Han Oen Lee, Luitenant der Chinezen (1856—1893) was 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 l ...

magnate, who governed the Chinese community of

Bekasi Bekasi (, su, ) is a city in West Java, Indonesia, located on the eastern border of Jakarta.the city of planet Bekasi is his nickname.It serves as a commuter city within the Jakarta metropolitan area. According to the 2020 Census by Statistic ...

as its '' Luitenant der Chinezen'', an important administrative post in the Dutch colonial bureaucracy. He was also the ''Landheer'' (landlord) of the ''particuliere land'' (private domain) of Gaboes. Today, he is best known as the father of the late colonial statesman

Hok Hoei Kan Kan Hok Hoei Sia (; 6 January 1881 - 1 March 1951), generally known as Hok Hoei Kan or in short H. H. Kan, was a prominent public figure, statesman and patrician landowner of Peranakan Chinese descent in the Dutch East Indies (today known as Indo ...

(1881—1951). Born in Surabaya,

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...

, Dutch East Indies in 1856, Han Oen Lee Sia came from the influential

Han family of Lasem The Han family of Lasem, also called the Han family of East Java or Surabaya, was an influential family of the 'Cabang Atas' or the Chinese gentry of the Dutch East Indies (today known as Indonesia). They came to power in the Indies through their ...

, part of the 'Cabang Atas' gentry of colonial Indonesia. His father, Han Tjoei Hing Sia (died in 1882), was a local landlord and a great-grandson of Han Khee Bing, Luitenant der Chinezen (1749—1768), who was in turn the eldest son of Han Bwee Kong, Kapitein der Chinezen of Surabaya (1727—1778), an important ally and comprador of 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 ...

. As the issue of a long line of Chinese officers, Han bore the hereditary title of ''

Sia Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...

'' from birth. On March 8, 1876, Han married the heiress Kan Oe Nio (1850—1910), who was six years his senior, at the bride's hometown of

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

, capital of the Dutch East Indies. Han's wife was a daughter of one of the colony's wealthiest tycoons, Kan Keng Tjong (1797—1871), and Jo Heng Nio (1827—1900), as well as a sister-in-law of Lie Tjoe Hong, the 3rd Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia. Han and his wife had three children: Han Khing Bie Sia (1878—1864), Han Khing Tjiang Sia (later known as Hok Hoei Kan) and Han Tek Nio (1883—1969). On April 15, 1886, Han Oen Lee Sia was appointed by the Dutch colonial government to the post of Luitenant der Chinezen of Bekasi, a district located east of Batavia, in the region of Han's private domain of Gaboes (now in Bekasi Regency). There, Luitenant Han Oen Lee introduced a new variety of rice from

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

southern China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

, which had larger grains and produced a more plentiful harvest. Han also operated a steam-powered rice mill on the estate. Luitenant Han Oen Lee served in his government position until his untimely death due to a major fire in Batavia's Chinese quarter,

Glodok Glodok () is an urban village of Taman Sari, West Jakarta, Indonesia. The area is also known as Pecinan or Chinatown since the Dutch colonial era, and is considered the biggest in Indonesia. Majority of the traders and residents of Glodok are C ...

, in 1893. Family lore recounts how the Luitenant climbed up to the roof of his family house, holding two sacred family krises, named ''Pangeran Api'' (prince of fire) and ''Pangeran Angin'' (prince of wind), thus magically diverting the fire away. Jakarta folklore has it that the fire leapt over the Molenvliet canal thanks to the magical power of the krises. Han, however, died from fire-related injuries a few days later. On his death, his eldest son, Han Khing Bie Sia, inherited Gaboes. His younger son, Han Khing Tjiang Sia, was adopted by his childless brother-in-law, Kan Tjeng Soen (1855—1896), renamed Kan Hok Hoei Sia and was made the principal heir of the name and fortune of the latter's maternal grandfather, Kan Keng Tjong. Han's youngest son, as Hok Hoei Kan, became a leading politician of the late colonial period.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Han, Oen Lee 1856 births 1893 deaths Kapitan Cina Cabang Atas Indonesian people of Chinese descent People from Batavia, Dutch East Indies People from Jakarta People from Surabaya People from the Dutch East Indies Han family of Lasem Sia (title)