiracy to break the power of the PKI. Holtzappel (1979), Scott (1985), Utrecht (1970) and Wertheim (1979, 1991) have elaborated this view. The recently published testimony of Latief (2000) also supports this. The fullest elaboration of the army view is given by Notosutanto and Saleh (1967). 15 In their version, the PKI had attempted for years to infiltrate the army via its Special Bureau, which was set up by Aidit and led by Syam. The coup was planned by Aidit, who wanted to prevent the army from taking power after Sukarno's death. The PKI spread rumours about a council of generals and organized the meetings of the discontented officers who were to execute the coup. The coup itself was carried out with the help of air force officers and the PKI volunteers they had been training at Halim. . This version became the dominant one in New Order Indonesia. Full blame was placed on the PKI, which was said to have 'staged the coup as an internal army affair'.16 The role of the military was downplayed (Dinas 1982; Lembaga Studi Ilmu-Ilmu Kemasyarakatan 1983). The authority of these allegations (and their success) derived from the media campaign that surrounded the massacre of 1965~6. The lies constructed then were repeated constantly throughout the New Order regime. Even the autopsy report on the death of the Generals was cited falsely: '[i]t is clear from the autopsy report that the bodies were mutilated' (Oejeng Soewargana 1974: 76). The continued portrayal of Gerwani's alleged cruelty and perversion at Lobang Buaya was not only used to incriminate the PKI but also to suggest complicity on the part of President Sukarno. It is self-evident that Sukarno must have been implicated, Oejeng Soewargana suggests, for 'why else would he try to conceal these inhuman atrocities of the PKI?' (1974: 76). The frrst account to question the official army view was the Cornell paper in which the putsch was portrayed as an intra-army affair. Wertheim (1979, 1991) maintains that neither the PKI nor the middleranking officers staged the coup but that General Suharto was the dalang behind the scenes. His major argument is that Suharto was at the very least informed by the coup leaders, to whom he may have promised his support initially or at least expressed his neutrality. Colonel Latiefwent to General Suharto (who was in a hospital visiting his son) === [PDF page 305] === 286 Chapter 8 and informed him about the conspiracy. The Indonesian press consistently ignored this information that shows that Suharto was 'involved' (terlibat) according to his own definition.J7 In this view, the rumours about the Council of Generals were spread to provoke the PKl into a rash action. The role of Syam in this case is that he was a double agent and provoked the PKl into participating. An argument against this view is that Syam apparently was executed in 1986, which, if he had been Suharto's pawn, he might have prevented (as Latief did) by threatening to disclose Suharto's role. Latief was released in December 1998 after the fall of Suharto in May of that year. His recently published defence speech (2000) conftrms that he informed Suharto of the G30S plans and that, as a close friend of the Suharto family, he expected his loyalty. So although Suharto had prior knowledge this does not necessarily mean that Suharto masterminded the 1 October putsch, as Wertheim (1979) and Anderson in his prologue to Latief (2000) imply. I suggest another interpretation, namely that Suharto, as the ruthless and ambitious man he is, was able to wait patiently for the right moment to strike. The information given him by Latief may have convinced him that the coup was so clumsily planned, with so little real support, that it would be far too risky to support it. Rather, it could very easily be put down and he would come out of it as the saviour of the nation. Sukarno then would have had no choice other than to appoint him army chief. The campaign that led to the second, actual coup may have begun at the point when Sukarno appointed a junior officer to army chief, which so humiliated and enraged Suharto that he became convinced that his only route to power lay in the removal of President Sukarno. Even after the publication of Latief's (2000) account, many questions remain unresolved. These include the exact involvement of the PKl, Gerwani's presence and activities at Lobang Buaya, the role of General Suharto, as well as that of Aidit and Syam, and the extent and the organization of the mass killings that followed the coup. Likewise the role of the CIA remains unclear, as are the machinations that led to the successful campaign orchestrated by General Suharto during October, November and December 1%5, a crucial period in which the minds of the Indonesian people became moulded into accepting his gradual assumption of power in the years to follow. My contribution is a gender analysis of the events of late 1965 based on my interviews and the newspaper accounts I collected. Some authors 18 ignore the signiftcance of the presence of women (including === [PDF page 306] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukamo Overthrown 287 members of both Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani) at Lobang Buaya. Many others (Utrecht 1970; Wertheim 1979) present the massacre as a revenge for the one-sided actions. McVey (1971: 28) holds that the 'high degree of social tension in the countryside made it easy for the liquidation campaign to become a major massacre'. But in stressing the class aspects of the campaign, which indeed formed an important component, they ignore the gender aspects and so do not explain why women and one of their organizations in particular were singled out in the media campaign. Male Pemuda Rakyat members had been involved in the military manoeuvres of the putschists. Yet the campaign against the Pemuda Rakyat was not as bitter as that against Gerwani. Most of the women at Lobang Buaya belonged to the Pemuda Rakyat and others were wives of soldiers, yet the media campaign associated them with Gerwani and not the army or Pemuda Rakyat. What purpose was served by the military's fantasy of 'pornographic dancingH9 and castrated penises? Why, ifthe one-sided actions were the most significant provocation for the murders, were BTl farmers or the Lekra artists not seen as devils? There were SOBSI members too at Lobang Buaya. Why was this 'revolutionary vanguard' not framed for the killings? Most of those who analyse the mass hysteria created by the army's media campaign (Anderson 1987; Crouch 1978; Wertheim 1979) fail to grasp its significance as the moral justification of the New Order state. T~rnquist (1984: 226) simply states that the 'massacre has become something of a mystery'. Vatikiotis (1993: 33) lightly writes about 'some cathartic bloodletting'. Only Robinson (1995) provides the details of the army campaign before the massacre began in Bali. Southwood and Flanagan (1983: 71) dwell at some length on the widelypublicized 'revelations' of Lubang Buaya which, they maintain, 'gave the green light for the massacre which followed'. However, they do not analyse the care with which the campaign was constructed. The same applies to a recent article by Leclerc (1997), who nevertheless does point to an ideological link between Lobang Buaya and the New Order state. Cribb and Brown (1995) suggest that the campaign was an inevitable outcome of tensions that had accumulated in Indonesian society, completely ignoring the careful manoeuvring of General Suharto and his supporters. Although they note that the 'hysterical fear' spread by rumours that the Generals' eyes had been poked out and their genitals cut off had no basis in reality, they do not investigate why these rumours were spread and by whom, but lamely conclude that: === [PDF page 307] === 288 Chapter 8 The Indonesian people were ready to believe that a demonic force was responsible for their plight and the attempted coup enabled them to identify the PKI as their tormentor. Once that label had been fmnly fIXed to the party in the hours and days after the coup, a violent outbreak against the PKI was inevitable. (1995: 104) In my view the significance of the campaign lies in the deliberate manipulation of the collective cultural, sexual and religious unconscious of the Indonesian population on which Suharto constructed his route to power. This manipulation entailed the elimination of the PKI and Sukarno, but this was not all that was required. Where Wertheim maintains that 'the whole propaganda machinery of the Indonesian military machinery was directed towards a campaign intended to make the view [that the PKI was responsible for the event] plausible' (1979: 200), a crucial aspect of the campaign is left out of this account. A climate of disorder was deliberately created out of the deep anxieties of a population that was already badly shaken by the political and socio-economic tensions of the period. It was a disorder that resonated with the Islamic fear of the uncontrolled sexual powers of women and general male fears of castration. Assisted by the army, and especially the troops of Sarwo Edhie (Cribb 1990; Crouch 1978; May 1978; Utrecht 1970), Islamic youth groups were the principal killers,zo supported at certain times by members of the conservative wing of the PNI. There was also Hindu involvement, this religion also possessing notions of chaos and disorder that must be ritually cleansed.2 \ The atmosphere created by the manipulation of sexual symbols around Lobang Buaya struck a familiar chord in Javanese minds. A central element in every wayang performance is the gara-gara, a scene performed at the beginning of the second act.22 In a full performance, the gara-gara scene is played at midnight. It connotes a disturbance of the equilibrium in nature that can only be solved when the hero, often Atjuna, withdraws to gain inner strength, for instance by visiting a hermit. Usually the gara-gara is accompanied by a fight between the two brothers Petruk and Gareng. Thereafter, the hero, who has acquired the necessary superior powers, has to conquer the lower drives of humanity in the perang kembang (flower battle). The hero always wins as the higher self has to conquer the lower lust8. 23 The test of the mental strength of humanity as played out in the gara-gara is to restore order in the world, which is essential for the survival of humanity. Fighting between 'brothers', the conquest of elements from hell and a mental transition === [PDF page 308] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 289 therefore were familiar concepts to Javanese people. The final months of 1965 can be seen as one huge gara-gara scene, manipulated by one of the most skilful dalang in Indonesian history, General Suharto. In this metaphor, the army is the all~conquering, righteous hero, while the PKI, and especially Gerwani, are the lower instincts that have to be conquered for Indonesian society to regain its balance. By manipulating these fears and emerging as the virile hero able to restore order, the army set up itself as the only legitimate power~holder in society. The PKI or Suharto as Dalang? Most scholars agree that there was some involvement of the PKI leadership in the G30S. The existence of the Special Bureau has been generally accepted. 24 Sudisman in his self-criticism wrote that the involvement of the PKI in the G30S movement was not based on the 'high consciousness and the conviction of the masses' but on the 'adventurism of the PKI leadership' (Pauker 1969: 56).25 Aidit seemed to have played the central role, not only because the Special Bureau was directly responsible to him but because his presence at RaBm during the putsch has never been satisfactorily explained. What may have moved Aidit to become involved remains unclear. One reason why Aidit was able to go it almost alone was the great distance that had emerged between the PKI leadership and the cadres and members whose interests it claimed to represent. All agree that the membership was unaware of what was going on at the top. Most of those I interviewed refer to the hierarchical atmosphere in the PKI and the almost unchecked power Aidit, as chair, had assumed: 26 Aidit became more and more arrogant and authoritarian. When at the beginning of 1965 I returned from Colombo after an absence of a number of years I was shocked to see what had happened to the Party. Aidit had changed from chair to absolute leader. When there were meetings everyone had to stand up when he entered. I refused. 27 A local leader of the PKI, Mr Sukarno, likewise became increasingly uneasy with the atmosphere in the Party towards the end of 1965: In the last few months (before October 1965] I was the Chief of Security for Nyoto. The times were so tense; all the houses of the Party leaders were guarded. But I saw things in their houses which I didn't like. === [PDF page 309] === 290 Chapter 8 Aidit had amassed so much wealth: they said that this was necessary because he had to receive guests so often. In Nyoto's house 1 saw pornographic booklets. As a good Party member you shouldn't be involved in those things, should you? But we never criticized them openly. We were all mesmerized by Aidit's charisma and by Nyoto's charm. 1 had also become an editor of the Kebudayaan Baru [New Culture], a periodical which Aidit himself had set up. It started as a weekly and then became a daily. It was intended to counteract the Party paper Harian Rakyat, which was led by Nyoto. The night before the coup we had an editorial meeting. Aidit entered and said, "I will now embark upon something that many of our friends may not like. But it is a shortcut for our ideals". When we asked him what he intended he smiled and said, "You just wait and see". Then he dissolved the meeting. The next day we understood 28 Aidit seems to have shown an early romantic attachment to the idea of a putsch. Darmini recalls that when she visited him in 1955 he complained, 'how come all these bourgeois can get away so easily with a coup d'etat while we communists cannot?,29 Manai Sophiaan (1994: 66) reveals how Aidit developed a decidedly non-Leninist theory in relation to the coup in Algiers in which Boumedienne replaced Ben Bella. Aidit decided that a coup d'etat supported by 30 per cent of the people can become a revolution. Instead of seeing the PKI as 'the mastermind' of the G30S movement, it rather appears as if Aidit, for whatever personal or political reasons (and via his contacts with the army through Syam), jumped onto the bandwagon of the conspirators at a rather late stage. How many other Party leaders were involved is not known. What does seem clear is that the Party membership was completely unaware of what was going on. In my view it seems too far-fetched to conclude that General Suharto masterminded the first coup. This would have required that he organized the murders of his colleagues, incriminated junior officers and staged both their bungling performance and the muddled response of the PKI. It is more likely, as T(5rnquist (1984: 230) concluded, that he waited to see how things would turn out and then out-manoeuvred both Nasution and Sukarno. A crucial aspect seems to be that he only sprang into action after Pranoto had been appointed to replace General Yani as Chief of Staff (Wertheim 1991: 50). Suharto must have realized then that his own ambitions (perhaps at that stage only to become Chief of Staff) would only be realized once Sukamo was removed. === [PDF page 310] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 291 When Suharto finally acted it was swift and decisive. From that moment on he must have begtm strategizing for the overthrow of Sukamo and his own ascent to power. He must have realized immediately that what was needed was not only a military show of power but also a 'mental transition'. This, at least is what he wrote one year later (Soeharto 1966). In his autobiography (ghostwritten by Ramadhan Kartahadimadja and published in 1989) he insisted that 'he had been the New Order'S chief strategist from the start' (Kok et a1. 1991: 87). The presence of women at Lobang Buaya provided this master strategist with the ammunition for the 'mental transition' he envisaged. Women's power could be destroyed and communism discredited at one and the same time. Sukarno, who had supported the PKI, could be shown to be ineffective as a ruler. His failure to protect the PKI could be seen as a sign of his declining power and weakness, making it inevitable that he would be swept from centre stage.30 Gerwani and Lobang Buaya The central element in the ideological fury tmleashed arotmd women's involvement in the murders ofLobang Buaya is that Gerwani in its communist, perverted madness had the major hand in torturing and killing the Generals; supposedly dancing naked in front of them and cutting off their penises. Women from Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani had indeed been assembled at the training camp. However Gerwani as an organization was not involved in the putsch, although by that time the organization had become so closely allied to the PKI that there were direct links between the PKI leadership and individual Gerwani members, mainly through the PKI members of Gerwani. The three vice-chairs of Gerwani, Mudigdio, Salawati and Suharti Suwarti, were all members of the Party. Suharti Suwarto, a member of the PKI Central Committee, attended the final meeting ofthat committee and may have known that a coup would be staged. 3l Suham Suwarto was Gerwani's communist 'hardliner' with the closest contacts with the PKI leadership, but she may not have known many details since she was not a member of the Special Bureau. 32 She may have hinted to Umi Sarjono that something was brewing for, as Manai Sophiaan (1994: 84) recalls, 'one day in August 1965 Mrs Umi Sarjono, the chair of Gerwani and a member of the Gotong Royong Parliament, asked for the help of the vice-chair of the Parliament, Mursalin Daeng Manangung, to convey a message to the chair of the MPRS, Chaerul Saleh, preventing Aidit === [PDF page 311] === 292 Chapter 8 [the vice-chair of the MPRS] from carrying out a plan, the content of which was not clarified. Chaerul... thought it was not important, that it was only a private issue'.33 On 30 September Suharti came to Gerwani headquarters and told those present that some women were needed for a Dwikora exercise at Lobang Buaya. Apparently Gerwani had been asked to prepare food for the rebels and to open a public kitchen (Manai Sophiaan 1994: 92).34 Members of the Gerwani leadership were surprised for this was not a usual activity for them and it had not been discussed at any of their meetings. But on the other hand it was not uncommon for the Party to need some of their members for purposes of their own. Sulami volunteered to go; she was the most likely candidate as she had been involved in the training of Malaysia volunteers. Gerwani had a training field in Cipete where over 50 young women had been instructed within the framework of the official programme provided by the National Front, the Pendidikan Kader Revolusi (Training of Revolutionary Cadres) (Pekarev).35 Other women's organizations had similar training fields (Doc. XXXII: 20). The Lobang Buaya training field had only been open since the summer of 1965. Air Force Major Suyono had been training young volunteers for the Malaysia campaign. Since July 1965 or earlier, members of the PKI, Pemuda Rakyat, SOBSI, BTl and Gerwani had been exercising there in rotating batches. 36 But the training camp was not only intended for volunteers from the 'communist family'. After 1 October youth members of the NU were expected tOO.37 Sulami picked up four Gerwani members and dropped them off at Lobang Buaya. She then returned to headquarters. 