Wikipedia

Tan Tiang Po

Tan Tiang Po, Luitenant der Chinezen (1846–1912), also spelled Tan Tjeng Po, was a colonial Chinese-Indonesian bureaucrat, landowner, philanthropist and the penultimate Landheer (landlord) of the domain (particuliere land) of Batoe-Tjepper in the Dutch East Indies.[1][2][3][4]

Tan Tiang Po, Luitenant der Chinezen
Born1846
Batavia, Dutch East Indies
Died1912 (aged 65–66)
Batavia, Dutch East Indies
Occupation(s)Luitenant der Chinezen, Landheer
SpouseLim Hong Nio
ChildrenTan Him Nio (daughter)
Tan Liok Tiauw (son)
Parents
FamilyLim Soe Keng Sia (father-in-law)
Khouw Yauw Kie, Kapitein der Chinezen (son-in-law)
Tan Eng Goan, Majoor der Chinezen (grandfather-in-law)
Loa Sek Hie (grandson-in-law)
In this Chinese name, the family name is Tan.

Background and family

edit

Born in 1846 in Batavia (now Jakarta), Tan hailed from the 'Cabang Atas' or the Chinese gentry of colonial Indonesia on both sides of his family.[5] His father, the magnate Tan Kang Soeij (1827 – 1867), served as Luitenant der Chinezen of Weltevreden and sat on the Chinese Council (Kong Koan) of Batavia from 1860 to 1866.[5] The Chinese officership was a prestigious bureaucratic appointment in the Dutch colonial government with administrative authority over the colony's ethnic Chinese subjects.[6] Through his father, Tan was a grandson of the tycoon and pachter (revenue farmer) Tan Leng (1801 – 1851), part of the powerful Ngo Ho Tjiang Kongsi.[7][8][5] Tan was also a half-nephew and near contemporary of Tan Kang Ie, Luitenant der Chinezen of Bekasi (1847 – 1908).[5] Through his mother, Tjie Tjan Nio, Tan was a grandson of the bureaucrat Tjie Kim Louw, Luitenant-Boedelmeester der Chinezen (1801 – 1883), who sat on the college van Boedelmeesters (board of state trustees) and acted as Secretary of the Chinese Council.[8][5]

Around the mid-1860s at Batoe-Tjepper, Tan married Lim Hong Nio, daughter of the administrator of Ngo Ho Tjiang, Lim Soe Keng Sia and Tan Bit Nio.[5] Tan’s wife was a descendant of two of Java’s most eminent Cabang Atas families as the granddaughter of Lim Ke Tjang, Kapitein der Chinezen of Tegal in Central Java, and of Tan Eng Goan, the 1st Majoor der Chineezen of Batavia.[5]

The couple had two children, Tan Him Nio (1868 – 1949), who married the landowner Khouw Yauw Kie, Kapitein der Chinezen, and Tan Liok Tiauw (1872 – 1947), who succeeded his father as the last Landheer of Batoe-Tjepper.[5] His granddaughter through his son, Tan Pouw Nio, was married to the colonial politician and community leader Loa Sek Hie.[5]

Education and career

edit

Tan received a traditional, classical Chinese education from private tutors; unusually for the time, he also had a European tutor who taught him Dutch and gave him some western education.[5][2][4] As the son and grandson of Chinese officers, he bore the hereditary title ‘Sia’.[9]

Probably some years after his father’s acquisition in 1862 of the particuliere land of Batoe-Tjepper in Tangerang, Tan Tiang Po Sia moved there as administrator of the estate.[5][2][4] He is recorded as already holding that post in 1865, and continued to do so after his father’s death in 1867 under the tenure of his widowed mother Tjie Tjan Nio, who inherited the domain from her husband.[2][4]

As a landlord, Tan was well-regarded by the local community thanks to his extensive philanthropy.[1][3] In 1870, he was named by the Java-Bode newspaper as a significant contributor to the Red Cross, while in 1874 he founded a school in Batoe-Tjepper to provide a free education for the poorer children of the inhabitants of his domain.[1][3]

In 1877, Tan was elevated to the Chinese lieutenancy in Tangerang under the headship of Lim Tjong Hien, Kapitein der Chinezen of Tangerang.[10][5] Together with the whole officer corps of Tangerang in active service, Tan extended his patronage in 1878 to Boen Tek Bio, the oldest Chinese temple in the region, and helped purchase the shrine’s burial grounds.[11] Tan served as Luitenant until 1885, when he requested and was granted an honourable discharge.[12][5]

