The Chinese Indonesian Democratic Party ( id, Partai Demokrat Tionghoa Indonesia; () was a political party that existed during the Guided Democracy era in Indonesia, from 1948 until 1965. The party identified itself as a supporter for the relationship between Indonesia and China, and supported the mandatory teaching of the

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

in Indonesian schools.

History

Background

The two major ethnic Chinese political parties of the pre-revolutionary period, Chung Hwa Hui (CHH) and Partai Tionghoa Indonesia (PTI), were both disbanded in 1942 at the start of the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The idea of reviving a political party for

Chinese Indonesians 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 l ...

was proposed as an initiative by the Sin Ming Hui Association. As a result, several heads of the Chinese diaspora in Indonesia were invited by the association to discuss about this matter. The discussion resulted in the formation of a preparatory committee. The preparatory committee established the political party on 23 May 1948 as the Chinese Union ( id, Persatoean Tionghoa), and the establishment was followed shortly with the First Congress of the Persatoean Tionghoa. It was a thinly guised revival of the colonial-era, centre-right party Chung Hwa Hui. The congress elected a former CHH board member

Thio Thiam Tjong Thio Thiam Tjong (born on 4 April 1896 – died on 19 September 1969) was an Indonesian politician, community leader and businessman whose public career spanned from the late colonial period to the early decades of Independence. He was a founding ...

as the chairman of the party.

Development

Two years after the party was established, the party already had twenty seven branches in the provinces of Indonesia, ranging from

Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four main ...

to Ternate. The party had already enlisted tens of thousands members, and different Chinese organizations joined the party, such as C.H.T.H., Tionghoa Siang Hwee, Sin Ming Hui, and C.H.T.N.H, making it the largest political party for the

at that time. In February 1950,

Liem Koen Hian Liem Koen Hian (3 November 1897 – 4 November 1952) was an Indonesian journalist and politician. He was born in Banjarmasin, the son of a local peranakan Chinese business owner, Liem Ke An. He attended the Hollands-Chineesche School to class 6, ...

, founder of the colonial-era Partai Tionghoa Indonesia – CHH's old adversary – criticised the new Thio-led party as naive and incompetent, unable to deal with the indigenous Indonesian majority. Liem founded ''Persatuan Tenaga Indonesia'' (the 'Union of Indonesian Labour'), thus reviving the old colonial-era rivalry between CHH and PTI, but in a new post-revolutionary guise. The party held its second congress in Jakarta on 11 until 12 March 1950. On the congress, the party's name was changed to the Chinese Indonesian Democratic Party. The third party congress was held in Bandung on 11 until 13 August 1950. The party agreed to create and approve a new constitution.

References

Bibliography

* {{Former Indonesian political parties Political parties established in 1948 Political parties disestablished in 1965 1965 disestablishments in Indonesia 1948 establishments in Indonesia