38 The next thing Gerwani headquarters knew was the radio announcement the following morning that a coup had been executed. Later that morning bewildered Gerwani members and some girls who had been assembled at Lobang Buaya returned to Gerwani headquarters with confused stories about the killings.39 Mrs Salawati, who was a member of the DPR, was angry that they had no information about what was going on. She cycled to the Parliament to fmd out what was happening. There she was stopped by soldiers. In addition to the Gerwani members, other young women and girls were assembled at Halim. The others were wives of soldiers of the Cakrabirawa Division, who mayor may not have been ordinary members of Gerwani. These were approached directly via the Party. The volunteers consisted of young girls, 13 to 16 years old. The following story is told by Mrs Titi of the National Front under whose direction the training was carried out: === [PDF page 312] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 293 I was the only woman in the National Front and had been made the Secretary for Women's Affairs. So... if women were needed for some big occasion I had to call upon the women's organizations who joined the National Front to come. Apart from Gerwani, the most actively participating women's organizations were Perwari, Wanita Marhaen, Wanita Islam, Aisyah and Muslimat. For instance, for the Asean Games many women were needed for the arts to be presented there and for dancing demonstrations between the games. All women's organizations cooperated in this effort. There might be fights at the top, but we in the region simply participated when there were activities going on and when we were called upon to participate by our leadership. Also on the occasion of the President's speeches at Independence Day thousands of women had to show up. We had to organize that mass attendance and we called upon each organization to join. We had to see to it that there were enough lorries to transport the women. The organization of the volunteers for the Malaysia campaign, Tiswati [Tenaga Inti Sukarelawati] [Nucleus Force of Volunteers], was also carried out as a national duty. Mrs Sumarno, the wife of the Governor of Jakarta, was the chair. She was a prominent Perwari member. In the early morning or in the afternoon she would call us, as the representatives of the various participating women's organizations, to Taman Suropati in front of the Governor's house. There she would give a speech about our duties as volunteers, for instance to help when accidents had happened in the street or disasters in the village, and, of course, about Malaysia. Then all these women had to go and report to their own organizations. I was in charge of the section for the public kitchen. Other activities carried out by the Tiswati volunteers were arms training and first aid. But strangely enough I was not involved in gathering the volunteers who were called to go to Lobang Buaya. Lobang Buaya was not our usual training field; that was in Cipete. Yet they should have done that through me, not only because of my membership of the National Front but also because I was the secretary of the Gerwani branch of Jakarta. We had some 30,000 members at the time and all the women who were present at Halim fell under our responsibility. Only after the event did I learn what had been going on there. I didn't understand it, although soon afterwards members ofMasyumi and the NU began to say that we from Gerwani had been responsible for what happened. I continued my work with the National Front as usual until I was fired on 22 October. For two weeks after 1 October I even proudly kept the sign in my garden that the === [PDF page 313] === 294 Chapter 8 regional secretariat of Gerwani was located at this house. On 2 November I was arrested and sent to the Bukit Duri prison where they held me until April 1979.40 Although Mrs Titi was not approached, which would have been the proper way of inviting the cooperation of the Gerwani regional leadership, the regional leadership was involved in recruiting volunteers for Halim. The request was made by the Komite Rakyat (the People's Committee) of the Party (which was in charge of the Pemuda Rakyat) to Sukoni, a member of both the PKI and the chair of the Jakarta branch. From July 1965 onwards the People's Committee had been involved in the training in Halim of young women who already had undergone the Dwikora training at Cipete. Nyono, via the Special Bureau, had been involved in the organization of these activities.41 Through the Jakarta Special Bureau a call was issued to the regional leadership of Jakarta to send a number of these trained volunteers to Lobang Buaya for further instruction. Such commands from the Party had already become so common that no one questioned their legitimacy and the regional leaders complied. This time Sukoni herself was requested to set up a public kitchen outside Jakarta. Some 70 women, most of them young girls from the Pemuda Rakyat, others from SOBSI and the BTl and a few Gerwani members, including some wives of Cakra soldiers, were assembled at Lobang Buaya. What happened next: the naked, sexual dancing, the castration, the eyes gouged out? How did the Generals die?42 One of the assembled Cakra wives reported: A few days before the coup I was picked up by Mrs Buang of the Komite Rakyat of the Party to be engaged in some extra activities at Halim. She never disclosed what was going on but as usual I joined in. Once there I was asked to sew stripes of various colours on uniforms to distinguish friends from enemies. It was a lot of work and we continued until late at night. So on the morning of 1 October I was still sleeping heavily when we were woken up by shouts. It was still dark outside and we were all frightened. We ran to the open space where we saw a group of soldiers dragging those kidnapped generals. There was quite a noise, for they kept shouting' kabir' at them. In fact that was quite a common word, we used it all the time. The soldiers hit the Generals and fmally they were shot and thrown into the well. The soldiers were enraged, they even rained bullets on them when they were already dead. Only then, === [PDF page 314] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 295 terrified, we also walked to the well.... I was handed a gun and looked into the well. I felt paralysed but was forced to shoot. I was the only woman present there with a gun but the Generals were already dead when I used it. Afterwards they began circulating stories about dancing and sexual perversions and cutting off their penises. All that is blatant nonsense. Those Generals were scared to death; they wouldn't have been able to get them up! And the girls were scared too, they huddled in a comer. I didn't know what to do after the soldiers left. Eventually some of us went to Gerwani headquarters, others ran home and hid their uniforms. I fled but I was picked up after a few weeks and heavily tortured. Five times they had to take me to the hospital: two years later I was still partially paralysed. But I didn't tell them anything, I didn't give them any names. After the frrst time they tortured me I asked them for lipstick, powder and a toothbrush. If they wouldn't give that to me, I told them, I would refuse ever to see them again. Some of the other women and girls who were arrested told them anything they wanted them to confess. I didn't. That is why I was never brought to court, for then all those lies would have been denied. But the girls really were tortured terribly. Four of them were raped. All of them were whipped, bottles were pushed up into their vaginas. Most of us spent 14 years in prison without ever being sentenced. 43 As Sujinab, a member of the central leadership of Gerwani, said: We frrst heard something was going on on the radio at about 11 o'clock on 1 October. I became very afraid. We were supposed to stay in the office but there were so many soldiers in the streets and we heard shooting in the distance. Gradually we found out that something terrible had happened. But only from 10 October onwards did the Government start a drive against us. Youth gangs looted houses, dragging members of Gerwani and PKI from their houses, torturing and killing them. On the radio terrible stories of sexual torture [of the Generals1were told. The papers too were full of slander, especially the army paper Berita Yudha, Api and the Islamic papers. Before I joined Gerwani I studied law in Yogyakarta. When my friends from those days, well-known lawyers at the time, came to visit me in prison, they asked, "[Jinl, what is true about all those girls and the Generals in Lobang Buaya?" I answered them, "You have studied law, if they could have proven anything do you think they would have === [PDF page 315] === Chapter 8 296 neglected the opportunity to bring these girls to court? What beautiful propaganda that would have made!,,44 Gerwani Trapped The army went to great lengths to construct their stories. Witnesses were 'quoted' in the papers and photographs were shown. There were television broadcasts and mdio programmes on the horrors said to have been committed at Lobang Buaya. How did the military go about that? One of the volunteer girls who had been present at Lobang Buaya says: I was 16 and was a member of the Pemuda Rakyat. I had been trained at Cipete and had joined many Dwikora exercises, so when I was asked to come to Lobang Buaya I naturally joined. I witnessed the soldiers kill the Generals and ran home afterwards. I was arrested at nine o'clock in the morning and put in prison for two weeks. I was beaten and interrogated. They forced us to undress and to dance naked in front of them while they took pictures. Then I was released. After a little while I was captured again and released again. In total I was captured five times before they fmally decided to keep me in prison. That was at the beginning of November 1965. I was released in December 1982.45 This girl, like the other volunteers, was badly tortured in Bukit Duri prison where they were brought together (Amnesty International 1977). The older members of Gerwani tried to intervene on their behalf. Mrs Salawati Daud in particular, who was a very prominent nationalist leader and who enjoyed great prestige among the guards, tried hard to make life a little easier for the girls. But all that happened was that they were taken to other places to be interrogated and then returned beaten and bruised.46 Other informants also witnessed the undressing of the girls to take the pictures that would later be shown as deriving from Lobang Buaya. But this was not the only way the army went about it. Other stories were circulated as well and other testimonies forged. Only after they were released were the surviving members of the Gerwani leadership able to piece together the stories they had heard from other women who had been detained and discover how the military had constructed the 'testimonies' they used for their campaign of terror. Two of the other adult women at Lobang Buaya, apart from Saina, were Emy and Atikah. The military began to search for them. It so happened that among the prostitutes working at Halim, an air force base and === [PDF page 316] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 297 a source of employment for prostitutes, there were two women called Saina and Emy. These two women were picked up and tortured terribly. The real Emy managed to flee the country but Saina was caught. Even after the real Saina was captured, the prostitutes Saina and Emy were not released. Atikah was never captured either. During her flight she changed her name to Djamilah. The military knew that Atikah (alias Djamilah) was from Senen and began an intensive search there in which they picked up both an Atikah and a Djamilah. Both were tortured. 'Djamilah', 'Saina' and 'Emy' proved most useful to the military and their 'stories' were widely publicized. The prostitute Emy, according to some of my informants who were jailed with her, was released in August 1965 from the criminal ward ofBukit Duri where she had served a sentence on prostitution charges. She immediately resumed her work at HaHm. In October 1965 she again entered Bukit Duri, this time in the political ward. Emy was illiterate and had never even heard of Gerwani. She was badly tortured and eventually told that she would be released and would receive the enormous sum of one million two hundred rupiahs if she would sign a statement. She had no idea what the statement was about but she was relieved that the torture had ended and signed with a thumbprint. The statement, it turned out, said that she was the chair of the Jakarta branch of Gerwani and had participated in the sexual tortures of the Generals. They handed her two hundred rupiah and told her that she would receive the rest in time. They still owe her that money. She was not released until 1979. In prison the Gerwani members who were with her taught her how to read and write and told her about Gerwani. 47 Even when Sujinah, one of only four Gerwani members who were tried (not for their alleged involvement in the ftrst coup but for their activities to support Sukarno after 1965), related the story ofEmy and the others to the judges, no attempt was made to rectify these grave judicial errors. As Sujinah recounts: After I had been in prison for nine years I was fmally tried... I told the judge that the testimonies they had collected had been acquired after heavy torture... There are many others who were arrested by the officers simply because they carry the same name. They wanted to capture someone called Inab, the wife of a person who they suspected joined the exercises in Lobang Buaya, and they captured a small trader who had been under the bridge of Kebunsereh in Jakarta and she was beaten black and blue just because her name was the same. Or someone called === [PDF page 317] === 298 Chapter 8 Josi, an adopted daughter from an Ambonese person who lives in Halim, was captured because the military searched for someone called Josi from Tanjung Priok. And just as with the prostitute from Ralim, the officials searched for a volunteer called Emi. Or someone called Jamilah, a volunteer at Lobang Buaya, was wanted. They found someone called Jamilah from Trenggalek who originated from Tanjung Priok. She was captured and was beaten very severely. And even more evil and sadist[ic] is what happened to all who were captured and who were declared to belong to the amoral Gerwani in Lobang Buaya. All kinds of stories were written about them in the Jakartan newspapers, especially in those from the army, which carried lies every day to enflame the hearts of the Indonesian People so that Gerwani got the nickname of 'Anti-Christ'. (Sujinah Murtini n.d.: 43-5) Instead of Gerwani members committing sexual perversions, it was the army who used all means of sexual torture on their prisoners. A GelWani member who spent some time in prison together with the young volunteers from Lobang Buaya, recalls: It was widely reported in the mass media that they had taken out the eyes of the Generals, cutting off their penises after having sex with them. Such horrible stories were published. One report stated that these "Gerwani members" had taken offtheir clothes and nakedly they danced the so-called "Fragrant Flower Dance". I asked the children what was the truth. The fact was that these children were arrested at Lobang Buaya, heavily beaten, some of them raped like W. She became mentally disturbed after that. And it was in Bukitduri prison where they took their clothes off in the meeting hall, where they had to jump and shout while being videoed. This was portrayed as the so-called "Fragrant Flower Dance". There was also a young innocent housewife whose husband owned the well in which the Generals were thrown. She had been heavily beaten; she used to sit for hours stupefied, alone. (Lina n.d.: 2). I was told many stories of the atrocities the military committed. Hughes (1967) also has many eyewitness accounts of the massacre. For instance, a male prisoner was forced to watch an interrogation of a Gerwani member. The handle of a whip was pushed into her vagina and a rope was put around her neck. In that way she was forced to parade naked before the men. The same informant told how a young couple had been forced to copulate with electric wire attached to their genitals. 48 === [PDF page 318] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 299 Understandably, the women I interviewed were very reluctant to talk about details of their own torture but referred repeatedly to 'other women' who had been raped. The military went unpunished for their sexual torture, but the slander about Gerwani's involvement in the first coup was widely believed. In the wake of the terror fuelled by these lies hundreds of thousands of innocent people were slaughtered or imprisoned (Amnesty International 1977; Hersri 1993; Pramoedya Ananta Toer 1988). Sudjinah, a member of the Gerwani leadership mentioned earlier, did not wait for her arrest once she found out what was happening. She fled to join the underground movement that supported Sukamo. We had always been members of a completely legal organization, carrying out our activities in the light of the politics of President Sukarno. We had always supported the President, so now when the militaIy and especially General Suharto were trying to oust him we continued our support. Also, of course, it was because he had always supported us. The situation had become so desperate that we could hope for nothing other than for Sukarno to return to power and put an end to the killing. So we would spread pamphlets around. Sri Ambar [chair of the women's section of SOBSI] printed them and Sulami then collected them and brought them to me. I was in charge of duplicating them. In February 1967 we were arrested. I was beaten so badly that I lost my teeth. I was unconscious for three days. Then they dug a grave and told me that they were going to bury me if I wouldn't reveal all the names and addresses of the others. I believed that readily enough, for they had been killing so many people. So I thought, well, if I'll be killed anyway it is better that I don't speak. So I told them that I would only speak in court. Then they began to look for people to testifY against us. It took ten years to fmd them.49 For the fIrst five years I was completely isolated. They also put us on a hunger diet. I thought, what can I do? The cell was very damp, I had to sleep on a mat on the floor and there was no direct light. I got rheumatism in my legs and shoulders which became swollen. I kept fighting for my sanity, I was determined to survive. Every mOIDing I did some exercises. But after five years I was an invalid. I couldn't hear, I couldn't walk. I then spent another five years with Sulami in a bigger cell. At least we had each other's company then. When the Red Cross visited us conditions became a little better. We got more rice and sometimes vegetables. I also got a pillow. From the coloured threads of the pillow I made === [PDF page 319] === 300 Chapter 8 little puppets to keep me company. At one time I must have had around 20 of them. Then, during the day, you could get a pair of scissors and needles. But they had to be handed in by five o'clock. Some ofthe puppets I couId send outside to my family or to friends to sell so I could buy some sugar. After ten years I got a mattress. The first few nights I couldn't sleep, it was too soft for my back. The last eight years we could be more together with the other prisoners. Once we were even allowed out on a trip. Then for the frrst time after so many years I saw the horizon again. I was so thrilled. I wrote a poem on the occasion. 