In 1899, he incorporated a landholding company, N. V. Landbouw Tan Tiang Po, which held the family’s subsidiary domains of Rawa Boeaja, Tanah Kodja, Pondok Kosambi, Minggoe Djawa and later a significant erfpacht (leasehold) in Kapoek.[13][2][4] Most of the latter leasehold had been part of the private domain of Tan’s grandfather-in-law, Majoor Tan Eng Goan.[6]

Tan Tiang Po, oud-Luitenant der Chinezen and Landheer of Batoe-Tjepper died in Batavia in 1912.[14][15][2][4] The colonial press noted that his remains were brought back by automobile for burial at Batoe-Tjepper.[14] A significant part of Tan’s landholdings now forms part of Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, while the elite suburb of Pantai Indah Kapuk occupies part of N. V. Landbouw Tan Tiang Po’s leasehold of Kapoek.[2][4]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c Thamrin, Mahandis Yoanata (29 April 2019). "Koran Kuno tentang Peran Tuan Tanah Cina dalam Pendidikan di Tangerang" (in Indonesian). National Geographic. National Geographic. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Noor, Muhamad Mulki Mulyadi; Zuhdi, Susanto (2020). "Conflict in Private Land: The Role of "Yellow Journalism" in the Turmoil of Batu Ceper, Tangerang 1934". Indonesian Historical Studies. 4 (2): 113–127. doi:10.14710/ihis.v4i2.8875. S2CID 230627669.
  3. ^ a b c Thamrin, Mahandis Yoanata (1 February 2021). "Filantrop Tionghoa yang Terlupakan Zaman" (in Indonesian). No. 701. Intisari. Intisari. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Mulyadi, Mulki (September 2021). Petani dan Pergerakan Nasional. Keterlibatan Organisasi Tirtayasa dalam Peristiwa Batu Ceper 1934 (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Guepedia. ISBN 9786235541068. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Haryono, Steve (2017). Perkawinan Strategis: Hubungan Keluarga Antara Opsir-opsir Tionghoa Dan 'Cabang Atas' Di Jawa Pada Abad Ke-19 Dan 20. Utrecht: Steve Haryono. ISBN 978-90-90-30249-2. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  6. ^ a b Lohanda, Mona (1996). The Kapitan Cina of Batavia, 1837-1942: A History of Chinese Establishment in Colonial Society. Jakarta: Djambatan. ISBN 978-979-428-257-1. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  7. ^ N. V. Hap Sing Kong Sie (1915). Tambahsia. Suwatu Cerita yang Betul Sudah Kejadian di Betawi Antara Tahun 1851-1856 (1st ed.). Semarang: N. V. Hap Sing Kong Sie.
  8. ^ a b Chen, Menghong (2011). De Chinese gemeenschap van Batavia, 1843-1865: een onderzoek naar het Kong Koan-archief (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 978-90-8728-133-5. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  9. ^ Blussé, Leonard; Chen, Menghong (1 January 2003). The Archives of the Kong Koan of Batavia. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-13157-6. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  10. ^ "Java-bode : nieuws, handels- en advertentieblad voor Nederlandsch-Indie". Bestuur over Vreemde Oosterlingen (in Dutch). Vol. 228, no. 26. Bruining. Bruining. 29 September 1877. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  11. ^ "Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië". West-Java. Tangerang. Om Een Stuk Grond. Koopsom en schadeloosstelling. (in Dutch). Vol. 231, no. 44. NV Mij tot Expl. van Dagbladen. NV Mij tot Expl. van Dagbladen. 16 October 1939. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  12. ^ "De locomotief: Samarangsch handels- en advertentie-blad". Benoemingen, enz. Inlandsch Bestuur (in Dutch). Vol. 251, no. 34. De Groot, Kolff & Co. De Groot, Kolff & Co. 17 October 1885. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  13. ^ "Tan Tiang Po Landbouw". www.colonialbusinessindonesia.nl. Universiteit Leiden. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  14. ^ a b "Practisch". Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië. No. Jaargang 17. Nummer 196. NV Mij tot Expl. van Dagbladen. 23 August 1912. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  15. ^ De Indische gids (in Dutch). Batavia. 1912. Retrieved 17 November 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tan_Tiang_Po&oldid=1223295532"