Aging ex-'Gerwani' members fight for justice

Aging ex-'Gerwani' members fight for justice

Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Cecilia and Felia get out of a sedan and carefully walk in their
stylish sandals on the wet cobbled stone floor on the side of the
house.

It has been raining since morning and nearly all the floor
outside -- and parts of the inside of the dilapidated house --
are wet.

To the three elderly women sitting on an old grey sofa on the
terrace, the two women in their early 30s introduced themselves
as churchgoers from North Jakarta, intending to give a donation
to the residents of the old folk's home.

"What can we donate? And by the way ma'am, what is the status
of this home? Is it state-run or run by a foundation?" she asked
while searching for a pen inside her pink clutch bag.

One of the elderly ladies, Lestari, explained that a
foundation ran the nursing home and there were eight people
living in the house.

"All of us are victims of the 1965 violence," she said ending
her brief overview.

"1965? What violence? What happened then?" Cecilia asked.

Lestari, now also joined by Sudjinah who sat next to her,
responded with what people normally knew about the Sept. 30, 1965
coup, attributed to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

The house was home to former political prisoners who were
associated with the party and the women were mostly members of
Gerwani -- Gerakan Wanita Indonesia or the Indonesian Women's
Movement.

"Oh, I see. Now I remember, there is a film, Pemberontakan
G30S PKI (G30S PKI rebellion) that we had to watch every year
before reformasi (the reform era). The Gerwani members gouged the
eyes of the generals and slashed their faces with a razor blade.
I remember that," Cecilia said naively.

Nothing changed in the facial expression of Lestari, Sudjinah
and Rukinah. There was no hostility at all as they smiled while
they talked in their soft and clear voices.

Obviously Cecilia was excited. "Cool -- I'm meeting you here.
I only know (about the rebellion) from history books and the
film. It's really cool."

As their guests left the terrace, Sudjinah muttered,"Young
people know nothing about the past. Too bad."

Smear campaign

Under Soeharto's three-decade regime, young Indonesians were
raised with the knowledge that the culprits in the 1965 coup were
the Communist party and its related organizations. The image of
people linked to the Communist party, Gerwani and other "banned"
organizations was that they were largely atheist, violent and
manipulative.

The decades-long systematic anti-Communist campaign proved to
be the most successful way to kill an ideology.

People with links to the Communist party were virtually cut
off from social, political and economy access. The
disenfranchisement, including the social labelling, applied even
to the children of people affiliated to the Communist party.

When Soeharto resigned, things did not improve for some former
political prisoners as they had already been robbed of a normal
existence.

Sixteen people, victims of stigmatization after being made
political prisoners, filed a class action lawsuit last year
against President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his predecessors
Megawati Soekarnoputri, Abdurrahman Wahid, B.J. Habibie and
Soeharto. The people include Rukinah, who is better known as Ibu
Noto, Lestari, Sudjinah and prolific author Pramoedya Ananta
Toer.

The sixteen people claimed to represent 20 million ex-
political prisoners.

The people, mostly over 70 years old, demanded the government
apologize and formally rehabilitate them. They also sought
between Rp 1 million and Rp 10 billion in damages for the stigma
they bore after imprisonment.

"I don't know the exact number of ex-political prisoners but
in Jakarta alone, there are several organizations where people
like us get together," said Ibu Noto.

Statistics however, are no longer the issue because one
person's experience is already a tragedy, with his or her own
heartbreaking story.

"Most of us are already over 70, yet many of us have not been
given a KTP (ID card) because we are ex-political prisoners," Ibu
Noto said.

The mother of four children was apprehended in Papua (then
Irian Jaya) for she was part of the Sukarno-founded National
Front.

The Yogyakarta native, whose husband perished in the 1945
independence war, served 14 years in Bukit Duri prison. She was
never tried.

"My children and relatives are fine. They know I did not do
anything nasty," she said. She was released in 1976 and eked out
a living by selling anything from food to herbal remedies.

Though not living in the nursing house, Ibu Noto frequents the
house to meet her friends.

Grande dames

Strong is probably the right word to describe Ibu Noto and her
friends although physically they are stooped and looking frail.

"If we ponder over what we've been through it is truely sad.
No living person deserves the torture and the stigma that we have
borne. But we must not give up the challenge to survive," she
said.

"Our daily meal was 17 kernels of boiled corn, the guards
really counted it and they stole every three grains of our
portion."

"They (the military) wanted us to starve to death."

While Ibu Noto and her friends could endure the prison torture
and harassment, they admitted that the saddest part of the jail
term was the perpetual grief of being separated from their loved
ones.

"I met my youngest daughter for the first time after 36
years," Lestari said, sharing her story.

"I left my children with a relative in the village when I was
arrested. Maybe, because my relative was scared, she separated
the children and gave them to other relatives. My youngest
daughter was left in a cemetery. She was only two months old back
then," she said.

The infant was found by a soldier who was part of the anti-
Communist Trisula Sakti operation.

"Not all military personnel are bad. They were just doing
their job. Many of them are just humans with a heart. In prison
some guards often said that the women prisoners reminded them of
their mothers and sisters."

Lestari was released in December 1979 after serving 11 years
in prison. The mother of five said she was jailed without trial
because she was a Gerwani member.

"Gerwani was not linked with PKI formally. We were an
independent organization which, at that time, was the most vocal
group in empowering women. We worked against polygamy, we
eradicated illiteracy, and we set up kindergartens throughout
rural areas in the country," she said firmly.

Robert Cribb's The Indonesian Killings of 1965-1966 explains
that Gerwani was never affiliated to the PKI but was to all
intents and purposes the party's women's organization, claiming
nine million members in 1961.

Saskia Wieringa also mentions in her report Feminism aborted:
Gerwani and the coup that after the coup Gerwani was the target
of hostility, because it was seen as having promoted promiscuity
and as having encouraged women to neglect their family duties.

For 78-year-old Sudjinah, formerly a journalist with Harian
Rakjat, the organization was her life, for she was widowed
without children. Her husband died in the pre-independence
guerrila struggle.

"I got caught in 1967 after living like a chameleon to evade
arrest. I worked with three other friends to print leaflets
supporting Sukarno," said Sudjinah who lost her front teeth in a
torture session while in jail.

Her testimony elucidated in the book, Terhempas Gelombang
Pasang (Hit by the Tide) was published five years ago.

The three "grande dames" are just part of a bigger picture; of
how their hard past could fuel their fighting spirit. And how
they could swallow the bitterness without hatred and revenge for
they believe what they know: They are innocent.

"Who doesn't want to die with a clear name and to be
remembered as a good person? Our fight is not over until we
achieve that," Ibu Noto said.