Benteng people (
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
: Orang Cina Benteng or Orang Tionghoa Benteng) are a
Chinese Indonesian
Chinese Indonesians ( id, Orang Tionghoa Indonesia) and colloquially Chindo or just Tionghoa are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries.
Chinese people and their Indonesian descendants have ...
community of '
Peranakan
The Peranakans () are an ethnic group defined by their genealogical descent from the first waves of Southern Chinese settlers to maritime Southeast Asia, known as Nanyang (), namely the British Colonial ruled ports in the Malay Peninsula, th ...
' or mixed descent, native to the historic
Tangerang
Tangerang (Sundanese: , ) is a city in the province of Banten, Indonesia. Located on the western border of Jakarta, it is the third largest urban centre in the Greater Jakarta metropolitan area after Jakarta and Bekasi; the sixth largest city pro ...
area in the modern-day Indonesian provinces of
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
,
Banten
Banten ( id, Banten; Sundanese: , romanized ''Banten'') is the westernmost province on the island of Java, Indonesia. Its capital city is Serang. The province borders West Java and the Special Capital Region of Jakarta on the east, the Java Se ...
and
West Java
West Java ( id, Jawa Barat, su, ᮏᮝ ᮊᮥᮜᮧᮔ᮪, romanized ''Jawa Kulon'') is a province of Indonesia on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten ...
.
Etymology
The name 'Benteng' is derived from the Malay word for 'fortress', used formerly to refer to the historic Tangerang area. It refers to a colonial fortress on the banks of the
Cisadane River
The Cisadane River is a long river in northern West Java, Indonesia.
The river has its source at Mount Pangrango, and passes through Bogor and Tangerang before flowing to the Java Sea.
The rivers in Banten, the westernmost province of Java, ru ...
, built by the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
in the seventeenth century as part of their defence system against the neighbouring
Sultanate of Banten
The Banten Sultanate (كسلطانن بنتن) was a Bantenese Islamic trading kingdom founded in the 16th century and centred in Banten, a port city on the northwest coast of Java; the contemporary English name of both was Bantam. It is said ...
.
History
Origin
According to a
Sundanese
Sundanese may refer to:
* Sundanese people
* Sundanese language
* Sundanese script
Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...
manuscript ''Tina Layang Parahyang'' (''Notes from
Parahyangan
Parahyangan ( su, ᮕᮛᮠᮡᮀᮠᮔ᮪; Bantenese: Priangan; Dutch: Preanger) is a cultural and mountainous region in West Java province on the Indonesian island of Java. Covering a little less than one sixth of Java, it is the heartla ...
''), the Chinese community of Batavia and Tangerang has existed since at least 1407 CE.
This manuscript recounts the arrival of among the earliest Chinese migrants to the area, led by a certain Tjen Tjie Lung, also dubbed 'Halung'.
They landed at the mouth of the Cisadane river, now called ''Teluk Naga'' (''Dragon's Bay'').
Subsequent waves of Chinese immigration from the seventeenth century onwards took place under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company.
Boen Tek Bio
Boen Tek Bio (Chinese: 文德廟, English: Temple of Literature and Virtue) is the oldest Chinese temple in Tangerang, Indonesia. It is located at the corner of Jalan Bhakti and Jalan Cilame in the heart of Pasar Lama, Tangerang's old market distr ...
, the oldest Chinese temple in Tangerang, was built by the community in 1684.
Some Benteng Chinese trace their origin to those fleeing Batavia during the
Chinese Massacre of 1740.
Contribution to Dutch colonialism
Many ethnic-Chinese allies and officials of the Dutch colonial authorities held office (see: ''
Kapitan Cina
Kapitan Cina, also spelled Kapitan China or Capitan China ( en, Captain of the Chinese; ; nl, Kapitein der Chinezen), was a high-ranking government position in the civil administration of colonial Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo and the ...
''), and owned landed estates (''particuliere landerijen'') in the historic Tangerang area.
The historian
Mona Lohanda
Mona Lohanda (4 November 1947 – 16 January 2021) was an Indonesian historian, archivist and academic, as well as a curator of the National Archives of Indonesia. She was a leading authority on the history of Batavia, as well as its Chinese-Indo ...
, herself a Benteng Chinese, goes so far as to say that "Tangerang was practically a Chinese private domain" (p. 258).
These landlords and bureaucrats also sponsored a large-scale migration of Chinese indentured laborers, who played a crucial role in the agricultural and economic development of the region.
Revolution
In the
Indonesian Revolution
The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during postwar and postcoloni ...
from 1945 to 1949, tension rose between indigenous Indonesians and Benteng Chinese, who were perceived to be in favour of the Dutch colonial ''status quo''.
On 23 June 1946, riots targeting Benteng Chinese homes broke out in Tangerang, where revolutionary militiamen sympathetic to the Indonesian republican cause looted Chinese possessions, including
Chinese prayer tables.
These riots were apparently triggered by placement of an Indonesian flag with a Dutch flag by a
Dutch colonial army soldier of
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
descent.
Indonesian journalist
Rosihan Anwar
Rosihan Anwar (10 May 1922 – 14 April 2011) was a renowned Indonesian journalist and author.
