Ko Kwat Tiong Sia (1896–1970), known as
Mr.
''Mister'', usually written in its contracted form ''Mr.'' or ''Mr'', is a commonly used English honorific for men without a higher honorific, or professional title, or any of various designations of office. The title 'Mr' derived from earlier ...
Ko Kwat Tiong and later Mohamad Saleh, was a prominent Indonesian politician, lawyer, civil servant and university lecturer.
He was elected to the
Volksraad The Volksraad was a people's assembly or legislature in Dutch or Afrikaans speaking government.
Assembly South Africa
*Volksraad (South African Republic) (1840–1902)
*Volksraad (Natalia Republic), a similar assembly that existed in the Natalia Re ...
(the colonial legislature) in 1935 as a representative of the
Partai Tionghoa Indonesia
The Partai Tionghoa Indonesia ( en, Chinese Indonesian Party; ) was a left-wing political party in the Dutch East Indies during the Great Depression. Influenced by the growing Indonesian nationalist movement, it proposed a third way beyond the p ...
(PTI: the 'Chinese-Indonesian Party'), and – after
Independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
in 1945 – headed the (the ‘Public Trustee Office’) in Central Java until retiring in 1960.
Biography
Family and early life
Ko was born in 1898 in Parakan,
Central Java
Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...
to the town's ''
Luitenant der Chinezen'',
Ko Djie Soen (in office from 1893 until 1898), and as such into a ''
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 ...
'' family of the ‘
Cabang Atas
The Cabang Atas (''Van Ophuijsen Spelling System'': Tjabang Atas) — literally 'highest branch' in Indonesian language, Indonesian — was the traditional Chinese establishment or gentry of Dutch East Indies, colonial Indonesia. They were the fa ...
’ gentry.
The Chinese lieutenancy was a post in the colonial civil administration (the ''Bestuur over Vreemde Oosterlingen'') with political and legal jurisdiction over the local Chinese community; by Indies custom, as the son of a Chinese officer, Ko Kwat Tiong bore the hereditary style 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 ...
.
Ko was brought up by his much-older brother, the prominent businessman and community leader , who founded the eponymous cigar factory in
Magelang
Magelang () is one of six cities in Central Java that are administratively independent of the regencies in which they lie geographically. Each of these cities is governed by a mayor rather than a ''bupati''. Magelang city covers an area of 18. ...
, Central Java.
Ko attended the
Europeesche Lagere School
Europeesche Lagere School (ELS) was a European elementary school system in what was then the Dutch East Indies during colonial rule. The schools were intended primarily for Europeans. The implementation of basic education at that time was diffe ...
(ELS) in Magelang and the
Hogere Burgerschool (HBS) in
Semarang
Semarang ( jv, ꦏꦸꦛꦯꦼꦩꦫꦁ , Pegon: سماراڠ) is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. ...
; both institutions only admitted elite European students and a very small number of select non-Europeans.
At the HBS, he founded a western-style club, named ‘Djien Gie Lee Tie Sien’ after the
five Confucian virtues, which Ko – conversant only in
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
,
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
,
Javanese and European languages – studied in western translations of the
Chinese classics
Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucian ...
.
Early career and Leiden
Instead of going to university in Europe, as originally planned, Ko was forced because of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
to postpone his studies.
He worked as a journalist in
Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...
for ''Palita'', a local newspaper, then at the Escompto Bank (now ).
It was only in 1920, together with his first wife Lie Giok Ing, that Ko finally left for the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
to study law at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
.
While in Leiden, Ko joined ''
Chung Hwa Hui Nederland Chung may refer to:
Surnames
* Chung (surname)
* Jeong (surname), Korean surname
* Zhong (surname), or Chung, Chinese surname
* Cheung, or Chung, Cantonese surname
Geography
* Chung, Iran, a village in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Iran
* C ...
'', a Peranakan student association, and socialised in elite Peranakan student circles.
He did, however, also associate with
indigenous Indonesian students, such
Sartono
Sartono (5 August 1900 – 15 October 1968) was an Indonesian politician and lawyer who served as the first speaker of the People's Representative Council (DPR) from 1950 until 1960. Born to a noble ethnic- Javanese family, Sartono studied ...