50 The killings were often indiscriminate. In Central Java the army was in charge and encouraged youth gangs. In East Java the Ansor youth of the NU were most active in the killings. Women were often sexually tortured before being murdered. An eyewitness reports that: The Ansor youth gangs were terrible. They raped most women before killing them. My husband John was head of the screening team of the plantation and the sugar factory near Madiun where we then lived. He decided who had to be killed or not. I was so disgusted. I wanted a divorce and to leave him with my children. But he dido't want to let me go and threatened to tell the Ansor team he was leading that I was a member of Gerwani. I saw so many women being killed. Once they had rounded up a group of women labourers who they said were all Gerwani members. The leader, a single woman of around 45, had her head shaved, a cob of maize was pushed into her vagina and then her throat was cut.SI Another account is provided by Pipit Rochijat (1985) who witnessed the killings in East Java. Again the sexual aspects are striking: the departure of corpses from the Kediri region down the Brantas achieved its golden age when bodies were stacked together on rafts over which the PKI banner proudly flew... And by the time they reached Surabaya the corpses were in complete decay. After protests from Surabaya the PKI were no longer flung into the Brantas but were disposed of in mass graves. The prepared holes were dug pretty big and were thus capable of handling dozens of communists at a time... About one kilometre to the north ofNgadiredjo sugar factory, you'd fmd a lot of houses of prostitution. Once the purge of communist elements got under way, clients stopped coming for sexual satisfaction. The === [PDF page 320] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 301 reason: most clients - and prostitutes - were too frightened for, hanging up in front of the houses, there were a lot of male communist genitals like bananas hung out for sale.... All of this pretty much made one's hair stand on end. To say nothing of the screams of a Gerwani leader as her vagina was pierced with a sharpened bamboo pole. Many of the corpses lay sprawled like chickens after decapitation. (Pipit Rochijat 1985: 44-5)S2 In Bali the mass murders began relatively late. In the propaganda used to convince ordinaty people to condone the murders, rumours about Gerwani members began to be brought into circulation. It was 'revealed that Gerwani members in Bali had been instructed to "sell" themselves to ABRI men in order to obtain weapons for the PKI, and having done so, to murder and castrate the soldiers they had seduced' (Robinson 1995: 293). As in Java, these rumours were spread deliberately in a society that had known violent political and economic conflicts for some time. Again, the role of the military was crucial. Under the auspices of Kopkamtib propaganda teams toured rural areas. In the end some 5 per cent of the Balinese population were brutally murdered. Defamation of Gerwani Using newspaper reports dated between 1 October 1965 and the first months of 1966 it is possible to trace how the campaign of slander about the involvement of Gerwani members at Lobang Buaya gathered momentum. It began slowly. The hesitancy with which the military operated at this point is also evident from the case of Ipah, who was arrested several times before the military authorities finally decided to keep her in prison. Gradually, new elements were being introduced which all pointed to the one conclusion the Indonesian public had to reach: communism was so amoral and anti-religious that it was leading 'our' women to neglect their womanly duties. Instead of being loyal wives and good mothers, obedient to the state ideology pancasila and religion, they were becoming politically active and morally loose, unleashing their frightful sexual powers in indecent ways and committing unspeakable atrocities. Therefore, the public was made to understand, it was justifiable to erase communism and especially Gerwani and so cleanse society and restore order. This message was directed towards a society that was already badly shaken by economic and political crisis and rural unrest, and in which elements of the Javanese === [PDF page 321] === 302 Chapter 8 mystical-religious sentiments, as analysed by Kartodirdjo (1973), still existed. The following analysis relies mainly on newspapers from the army's infonnation services, Angkatan Bersenjata (Anned Forces) (AB) and Berita Yudha (War News) (By), supplemented by the Christian newspaper Sinar Harapan (Ray of Hope) (SH) and by the more general newspapers Duta Masyarakat (Envoy of Society) (DM) and Mingguan Berita (News Weekly) (MB). I made almost no use of the more sensational media such as Api because I wanted to follow how the army built up its campaign. I had no access either to the radio or television programmes, which were very emotional, nor to the inciting speeches of Brigade General Sarwo Edhie, who organized the killings in Java (Cribb 1990; Crouch 1978; Hughes 1967; May 1978; Utrecht 1970). The first mention of any involvement on the part of Gerwani and Pemuda Rakyat members in the killings at Lubang Buaya was on 5 October, when a rather matter-of-fact editorial in Angkatan Bersenjata suggested that both organizations must have known what was happening at Lobang Buaya for their training camp was near by (AB 5 October 1965). The same paper carried a statement by an organization called Kesatuan Aksi Pengganjangan Gerakan Kontrarevolusioner 30 September (Action Front to Crush the Counter-revolutionary 30 September Movement) which was said to comprise 45 organizations brought together by Brigade General Djuhartono. As we saw in Chapter 4, he had organized the anti-PKI forces in the Joint Secretariat of the Functional Groups (Sekretariat Bersama Golongan Karya, Sekber Golkar). This front was to orchestrate the mass demonstrations that accompanied the massacre and led to the downfall ofSukarno. Apart from Djuhartono, its most prominent member was Subchan, a militant former Masyumi leader, who had infiltrated the NU (Utrecht 1970: 40).53 Beside militant Muslims, the front also counted a strong Catholic presence in the figure of Father Beek, a Jesuit priest, who was involved in the virulently anti-communist group Catholic Action.54 Another prominent Catholic leader involved in the front was Harry Tjan.55 Crouch (1978: 141) informs us that Kostrad officers 'encouraged' its fonnation. The presence of both Islamic and Catholic forces in the front is also evident in the two most active groups in the Kesatuan Aksi Mahasiswa Indonesia (Action Unity of Indonesian Students) (KAMI), namely the Islamic Himpunan Mahasiswa Indonesia (Association of Islamic Students) (HMl) and the Catholic Students' Association (pMKRI). KAMI was set up by the action front and spearheaded the mass demonstrations in late 1965 to early 1966.56 === [PDF page 322] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 303 On 5 October, the day the Generals were buried, this Front expressed its loyalty to both President Sukamo (still referred to as 'the Great Leader of the Revolution') and to General Suharto for his efforts to carry out the President's orders to secure safety. President Sukarno (who did not attend the funeral) tried to calm things down, but made a political mistake in stating his belief that the Air Force could not have been involved. He called for unity in the armed forces which was threatened by 'Nekolim elements' (BY 5 October 1965).57 Suharto undermined this in the same issue of the paper, stating that a Gerwani member had testified that the Air Force had been training Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani volunteers and so it was indeed involved. The picture accompanying the story depicted the well and the victims 'killed by uncivilized people'. The autopsy results had become available to the authorities but were not made public despite Sukamo's insistence (Leclerc 1997). They only became widely known outside ofIndonesia when Anderson managed to get access to them and published them in 1987.58 The report clearly indicates that all of the wounds found on the bodies of the Generals and the Lieutenant were either bullet wounds or were heavy, dull traumas consistent with being clubbed with rifle butts or suffering the 36-foot drop into the well. All the genitals were intact, all eyes were in their sockets and there were no traces of razor cuts. As General Suharto himself had ordered the autopsy it is unlikely that he was uninformed of its contents before the burial (Anderson 1987). Later it Was reported that the Attorney General issued a statement that Gerwani as an organization was not involved (Doc. XXXII). Yet the news on 5 October continued to be that the Generals had been brutally slaughtered by people 'who were not human and not religious', after which the bodies were thrown into a well at Halim airfield. Thus the tone was set, although the content of the campaign that was to follow remained unclear at this point. A photograph of a limping General Nasution accompanied the story (AB 5 October 1965). The next day he was reported to have said that the 'slander was much more serious than the actual killing' (AB 6 October 1965). On 7 October the army introduced the acronym which it would use to refer to the events on 1 October: Gestapu (from Gerakan September Tigapuluh, 30 September Movement) intentionally evoking images of Nazi brutality. Until 11 October the accounts of Gerwani's involvement in the murder of the Generals claimed only that the murders happened 'under the nose of Gerwani' (AB 6 October 1965, 8 October 1965). The Angkatan Bersenjata editorial on 9 October indicated that the most === [PDF page 323] === 304 Chapter 8 serious element in the whole affair was 'humiliation'. The correct answer to such 'insolent, pagan, inhuman behaviour' (kebiadaban diluar prikemanusiaan) would surely come (AB 9 October 1965). That answer was to be the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of people. But this required first that the charges of 'slander', and 'pagan, inhuman behaviour' be substantiated. The first indication of how the deeper layers of the Javanese, Islamic unconscious would be manipulated appeared on 11 October as a small article in the Angkatan Bersenjata which began: '[s]pirits in broad daylight'. The word used for spirit was kuntil-anak, the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth and appears as a beautiful woman with a hole in her back. This was a particularly frightening spirit which travels at night. The story said: [iJt has been reported that possessed [kalap, possessed by an evil spirit] people in Pemuda Rakyat and GelWani, umbrella organizations of the PKI-Aidit, are committing terrorist acts. Unknown women have visited the houses of our Heroes, wearing veils as if they belonged to Islamic organizations. Their movements aroused suspicion for it was clear they were Gerwani members. Fortunately their evil plans became known before they could commit any evil actions towards the families of the Heroes of the Revolution. We have to be very careful. (AB 11 October 1965)59 The same edition of the Angkatan Bersenjata carried the 'story' of Lieutenant Tendean who was killed when soldiers came to look for General Nasution. The paper wrote: here is a story which proves the bestiality of the Gestapu... After being captured he was heavily tortured because the kidnappers mistook him for General Nasution. He was then left to the volunteers of Gerwani. Then, Tendean with his hands and feet tied up, became the "pornographic plaything" [permainan tjahul] of the evil mothers of Gerwani, who by their acts lowered the prestige of Indonesian women. (AB 11 October 1965) 'What should we tell our daughters?' Api asked, after reporting the same story (Api 12 October 1965). Api also published Aisyah's call to han Gerwani because its actions in Gestapu had resulted in an 'insult to the dignity of Indonesian women' (Api 11 October 1965); the specific === [PDF page 324] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 305 accusation being that 'Gerwani volunteers had been playing with the Generals, touching their genitals and those of themselves' (AB 11 October 1965). The same day an article in Berita Yudha Minggu (the Sunday issue of Berita Yudha) reported that the bodies of the Generals had been mutilated: 'eyes had been gouged out, and the genitals had been cut off some of the Generals' (BYM 11 October 1965). Other papers took up the campaign as well. It was reported that the Dewan Gereja Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Churches) (DGI) expressed its feelings of immense distress as 'it truly could hardly believe that certain persons in our pancasila state are capable of executing actions, such as rapes, which are beyond human boundaries' (SH 9 October 1965). The Duta Masyarakat carried a short article entitled 'Gerwani was Immoral' which repeated Angkatan Bersenjata's claim that Gerwani members: touched the genitals of the Generals and exhibited their own... [and] even, according to sources which can be believed, Gerwani danced in front of their victims nakedly, which act reminds us of cannibalistic ceremonies executed by primitive tribes centuries ago. Let us leave it to the women to judge the womanly morality of Gerwani, which is of an immorality worse than animals. (OM 12 October 1965) Such reports set the stage for persecution. On 12 October Gerwani's offices were burned down as demonstrators shouted 'ban the PKI!', 'long live Bung Karno!'(AB 13 October 1965). Later, the Angkatan Bersenjata reported that the sacking of Gerwani's headquarters had yielded Gerwani documents that 'proved' that Gerwani had planned to 'commit terrorist acts to sabotage the economy, trade and production' (AB 14 October 1965). As a result of the search for 'proof' of the alleged atrocities and immoral, inhuman acts, the military displayed a box of 60 knives said to belong to members of the Pemuda Rakyat. These were presented to the public not as knives used in rubber production (as they were) but as instruments of the 'terrorist primitiveness' of the insurgents; the 'knives were intended to be used on those people who didn't need to be killed'. Their eyes were to be gouged out, a captured youth 'explained'. The explanation provided on the use of these knives had a curious, almost surreal sense of detail. ('Take them in your right hand...') Berita Yudha reported that if the coup had succeeded 'all Pemuda Rakyat branches would have been supplied with such knives'. === [PDF page 325] === 306 Chapter 8 A picture of one of these 'eye-gougers' appeared with the article (BY 13 October 1965). The photographs and reports were supported by other forms of journalism, for example, a political cartoon in Angkatan Bersenjata conveying a 'voice of the masses': Who would have thought that those exercises at Lobang Buaya would produce crocodiles and not true Srikandis who would struggle side-byside with their men for our Revolution?... Our girls today have to be taught to become revolutionaries who are able, brave, refined and humble and always have to guard their special womanly culture. (AB 16 October 1965) How far removed, this cartoon implied, from the immoral conduct of these Gerwani women who had danced naked shouting 'hang the capitalist bureaucrats!' and who, after torturing and 'raping' the Generals, shot them (SH 18 October 1965). The tone became increasingly violent: Gerwani had to be banned and 'its criminals' hanged in public! 'They were whores!' Koch (1978: 291) who popularized the army version of the coup, listed the four main slogans used in the campaign as 'Crush the PKl!', 'Hang Aidit!', 'Aidit is a Devil!' and 'Gerwani Whores!'. Kowani, in which Gerwani members had been very active, felt obliged to purge all Gerwani members from the organization. The chair of the police wives' organization, Bhayangkari, asked Mrs Hurustiati Subandrio to expel all Gerwani members since their 'attitude was not in accordance with national values, particularly not of our women' (SH 20 October 1965). The Muslimat NU also demanded that Gerwani as an organization be expelled from Kowani. The Muslimat further demanded that the Minister of Education 'safeguard' educational projects such as kindergartens that Gerwani had established (DM 20 October 1965). In the meantime, General Suharto explained that he believed the main actors in the 1 October coup to have been Colonel Untung and certain army officers, with members of the Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani playing a secondary role and the PKl, as dalang, orchestrating the whole affair (SH 1 November 1965). By the end of October, reports about arrests of people allegedly involved in the Gestapu began to appear (BY 23 October 1965). The real extent of the terror unleashed by Sarwo Edhie, who had requested Suharto's permission to 'clean up' Central Java (Hughes 1967: 149; === [PDF page 326] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 307 May 1978: 121), was not reported in any of these newspapers. 'We decided', he is reported to have said, 'to encourage anti-communist civilians to help with the job' (Hughes 1967: 151; Crouch 1978: 145-51; Southwood and Flanagan 1983: 77). On the other hand, reports of PKI-Pemuda Rakyat-Gerwani 'slaughters' figured prominently. From Karang Asem in Central Java, for instance, where Sarwo Edhie and the Islamic groups were operating, army channels reported that 97 people had been killed by communists. 'In an explanation issued to the People in Katang Asem, the PKI terrorists, helped by Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani, were shouting the holy saying "Allah is great" to throw dust in the eyes ofthe village people. But this sly and primitive method was in the end uncovered for the PKI group used a code which was very easy to detect - they didn't wear any clothes' (SH 2 November 1965). In November the newspapers reported on the first press conferences in which prisoners 'testified' about their experiences. The Angkatan Bersenjata of 3 November carried a picture of two young, frightened girls together with a statement from a male member of Pemuda Rakyat that he saw 'thirty Gerwani members shouting, torturing and playing [sexual connotation] with the already unconscious General Yani' (AB 3 November 1965). The following day the Berita Yudha carried a story about beautiful Gerwani members who were ordered to sell themselves. 'Documents', the report said, 'had proven the existence ofa "Black Cat" group which had been entrusted with burning the houses of noncommunist people, as well as the woods, and to destroy vital installations. Linked to this was a group called "Black Button" consisting of Gerwani members with beautiful faces who had prostituted themselves and aligned themselves with the leaders of other parties to induce them to support the PKI programme' (BY 4 November 1965). Three days later the same paper portrayed 'Pak Harto' (Suharto) as a humble, decent person whose hobbies were fishing and hunting (BY 7 November 1965). The papers all featured the 'honest confession' of 15-year-old, threemonths' pregnant Djamilah, nicknamed the 'Srikandi of Lobang Buaya'. It was reported that both she and her husband were members of Pemuda Rakyat in Tandjung Priok. On 29 September she was picked up by a PKI leader for exercises in Cililitan. That day and the following day we exercised... and at about three o'clock we were woken up.,. we were instructed to crush the kabir and Nekolim. There were some 500 people collected there, 100 of whom === [PDF page 327] === 308 Chapter 8 were women. The members of Gerwani, including Djamilah, were issued small knives and razor blades... From afar we saw a short fat person entering: he was in his pyjamas. His hands were tied with a red cloth and red cloth was also tied over his eyes. Our leader Dan Ton ordered us to beat this person and then they started stabbing with those small knives at his genitals. The first, as we noticed, to beat and stab the genitals of that person was the chair of Gerwani, Tandjung Priok, called S., and Mrs Sas. Then other friends followed... after that we ourselves joined in torturing that person. All 100 of usjoined in this activity.... Then he was dragged to the well by men in uniform... but he still wasn't dead. Then a uniformed man ordered Gerwani to continue. The Gerwani women continued as before, stabbing and slicing his genitals and his body until he was dead. The wording is exactly the same in at least four accounts of this story (AB 5 November; DM and SH 6 November; BY 7 November 1965). Two papers carried the same picture ofDjamilah. This strongly suggests that a prepared text was distributed to the press. The stated source of the story was the army, which apparently could not trust the 'honest confession' of Djamilah enough to let her tell the story herself to the press. This account was highly inflammatory and became widely known, internationally too (Vittachi 1967). Following this story the slogans of the students and other groups who were demonstrating became 'Gerwani Tjabo}' (Gerwani Whores), 'Gantung Gerwani' (Hang Gerwani) and 'Ganjang Gerwani' (Crush Gerwani).60 In the meantime the Action Front had set up the Badan Koordinasi Kesatuan Aksi Pengganjangan Gestapu Pusat (Central Coordination Body of the Action Front to Crush Gestapu); its women's section was established on 5 November. This section consisted of Muslimat NU, Wanita Marhaen, Gerwapsii, Aisyiah, Wanita Perti, Wanita Katolik, PII and HMI (BY 8 November 1965).61 It organized a mass demonstration at which some 25 organizations, mainly their student members, were present. They were received by General Suharto and Brigade General Djuhartono. The women had prepared a resolution which was read by Mrs Arudji Kartawinata. 62 It 'condemned Gerwani's actions, which had lowered the prestige of women, and urged the President to ban the PKI, Gerwani and the other mass organizations as soon as possible, in order to safeguard the young generation from the decadent influence and the ferocity which these organizations represented' (AB 9 November 1965). === [PDF page 328] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 309 General Suharto told the 30,000 women present that without women's help the safety of the nation could not be safeguarded. But women should not behave like Gerwani members, who have left behind our special identity, for they have damaged the identity of Indonesian women... and because women as mothers possess a special importance in the education of children, our young generation has to be rescued from the moral deviation the counter-revolutionaries have plunged it into; they must be taught to become Indonesian patriots who obey the Lord. (BY 9 November 1965) Suharto clearly wished to convey that Gerwani members had shaken the fOWldations of the Indonesian nation by not behaving as women should. He urged women to become 'good mothers' and so restore the stability of the Indonesian nation that rested upon women's correct behaviour. Suharto did not explain exactly how the Gerwani members had misbehaved. The action front stepped up its activities, holding a mass rally at Lapangan Banteng (a main square in Jakarta) at which one-and-a-half million people were reported to be present. Its themes were loyalty to President Sukarno and his policies, the demand to ban the PKI and its mass organizations, and the demand that those involved with Gestapu be brought to trial (BY 10 November 1965). A published picture of the demonstration showed a banner reading: 'Gerwani must be forbidden [haram] to exist in Indonesia'. ('Haram' means 'forbidden by the Islamic religion'.) The onslaught of stories about the 'sinister' acts these 'godless' commWlists were said to have committed created an almost hysterical mass anxiety. In the tabloid press, people were being prepared psychologically to kill their neighbours or others associated with the PKI and its mass associations: The female doctor, S, whom it is certain that she belonged to the communist Gerwani, has not yet been put into safety. But our alert Armed Forces are diligently looking for her hiding place. She is the doctor of the Gerwani women who with a Gillette knife cut off the genitals of our brave generals in Lubang Buaya. As the readers will remember the Gerwani women who were dancing nakedly as wild primitive people have taken the souls of our heroes in a savage manner. In the meantime the house of this Gerwani doctor stands empty. The address is... === [PDF page 329] === 310 Chapter 8 Pandowo adds that Sukarno tried to stem the tide via the radio, with such pronouncements as 'Has my People sunk so low that it believes the nonsense that some few hundred women have cut off the genitals of the Generals with one Gillette knife? Please don't walk around like chickens without heads' (1973: 41), but to no avail. Islamic leaders spurred on the massacre that now began to unfold. The Muhammadiyah's emergency meeting from 9 to 11 November declared that the 'extermination of the GestapuJPKI and the Nekolim was an obligatory religious duty' (Boland 1982: 146). This call for a holy war was subsequently echoed by many Muslim leaders, who justified the killings as 'the will of Allah'. In Java the campaign was two-pronged. Apart from portraying the 'counter-revolutionaries' as anti-Islamic they were also associated with the magical pre-Islamic fears of Javanese peasants: These Marxists were said only to believe in science and to be against religious beliefs. They would even scold their wives if they would burn incense on Friday evening. But many of them have gone to the houses of dukun, mystical teachers who they would call "old people". They would ask them to put them in safety. And on the bodies of those who were killed often a kind of white cloth was found, as ajimat [amulet] to protect them. (BYM 14 November 1965) The army continued to attempt to extract 'confessions' from Gerwani members for their alleged sins. They had little success with Mrs Trimo. Captured with Djamilah, she said she had known nothing of what was said to have been happening on I October. 