Leo Suryadinata (born Liauw Kian-Djoe r Liao Jianyu; 廖建裕in Jakarta, 21 February 1941), is a SingaporeanIndonesia honours Singaporean academic Leo Suryadinata for his work on the country's ethnic Chinese community
/ref> sinologist.

Early life

Suryadinata was born Liauw Kian-Djoe (also written Liao Jianyu) in Batavia,

Netherlands Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

(today Jakarta, Indonesia) to a Chinese Indonesian family. His father was the owner of a

building material Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-ma ...

factory. He had seven siblings. During high school, Suryadinata read and wrote numerous papers on

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 ...

and Chinese history and literature.

Education

Suryadinata later attended

Nanyang University Nanyang University (, also known as Nantah (), was a university in Singapore between 1956 and 1980. During its existence, it was Singapore's only private university in the Chinese language. In 1980, Nanyang University was merged with the Univer ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, focusing on

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 ...

and

South-East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

n literature. He graduated in 1962 with a bachelour's degree in arts. From 1962 to 1965, Suryadinata studied literature at the

University of Indonesia The University of Indonesia ( id, Universitas Indonesia, abbreviated as UI) is a public university in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the oldest tertiary-level educational institutions in Indonesia (known as the D ...

in Jakarta, receiving another bachelour's degree from that institution. He focused on Chinese literature, but began to show interest in the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. His thesis discussed the late 19th century Peranakan Chinese press and early 20th century resistance movements against the Dutch colonial government. In 1970, Suryadinata received a master's degree in history from

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

in Australia. Two years later, he graduated from the

University of Ohio Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...

in the United States with a master's degree in politics. He later received his doctorate from the American University in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Career

After earning his doctorate, Suryadinata returned to Singapore and took a research position at the Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS) from 1976 to 1982. In 1982, he took a job as senior lecturer at Department of Political Science of the National University of Singapore; he later became an assistant professor in 1994 and a full professor in 2000. From 1990, Suryadinata has served as the editor of the academic journal ''

Asian Culture The culture of Asia encompasses the collective and diverse customs and traditions of art, architecture, music, literature, lifestyle, philosophy, politics and religion that have been practiced and maintained by the numerous ethnic groups ...

''. He also served as editor (later co-editor) the '' Asian Journal of Political Science'' from 1993 to 2002. In 2002, Suryadinata returned to ISEAS as a senior research fellow; he left in 2005. That year, he took a position as the director of the Chinese Heritage Center at Nanyang Technological University.

Publications

, Suryadinata has published 50 books and monographs, 30 chapters in peer reviewed books, 15 articles in international journals, 11 articles in Indonesian journals, six working papers and more than 100 conference papers. They have been published in English, Indonesian, and Chinese. Aimee Dawis of

The Jakarta Post ''The Jakarta Post'' is a daily English-language newspaper in Indonesia. The paper is owned by PT Niskala Media Tenggara and based in the nation's capital, Jakarta. ''The Jakarta Post'' started as a collaboration between four Indonesian med ...

writes that "anyone studying the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia is bound to encounter Leo Suryadinata's works."

Awards

In 2008, Suryadinata (together with German researcher Mary F. Somers) received the Nabil Award for contributions to Indonesian ethnic integration.

Personal life

Suryadinata has one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suryadinata, Leo Living people Indonesian sinologists People from Jakarta Year of birth uncertain Indonesian people of Chinese descent University of Indonesia alumni Monash University alumni Nanyang University alumni Ohio University alumni American University alumni Indonesian academics 1941 births National University of Singapore faculty