Gerwani Defamed, Sukarno Overthrown

Abstract

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 campaign of sexual slander against Gerwani followed, in the wake of which an estimated million people were killed.¹ 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.

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)