'As she was a member of the central leadership', she stated, 'she should have known. So on that date she simply went to Gerwani's office as usual, where she found it in turmoil'. Interestingly, she told the journalist that she had never had time to study Marxist theory or even to read Aidit's books. Crying, she agreed that 'it would probably be better if Gerwani would now be banned. But she hoped', she added, 'that Gerwani would fmd its true path again, after all these errors would be corrected'. The interviewer couldn't find anything more disturbing than Mrs Trimo's eyes which, he noted twice, 'looked suspiciously around' (AB 14 November 1965). On 29 October Kowani expelled Gerwani (DM 3 November 1965). The decision was announced in a meeting in front of the National Front building. The 34 assembled women's organizations were addressed by National Front Minister Sudibjo in military uniform who lectured his === [PDF page 330] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukamo Overthrown 311 audience that women's ultimate role should be to fulfil the President's Dwikora programme and to struggle against the Nekolim and Gestapu. Hurustiati Subandrio, at that time still coordinator ofKowani, explained that it would only be fitting in relation to the 'Great Guide of the Indonesian Revolutionary Women's Movement', President Sukarno, that Kowani join in throwing out the swines of the Gestapu movement. Kowani declared itself willing to support the Government's economic task force and provide 1,000 volunteers to help ABRI annihilate the Gestapu. The Minister concluded his speech by urging the women to be 'both active in constructive mass actions and in creating a quiet and orderly climate' (AB 15 November 1965). This ceremony showed the same symbols in use as prior to October 1965 but the tone had completely changed. Gestapu was added to the revolutionary pantheon of enemies Indonesian women should challenge and the same slogans were used but their implications were totally different. It was made clear that the women should not act on their own any longer because that had led to the chaos for which Gerwani was held responsible. They were to follow the directions of the new military power holders who at that time were still manoeuvring carefully. Then in the papers a picture appeared of a frightened-looking girl called Sujati, nicknamed Jossy. A ferocious bearded man in a uniform was towering over her. The caption said that she confessed to having been involved in shooting General Yani, both in his home and at Lobang Buaya:63 'This [purported] Gerwani membe~ and high school student is another proof... of the evil acts of the GestapuIPKI, poisoning our young buds... We should never again allow our new generation which is still clean to be poisoned and provoked by the traitors of our nation' (AB 19 November 1965). Jossy reappeared in the press a few weeks later together with the first mention of the 'Golden Horse Award' which, Jossy reportedly confessed, was promised by Aidit to anyone who managed to kill a general... The Lobang Buaya executioner acknowledged that she had been trained for six months at Lobang Buaya Barracks and that everyone there had received the amount ofRs 120,000, excluding food, clothing and military equipment. Also, she said that women and men were engaged in free relationships as they already had received indoctrination that in Communism there are no differences between men and women. (MB, second week of December 1965) === [PDF page 331] === 312 Chapter 8 To further push home the 'moral corruption' of the insurgents, some journalists were taken to the prisons to observe the former militant members of the mass organizations, 'whose fierce cries, which once were more terrifying than those of a tiger, are now reduced to weeping'. Again Gerwani members were being portrayed in a particular fashion: Looking at them you would sometimes feel repelled and at other times you would feel sorry for them, for many of them are only groaning, while others are dressed and behave in ways which are not nice for decenf65 people. This is not because they were tortured. No way! The officer responsible for the press informs us that they are treated according to norms based on the pancasila. No, it is because they are filled with fear because of the despicable acts they have performed and because their minds are empty, both from religious norms and from decent morals. (BY Minggu 21 November 1965) A few weeks later a task force was installed by the Vice SecretaryGeneral of the National Front, Brigade General Djuhartono. It consisted of 'progressive revolutionary' women who were not associated with Gerwani, which 'has betrayed our Revolution and shattered the identity of Indonesian Women'. Djuhartono explained to the women that their tasks would be onerous, for 'in their right hands women would have to carry a gun, in their offices wield a pen, in their houses look after the interests of their husbands, while with their left hands carry their children' (AB 7 December 1965). Other women's organizations too were incited to demonstrate their resistance to Gerwani. In an area near Semarang members of the organization of police officers' wives were reported to have organized themselves in a group called Srikandi Bhayangkari, which actively helped their husbands in 'cleaning out the area from G30S forces' ('''Kartini'' active enemy of Gerwani', BY 3 December 1965). Perwari was manoeuvring very carefully in this situation. While the leadership of the organization had often found itself in severe competition with Gerwani, at the local, especially urban, level, members of both organizations had cooperated and there were instances of double membership. Perwari, therefore, was vulnerable to charges that its members were sympathetic to communism. To escape this danger Perwari announced that due to the Gestapu affair no new members would be accepted for the time being and that only after permission had been granted would members be allowed to wear the Perwari uniform (AB 9 === [PDF page 332] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 313 December 1965). This was to make it impossible for Gerwani members to hide as Perwari members to escape persecution. Further, Jo ChaeruI Saleh, Perwari's chair, announced that Perwari had sacked members who belonged to the 'PKI Gerwani' or whose husbands had been involved in G30S (AB 9 December 1965).66 On its 20th anniversruy Perwari again reminded its audience that it had never aligned itself to anyone political party (AB 12 December 1965). Perwari's careful manoeuvring was in sharp contrast to the eagerness with which Wanita Katolik reacted. Conservative Islamic groups were not the only fertile ground for the lies spread about Gerwani. Other religious women's organizations accepted the lies as truth: 'Yes, these Gerwani women were very active in torturing those poor Generals. So we kept silent when they were arrested. We felt that that was their due punishment'.67 Wanita Katolik, which had been very reluctant to join the Dwikora activities, was in the forefront when the Kesatuan Aksi Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Action Front) (KAWI) was organized. KAWI, together with the other action fronts, was responsible for creating an atmosphere in which Suharto was able to wrestle the presidency from Sukarno: We of Wanita Katolik were the last to join Tiswati. I, as chair, was very much opposed to all those things. I felt that it was all right for women to be engaged with public kitchens, first aid and all that but women shouldn't fuss around with anus. Those Gerwani women liked that: they got their bullets free. We had to buy them. We trained in Cibubur, where we didn't mix with the Gerwani members. When we were asked to participate in KAWI we felt it was different and we gladly allowed our young women to join in the demonstrations. We, Aisyah and the Protestant women, were the most active participants. Perwari was reluctant to join, for Mrs Sumarno, who had led Tiswati, was also a Perwari leader leaning towards Gerwani. Later Perwari got rid of her. I went to the house of Mrs Sumarno to ask her to join KAWI, but she refused. 68 In the meantime President Sukarno attempted to stem the tide of violence. He decided to publish the results of the autopsy on the bodies of the Generals which, as Anderson's (1987) article clarified, revealed that the reports of sexual mutilation and eyes gouging were false. He called on the journalists to keep to the facts and to refrain from publishing lies. === [PDF page 333] === 314 Chapter 8 Only one paper published this announcement (SH 13 December 1965) but to no avail, since only a few days later the same paper carried the 'confession' of Saina. This l7-year-old member of Gerwani... with a child and husband told the investigating team that she had been injected several times while training for sixand-a-half months at Lobang Buaya after which she felt wild sexual urges. According to the head of the Interrogation Team of the Pepelrada69 West Java, Major A. Danamihardjo S. H., Saina, during the sixand-a-halfmonths of training, had been competing together with 199 other Gerwani members to sexually serve 400 men who were also being trained there in the hope to win the 'Golden Horse Award' which D. N. Aidit had promised them. [The injections]... had aroused her to engage in these indecent acts.... [She told the team that] Aidit had once given a speech at the camp that PKI volunteers did not need to feel constrained by religious rules but that they should have free sex amongst each other.... she could engage in such acts as... [murdering the Generals] after hearing a speech of Aidit in which he explained that women should be as courageous as men. (SH 8 December 1965) Women's 'courage' and independent behaviour is here directly associated with sexual perversion and murder. The Berita Yudha carried the same story and showed a picture of 'Saina' who does not in the least resemble the Saina I interviewed. The other army newspaper, Angkatan Bersenjata, embellished Saina's story even further. According to this newspaper, Saina told the investigating team that she participated in a dirty, indecent dance, the "Dance of the Fragrant Flowers" which was performed nakedly every day, both during the day and at night. The 400 men present would watch the 200 women, after which free sex would occur, in which every woman sometimes had to serve three or four men sexually. (AB 13 December 1965) It is striking that after these 'confessions' none of the women who had been present at Lobang Buaya and who had been detained were ever brought to court. How much propaganda would it have yielded to the military if these girls told such tales in the public space of the courtroom! Trials were held on far flimsier 'evidence'. 70 In the meantime, the === [PDF page 334] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 315 interrogations of the regular Gerwani members had not yielded much material that could be used in Suharto's campaign. The stories of sexual abuse said to be committed at Lobang Buaya were now reported to have extended beyond that particular night. A girl named Julie 'confessed weeping that some 40 women had been following a training in Lobang Buaya in September. But she was betrayed for she had been raped there by members of Pemuda Rakyat' (BY 30 November 1965). Another aspect of the 'training' the women were alleged to have received at Lobang Buaya was 'revealed' by Sakinah, quoted as having said that' Apart from sexually serving Pemuda Rakyat members... they were also taught to cut the genitals of a cat. Then they were given the task to cut up two soldiers of the Diponegoro division and two traders in Tegal, who they attracted first by behaving like prostitutes' (AB 15 December 1965). By December the campaign had lost much of its vigour. Most of the killing in Java had been accomplished, although in Bali the worst of the killing took place in the second two weeks of December 1965 (Vickers 1989; Schulte Nordholt 1991; Robinson 1995) after reports of yet another instance of sexual treachery in which Gerwani members were alleged to have been engaged. The army in Riau too 'discovered some documents' which 'proved that the PKI there was instructed to select some beautiful women to weaken the spirit of the progressive revolutionary youth of the PNI and NU, so that they would be enticed by their attractive looks' (SH 18 December 1965). The PKI had reportedly even managed to enter the heart of the Islamic religion by smuggling a beautiful woman into the Ministry of Religion to 'entice the personnel to take part in G30S' (BY 20 December 1965). President Sukarno was still attempting to strike a conciliatory tone on Mother's Day (22 December): All women possess two basic characteristics: love and a feeling of motherhood. Women who are not characterized by those two wishes are not real women. Our present struggle is to create the conditions under which women can fulfil those ideals. The only way to reach that is through unity, without consideration of differences of religion, group, or whatever; therefore women should stop fighting. To support his statement, Sukarno quoted not from Fourier, Bebel or Engels - authors he had drawn on in his book Sarinah when socialist === [PDF page 335] === 316 Chapter 8 ideals seemed the route to independence and a 'just and prosperous society' - but from the champion of the present struggle, the Prophet Muhammad: 'Woman is the pillar of society' (SH 22 December 1965; AB 23 December 1965). But Sukarno was no longer the 'Great Guide of the Women's Movement', whose words were all-powerful. It was the army who decided that the Islamic masses had been sufficiently aroused and that it was time now to restore calm, although the killings were to continue until March 1966. The brakes began to be applied on 11 January 1966 when the Angkatan Bersenjata published a curious editorial entitled' Prologue and Epilogue'.71 Quoting Archimedes (action is reaction), its authors maintained 'that the strength of an epilogue was caused by the force of the prologue, in this case the Gestapu'. Then it continued: ABRI highly appreciates the spontaneity of the people in the various regions [where the reaction to the G30S took place]. Yes, this spontaneity is proof that the Indonesian People is not weak.'. The spontaneity of the People in the action front to crush Gestapu has rendered great services towards the revolution and the leadership of Bung Kamo. However, certain excesses in chasing after the persons involved in Gestapu have taken place which have been raging over areas, which have been executed by the People and which we truly deplore. For those excesses, which of course were hoped for by sympathizers of the Gestapu, are used to carry out a counter-offensive towards the parties and mass organizations with the idea to emasculate the life of the parties just now while we are carrying out a cleansing operation. In this case we have to work in an orderly manner so that the mass actions don't get out of control and damage themselves. (AB 11 January 1966) The editorial concluded that the actions were now to be carried out in such a way that excesses are minimized. And that the above does not mean that we should not be very careful. On the contrary, we have to step up our vigilance, for there are still Gestapu persons around who won't use the PKI label but who will have the mental attitude of the PKI. (AB 11 January 1966). The army felt that the PKI and its mass organizations had been wiped out and that enough terror had been instilled into the people. It was now time to control the masses and return to 'legality'. The cynicism with === [PDF page 336] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 317 which this orchestrated campaign of terror is attributed to the 'spontaneity' of the people should be noted. Likewise the way in which the victims of these mass murders are blamed for 'hoping for this terror'. Sukarno Replaced The campaign to associate communism with wild, perverse, sexually loose women and to present the army as the virile saviours of a nation on the brink of destruction reached its fmal phase: the toppling of the President. The entire period between October 1965 and March 1967 when the actual transfer of power took place should be seen as one extended, lingering coup. It is not by chance that women and their organization, Gerwani, were singled out for this purpose. The association of Gerwani with the castration of the symbol of the nation's virility, its top-level generals, was the strongest way to effect Suharto's 'mental transition' to his New Order state. The intention of this coup, masterminded by the Action Front of Djuhartono under the instigation ofSuharto, was not only to liquidate the PKI and its mass organizations. It was also to pave the way for General Suharto to the Presidency. Immediately after Sukarno had promoted Pranoto Reksosamudro to head the army General Suharto committed a series of insubordinations. First he refused to obey Sukamo's order to have General Pranoto report at Halim.72 Next, in a radio broadcast on 1 October he proclaimed that he had taken over the leadership of the army. Then followed the campaign of slander and mass murder which was efficiently carried out by Suharto and his troops, preparing the population - especially the Javanese - for a change of order. As Sukarno could no longer protect his followers he lost the major part of his power in Javanese eyes (Anderson 1965). Thus disempowered, he offered little resistance to Suharto's next major move. 73 On 11 March 1966 Suharto ordered his RPKAD troops (with their insignia removed) to encircle the Jakarta palace where a cabinet meeting took place. Sukarno fled to Bogor where three envoys of Suharto presented him with a document, the Supersemar (Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret) (Instruction of II March)/4 in which Suharto was entrusted with wide powers to protect Sukamo and his government. According to Sukarno's adjudant, Soekardjo Wiladjito, one of Suharto's envoys, General Panggabean, threatened Sukarno with a weapon. 