Uncovering the Lost History of Gerwani

Rachel Rinaldo, Contributor, Jakarta

Sexual Politics in Indonesia; By Saskia Wieringa; Palgrave MacMillan, 2002; 390 pp

Why is the history of Gerakan Wanita Indonesia (Gerwani), the mass women's organization once associated with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) still unknown to most Indonesians? Who really were the women of Gerwani and what were their politics?

These were among the questions that inspired Saskia Wieringa as she undertook years of research on the Indonesian women's movement. The result is a pioneering history of this controversial women's group and a chronicle of the sexual politics that surrounded its demise.

Wieringa begins by sketching out the development of the Indonesian women's movement from its beginnings in the 1920s through the Sukarno period, examining influences such as feminism, Marxism, and nationalism.

But the bulk of Sexual Politics focuses on the emergence, expansion and downfall of Gerwani. Wieringa analyzes Gerwani's relationship with the PKI, with attention to how Gerwani negotiated the competing ideological poles of the PKI and Sukarno.

She examines Gerwani's beliefs about gender and womanhood, and how they evolved as the organization's early feminism gave way to more rigid nationalist and Marxist ideals.

Finally, she also investigates Gerwani's role in the events of 1965, arguing that Soeharto's rise to power was legitimized through accusations of sexual debauchery allegedly committed by members of Gerwani, and that the New Order state's identity depended on sexual metaphors linking communism with sexual depravity and unrestrained women.

Though other scholars have touched on similar themes, as the first thorough study of Gerwani, Sexual Politics in Indonesia is a milestone. Wieringa's account is comprehensive, and includes numerous quotes and anecdotes from former Gerwani members and other activist women.

She details how women joined the group, discusses Gerwani's relationship to other women's groups, and provides harrowing accounts of arrests and torture after 1965. The testimonies drawn from Wieringa's interviews also provide a remarkable glimpse into the turbulent and politicized Indonesia of mid-century.

Moreover, she scrutinizes the gendered aspects of the events of 1965, asserting that a particular representation of those events became the underpinning of the New Order.

She contests the narrative of Gerwani members castrating and brutally killing the generals on the night of Sept. 30, arguing that this information was consciously disseminated by the military to justify eliminating the communist threat.

She presents statements from women that contradict the military's portrayal of the events that night, and reminds readers that the autopsy report Benedict Anderson published in 1987 indicates that the bodies of the generals did not show signs of sexual mutilation.

In addition to these historical revelations, which by now are familiar to many, Wieringa also develops the concept of "militant motherhood" to describe Gerwani's brand of feminism.

According to Wieringa, Gerwani promoted equality for women, while also accepting the widespread belief in women's "natural" difference from men. Gerwani drew on the Javanese wayang (puppet) character Srikandi to blend militant activism with a traditional acceptance of women's primary role as mothers.

Militant motherhood is a notion that feminist scholarship occasionally mentions, but rarely clarifies. In Sexual Politics, Wieringa makes an excellent case for the radicalism of militant motherhood in the Indonesian context. Gerwani promoted a rather conservative morality, emphasizing monogamous marriage and heterosexuality, while condemning prostitution, forced marriage, and rock music.

As time went on, they were more concerned about women's economic rights than with the relationship between men and women in the household. Yet their stance as wives and mothers fighting for their rights challenged long-standing assumptions about politics as an exclusively male realm. Wieringa argues that it was this aspect of Gerwani, rather than their actual ideology, that inflamed conservative anger.

Though feminism today is obviously a broad term that includes different and sometimes clashing ideas, many feminists reject the idea that motherhood or biological imperatives define a woman. But for Gerwani, such a stance was almost unthinkable. Militant motherhood is a useful way to capture Gerwani's radical activity, and avoids evaluating Gerwani's feminist politics against a rigid, western definition of feminism.

Sexual Politics in Indonesia is aimed at an academic audience, and so is heavily referenced and footnoted. It is drawn from Wieringa's PhD thesis, parts of which have been published as articles. Readers of Wieringa's work will be familiar with many of the conclusions presented, but Sexual Politics also includes additional material collected in the late 1990s. The book is fairly free of jargon and accessible enough for non-academic readers.

Unfortunately, despite its enthralling subject matter, Sexual Politics lacks some of the rich ethnographic detail one might hope for in such a work. Notwithstanding many quotes from former activists, Sexual Politics does not offer much information about women's everyday lives or their living conditions. How did their families react to their political activism? What did their friends and neighbors think?

Wieringa notes that some Gerwani members had difficult relationships with their husbands, who desired more traditional spouses, but there is little description of what it was really like to be in such a marriage, and how it affected the politics of the women in question.

Surprisingly, Wieringa also gives few particulars on the actual sexual politics of Gerwani members. For instance, how did they understand women's sexuality? In this sense, the title Sexual Politics in Indonesia is slightly misleading. Though it apparently refers to the way in which certain views of sexuality were used to discredit Gerwani and turn them into monsters, the chapters about Gerwani and the women's movement are more about conceptions of gender than they are about sexuality.

Nevertheless, Sexual Politics in Indonesia is an important and stimulating study, and deserves to reach a broad audience.

In Indonesia, the story of Gerwani, and of the women's movement during the revolutionary period, has been up until now something of a lost history.

With the recent death of Ibu Sulami, former secretary-general of Gerwani, and the advancing ages of other former participants, it could soon become inaccessible except through archival documents.

Wieringa has made a vital contribution by bringing to light the history of Gerwani and the roles of gender and sexuality in the pivotal events of 1965.

Sexual Politics in Indonesia is not readily available in Indonesian bookstores. However, bookstores should be able to order it from the UK.