Rosihan Anwar was born in Kubang Nan Dua, West Sumatra. Rosihan received his early education at HIS and MULO in Padang. He continued his studies at A ...
wrote in the ''Merdeka'' daily on 13 June 1946 that relationship between native and Chinese Indonesians had reached an all-time low. Conditions worsened after
Pao An Tui
Pao An Tui () sometimes incorrectly spelled Po An Tui or Poh An Tui, was a self-defense force of the Chinese-Indonesian community during the Indonesian Revolution (1945–1949). The group has often been accused of pro-Dutch sympathies in the s ...
, a pro-Dutch Benteng Chinese youth group, mobilized armed groups to evacuate Benteng Chinese residents to Batavia. Anti-Chinese rioting was successfully suppressed by the alliance of
Pao An Tui
Pao An Tui () sometimes incorrectly spelled Po An Tui or Poh An Tui, was a self-defense force of the Chinese-Indonesian community during the Indonesian Revolution (1945–1949). The group has often been accused of pro-Dutch sympathies in the s ...
and Dutch colonial troops.
At the time, nearly the entire Benteng Chinese population was displaced, and upon returning, they found that their properties were no longer intact: their land holdings had been confiscated or their homes had been looted.
Upon
Indonesian independence
The Proclamation of Indonesian Independence ( id, Proklamasi Kemerdekaan Indonesia, or simply ''Proklamasi'') was read at 10:00 on Friday, 17 August 1945 in Jakarta. The declaration marked the start of the diplomatic and armed resistance of t ...
, Tangerang was the last part of Java to be handed over to the
Republic of Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. Ind ...
by the Dutch.
Traditional dress
The traditional dress of the Benteng people is a mixture of the Chinese traditional dress mostly of
Hokkien
The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...
heritage and the
Betawi traditional dress. The males wear a black shirt and long pants with a traditional hat in
conical shape. The female dress called 'hwa kun' is a blouse with headdress and veil. An alternative costume is the 'kebaya encim' of
Peranakan
The Peranakans () are an ethnic group defined by their genealogical descent from the first waves of Southern Chinese settlers to maritime Southeast Asia, known as Nanyang (), namely the British Colonial ruled ports in the Malay Peninsula, th ...
heritage.
Benteng people today
Benteng culture today is a mixture of Betawi and Chinese cultures. One example is ''cokek,'' a dance featuring a male and female couple set to
gambang kromong
Gambang kromong is a traditional orchestra of Betawi people which is a blend of gamelan, Western music and Chinese-style pentatonic base tones. Gambang kromong is closely associated with the Chinese Betawi community, especially the Chinese Perana ...
music. Religiously, the Benteng Chinese adhere to
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...
,
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
,
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmo ...
,
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
,
Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
, ancestor worship, and few adhere to
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
.
Although most Benteng people do not speak
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, they maintain a number of Chinese traditions, including the use of
Qing
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...
wedding costumes.
Prominent Benteng people
Notable people with Benteng Chinese heritage or ties include:
*
Tan Eng Goan
Tan Eng Goan, 1st Majoor der Chinezen (; 1802 – 17 September 1872) was a high-ranking bureaucrat who served as the first ''Majoor der Chinezen'' of Batavia (now Jakarta), capital of colonial Indonesia. This was the highest-ranking Chinese posi ...
, the
first ''Majoor der Chinezen'' of Batavia (1802-1872): bureaucrat and landlord.
*
Oey Giok Koen, Kapitein der Chinezen (died in 1912): bureaucrat, landlord and social activist.
*
Oey Djie San, Kapitein der Chinezen (died in 1925): bureaucrat, landlord and social activist.
*
Tan Liok Tiauw
Tan Liok Tiauw Sia (1872 - 1947) was a prominent Chinese-Indonesian landowner, planter and industrial pioneer in the late colonial period, best known today as the last ''Landheer'' (or landlord) of Batoe-Tjepper, now the district of Batuceper.
...
(1872-1947): colonial landlord, plantation owner and industrialist.
*
Mona Lohanda
Mona Lohanda (4 November 1947 – 16 January 2021) was an Indonesian historian, archivist and academic, as well as a curator of the National Archives of Indonesia. She was a leading authority on the history of Batavia, as well as its Chinese-Indo ...
: historian and academic.
*
Udaya Halim Udaya may refer to
* Udaya Pictures, a movie company in Kerala.
* Udaya TV, a Kannada-language television channel
* Udaya Manikya, a 16th-century king of Tripura
Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest sta ...
(born in 1953): entrepreneur and heritage activist.
*
Lo Tjit Siong (1894-1974): Iste wijkmeester der chinezen Tangerang, Founder of Siong Hin Benteng soy sauce company.
See also
*
Boen Tek Bio
Boen Tek Bio (Chinese: 文德廟, English: Temple of Literature and Virtue) is the oldest Chinese temple in Tangerang, Indonesia. It is located at the corner of Jalan Bhakti and Jalan Cilame in the heart of Pasar Lama, Tangerang's old market distr ...
: the oldest Chinese temple in Tangerang.
*
Benteng Heritage Museum: a local museum highlight Benteng Chinese heritage and culture.
References
External links
{{Ethnic Groups of Indonesia
Chinese diaspora in Indonesia
Ethnic groups in Indonesia