75 As Pohan (1988: 24) explains, the document was illegal for the President had no authority to transfer these powers, only the MPRS can do so. The following day Suharto banned the PKI, an order to which Sukarno had === [PDF page 337] === 318 Chapter 8 so far been opposed. Later in the month 15 ministers were arrested. Before the next session of the MPRS this body was purged of Sukarno supporters. When the MPRS met in March 1967, Sukarno was ousted from his post and Suharto promoted to acting president. On 27 March 1967 he was finally installed as President and Sukarno was put under house arrest in Bogor, where he remained until his death in 1970.16 The slander campaign against Gerwani and the PKI not only facilitated the actual change of power but it also laid the ideological foundations for the military rule of the New Order. Thus 'the legitimacy of the Suharto Government rests strongly upon the acceptance of the political public that the PKI committed treason against the state and that by encouraging communists and trying to shelter them even after their treason Sukarno forfeited his right to lead the nation' (Mortimer 1974: 420). The form this 'treason' took, however, was not just the Untung putsch. Gerwani was accused of an assault on the very basis of religion and morality. Throughout the New Order any resistance to the military was attributed to some 'PKI remnant' or the 'latent danger' the PKI represented. l1 It was made clear that this would lead to chaos in the state, and at home the unleashing of women's sexual powers, poisoning the minds of children and seducing or castrating innocent Islamic men. One way to stem these dangers would be to control women via their own organizations, notably the PKK and Dharma Wanita. To re-subordinate women in this way it was necessary to make them again conform to a conservatively-interpreted kodrat.18 To maintain the dominance of his New Order Suharto used various tactics. First, the role of the army on the side of Untung had to be minimized. In the first major publication after the coups, the Untung coup was reduced to 'the betrayal at Lobang Buaya', carried out not by Untung and his fellow-officers and soldiers but by the GestapuIPKI group (Setahun 1966: II). Second, Suharto wanted to make the public believe that his regime was based not on terror and slander but on a legal process reflecting the 'spontaneous' will of the people. The 'prologue and epilogue' cited above already introduced that theme and in the debate waged at the end of the 1980s Suharto stressed that he came to power legally and that the army played no role in instructing Sukarno to leave office (Kok et al. 1991: 87). Finally, Suharto tried to ensure that the Lobang Buaya stories were portrayed not as the lies they are but in a scientific light. To that end the Lembaga Studi IImu-IImu Kemasyarakatan (Study Centre of Sciences of the Society) (LSIK) published a booklet full of footnotes and other scientific accoutrements. === [PDF page 338] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukamo Overthrown 319 Quoting army sources, it provides the following version of what happened at Lobang Buaya: To heat up the atmosphere the Gerwani dancers stepped up their dancing. They danced the Dance of the Fragrant Flowers, which they used to do every night after their exercises at Lobang Buaya. There were no moral borders. Not at all. In a primitive manner the members ofPemuda Rakyat, the BTl and SOBSI were permitted [to do what they liked] with the Gerwani members by the leaders of their military exercises... Then occurred the torturing which was carried out by members of the Gerwani, Pemuda Rakyat, BTl and SOBSI. One of the torturers was Djamilah, at that time only seventeen years old. She hit the prisoners. It was all totally beyond the borders of humanity. It is not fitting that their cruelty is told in more detail. (Lembaga Studi Ilmu-Ilmu Kemasyarakatan 1983: 92) During the New Order, government sources never ceased to hammer this theme. In 1982 the National Army History Services wrote that during the fateful night of 30 September 1965 the waiting Gerwani women had already taken their special injections... and were crying hysterically... Several Gerwani women went up to the unlucky Generals... and were dancing as ifthey were possessed by devils... [the Generals] were butchered by bloodthirsty people who don't know God... Satan reigned there... A feast of hell took place at Lobang Buaya. (Dinas 1982: 126-7) In this view, Gerwani and the PKI were responsible for 'hell' while the New Order state was based on religion and the state philosophy, pancasila. To encourage the people to accept this idea, (for after all the PKl had also consistently referred to the pancasila), it had to be established that the PKI used false arguments. Djanwar took great pains to establish that the PKI wanted to 'replace the pancasila with the historical materialism of communism'. For, he maintained, it was impossible that the first principle of the pancasila, the belief in one God, would be respected by the PKI. And, he added, Bung Kamo supported these PKI policies by his propaganda and through his dealings with the National Front. Djanwar listed the various ways in which the PKI had betrayed the nation, its politics, its economy and its military structure. This 'betrayal' was topped by the 'inhuman, primitive torturing' of the kidnapped soldiers. His conclusion was that the Indonesian nation must keep up its === [PDF page 339] === 320 Chapter 8 vigilance for the 'latent danger of G30SIPKI' is still present (Djanwar 1986). Aside from these publications, which were directed at the more literate part of the population, the regime also ensured that its version of the 'events' at Lobang Buaya became available in more popularized versions. A film was produced by Arifin Noer, The Betrayal of G30S/PKI.79 The PKI remained associated with two words: penghianat (traitor) and biadab (primitive, pagan). The PKI was thereby effectively excluded from the nation and even from human culture. The New Order regime constructed a huge monument and museum at Lobang Buaya. The well itself was turned into a marble shrine complete with a temple roof intended for the veneration of anti-communism. The enormous building in the grounds is called Museum Penghianatan (Betrayal) PKI. On its two vast floors, glass cases filled with wood and papier mache models show every incident in which the PKI was said to have been involved since 1945. It is a monument to the victors of 1965-66, intended to create the impression of a treacherous, murderous and thieving PKI all the time confronted by a sincere and invincible army, the true defender of the people. At first it also contained huge murals of photographs taken at Lobang Buaya and elsewhere. Strikingly, the bodies of the Generals, terrible through they are, showed no sign of razor-blade cuts and no bloody patches could be seen where the castrations should have taken place. All of the crotches, in so far as far as they are visible, are intact. The only sign of a razor-blade is the isolated picture of the 'eye-gouger', the rubber-harvester's knife that was depicted in the Berita Yudha of 13 October 1965. When I last visited the museum in 1998 these photographs had been replaced by a black-and-white collage in which the pictures were so enlarged and reproduced so badly that nothing could be seen clearly. The monument on the same site is called Monumen Pancasila Sakti (Sacred) Lubang Buaya. It is a huge semi-circular construction in front of a pillar and a statue of the Garuda, the national bird. Statues of the slain Generals and Lieutenant, virile in full military attire, are placed on a platform. Below them, Suharto's version of the history of Indonesia since 1945 is presented in a bronze mural. It is here that the full ideological weight of the way the New Order regime was built on the subordination of women and the manipulation of sexual symbols becomes clear. The centre of the mural is devoted to the 'events' at Lobang Buaya. The Generals are being clubbed to death and thrown into the well. They are surrounded by representations of women. To the left === [PDF page 340] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 321 three women are standing. One of them is dressed in a sexual manner and argues arrogantly and defiantly with a man (see photograph 1). Beside her two dancing women are arranged, one of whom wears a wreath of flowers representing the Dance of the Fragrant Flowers (see photograph 2). Above the well one woman is portrayed leaning against a tree. She is clad in unif-orm trousers and a revealing top that exposes her full breasts. A knife hangs on her belt. Her posture again is defiant (see photograph 3). To the right, the scene is dominated by the overpowering figure of General Suharto. Under his left arm two women are standing, heads bowed and demure. One of them is carrying a baby. The figure of General Suharto has intervened and turned the defiant, seductive, dangerous and castrating women into symbols of obedience and motherhood (see photograph 4). The final scene shows the all-powerful general, President Suharto, in front of what is presumably a courtroom. Absolute military and legal power was his.80 The reaction of the West to one of the greatest massacres since the Second World War was surprisingly muted. A possible explanation is that in the midst of the Cold War the lives of communists did not rate highly. Time (15 July 1966) cynically called the massacres and the overthrow of Sukarno 'The West's best news for years in Asia' (Wertheim 1978: 173). Another reason was the effectiveness of the army's campaign. Several Western authors swallowed wholesale the stories constructed about the 'Orgy at Crocodile Hole' (such as Hughes (1967), which even won the Pulitzer Prize). Popularized accounts appeared, such as the following fragment from a novel by Koch: 'Kill the Capitalist Bureaucrats!' Rifle butts and knives rise and fall; blood fmally flows; the Generals cry out. And the women, fiercer than the men, struggle to get closer in the ecstasy of this unique night: they will torment the Generals sexually and then castrate them; they will cut out their eyes with razor blades. The blue lights watch, like evil spirits. (1978: 270) Even Anderson and McVey, who did so much to undermine the army version, repeated the confession of'Djamilah', although they conceded that 'the alleged ritualistic aspect' [of the murder ofthe Generals] 'indicates that the whole scenario was designed as a blooding of these ignorant wretches' (1971: 22). Recently, more information has become available on the role the CIA may have played. There is as yet no conclusive evidence that the === [PDF page 341] === Photograph 1: Scene from Pancasila Sakti Monument, Lugang Buaya, Gerwani member arguing === [PDF page 342] === Photograph 2: Scene from Pancasila Sakti Monument, Lugang Buaya, Dance of the Fragrant Flowers === [PDF page 343] === Photograph 3: Scene from Pancasila Sakti Monwnent, Lugang Buaya, Gerwani member watching the generals being thrown into the well === [PDF page 344] === Photograph 4: Scene from Pancasila Sakti Monument, Lugang Buaya, tamed New Order women === [PDF page 345] === 326 Chapter 8 CIA actively planned or even provoked the Untung putsch, as the PKI upholds (see, for instance, the Buku Putih 1994). Scott (1985) points to the long involvement of the CIA in Indonesian affairs and the support given to this policy by Japan, Britain, West Germany and possibly Australia. It is indeed striking that the USA continued to support the Indonesian army after development aid had been halted. Scott suggests various ways in which the CIA may have been involved, quoting a certain McGehee who had access to a secret CIA report (Scott 1985). Southwood and Flanagan (1983: 14) quote McGehee as having written that the CIA 'seized upon this opportunity [the Untung putsch] and set out to destroy the PKI'. The memoirs of former US Ambassador Howard Jones also provide examples of US meddling in Indonesian affairs, but applaud the army in this case for 'acting on its own' (1971: 403).81 In 1990 the American press (Washington Post 21 May 1990; NRC 21 May 1990; Trouw 22, 31 May 1990) reported that the US Embassy in Jakarta had assisted the army in massacring the communists by providing lists of names. The Indonesian military officials reacted that any help given had been superfluous as they had been perfectly well able to do the job themselves (Wertheim 1991). Cosmas Batubara, chair of KAMI, likewise told the team of the Institute for the Studies on the Free Flow of Information who interviewed him that the CIA was present but that the Indonesians had very much acted on their own (TIM ISAI 1995). Writing more than 30 years after the 1965 'events' it is difficult to disagree with the Indonesian army officials in this respect. The conclusion Vatikiotis (1993: 20) reached, that 'only after [the coup] did the US Embassy swing into action, stirring up anti-communist propaganda and providing logistical support to the army which expedited to massacre PKI suspects', seems to come closest to what may have happened. 82 If anything, it is more likely that the CIA acted as helpmates of the Indonesian military than that Suharto was a pawn in US foreign policy. Communism as expressed by the PKI in the 1950s and 1960s confronted religious, and especially Islamic groups, on more fronts than gender alone. But I suggest that fear of the bold and free way in which Gerwani women spoke up and fought for their interests struck a deep chord of anxiety in conservative Muslim, Hindu and Christian people. Gerwani's politicization of gender interests led to their virilization in conservative eyes, who saw their actions as a reversal of the 'natural' order of things. This anxiety had defInite sexual overtones and General Suharto's === [PDF page 346] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 327 campaign spoke to these fears. Men, especially the military and religiously conservative men, became so disturbed by what they regarded as the castration of their voice by the articulate Gerwani that they transferred their fear into a fantasy of the castration of that other organ of male power over women, their penises. Terrified that the voice Gerwani gave to women would render them speechless, they expressed their anxieties in a myth of the sexual mutilation of military men. Conservative women too were shocked by what they perceived as Gerwani's attack on a women's kodrat they associated with the example of Sumbadra. The restoration of order by General Suharto meant, therefore, the return to male domination: women were to follow obediently the kodrat Indonesian patriarchy has long constructed and their political ambitions were to be contained within the powerless organizations the military established for them. Suharto played into the deep anxieties of the conservative, mainly Islamic and Hindu, male population that the 'communist beast' would pervert 'their' women and that these politically and sexually powerful women would castrate them. This manipulation of the Javanese and Balinese masses was so successful that it became one of the major ideological underpinnings of the New Order state. For 32 years after the 1965 coups, obedience to the Suharto Government was enforced by a combination of military power, fear of the 'communist beast' and the subordination of women. Fiercely independent Srikandi had to be replaced by the meekly obedient Sumbadra for the 'natural' order of Indonesian nationhood to be restored. Notes The most extensive accounts of the mass killings are Cribb (1990), Southwood and Flanagan (1983) and Utrecht (1970). For Bali see also Robinson (1995). The recently established Foundation of the Victims of 1965-66 arrives at far higher figures. They suggest maybe three million people may have been killed. See the Epilogue for more information about this Foundation. See, for instance, Anderson and McVey (1971), Crouch (1978), Gunawan (1968), May (1978), McVey (1971), Mortimer (1969, 1974), Pauker (1969), Pluvier (1973), Southwood and Flanagan See Mernissi (1975) for the meaning ofjitnah in an Islamic society. In her view,jitnah is the kind of chaos provoked by sexual disorder and initiated by women. In Indonesian, the word came to mean 'slander'. === [PDF page 347] === 328 Chapter 8 The most extensive account of these events is by Southwood and Flanagan (1983), who briefly refer to the way Gerwani was implicated in the propaganda campaign waged by the group around General Suharto. For Bali, see Robinson (1995). 5. Pohan (1988) calls this second coup in which Suharto wrested power from Sukarno the 'creeping coup', but fails to refer to the manipulation of sexual symbols that created the atmosphere in which this 'creeping coup' took place. The account of the 'slow fall ofSukarno' by Cribb and Brown (1995) is similarly silent about the campaign of sexual slander that set off this process. 6. In January 1965 the PKI demanded that a 'fifth force' be formed which would consist of 21 million armed workers and peasants (Southwood and Flanagan 1983: 10). Sukarno announced the formation of this 'fifth force' in his 17 August 1965 speech, which he had drafted with PKI leader Nyoto. In mid-September he sent Air Marshal Omar Dhani to Beijing to arrange the delivery of 100,000 small arms for this militia (Crouch 1978; May 1978: 94). 7. In January 1965 Sukarno removed Indonesia from the UN when Malaysia, which was regarded by Indonesia as a client state of Western imperialism, was given a place in the Security Council. 8. Sukarno, who had kidney problems, was rumoured to have had a stroke at the beginning of August. Aidit cut short his trip from China to Vietnam when he was informed of the President's illness. He took a team of Chinese doctors with him. The President's illness was extensively discussed during meetings of PKI's Politbureau 9. Their friendship probably goes back even earlier. Latief (2000) mentions that they were old friends. Hersri told me that Syam assisted Aidit's flight to the Minangkabau after the Madiun disaster. 10. See the testimonies ofPeris Pardede (Gunawan 1968), Nyono and Sudisman (Crouch 1978; May 1978; Mortimer 1974: 419). See also Latief (2000). 11. See Southwood and Flanagan (1983: 155-6) for an account of the summary execution of Aidit by Colonel Yasir Hadiboroto, an officer of Suharto's Kostrad forces, who was acting on Suharto's instructions. 12. Crouch(l978: 130) writes thatthe coup group had failed to provide food and drink for the soldiers in the square. See also Manai Sophiaan (1994). === [PDF page 348] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 329 13. I will not consider here a fourth interpretation provided by Dake (1973), who maintains that Sukarno was behind the whole affair. His view is based on the testimony Kopkamtib provided of Bambang S. Widjanarko, an adjutant of President Sukarno (see also Crouch 1978: 119-22). See Manai Sophiaan (1994) for a carefullyargued refutation ofSukarno's involvement in the fIrst 'coup'. 14. It was fIrst circulated anonymously to friends and colleagues. The full version was fmally published in 1971. 15. In 1974 Notosutanto became the head of the history section of the Armed Forces (Klooster 1985: 134-6). 16. Harian Rakyat's publication on 2 October of an editorial supporting the coup was seized upon by the army to prove the PKI's involvement. But, as May (1978: 109) suggests, it could show the opposite as well, since it must have been prepared at a time when the confusion among coup leaders would have been evident to an intelligent man like Aidit. May maintains that Aidit could not have been aware of the editorial. 17. 'Foreknowledge' of the intended coup was one of the most serious accusations in the trials after the coup. 18. For instance, the early account of Gunawan (1968) but also Pohan (1988), who provides one of the most sophisticated analyses ofthis history from a 'progressive' Indonesian perspective, and who dwells at length on the 'creeping coup' that brought Suharto to power but ignores the impact of the campaign of slander waged against Gerwani. 19. See Chapter 7 for a discussion on the way this trope was also used by Sukamo. 20. Manai Sophiaan (1994: 311) quotes an interview in the September 1993 edition of Editor with the chair of the NU, K. H. Abdurrachman Wahid, the current President oflndonesia, who said that 'Islamic people alone slaughtered 500,000 ex-PKI'. 21. The massacre was at its worst in East Java, Central Java and Bali. For Bali, see Crouch (1978: 152); Schulte Nordholt (1991); Vickers (1989); and particularly Robinson (1995). 22. The wayang performance is typically divided into three acts. 23. See Clara van Groenendael (1985) and Ras (1976) for a fuller account of wayang and the signifIcance of the gara-gara scene. Ras, in his translation of the Soebadra Laroeng play, provides a wonderful example of a gara-gara scene, in which: === [PDF page 349] === 330 Chapter 8 The mountains, which used to support the earth as wedges, are staggering and the earth, its eqUilibrium distorted, collapses. What a misery! One earthquake follows another... the dead are everywhere;... the strong ones assault the weak. The order of the Middle World is destroyed... The crisis in nature reaches its zenith. The world has a sad appearance and deep darkness reigns all over. Flashes of lightning cross, a furious storm rages through the atmosphere. The tail ofthe Holy Snake Anantaboga strikes to and fro; the Holy Cow Andini puts up her horns; it is as if the cauldron of hell is being stirred so that it overflows and its seething mud pulp spreads over the earth, increasing its misery.,. The mind of the Creator is pleased. He has put to test the Middle World to remind it of Him who created the world..: (1976: 167-8). 24. See, for instance, T<Smquist (1984) who interviewed several PKI leaders many years after the coup. His informants confirmed the existence of the Special Bureau. See also Crouch (1978) and Latief (2000). 25. Pohan discusses the briefing Aidit gave on 28 August in which he was said to have informed those present of the existence of a Council of Generals plotting a coup. No conclusions or decisions were reached at that meeting (pohan 1988: 23). Therefore it cannot be said that the PKI as a party had been informed of (let alone consented to) the putsch. Manai Sophiaan too emphatically states that no session of the Politburo or the Daily Leadership decided to replace the Dwikora Cabinet with the Revolutionary Council (Manai Sophiaan 1994: 76-7), which the putschists later announced over the radio. 26. Manai Sophiaan (1994) and T<Smquist (1984) also refer to Aidit's authoritarianism. 27. Interview, Hersri, 16 March 1983. 28. Interview, 22 November 1984. 29. Interview, 21 September 1994. 