,
Sastromoeljono
Mr. Raden Sastromoeljono (16 October 1898 – 28 June 1956) was a lawyer and the acting mayor of Jakarta. He was a member of the Perhimpoenan Indonesia organization, and in 1945 was appointed as the member Investigating Committee for Preparatory Wo ...
,
Besar Mertokoesoemo, Mochamad Soejoedi and
Soenario
Soenario Sastrowardoyo ( EYD: Sunario Sastrowardoyo; 28 August 1902 – 18 May 1997), more commonly known simply as Soenario, was an Indonesian politician, and diplomat, who served as the 7th Foreign Minister of Indonesia, from 1953 until 1 ...
who would all later feature prominently as leaders of the
Partai Nasional Indonesia
The Indonesian National Party ( id, Partai Nasional Indonesia, PNI) was the name used by several nationalist political parties in Indonesia from 1927 until the 2000s. The first PNI was established by future President Sukarno. After independence, th ...
(PNI: the 'Indonesian National Party'), an influential political party in post-revolutionary Indonesia.
Ko graduated in 1926, then returned to Java.
Legal and political career
Settling down in Semarang, Ko initially joined the law firm of his Leiden contemporary
H. K. Jauw, a judge of the city's European Court.
Later on, together with his nephew, near contemporary and Leiden alumnus,
Ko Tjay Sing, Ko shared a legal bureau with their indigenous fellow Leiden law graduates.
Through their association with Indonesians, the Ko men developed an affinity with, and sympathy for, the
Indonesian nationalist movement.
As a
Freemason
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
, Ko also believed in the fraternity and equality of all men.
In 1928, when the political party
Chung Hwa Hui
Chung Hwa Hui (1928–1942; the 'Chinese Association'), also known as CHH, was a conservative, largely pro-Dutch political organisation and party in the Dutch East Indies (today Indonesia), often criticised as a mouthpiece of the Cabang Atas, col ...
(CHH) was founded as an affiliate of Ko Kwat Tiong's old Dutch student association, Ko immediately became a member.
Unlike the so-called ''Sin Po'' group, which promoted loyalty to the pre-war
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
, CHH's political allegiance was to the Dutch East Indies as the homeland of the Indies-born
Chinese-Indonesians.
When it became clear, however, that CHH was dominated by entrenched interests of the Cabang Atas and ethnic Chinese conglomerates, led by the pro-Dutch patrician
H. H. 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 Indon ...
, Ko resigned his membership and distanced himself from CHH.
When the
leftwing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
newspaper man
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, ...
founded the
Partai Tionghoa Indonesia
The Partai Tionghoa Indonesia ( en, Chinese Indonesian Party; ) was a left-wing political party in the Dutch East Indies during the Great Depression. Influenced by the growing Indonesian nationalist movement, it proposed a third way beyond the p ...
on 25 September 1932, Ko enthusiastically joined the new political outfit.
At his own initiative, Ko set up PTI's Semarang branch on 9 October that year, acting as its chairman before being elected in 1934 as president of the party's central board in succession to Liem.
The PTI fully supported the Indonesian nationalist movement and saw ethnic Chinese, like other ethnic groups in the Indies, as part of the emerging Indonesian nation.
In 1935, as a representative of the PTI, Ko won a seat in
that year's election to the Volksraad.
During his tenure in the nascent colonial legislature from 1935 until 1939, Ko campaigned for racial equality for all under Indies law, and for a more progressive labour law regime.
In 1936, together with co-legislators
Soetardjo Kartohadikoesoemo,
Sayyid Ismail Alatas,
I. J. Kasimo,
Sam Ratulangi
Dr. Gerungan Saul Samuel Jacob Ratulangi (also written as ''Ratu Langie''; 5 November 1890 – 30 June 1949) was a Minahasan teacher, journalist, politician, and National Hero of Indonesia, national hero from North Sulawesi, Indonesia. He was part ...
and
Datoek Toemoenggoeng, Ko initiated and was one of the six signatories of the
Soetardjo Petition The Soetardjo Petition of 1936 was a motion of the Volksraad (a nascent legislative body) of the Dutch East Indies, instigated by the legislator Soetardjo Kartohadikusumo, which was submitted as a petition to Queen Wilhelmina and the Estates Genera ...
, which was a request to
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War ...
for Indonesian independence as part of a Dutch commonwealth under the
Dutch Crown
The Council of Ministers of the Kingdom ( nl, Ministerraad van het Koninkrijk or ''Rijksministerraad'') is the executive council of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which is a state consisting of four constituent countries: Aruba, Curaçao, the Ne ...
