Liem Thian Joe (1895–1962) was a late colonial Indonesian historian, newspaper editor, journalist and writer of ''Peranakan'' Chinese background. He is best known today for his seminal ''Riwajat Semarang, 1416–1931'', a historical overview of Semarang's Chinese community. He is cited by some as the first

peranakan Chinese 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, t ...

historian to write in Malay using the 'modern' historical method.Suryadinata, Leo, ed. Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume I & II. Vol. 1. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012. p.581

Biography

Born in 1895 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 ...

Dutch East 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 ...

(now

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 Guine ...

), Liem Thian Joe received his earliest education at local

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 ...

and Javanese schools. He subsequently attended a

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 ...

school for ten years, then the Tiong Hoa Hak Tong in Ngadirejo, a school founded and run by the

Confucian 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 Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

organization

Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan (THHK, ) was an Indonesian Chinese organization founded on March 17, 1900 in Batavia, Dutch East Indies. Its founders included former classmates Lie Kim Hok and Phoa Keng Hek ''Sia'', both of whom had been educated at Sierk C ...

. Despite his talent for writing, Liem initially worked as a trader in Ngadirejo. He began his writing career in the early 1920s as a journalist for ''

Warna Warta Warna may refer to: * Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria * ''Warna'', a music album by Joey Alexander * Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988, or WARNA, a US law See also * * Warana, Maharashtra * Warna Warta, a newspaper * ...

'', a Semarang daily, and possibly also for the

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 ...

-based newspaper Perniagaan''. In the early 1930s, Liem joined the editorial board of another Semarang daily Djawa Tengah and its sister monthly ''Djawa Tengah Review''. ''Around the same time, Liem began - in 1938 - to edit yet another ''Semarang monthly, ''Mimbar Melajoe also contributed to the prominent, Batavia-based weekly ''

Sin Po Sinbo () was a minister who served the kings in Gaya confederacy. Queen Mojong who was the second wife of Geodeung of Geumgwan Gaya was his daughter. He served as government officer of Gaya confederacy. In 48, when Heo Hwang-ok came over from In ...

''. Liem wrote ''Riwajat Semarang'' as a series of articles for ''Djawa Tengah Review'' from March 1931 until July 1933, before having it published in book form by Ho Kim Yoe in 1933. In the book, he coined the term ''

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 ...

'', Malay for 'upper branch', to describe the ''baba bangsawan'' or the Chinese gentry of colonial Indonesia. ''Riwajat Semarang'', while focused on the history of Semarang's Chinese community, is also an invaluable source for the history of Central Java, particularly of Semarang, since Liem was still able to access the now lost archives of the ''

Kong Koan A kong koan (; Dutch: ''Chinese Raad''; Indonesian: ''Raad Tjina'') or "chinese council", was a high government body in the major capitals of the Dutch East Indies, consisting of all incumbent Chinese officers in those cities. It acted as both a ju ...

'' (or the 'Chinese Council') of Semarang, the city's peak Chinese government body. He is also the anonymous author of ''Boekoe Peringetan Tiong Hoa Siang Hwee 1907-1937'', an anniversary book of Semarang's Chinese Chamber of Commerce, published in 1937. Liem's other historical works include ''Pusaka Tionghoa'' of 1952 and the unpublished ''Riwajat Kian Gwan'', a history of Southeast Asia's largest conglomerate at the time,

Kian Gwan Kian Gwan () was the largest multinational trading company in Southeast Asia in the early decades of the twentieth century, and was founded in 1863 in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). It survives today as a diversified group in Thailand. and ...

, completed in 1959. Liem died in Semarang in February 1962.

References

{{authority control 1895 births 1961 deaths Indonesian people of Chinese descent Indonesian writers 20th-century Indonesian historians People from Semarang People from Temanggung Regency People of the Dutch East Indies of Chinese descent