30. See Anderson (1965) for a discussion of the Javanese concept of power. 31. During the interrogations after the putsch, she testified that Sulami, Gerwani's third secretary, attended that meeting. However, Sulami was not even a member of the Central Committee. 32. Another Suharti (Syamsudin) was a member ofthe Special Bureau === [PDF page 350] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 331 of Bandung, but that branch was not involved in planning the coup. Interviews, Sujinah, 17 December 1993 and 16 February 1984; also Doc. XXXII. 33. This is a very revealing statement as it shows that messages from one political figure to another are suddenly considered 'private' if they come from a woman. Sophiaan's quote also shows that Umi Sarjono operated at such a large political distance from Aidit that she felt she needed the mediation of politicians closer to him. 34. This plan was also badly executed. The rice and side dishes should have been prepared for the soldiers and volunteers, but 'not one public kitchen functioned when it started, so the soldiers and volunteers went hungry' (Manai Sophiaan 1994: 92). 35. Pancasila and Manipol formed the basis of this training. 36. See also Hughes (1967: 23). Crouch (1978: 92) gives most details about this training: '... since 5 July... [Major] Sujono ran two courses a month with two to three hundred participants in each batch until September when the numbers increased sharply to twelve hundred in the last group'. 37. See also Mortimer (1974: 424) and May (1978: 105). Some of my informants also put great stress on this fact which, in their view, 'proves' that the training at Lobang Buaya had never been intended as a preparation for anything related to the putsch. However, although the members of the Pemuda Rakyat, Gerwani and other mass organizations who had undergone training there may have had no clue as to any larger purpose, Major Suyono probably had. A senior officer, Commodore Ignatius Dewanto, after finding out that only kom (communist) volunteers were being trained, had ordered him on 21 September to stop the training and told him that 'future trainees had also to be taken from nationalist and religious organizations' (Crouch 1978: 92). 38. Interviews, Sujinah and Sulami, 18 November 1984 and Sujinah, 22 November 1984. 39. Interview, Sujinah, 17 December 1983. 40. Interviews, Mrs Titi, 30 October 1983,5 February 1984. 41. Interview, Sujinah 22 November 1984, 16 February 1984. See also Crouch (1978: Ill) and interview, Sukoni 23 December 1998. 42. This is the title of an article by Ben Anderson (1987) who studied the autopsy reports composed by a team of five forensic experts who examined the bodies of the seven murdered military men. 43. Interview, Saina, 22 November 1984. === [PDF page 351] === 332 Chapter 8 44. Interview, Sujinah, 17 December 1983. 45. Interview, Siti Arifah (Ipah), 22 February 1982. 46. Interview, Maasje Siwi, 13 March 1983. 47. Interviews, Sujinah, 17 December 1983, 11 February 1984. 48. 'I searched for Emy the whore but have not been able to fmd her. A member of the Pemuda Rakyat, Mr Poed, confirmed this whole story. He had known Emy and her family but he hadn't seen her for a long time either. He said that the comrades had tried to help her after her release but that she had left the area and become a prostitute again'(interview, Mr Poed, 25 January 1984). The story of Emy is also contained in Doc. XXVIII. 49. Interview, Hersri, 7 February 1983. 50. This trial is recorded in the 1977 Amnesty International Report on Indonesia, pp. 52-3. Sulami was sentenced to 20 years, Sudjinah to 18 years, and Sri Ambar and Suharti Harsono of the women's section of the BTl each to 15 years. The ten years already spent in prison were deducted. See also Sujinah Murtini (n.d.). 51. Interview, 17 December 1983. 52. Interview, Ingrid, 26 February 1982. 53. See also Harry Aveling (1975), a collection of short stories on the putsch and the massacre following it. 54. May writes that this Action Front was set up on the evening of 1 October by Subchan, the dancing u/ama, a vice~chair of the NU; it was sanctioned by Major-General Umar Wirahadikusuma, who was later to serve as vice president under Suharto (1978: 132). 55. May (1978: 159) suggests that this group was later used by some of Suharto's advisers to stem the influence ofthe Muslims. He quotes one of them as saying: 'With the Communists no longer a force, there were only two possible governments, the Moslems or the army. We preferred the army' (1978: 238). In November 1993 Indonesia magazine stressed Father Beek's role in orchestrating the massacre of the communists and in forming the New Order state: 'he [Father Beek] was convinced that if Indonesia fell into the hands of the Communists who were allied with China, a day of reckoning would follow in which anything Christian would be destroyed'. Father Beek was linked to the Perhimpunan Mahasiswa Katolik R.I. (Catholic Student Union) (PMKRI) which was based in several universities (interview, Gayatri, 7 September 1994). Father Beek thus could have more than one finger in the pie in organizing the student actions of the KAMI. According to the same === [PDF page 352] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 333 source, Suharto made use ofthe good services of Father Beek to set up one of his major think-tanks, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). See also the interview with Cosmas Batubara, chair of KAMI, who as a leader of the PMKRI had received anti-communist training from Father Beek (Tim ISAI 1995:43) 56. See Bresnan (1993: 37) on the actions of the student movement of those days: 'The student leaders were in touch with Suharto and his associates on more or less daily basis from early October onwards'. Bresnan too refers to the roles of Subchan and Father Beek. 57. See Yozar (1967) for an account of the demonstrations staged by KAMI. See also Tim ISAI (1995). 58. A phrase coined by Sukarno: Neo-colonialism and Imperialism, the opposite of Newly Emerging Forces. 59. Even in 1998 the autopsy was not widely known in Indonesia. When I referred to it at the December 1998 feminist conference in Yogyakarta, attended by 600 women from all over Indonesia, it was new to the audience, who asked me for copies of Anderson's article. 60. This refers to the military men killed on 1 October. Sukarno had them promoted and called them the 'Heroes ofthe Revolution'. 61. See Buku Putih 1994: 2. Many of my informants also told me of these slogans and how humiliated they felt. 62. See Kowani for a fuller account of the way the non-communist women's organizations participated in the mass demonstrations (1978: 161-4). 63. The founder of the Laskyar Wanita, as mentioned earlier. Before October 1965 she had often been present at activities of Gerwani. Many of the members of the Laskyar had become Gerwani activists. Gerwani leaders had always seen her as one of the most 'progressive' Islamic women leaders and were greatly disappointed by what they see as her 'betrayal' immediately after the first coup. 64. According to May (1978: 75), Yani was captured by a squad of some 200 palace guards who shot him in his house. He died in the truck that brought him to Lubang Buaya. This story is corroborated by an account ofYani's death in Berita Yudha 5 December 1965. 65. Neither Jossy nor 'Saina' had belonged to Gerwani (Doc. XXXII). 66. The word used for 'decent' is susila, which has a sexual connotation: tuna susila means 'prostitute' (tuna means 'hurt'). === [PDF page 353] === 334 Chapter 8 67. She herself had to step down when her husband was detained at the Budi Utomo Detention Camp (where he died in 1966). Chaerul Saleh was close to Sukarno and belonged to the small socialist antiPKI Murba party. 68. Interview, Mrs Kwari, one of the leaders of the Wanita Katolik, 6 January 1984. 69. Interview, Mrs Doeriat, chair ofWanita Katolik, 6 February 1984. She did not reveal who 'asked' them to participate but it is likely that that request came from the Catholic Action of Father Beek. 70. The Pepelrada were the Regional Authorities to Implement Dwikora (Penguasa Pelaksana Dwikora Daerah). They were abolished in July 1967 (Crouch 1978). 71. See Amnesty International (1977) and Southwood and Flanagan (1983) for trials which have been held. 72. The title of this editorial may refer to a speech by President Sukarno on 20 November in which he deplored the 'epilogue' of the putsch which, he said, 'has disturbed my spirit, made me sad, made me worried... frankly, I wept to Ood (quoted in Crouch 1978: 156). 73. Pranoto Reksosamudro was punished severely for being promoted by Sukarno. On 16 February 1966 Suharto had him arrested for alleged involvement in the 030S putsch and from 7 March 1966 until his official release on 16 February 1981, was under house arrest. He was never officially charged and never tried; he has also never been rehabilitated and, like other 030S prisoners, was denied his pension (Manai Sophiaan 1994: 134-5). 74. The only time Sukarno tried to defend himself publicly was in his speech 'Pelengkap Nawaksara' before the MPRS 1967 session, where he attributed the 030S coup to (1) wrongs of the PKI leaders, (2) the cunning of the Nekolim forces, and (3) elements which are not sincere. This speech was dismissed by the MPRS. See Manai Sophiaan (1994) for a discussion of Sukarno's role in this period. 75. Here again the wayang parallel is striking. Semar is one of the most revered figures in the wayang, ostensibly the chief servant of Arjuna and his brothers, but endowed with godly powers and sublime wisdom. Holt (1967) writes that Semar, as the most sacred figure of the wayang set, appears after the gara-gara scene when help must be brought to his master (Arjuna) in distress. 76. NRC 30 September 1998. Soekardjo could only reveal this after === [PDF page 354] === Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown 335 Suharto had stepped down. Even so, the army reacted furiously. as the official New Order standpoint was that Sukarno signed voluntarily. 77. For further details of these steps see the general literature cited above on the '1965 coup', especially Gunawan {I 968), May (l978), Pohan (l988), Southwood and Flanagan (1983), Utrecht (1970) and Wertheim (l978). See also Roeslan Abdulgani's account of this period (Schuuring 1990). 78. See, for instance, Manai Sophiaan (l994: 244). 79. See Wieringa (1988b). 80. In 1986 Arswendo Atmowiloto published a novel with the same title. Chapter 18 is called 'Hell at Lubang Buaya' and relates the army version with lots of dancing and shouting. The 'diabolical' aspects are stressed. 81. See also Leclerc (l997) for a description of the monument. 82. He calls Suharto 'the hero who saved Indonesia from becoming a Communist state' (Jones 1971: 412). 83. Recently members of the Foundation for the Victims of 1965-66, which tries to shed some light on the massacre, pointed to the fact that the army paid for PKI prisoners taken at the time. They wonder where that money may have come from considering that the country was virtually bankrupt. === [PDF page 355] === Epilogue In December 1998 I visited Indonesia again. In May of that year Suharto had resigned as President after a period of considerable unrest. On 12 May four students from Trisakti University had been shot dead by security forces. In the following days houses and shops were looted and burned and an estimated 1,190 people were killed. The Chinese community was particularly hard hit. A team of volunteers, mainly feminist women and a priest, gradually unravelled the pattern these riots had followed. Their findings strongly suggested the systematic involvement of the armed forces. This suspicion not only applied to isolated incidents, as the army command would have it, but should be seen to amount to institutionalized state violence, they concluded. The team also discovered the systematic rape - often gang rape - of women who were also sexually tortured. There were 168 women victims of this. 1 The military reacted angrily and initially denied any rapes had taken place at all since no one had dared to report them. Later, a fact-finding team composed of non-governmental organizations and the military found 85 women willing to testify that they had been sexually assaulted, of whom 52 testified to having been raped. During a visit to the Indonesian women's organization Kalyanamitra - members of whom played an important role in uncovering the rape cases and bringing them to public attention - we discussed the background to their fmdings. They had discovered that these rape cases had been preceded in recent years by other instances of sexual torture of women, especially in Aceh, Irian Jaya and East Timor. There were striking similarities. Women were either gang-raped by the military or they were forced to have sex with friends or husbands. They were often paraded naked and in many cases their vaginas were penetrated by iron rods or bamboo sticks. In several cases the nipples of the women had been cut off. Usually this treatment was accompanied by other atrocities 336 === [PDF page 356] === Epilogue 337 such as severe beatings, electric shocks or by burning cigarettes on their skin. I was accompanied by two former members ofGerwani, Mrs Sulami and Mrs Sujinah. Initially these elderly ladies remained silent. Finally they spoke. This was exactly what had happened to countless women after the 1965 military putsch, they said. In the numerous years they had spent in prison they had heard many similar stories. These were from the survivors, kept hidden in prisons. Thousands of other women must have been tortured to death, their stories left untold. Even now those who survived these atrocities do not dare to speak out, for Indonesian society still blames the victims. Just as in 1998, the military went about their violence systematically. Electric torture was first applied. Then a kind of a hose was inserted into the vagina, then sticks or bottles. After the putsch almost all of the girls aged 14 to 16 who had attended the training at Lubang Buaya had been tortured in this way. Many were gangraped, one by 12 men. Women over the ages of 16 to 18 had been raped by penile penetration; if they were younger, sticks or bottles were commonly used. The women gave names but asked me not to write them down, even 34 years after these events. Later, I spoke with another former Gerwani member, Mrs Sumarni. She described how she had been forced to watch a boy and a girl undress. The naked girl had to sit on the back of the boy who, as a goat, had to crawl around on all fours. The New Order regime was born steeped in blood, accompanied by the myth of sexual perversion and by the sexual torture and gang-rape of women. It died in a similar fashion, in riots, mass killings (though fortunately on a smaller scale) and the sexual torture and gang-rapes of women. In this book I have looked at modern Indonesian history through a gender lens, analysing the changing interrelation between the nationstate and Indonesia's gender regime. I have focused on the Indonesian women's movement and how it positioned itself in this changing configuration. Two central elements in my discussion are the debate on who had the right to define the women's kodrat and the contest on the boundaries between the 'social' (women's realm) and the 'political' (the male realm). Ironically, this latter struggle has lost none of its relevance. Kalyanamitra and other feminist organizations initially were not permitted by the military to investigate the rapes of the (mostly) Chinese women precisely because rape is considered to belong to the women's domain and have no bearing on politics. The Indonesian security forces only began to take an interest in the debates and demonstrations the women were organizing when the === [PDF page 357] === 338 Chapter 9 team of volunteers accused the state of responsibility for the sexual violence against women and when their reports began to attract international attention. The history of the Indonesian women's movement reveals at certain points a process of restructuring gender relations. In my exploration of this history I have not employed the concept of gender so much in the context of what people do. I have not focused, for instance, on the changing sexual division of labour between women and men. Rather, I have searched for changing definitions of gender - for instance, those contained in the naturalizing women's kodrat - and how these are embedded in social, cultural and political processes of signification. At times these changes were barely perceptible. At others the processes of gender definition and redefinition were violent and could entail moments of conscious manipulation. This raises interesting questions about agency. It is not only the women's movement (or its various organizations) that takes the issue of changing gender relations to heart. Other actors, in this case military, political and religious groups, also see gender as crucial in a process of social regulation. In Indonesia women are granted the symbolic power both to save (give birth to) and devour (or castrate) men. Kartini was the first Indonesian woman to call consciously for a process of gender redefinition. Out of a situation in which 'woman' was defined essentially in terms of difference, she demanded equal rights in education, marriage and (less convincingly) the labour market. In a period of growing nationalist fervor, the women's movement added equality in the social and political arena as an important element of struggle. Yet for all its insistence on equality, the Indonesian women's movement always maintained elements of 'difference'. Although the content of women's kodrat was modified in the period before the Japanese occupation, the existence of the kodrat itself was never questioned. Women entered the social-political arena as the guardians of female virtue with a moral responsibility for children and husbands in particular and society in general, and from the specific homo-social sphere of their own organizations. The definition of the women's kodrat not only changed over time but it was also differently defined for the various socio-economic strata. For the priyayi, the nobility, two wayang figures formed the contrasting symbolic configurations around which the contested meanings of the kodrat evolved: Sumbadra and Srikandi, both wives of the wayang hero Arjuna. While Sumbadra symbolizes wifely devotion, Srikandi is === [PDF page 358] === Epilogue 339 depicted as a warrior princess, independent and strong. ArjUlla is the symbol of virility, invincible because of his spiritual powers. These derive not from his physical strength but from self-control and ascesis. Masculine gender ideology depicts men as self-controlled, virile and potent, and in possession of superior spiritual and mental faculties. Men are considered responsible for preserving harmony and order on the national and cosmic levels, while women, infinitely more irrational and less able to control their emotions, occupy themselves with the lower orders of society and such things as money and a household's material means of survival. Women's sexuality is seen as potentially dangerous. Women are not considered capable of containing this danger themselves and therefore men, as fathers and husbands, are entrusted with the responsibility for women's sexual behaviour.2 Women's resistance to this kodrat of gender roles is considered to be dangerous, a disruption of a 'natural' order of things that ultimately may destabilize the world order. Indonesia's male nationalists and freedom fighters accepted women as warriors 'by their side' as the 'second wing of the Garuda' only as long as they needed them. Women themselves to a large extent accepted this view and 'helped' the male guerrillas, providing food and medical care. Only a few of the most ardent and active women participated in the guerrilla war itself. After independence had been won a process of restoration of male power took place and gender relations were restructured accordingly. When women received 'equal rights', with the exception of the crucial area of marriage relations, they were expected to withdraw into their own 'social sphere'. Only Gerwani, the women's organization belonging to the 'communist family', resisted this process of domestication and demanded the right for women to be political actors themselves. Yet for all its militancy and insistence on equality as social and political actors in the areas of sexuality, marriage relations and 'female virtue', Gerwani accepted to a large extent - as did the other women's organizations - the traditional definition of women's kodrat, if only in their devotion to two 'fathers'; Sukarno and the PKI. Gerwani's political position antagonized conservative groups most of all (especially the Islamic groups). But the other women's organizations too felt uneasy with Gerwani's political manoeuvring. Their estrangement manifested itself most acutely when Sukarno took Hartini as his secondary wife. Perwari and their allies felt betrayed by Gerwani's support of the President. The communist daily Harian Rakyat published an acrimonious article around that time on the reactionary === [PDF page 359] === 340 Chapter 9 forces 'which made an issue of Indonesia's First Lady' (HR 12 November 1955). Harian