.
On 19 September 1936, Ko gave a speech in support of the parliamentary motion, which was passed by the Volksraad, but refused by the Dutch and colonial authorities in 1938.
In 1939, Ko – the Dutch-educated son of a Chinese officer – was elected chairman of the Federasi Perkoempoeloan Boeroeh Tionghoa (the ‘Federation of Chinese Labour Unions’), an ethnic Chinese trade union organisation.
Ko's politics, while progressive, did not go far enough for more left-leaning members of the PTI – including Liem,
Tan Ling Djie
Tan Ling Djie (5 August 1904 – ) was Indonesian Communist Party of Indonesia, communist politician active during the late 1940s and 1950s.
Early life
Tan Ling Djie was born in Surabaya, on 5 August 1904. He studied at Rechts Hoge School (RHS ...
and
Tjoa Sik Ien – who, espousing
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
or even
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
sympathies, advocated anti-Dutch Indonesian nationalism and rejected cooperation with the Dutch colonial state.
Ko also clashed with Liem in the former's decision to open the PTI not just to Indies-born Chinese, but to all ethnic Chinese residents of the Indies, including ''
totok
Totok is an Indonesian term of Javanese origin, used in Indonesia to refer to recent migrants of Arab, Chinese or European origins. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was popularised among colonists in Batavia, who initially coined ...
'' Chinese.
In the lead-up to the 1939 Volksraad election, this conflict erupted into the open and led to Ko's expulsion from the PTI.
Post-war career and death
After the
Japanese occupation of the Indies (1942–1945) 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 ...
, Ko joined the
Partai Nasional Indonesia
The Indonesian National Party ( id, Partai Nasional Indonesia, PNI) was the name used by several nationalist political parties in Indonesia from 1927 until the 2000s. The first PNI was established by future President Sukarno. After independence, th ...
(PNI) of his Indonesian Leiden contemporaries in 1945, but did not further his political involvement.
Ko served instead as head of the Balai Harta Peninggalan (the ‘Public Trustee Office’) in Central Java until retiring in 1960.
He subsequently became a university lecturer at a number of universities, particularly
Universitas Diponegoro
Diponegoro University ( jv, ꦈꦤꦶꦥ꦳ꦼꦂꦱꦶꦠꦱ꧀ꦢꦶꦥꦤꦼꦒꦫ; id, Universitas Diponegoro, abbreviated as Undip) is a public university in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. Founded in 1957 as a private university by th ...
.
Having been widowed, Ko married his former secretary Roemini around 1947 and converted 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 ...
, taking the Muslim name Mohamad Saleh.
He died in Semarang on 17 June 1970.
See also
*
Partai Tionghoa Indonesia
The Partai Tionghoa Indonesia ( en, Chinese Indonesian Party; ) was a left-wing political party in the Dutch East Indies during the Great Depression. Influenced by the growing Indonesian nationalist movement, it proposed a third way beyond the p ...
*
Soetardjo Petition The Soetardjo Petition of 1936 was a motion of the Volksraad (a nascent legislative body) of the Dutch East Indies, instigated by the legislator Soetardjo Kartohadikusumo, which was submitted as a petition to Queen Wilhelmina and the Estates Genera ...
*
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, ...
*
Chung Hwa Hui
Chung Hwa Hui (1928–1942; the 'Chinese Association'), also known as CHH, was a conservative, largely pro-Dutch political organisation and party in the Dutch East Indies (today Indonesia), often criticised as a mouthpiece of the Cabang Atas, col ...
*
H. H. 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 Indon ...
*
Partai Nasional Indonesia
The Indonesian National Party ( id, Partai Nasional Indonesia, PNI) was the name used by several nationalist political parties in Indonesia from 1927 until the 2000s. The first PNI was established by future President Sukarno. After independence, th ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ko, Kwat Tiong
1896 births
1970 deaths
People from Magelang
People from Semarang
Sia (title)
Cabang Atas
Members of the Volksraad (Dutch East Indies)
Indonesian Freemasons
People of the Dutch East Indies
Indonesian people of Chinese descent
Leiden University alumni
Diponegoro University alumni
20th-century Indonesian lawyers
Converts to Islam
Indonesian Muslims
Lawyers from the Dutch East Indies