Rakyat also was annoyed with the other women's organizations who criticized the President's marriage, which Harian Rakyat called a 'completely... unimportant affair... We must work for the masses!' (HR 28 December 1955). Yet while struggles raged in the national political arena, at the local level the various women's organizations maintained their cooperation. This is not altogether surprising, for the major difference between Gerwani and the other women's organizations lay precisely in Gerwani's insistence on a national political role. The practical daily work of most women's organizations centred on their areas of agreement, combating the consequences of women's 'difference' and their demands for equality in education and labour. In the latter case, a critical difference must be noted, however. Gerwani was by far the most active defender of the rights of women labourers and peasants. In the accelerating political climate of Guided Democracy. Gerwani became increasingly drawn to the anti-imperialist, populist Sukarno and the communist PKI; that is, into the domain of 'male' politics. As the organization gained greater access to the palace and the centre of power, conflict developed between Gerwani and the other women's organizations. At the time this was not particularly noticeable as Kowani and other women's organizations also moved to the left (or felt compelled to do so). Even in 1966, the 'socialist' International Women's Day was still celebrated on 8 March. However, the religious women's organizations in particular were relieved when Gerwani was brought down after the 1 October putsch and they became particularly active in the mass demonstrations against leftist groups (Wieringa 1985). In this book I have unravelled certain technologies of gender (De Lauretis 1987). I have traced how the terms of sexual difference were reproduced and changed discursively, and under what processes particular issues came to be defined as gender interests or were wiped from the agenda. The most violent moment was the slanderous campaign against Gerwani that formed the justification for the massacre of probably a million people and the overthrow of Sukarno, and which provided the ideological underpinning of the New Order. This 'order' was not particularly new for women, however. From a feminist historiography, the Old Order contained many more 'new' elements than the militaryled New Order. Women were again, as in colonial times, denied a political voice and were locked into homo-social women's organizations where they were allowed only to implement such programmes as the === [PDF page 360] === Epilogue 341 strengthening of a conservatively-defined kodrat. While Gerwani fought for the right to incorporate elements of the Srikandi figure into their policy and practice, the New Order Government forcibly upheld the Sumbadra model, while its propaganda hypocritically proclaimed that women's 'emancipation' was now complete. The evidence shows otherwise: over two-thirds of all illiterate people in Indonesia are women; child marriages are rife (in 1985 more than 20 per cent of all women married before they were 16 years old); polygyny is still allowed and less than 6 per cent of the civil servants in the highest echelons are women. 3 In the Indonesian women's movement the equality versus difference dilemma has never been seen in the light of an exclusionary and antagonistic binary opposition. Rather, the dialectical relationship between these two poles has been stressed; the boundaries were fluid and were differently interpreted by various actors in the socio-political field in different cultural and historical settings. At least since Kartini's day, women have been conceptualized as both essentially different from (kodrat) and equal to men. Only the content of both 'difference' and 'equality' changed over time and varied among organizations. Women reacted to these symbolical codes in different ways and defined the interests their organizations would fight for under the changing conditions of Indonesian history. The history of Gerwani is a good illustration. On the one hand it upheld certain Marxist-derived principles (social relations are constructed, women are social and political actors as well as men, the class struggle is the primary struggle for both). On the other hand it fought from a position of 'difference' against the sexism of their male comrades and against male domination in general. Although Gerwani accepted certain elements of women's kodrat, at the same time it gave its own content to it. Motherhood was never questioned, but Gerwani's mothers were politically militant. On the whole, the acts of political self-affinnation of Gerwani members, even if they were carried out in the name of women's 'natural' responsibilities, were subversive of existing power relations. However, the Gerwani leadership stuck to what they considered an Indonesian form of womanhood: if they exploded the myth of women's passivity as encoded in the image of Sumbadra, they drew upon another Indonesian role model, Srikandi, as well as Kartini. Towards the end, Gerwani fell into the trap of reductionist Marxism and the gender interests it had fought for so passionately were subsumed (though never replaced) by the Marxist struggle for === [PDF page 361] === 342 Chapter 9 political domination. In the process, Kartini was replaced by the socialist role model, Clara Zetkin. The military and conservative groups in Sukarno's Old Order society viewed this process with dismay. They feared that this powerful women's voice might castrate their own power and they translated that fear into the bizarre construct ofthe castration of the Generals. This illusion was so strong that it not only served as the justification of the massacre that led to the overthrow of President Sukarn04 but it became the ideological underpinning of the New Order rule of Suharto and his Generals.s Even the majority of the 500 young women activists from all over the archipelago who attended the feminist meeting in Yogyakarta in December 1998 thought that Gerwani was 'evil'. I had to quote from the autopsy, of which they had never heard, to convince them that the murdered Generals were not castrated. For indeed, there is no evidence for the army's allegations. The women present at Lobang Buaya were never brought to court although they were conveniently at hand in the various prisons. After the first outburst of pornographic lies no further attempt was made to 'construct' any kind of proof. The Museum of the 'Betrayal ofthe PKI' which forms the temple of the New Order has no evidence for the accusations of castration, eye-gouging and 'mad dancing'. Only an echo ofthis fabrication is found in the mural which depicts the army version of Indonesian history after independence. Although the specificities of the history unraveled in the preceding chapters are unique to Indonesia, various elements are found elsewhere. Indonesia is not unique in its conceptualization of sexuality. As Evans (1997) argues, in China too, women's sexuality is feared if uncontrolled as it spells danger and chaos. There are further parallels with China. When in 1927 the nationalist Kwomintang army defeated the communist units, 'modem' women were singled out both as objects of hatred and for re-subordination. In this case, women's 'modernity' was often represented by bobbed hair. The nationalists murdered hundreds of women who had had their hair cut. These women were often sexually tortured, their breasts were cut off or their 'bodies were stripped naked in public places with pieces of wood stuck in their vaginas' (Siu 1981: 133). The New Life Movement, established after the K womintang victory, disciplined these modem women. Chinese nationalists discovered that the 'charge of sexual immorality was an extremely effective weapon for discrediting communist party organizers' (Gilmartin 1994: 224). In view of the sexual austerity both the Chinese and the Indonesian communists preached, the effectiveness of these accusations can barely be === [PDF page 362] === Epilogue 343 understood. It can only be grasped in the wider context of linking women's liberation (however limited this may have been in communist imaginations) and their insistence on the control over their own sexuality with the fear of the loss of one of the major pillars of a patriarchal order: men's control over women's sexuality. Likewise, many elements of Gerwani's ideology can be traced in the histories of the Vietnamese or Chinese communist women's movements. The Vietnamese Women's Union, for instance, did not believe that 'all differences between women and men should be erased... we are proud of our role in society and in the family' (Eisen 1984: 128). Likewise the Chinese Women's Federation never challenged the leading role of the Party (Croll 1978), which allowed the Chinese Government to maintain patriarchal authority. Again, the projection of sexual perversion onto emancipated, socialist women is not unique. Dijkstra, in his analysis of early twentieth-century culture, writes that 'Towards the close of the second decade of the [twentieth] century the term ''vampire"... came to identify a medical condition: vampires were unevolved, constitutionally still mostly "masculine" women who had emanated from among the socialist masses to wreak havoc upon the male's intellectual and economic evolution' (1996: 264-5). My own reading of the 1965-(j6 campaign of sexual slander in Indonesia not only reveals the lies but also something of the backdrop of sexual oppositions through which political conceptions - in this case the birth of the 'New Order' - may take place. Until Suharto's overthrow, women's courage, their social and political independence and physical autonomy was implicitly associated with unspeakable acts of debauchery and sexual perversion. New Order women's organizations themselves were entrusted with the task of keeping women in their proper place, just as the political machinery set up by the Generals had ensured that any remnant of socialist thought was wiped out. For the gender kodrat functioned here as well. The PKI, as the 'husband' of Gerwani, was seen as ultimately responsible for the perversions said to be committed at Lobang Buaya. As they 'allowed' this kind of behaviour, the 'inhumanity' of those acts required that the Communist 'father' Party pay the price and be destroyed. By extension, Sukarno was also tainted by this behaviour. The lingering coup, which ultimately led to the downfall of President Sukarno, seemed almost a logical outcome and could be implemented with hardly any show of force. The last few years have seen enormous changes in Indonesia's political life. Today, 21 August 2000, as I am writing this epilogue, is the === [PDF page 363] === 344 Chapter 9 first day of the trial of the former President Suharto. He will be charged with corruption not genocide. 6 This is a step considered impossible not so long ago, and although President Wahid has already promised him amnesty, Suharto's reputation is deeply tainted.' The rise of a woman politician, Sukarno's daughter Megawati, also signals a major shift in Indonesian politics. Strongly opposed by conservative Muslim forces, who continually quoted the Qur 'an to 'prove' that women are unfit for power, she brought her party to victory in the national elections of June 1999. Although she won 33 per cent of the vote she was not elected President by the Congress. Her popularity does not mean that women are now considered political actors in their own right. She is always presented in a kinship relationship to men or to the nation: daughter of Sukarno, 'mother' of the nation (by her party) and 'younger sister' of President Wahid. The Indonesian feminist movement has matured considerably in recent years with groups such as Kalyanamitra, Solidaritas Perempuan in Jakarta, many regional feminist organizations and the new national Koalisi Perempuan (Women's Coalition). Still the old fear of strong women and its sexual undertones has not gone away. In May 1999 the Kowani Chair tried to evoke an old ghost, the fear of Gerwani, with the surprising accusation that the organization had also engaged in 'promoting lesbianism'. Take care, she warned the public, that these Gerwani women do not stir up trouble again and infiltrate the younger women's groups!S However, with a feminist First Lady (Nuriyah Rahman) the influence of these conservative forces may be reduced. 9 In the meantime, efforts are being made in Indonesian society to bring to light as much as possible of the massacre of 1965--66. This genocide, one of the worst crimes against humanity in the twentieth century, is still one of the most undocumented. It is not even clear exactly how many people were murdered. General Sarwo Edhie, one of the major forces behind the massacre, once boasted that some three million people were killed (Manai Sophiaan 1994). President Wahid suggested in March 2000 that the ban on the PKI be lifted (NRC 18 April 2000). The opposition to his words was so strong that it is unlikely this will happen for a while, yet his suggestion has lifted the veil of fear behind which so many people still remain silent. Numerous seminars are being held about 1965--66 in which testimonies are given and research papers are discussed (amongst others the thesis upon which this book is based). Former political prisoners have organized themselves into the Foundation for the Study of the 1965-1966 Massacre. Mrs Sulami, with === [PDF page 364] === Epilogue 345 whom I worked closely on this book, is one of its founding members. Hopefully in the end some justice will be done to the victims of this massacre. It will still take some time before the full effect of the bloody repression and ideological manipulation on the socio-political culture of Indonesia is understood. As it is, Indonesia is reinventing itself. The 1998 women's conference in Yogyakarta was a strong demonstration of the participants' wish to exercise their freedom of speech and organization. On a national level, President Wahid has to contend with emerging democratic forces which, as in the session of the People's Congress of August 2000, may oppose him in ways hitherto unknown during the New Order. Notes See the report prepared by the Tim Relawan untuk Kemanusiaan Divisi Kekerasan terhadap Perempuan (Team of Volunteers for Humanitarian Causes, Department Violence Against Women), entitled 'Kerusuhan Mei 1998 dalam Perspektif: memahami kekerasan terhadap perempuan dan mencari pemulihan bersama (May Riots in Perspective: Understanding the Violence Against Women and the Collective Search for Recovery), Jakarta 1998. See also the report prepared by the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Ms Radhika Coomaraswamy, for the 55th session of the Commission on Human Rights, January 1999, E/CNA/1999/68/ add.3. See also Wolf (1992), Brenner (1995), Bodden (1996). These figures are from 1984 and 1985, and are derived from a report prepared jointly by the Government of Indonesia and Unicef in 1988: Situation Analysis o/Children and Women in Indonesia, Jakarta. The report also mentions that women in the labour force are largely employed in low-status, low-paid and part-time jobs. As Anderson (1965: 19) argues, in the Javanese worldview diffusion of power is seen as a weakness: 'a ruler who has once permitted natural and social disorder to appear finds it particularly difficult to reconstitute his authority. A Javanese would tend to believe that, if he still had the Power, the disorder would never have arisen'. For analyses of the 'New Order' see, for example, Akhmadi (1981), Bresnan (1993), Caldwell et al. (1975), Cribb and Brown === [PDF page 365] === 346 Chapter 9 (1995), Dirkse et al. (1993), Hill (1994), Jenkins (1984), May (1978), Robison (1986), Schwarz (1994), Utrecht (1970), Vatikiotis (1993), Wertheim et al. (1976). The charges cover only a part of the enormous wealth he, his family and his cronies have amassed. On 24 May 1999 Time magazine estimated the capital of the Suharto family at $15 billion. More recently President Wahid declared that the total amount is nearer $45 billion (NRC 3 August 2000). The present charges only cover a few hundred million dollars. Suharto has been under house arrest since 29 May 2000. On the fall of Suharto see also Forrester and May (1998) and Loveard (1999). If Gerwani can in any way be associated with lesbianism it is in the opposite role. They should be seen as part of the forces of modemity that strengthened homophobia in Indonesian society. See Wieringa (2000) for a more elaborate account of this argument. 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Indonesia: The Rise of Capital Sydney, Hyman. Rocamora, E.J. 1991. Nasionalism Mencari Ideologi Jakarta, Grafiti. Rosaldo, M. Zimbalist and L. Lamphere (eds) 1974. Woman Culture & Society Stanford, Stanford University Press. Rowbotham, S. 1972. Women, Resistance and Revolution Harmondsworth, Penguin Books. Rubin, G. 1975. 'The Traffic in Women: Notes on the Political Economy of Sex' in Rapp Reiter (ed.), pp. 157-211. Rutherford, D. 1993. 'Unpacking a National Heroine: Two Kartinis and their People' in Indonesia Vol. 55, pp. 23-40. Sacks, K. 1979. Sisters and Wives: The Past and Future of Sexual Equality Westport and London, Greenwood Press. Sangari, K. and S. Vaid (eds) 1989. Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History New Delhi, Kali for Women. Saptari, R. 1995. Rural Women to the Factories: Continuity and Change in East Java s Kretek Cigarette Industry University of Amsterdam, Ph.D. thesis. Sargent, L. (ed.) 1981. 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Newspapers and Periodicals Angkatan Bersenjata (AB) October 1965-March 1966 Api October and November 1965 Api Kartini (AK) 1959-1964 Berita Yudha (BY) October 1965-January 1966 Bintang Merah (BM) Duta Masyarakat (OM) October 1965-January 1966 Harian Rakyat (HR) 1952-1965. Kebudayaan Baru (KB) August 1965-October 1965 Mingguan Berita (MB) November 1965-January 1966 Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant (NRC) Sinar Harapan (SH), October 1965-January 1966 Vrouwen en hun Belangen (VB) WIDF Information Bulletin (WIB) Women of the Whole World (WW) Documents Buku Gerwani (BG), Gerakan Wanita Indonesia, is a collection of documents on Gerwani in the WASON Collection of Cornell University. Most documents are undated but they can be traced to the period 1960--1. Their contents are as follows: Pembelaan Anak2 Usul-Usul Untuk: Konperensi Wanita Asia-Afrika The All India Women's Conference === [PDF page 399] === References 380 p. 16 p. 17 p. 19 p.23 p.25 p.29 p.33 p.42 p.48 p.58 p. 71 p. 79 p.90 p.95 p. 105 p.115 p. 126 p.138 p. 147 Tata Tertib Kongres Wanita Indonesia Anggaran Dasar Kongres Wanita Indonesia Pergerakan Wanita Indonesia Sedjarah Pembentukan G.W.D.S. Tata Tertib Kursus Aktivitet Pokok Dari (G.W.D.S.) Gerakan Wanita Demokratis Sedunia Sedjarah Perkembangan Masjarakat Pokok2 Sedjarah Dan Aktivitet G.W.D.S. Pendjelasan Tentang Peraturan Dasar 'Gerwani' Sedjarah Gerakan Wanita Indonesia Sedjarah Gerakan Wanita Internasional Pembelaan Hak-Hak Wanita Methode Mengadjar Mensukseskan Plan Organisasi Gerwani Untuk Melaksanakan Manifesto Politik R.I. Dan Pembangunan Nasional Kebudajaan Indonesia Dan Peranan Wanita Dalam Mengembankannja Sedjarah Perkembangan Gerwani Memberbaiki Tjara Kerdja Untuk Suksesnja Plan Peluasan Organisasi Pola Pembangunan Dan Sumbangan Gerwani Dalam Ikut Serta Melaksanakannja, Bahan Tjeramah tgl 6 Mei 1961 Pemjataan Umum Tentang Hak Hak Manusia, Mukaddimah The second collection of documents was assembled during the research process. Doc I Docll Doc III Doc IV Doc V Memperkuat Organisasi Dan Fron Persatuan Wanita, pp. Organisasi Wanita Dalam Perjuangan Bangsa, pp. 1-4. Dari Dunia Yang Gelap, pp. 1-9. Sekelumit Pengalaman Mempropagandakan Program Agraria Partai Di Kalangan Massa, Khususnya Kaum Tani, pp. 1-11. Riwayat Hidup Sri Ambar, pp. 1-11. === [PDF page 400] === References Doc VI Doc VII Doc VIII 381 Hari Ulang Tahun Gerwani ke-15, 3 Juni 1965, pp. 1-17. Mevr. A., pp. 1-2. Tambahan Data2 Kekedjaman Kontrarevolusioner di Indonesia Chususnya di Djawa Timur (1965-6), pp. 1-7. Beberapa Pendapat Berdasarkan Pengalaman Dari Doc IX Gerakan Wanita Revolusioner, pp. 1-22. Doc X Latar Belakang Pembentukan Organisasi Wanita Progresif, pp. 1-2. Doc XI Emansipasi Wanita Indonesia: Pelajaran Sejarah dan Tantangannya, pp. 1-5. Doc XII Letter by Sudjinah to S. Wieringa, May 1992, pp. 1-4. Doc XIII Hari Wanita Internasional Tanggal 8 Maret, pp. 1-5. Doc XIV Sekilas Tanggapan Terhadap 'Mitra Media', pp. 1-5. Doc XV Catatan Tentang Pengalaman Mendirikan, Men-gengbang-kan Ormas Wanita (1984), pp. 1-5. Doc XVI Riwayat Hidup Sumarni Wardoyo, pp. 1-2. Doc XVII Riwayat Hidup Suharti Harsono, pp. 1-10. Doc XVIII Riwayat Hidup Sujinah; Latar Belakang Keluarga, Pendidikan, Kegiatan dsb, pp. 1-5. Riwayat Singkat Sulami, pp. 1-15. Doc XIX Doc XX Tambahan Riwayat Hidup Sulami, pp. 1-4. Doc XXI Tentang Aksi-Aksi Yang Pernah Dialami Sulami, pp. Doc XXII Riwayat Hidup Ny. Muninggar, pp. 1-3. Doc XXIII Riwayat Hidup Ny. Yuri Mariyam, pp. 1-2. Doc XXIV Riwayat Hidup: Ny. Sukoni Sasmita, pp. 1-4. Interview Maasje Siwi, March 16 1983, pp. 1-5. Doc XXV Doc XXVI Requisitoirrruntutan Dalam Perkara Subversi G 30 SIPKI atas nama para tertuduh: I. Sulami, II Sudjinah, III Sri Ambar Rukmiyati, IV Suharti Harsono, 31-3-1975, pp.I-51. Doc XXVII Pembelaan tertuduh I Sudjinah 17-4--1975, pp. 1-20. Doc XXVIII Pembelaan tertuduh I Sulami, 17-4--1975, pp. 1-21. Doc XXIX Duplik tertuduh I Sulami 19-5-1975, pp. 1-10. DocXXX Prison account Sri Ambar, 8-4--1981, pp. 1-13. Doc XXXI Proses Ibu Napsiyah, notes. Doc XXXII Notes Umi Satjono, Sulami and Sujinah on draft thesis, pp.I-29. Doc XXXIII Interviews conducted by S. Harlinah, 1992-1996. === [PDF page 401] === Index abangan 88-9n, 106, 107, 109, 133n Abendanon, Mrs 63,65, 91n adat 28,45-6,80,177, 197-8,227n, 250-2, 255, 273 Aidit, D.N. 82, 89n, 101, 107, 108-11 and the putsch 283-6,289-91,311, 330n and women's issues 194-200,211-12, 263,270-1 Aidit, Tanti 233-4, 241 Aisyah (women's branch of the Muhammadyah) 19,66-7,85,86, 92n, 123-4, 128,293 Api Kartini (Kartini's Fire, AK) audience for 22, 193 call to ban Gerwani 304 and education 237 feminist issues 261, 263-4 and food production 198 Kartini 270-1,278-9n Kodrat and 261 Mak Ompreng in 234-5 Marriage Law 254 and the PKI 226n and prices 187n,218, 240 reporting on peace issues 221-3 reporting on Soviet Union 230n and sexual division of labour 262-4 and socialism 172, 210-11 and Sukarno's marriage 158 support for Sukarno 214-16 and West Irian 173-4 women's fashion 245, 273 women's role 250-1,257 women's struggle 242-3 writers in 208 AD una 180,192,270,338-9 army 97-8, 102-3, 108, 109-10, 112, 132 coups 281-9 defamation of Gerwani 296-317 Baden Penyelidikan Perburuhan Perempuan Indonesia (Research Body on Indonesian Women Workers) 77 Baden Perlindungan Perempuan Indonesia dalam Perkawinan (Body to Protect Indonesian Women in Marriage, BPPIP) 79 Bali 111,287,301 Barisan Buruh Wanita (Women Workers Front) 84, 146 Barisan Pekerja Perempuan Putera (Troops of Young Women Workers) 81 Barisan Putri Asia Raya (Women's Troops of Great Asia) 81 Barisan Srikandi (Srikandi Troops) 60, 83 Barisan Tani Indonesia (Indonesian Farmers' Front, BTl) 21, 26n, 108, 111, 149, 165, 185n, 197,203-4, 278n,282,287,292,294,319 batik workers 45,72,79, 85n, 94n, 206-7 Beek, Father 302, 332-3n Bhayangkari 85, 120, 124-5, 129, 132, 306 Bintang Merah 61,89n Boven Digul 54, 58, 59 Budi Oetomo (Noble Endeavour) 33, 57 Buiten het Gareel (Out of Harness, Djojopoespito) 69-71 capitalism 43,68,214 Catholic Action 302 catholic women see Wanita Katolik Chalisah, Mrs 251-2 Che Guevara 44 child marriage 62,63,69,74, 114, 152, 194,238,253-4,277n, 341 China 45,111,207,209-10,215,219, 223,247-8,254,337-8,342-3 Chinese Women's Federation 27,29,40, 180 CIA 133n, 283,285-6,321,326 cigarette workers 68, 79, 206 382 === [PDF page 402] === Index colonial order communist uprising 1926-27 54, 58, 69 Dutch government 55-6, 59, 62 economic crisis 1929-30 54,59 Ethical Policy 53-4, 58 Japanese occupation 54, 59--<iO, 78, 81-2 political reform 54, 59 political repression 54 pre-independence nationalism 52-3, 56-61 women in 47,61-4,74,78-9 comfort women 79, 82, 95n communism and feminism 4O--<i see also PKI communist uprising 1926-27 54, 58, 69 concubinage 62,76,116,157 Cotton, Eugenie 219 coupsof1965 3-4,22,30,282-301 cultural imperialism 243--7, 273 Dahlan, Kyai H. 57,66 Dahlan, Nyai 66 dalang 289-91,306 Datoe Toemenggoeng, C.S. 76 Darulisiam Movement 133n, 151, 156, 226n Dharma Wanita (Women's Duty) 7,25n, 33,39,81,318 divorce 62,67,72-3,76, 118 Djamilah 297,307-8,310,321 Djuhartono, General 109-10, 132,302, 312,317 Dwikora (Dwi Komando Rakyat, Two People's Commands) 104, 172, 174, 179,215-16,227n,259,263,311 Edhie, General Sarwo 288,302,306--7, 344 education Api Karlini on 237 and early women's organizations 63-9 equal rights in 35-6, 113 and feminism 29 Gerwaniand 233-4,237-9 Harian Rakyat on 237 Islam and 66--7,170-3 Kartini's view of 63-4, 338 schools for girls 56-7,64,112, 149 elections (1955) 101-2, 121-2 Engels, Friedrich 41,43 383 Ethical Policy 53-4, 58 'events' of 1965 27,31,233,280-9 fashion 245, 273 feminism Api Karlini and 261,263-4 concept of 28--9 and early women's organizations 61-9 Gerwani and 27-9,39-46,218,233-4, 246,263-5,269,273 Harian Rakyat and 261 Kowani and 23 and Marxism 4O--<i and nationalism 46-8 pre-war 69-73 theory of 16-17 films 120, 160,238,243-6, 247,276n forced marriages 69,74,114, 158-9, 194, 238,253-5,264,277n Foundation for the Victims of 1%5-66 2, 22,344-5 Front Demokrasi Rakyat (People's Democratic Front, (FOR) 55,60 Fujinkai 81-2 September) 280-1,284-5,289-91, 312,316,320,334n Gabungan Organisasi Wanita (Federation of Women's Organizations, GOW) 122-3, 126-8, 131 Gabungan Politik Indonesia (Indonesian Political Federation, GAPI) 81 gara-gara 24n, 288-9 gender differences 36-7,46-7 Gerakan Pemuda Islam Indonesia (Indonesian Islamic Youth Organization, GPII) 86 Gerakan Wanita Sosialis (Socialist Women's Movement) 94-5n, 126 Gerwani (Gerakan Wanita Indonesia, Indonesian Women's Movement) banned 1966 120 between nature and culture 271-5 cadres 155,165-8,171,181,272, 273 campaign for peace 239-40 creation of 39-40, 108 creches 155,240-1,243 and cultural imperialism 243-7 defamation of 301-17 downfall 48, 172, 181 education and 233-4, 237-9 === [PDF page 403] === Index 384 Gerwani - continued feminism 27-9.39-46.218.233-4. 246.263-5.269.273 and films 238. 243~. 247. 276n ideology in 1954 153-4 increased influence 125and independence 264-71 and Islam 250--2 and Kodrat 155.180.218.233.240. 242.268.272-4.327 Kowani and 120-1. 125~. 176--7 Lobang Buaya murders 285. 291-6. 317 and Malaysia 178.218-19.222-3. 241-2.265--6 and Manipol 214-15.218.223.224-5. 235.237.238-9.255~1 and marriage reform 139-40. 153-4. 157-9.163.179-80.252-5.269 and monogamy 249. 252-5 mass movement 120--1. 176 morality 233-43 National Front and 110 national politics and 99-100. 160--1. 170--9.264-5 nationalism 45-8 PKI and 17. 140 and polygyny 10.45. 181.225.264 prices 161-2.176--7.179.217-18. 240 prostitution. indecency and mad dancing 233.247-9.287.319 relations with Perwari 14. 122. 127. 137n.165.276n.312-13.339-40 sexual division oflabour 261-4 sexual politics 247-50 sexual slander against 1-3.6.8-9. 15. 17-18.280--2.287.326-7.343 socialism 44-8.160.164.173.192. 193-4.208-9.214-15.265-7 and Suharto 48. 306. 308-27 Sukamo and 11-12. 160. 164. 166. 169-73.180.181.189--93.212-19. 224-5. 340--3 support for peasants 260--70 towards mass line 151--60 towards revolutionary emancipation 264-71 under Guided Democracy 212-19. 224-5.242.272-3 and West Irian 131. 159--60. 164. 169-71.217-19. 221-2. 228n. 242. 266 WIDF and 40. 120. 153. 163-4. 166--7. 212-13. 219-23. 228n. 230--ln. 239-40. 276n women's organizations and 127-8. 157. 159. 163-5. 175~.265-7.339-40 workers and peasants and 160--70 Gerwis (Gerakan Wanita Indonesia Sedar. Movement of Conscious Indonesian Women) 112-13. 115-16. 137n. 141--60 Goals and Obligations of Gerwani (1954) 153 Guided Democracy Gerwani and 212-19.224-5.242. 272-3 PKI and 104-5. 107-8 Sukamo and 102. 103--6. 132 women's movement under 125-9 Harian Rakyat (The People's Daily. HR) articles on family life 255-7 articles on love 248 and education 237 feminist issues and 261 first issue 26n and Kartini 270-1 and kodrat 261 Mak Opreng in 234-5 and Perwari 276n and PKI 10. 190n. 192-3. 194.225. 226n and prices 161 reporting on peace 222.239.257 reporting on WIDF 219--20.222 sexual division of labour and 261-4 and socialism 172. 209-11 and Sukamo 212-16; marriage 158-9.339-40 and West Irian 215-16.221-2.262 women intellectuals and 269 women's issues and 156-7. 186-7n. 206.249-51 women's role 242-3 Hatta. Mohanunad 53.54.55.59.60.61. 89n.102 heiho (Auxiliary Forces) 60 Holst. Henriette Roland 50n. 230n. 236 IGO/H laws 160.168.178.193.196.197. 274 independence Gerwaniand 264-71 pre-independence nationalism 56--61 === [PDF page 404] === Index independence - continued Indische Sociaal-Democratische Vereniging (Indian Social and Democratic Organization, ISDV) 57 International Labour Organization (lLO) 45,274 International Monetary Fund (IMF) 105 Islam education for women 66-7,70-3 and Gerwani 27,250-2 and marriage reform 35-6,67,73--4, 77-9,114-15,119,124-5,253--4 nationalism and 57-61 organizations 57-61,65-79 santri 57, 60, 88-9n see also specific organizations Isteri Buruh Kareta Api (Union of Wives of Railway Workers) 148 Isteri Sedar 71,74-5,76-8, 141 Jalasenastri 85 Japanese occupation 54, 59-60, 74, 78, 81-2 Jong Islamieten Bond 75 Kalyanamitra 2,22,336-7,344 kampung 94n, 154, 155, 159, 193,208, 267 Kartini anti imperialism 220-1 Api Kartini on 270-1,278-9n early life of 62-3 and education for women 63--4, 338 Harian Rakyat on 270-1 lessons from life of 33, 35, 47-8, 264 letters of 49n, 52, 54, 63, 73, 90-1n marriage 51n,63,90n,262 nationalism of 56 on polygyny 49n, 194,268-71, 278n Kartowiyono, Suyatin 113-14, 116, 118, 121 Kaurn Muda (Islamic Reform Movement) 65 Kodrat Wanita (Women's Destiny) Api Kartini and 261 conservatism 45,46-7, 155,282 division of labour 99 Gerwani and 155, 180,218,233,241, 242,265,272--4,327 Harian Rakyat and 261 nature of women 22, 35 New Order and 22, 327, 343 noble women 34, 338-9 385 Srikandi 273, 282, 338-9 Subadra 130,241,242,265,273,282, 327,338-9 women's organizations 35,98-9, 343 Komite Penolong Buruh Perempuan Indonesia (Committee to Help Indonesian Women Workers) 79 Kongres Perempuan Indonesia (Indonesia Women's Congress, KPI) 78-9,81 Kowani (Kongres Wanita Indonesia, Indonesian Women's Congress, KWI) 2-3,14, 19,26n, 73, 74,85-6, 112-13,115-16,119-21,125-7, 130-1, 135n, 149,306,310-11,344 Kudus, Rohana 65 labour law 45,77,79, 94n, 120, 126, 134-5n, 185n,206-8 see also SOBSI land reform 11-12,99, 111, 126, 149-51, Laskyar Wanita Indonesia (Laswi) 83, 95n Latief, Colonel 283, 285-6, 328n League of Nations International Conference on the Traffic in Women and Children in the Far East 76 Lekra (League of People's Culture) 182-3n, 247,253,287 Lenin and Leninism 10,42, 108, 195,270 literacy and illiteracy 11, 68, 73, 77, 82, 83, 86, 112, 113, 149, 152, 341 Lobang Buaya Gerwaniand 285,291-317,342-3 massacre at 282-91 monument at 320-5 Pemuda Rakyat and 283,286-7, 291-6,302-7,315,319 Madiun Revolt 1948 61, 101, 103, 107, 325n Madjoe Kemoelian (Progress and Honor) 66 Maharadja, Datoek Soetan 65 Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Sementara (People's Provisional Consultative Council, MPRS) 134n, 173,291-2,317-18 Mak Opreng 234-6,257-8,261-2 Malaka, Tan 57,58 Malaysia Bhayangkari and 129 Dwikora 104,172,174,179,215-16, 227n,259,263,311 === [PDF page 405] === 386 Index Malaysia - continued Gerwaniand 178,218-19,222-3, 241-2,265-6 Harian Rakyat and 243 KWI and 126 PKI and 108 Sukarno and 104-5,217, 222, 328 training of volunteers 292-3 Mangoenkoesoemo, Mrs Sriati 33 Mangunkusumo, Tjipto 54 Mangunsarkoro, Mrs Sri 84-5 Manipol (Manifesto Politik) 103,161, 170, 173, 174, 177 Gerwani and 214-15,218,223,224-5, 235,237,238-9,255-61 Manipol Family 46,103-4,237,249,252, 255-61,263 Marhaenism 98, 101, 106, 134n marriage reform Committee on 114-15, 118, 157 elections and 102 Gerwani and 139-40, 153-4, 157-9, 163,179-80,252-5,269 Islam and 35-6,67,73,74,77-9, 113-15,119,124-5,253-4 Kartini and 63 KPI and 78-9 Law 112,114-16, 118, 124-6,252, 254 Perwari and 115-19,253 PKI and 196, 254-5 and rifts in women's movement 53, 115-18 Marto, Mrs 9-15 Marx, Karl 10,41,43, 227n Marxism 40-6, 57-8, 98, 106, 108, 179, 195,341-2 Masyumi (Majelis Syuro Muslim in Indonesia, Consultative Council of Indonesian Muslims) 61,67,85, 100,108,115,126,225,302 Melaniagilde (Organization of European and Indonesian Catholic Women) 67-8 Metty, Mrs Tris 142-3 Miss Indonesia Contest 120 Moluccans 171 monogamy 85,112,118,249,252-5 Muhammadiyah (Islamic Reform Movement) 19,57,66,67,71, 123, 310 Muslimat (Women's Branch of Masyumi and the NU) 67,85,86,119,126, 293,306 Nahdlatul Ulama (Council of Islamic Scholars, NU) 101, 103, 115, 126, 155,165,293,302,306,315 Nasakom concept 106, 125-8, 169,212, 213,225 Nasution, General 102, 282-3, 303-4 National Front 11, 14, 109-12, 126, 129, 320 nationalism and the colonial order 52-3 and communist uprising 54 and feminism 46-8 Gerwani and 45-8 Islamic organizations 57-61 PKI and 58-61,98, 103, 108 pre-independence 56-61 pre-war 69-73 Sukarno and 52-3, 98 and women's movement 53,59,70-1, 74-6,130 Nazi Germany 39 Nederlandse Vrouwen Beweging (NVB, Dutch women's movement) 39-40, 96n New Order State 5-8,22,32,35-6,47, 327,341,343 see also Suharto Nicaragua 37 North Korea 223 Old Order Guided Democracy 102-6, 125-9, 132, 212-19,224-5,242,272-3 Marhaenism 98, 101, 106, 134n parliamentary democracy 100-3, 112-25 PKI in 98, 107-12 women's movement 32-3,97-132 see also Sukamo Ordinance on Registered Marriages (1937) 78-9 Origin of The Family, Private Property and The State, The (Engels 1884) 41, 50n, 68 Outer Islands 101-2, 171 Panca Dharma Wanita (Five Women's Duties) 35 pancacinta (five loves) 238-9 pancasila (five pillars) 56, 100, 107, 112, 121 === [PDF page 406] === Index Panitia Penghapusan Tanah Partikelir (Committee To End Private Landownership) 149 Papua 216 parliamentary democracy failure of 100-3 women's organizations during 112-25 Partai Buruh Indonesia (Indonesian Workers' Party) 84,89n Partai Komunis Indonesia (Indonesian Communist Party, PKI) 19,21,32, 39-40,44,54,55,58,60-1,68-9, 100-12, 281, 289-91, 330n and Gerwani 142, 144-6, 154 Gerwis and 17, 140 and Guided Democracy 104-5, 107-8 Harian Rakyat and 10, 19On, 192-3, 194,225,226n and Lobang Buaya 301-17 and marriage reform 196,254-5 and nationalism 58--61,98, 103, 108 pu~ch 30, 289-91, 311, 330n Partai Nasional Indonesia (National Indonesian Party, PNI) 12,21,55, 59,61,69-70, 89n, 100-2, Ill, 254-5,288,315 Partai Sarekat Islam Indonesia (Indonesian Islamic League Party, PSII) 251, 255 Partai Sosialis Indonesia (Indonesian Socialist Party, PSI) 55,101-3,108, 126,207 Partai Wanita Rakyat (Women's People's Party) 84-5, 101-2, 137n peace issues Api Kartini and 221-3 Gerwaniand 239-40 Harian Rakyat and 222, 239, 257 peasan~ 33-5, 53, 76, 111 Gerwani and 160-70 Gerwis and 148-52 Pekerja Perempuan Indonesia (Indonesian Working Women) 79 Pembela Tanah Air (Protectors of the Fatherland, Peta) 60 Pemuda Putri Indonesia (Indonesian Young Women, PPJ) 85, 119, 182n Pemuda Rakyat (People's Youth, PR) 12, 155,23On creation of 108 and cultural imperialism 243-4 killings at Lobang Buaya 283,286-7, 291--6,302-7,315,319 387 Pemuda Sosialis Indonesia (Indonesian Socialist Youth, Pesindo) 55 penghulu (Islamic officials) 72-3 People's Council 54,76,80-1 Perhimpunan Peladjar Perguruan Rakyat (Federation of Teachers of People's Schools, PPGJ) 72 Perikatan Perempoean Indonesia (Federation of Indonesian Women) 74,93n Perjuangan Putri Republik Indonesia 141 Perkumpulan Pemberanta San Perdagangan Peremepuan dan Anak-Anak (Association for the Abolition of Trade in Women and Children, P4A) 75--6 Persatuan Muslim Indonesia (Indonesian Muslim Union, Permi) 77-9,89n Persatuan Perkumpulan Isteri Indonesia (Union of Organizations of Indonesian Wives, PPII) 71,74-8 Persatuan Tarbijah Indonesia (Indonesian Union for the Improvement of Education, Perti) 119,251 Persatuan Wanita Indonesia (Federation of Indonesian Women, Perwin) 82, 148 Persatuan Wanita Kristen Indonesia (Union Of Christian Women, PWKI) 119 Persatuan Wanita Murba (Federation of Murba Women, Perwamu) 164-5 Persatuan Wanita Republik Indonesia (Women's Federation of the Indonesian Republic,-Perwari) establishment of 24-5n Harian Rakyat and 276n joins Kowani 85 leaders of 55, 113,312-13 marriage reform and 115-19,253 and National Front 293 and party politics 100, 127, 313 and polygyny 47 relations with Gerwani 14, 122, 127, 137n,165,276n,312-13,339-40 relations with Sukarno 47,212 and Sukarno's marriage 47, 116-19, 121-2,339-40 and women's emancipation 6 Persatuan Wanita Sedar 141 Persaudaraan Isteri Tentara (Sisterhood of the Wives of the Armed Forces, Persit) 85 Peru SOn === [PDF page 407] === Index 388 Peserikatan Komunis di Indonesia (Indonesian Communist Federation) 57 Poetri Hindia (Young Women of India) 56 Political Information Services (PIS) 54, 73 polygyny Aidit and 197-8 Bhayangkari and 125, 129 in colonial times 63,74,76 Gerwaniand 10,45,181,225,264 Islamic women's groups and 57 Kartini and 49n, 194, 268-70, 278n New Order and 341 pensions and 115, 148-9, 151,249, 253-4 Permi and 77 Perwari and 47 PNI and 69-70 PPI9 (Peraturan Pemerintah 19) 148-9, 151,249,253-4 Prawinegara, Syafruddin 56 prices Api Kartini on 187n, 218, 240 Gerwani and 161-2,176-7, 179, 217-18,240 Harian Rakyat and 161 Pringgodigdo, Suwarni 75, 77-8, 84 priyayi 53,62-3, 88n, 141, 154,200 prostitution 63,64, 75-fJ, 79, 85, 121-2, 152,233,247-9,264,269 PRRIIPermesta movement 102-3, 133n, 213-14,225,284 Pusat Tenaga Rakyat (Centre for People's Power - Putera) 81 Putri Budi Sedjati (Young Women with True Minds) 76 Putri Mardika (Independent Women) 65 putsch (1965) 30,289-91,311, 330n qur'an 67,73,344 rape 157,160,249-51,258,269,336-8 revolutionary emancipation 264-71 Rosenbergs 198, 227n Rukun Putri (Association of Indonesian Yonng Women) 141 Said, Rasuna 78 Sarnanhudi, H. 57 santri 57,60, 88-9n, 109 Sarekat Buruh Perkebunan Republik Indonesia (Union of Indonesian Plantation Workers, Sarbupri) 149 Sarekat Dagang Islam (Islamic Trade League) 57 Sarekat Islam (Islamic League, SI) 19, 54, 57-8,68 Sarekat Perempuan Islam Indonesia 66 Sarekat Rakyat (People's League) 58,68 sarinah (Sukarno 1947) 83,99, 130, 169, 214,269-71,315-16 Sarjono, Umi and cadres in Gerwani 165,167,272 chair of Gerwani 151-2, 156, 169-70, 179,181,200,218,222-3,234, 266,291-2 and children's rights 237-8 and citizenship law 188-9n and land reform 177-8, 278n and marriage reform 157-9, 163, 252-3,255,278n and PKI 198-200 Sartika, Dewi 57,63,64 Sekber Golkar 110, 129, 138n, 302-3, 308-9 selir 51 n, 278n Serikat Perempuan (Islamic Yonng Women's League) 66 sexual division of labour 45, 99, 261-4 Singapore 105, 133n, 134n Siti Fatimah 66 Sneevliet, Henk 57-8, 64 SOBSI (Sentral Organisasi Buruh Seluruh Indonesia (All Indonesia Labour Unions Federation» 11, 21, 26n, 108-9,153,203,204-8,228n,229n, 23On,251,287,292,294, 299, 319 socialism Api Kartini on 164, 172, 189n, 210-11 Gerwaniand 44-8,160,164,173,192, 193-4,208-9,214-15,265-7 Harian Rakyat on 172,209-11 Soekaesih, Raden 68-9, 93n Soenda Berita (Sunda News) 56 Soendari,Siti 56,63 Soenting Melajoe (Malay Ornament) 65 Soetji, Hati (Pure Heart) 66 Solidaritas Perempuan 2 Soviet Union 45, 111, 180,207,210,220, 222,223,227n,240-1,247-8,254, 255--6 Sri Lanka 61 Sri Sumarah (Umar Kayam 1980) 34, 84 === [PDF page 408] === Index Srikandi 30,34,71,99,130, 180, 192, 224,230,242,270,273,282,327, 338-9,341 Subandrio, Mrs 126,128,169, 187n, 189n,311 Sudisman 194--6, 289 Suharti 151,180, 182n, 196,200,234, 271,277n Suharto, General bans PKI 317-18 bloody origins of 281-91 campaign after events of 1965 5,32-3, 280--1 and Gerwani 48, 306, 308-27 resignation 336 takes over as president 317-20 Sukarno, President Api Kartini on 214--16 becomes president (1945) 54--6 exiled (1933) 59 forms PKI 59 Gerwani and 11-12, 160, 164, 166, 169-73,180,181,189-93,212-19, 224--5,340--3 and guided democracy 102--{j, 132 HarianRakyaton 212-16 illness 8, 328n interned 54 and Islam 70 and Japanese rule 60 marriage to Hartini 116--18, 121-2, 125, 126, 131, 136n, 158, 169,212, 338-40 and nationalism 52-3, 98 overthrown 280--91, 317-18 and parliamentary democracy 100-1 Perwari and 47,121-2,212,339-40 and women's issues 7-8,32-3,47,61, 70--1,73,75,83,106,116 Sukarno, Magewati 344 Sulawesi 102, 133n, 182n, 251 Sumatra 55, 89n, 102, 149-50,255 Sumbadra 30, 34, 130, 140, 180, 242, 265,273,274,282,327,338-9,341 Syahir, Sutan 53, 55, 59, 60, 65, 82 Syam 283--{j,328n Syarifuddin, Amir 55, 60, 72, 82, 86, 89n ta'lik-al-talak 73 Taman Siswa (Garden of Destiny) 71-2 TAVIP 127,179, 189n Tirto Adhi Soerjo 56--7,61 389 Tjan, Harry 302 Toezicht Ordonnantie (Ordinance Of Surveillance) 71 Trikora 104, 120, 129, 173-4, 177, 215-16,277n Trimurti, Mrs 78,86, 89n, 111, 131, 142, 146--7, 151, 186n,234--6 Triple A movement 81 Ullfah, Maria 77-9,80,86,95, 113, United Nations 55, 86, 104--5, 134n, 216, United States of America 3, 24n, 38-9, 61,86, 89n, 104, 105, 172, 179,200, 217,220,222,235-6,258 cultural imperialism 243--7 Vietnam 3, 207, 263, 343 Vigilance Corps 60 wages, equality in 45, 63, 64, 77, 112, 113, 134--5n, 206--8, 264 Wahid, President 3, 4, 344-5 Wanita Katolik 19,67-8,85, 114, 122-8, 127-8,131,313 Wanita Madura 141 Wanita Negara Indonesia (Women of the Indonesian State, Wani) 84 Wanita Taman Siswa (Women of the Garden of Destiny) 71, 85 wayang 30,99,106,338-9 West Guinea 134n West Irian Api Kartini on 173-4 army and 102 Dutch and 104--5 Gerwani and 131, 159--{j0, 164, 169, 170, 171, 217-19,221-2,228n, 242,266 Harian Rakyat on 215-16,221-2, 262 Islamic organizations and 245 national Front and 109-10 PKI and 108 Trikora 104, 120, 129, 173-4, 177, 215-16,277n UN and 134n Westerling, Captain Raymond 'Turk' 182n Wild Schools 59,71-3, 182n Women's Democratic Organization (Somali) 48n === [PDF page 409] === 390 Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) Gerwani and 40, 120, 153, 163-4, 166-7, 212-13,219-23, 228n, Gerwis and ll2 Harian Rakyat on 219-20, 222 Kowani and 85-6 Women's suffrage 64,79-81 Index Yani, General 102,282-4, 3ll, 333n Youth Congress 59 Youth Corps 60 Youth Oath 59 Zeehandelaar, Stella 63, 65 Zetkin, Clara 42, 5On, 144-5,210-11, 222, 229-30n, 242, 264, 269, 270-1, 342