Chinese Indonesians have lived in Bangka Belitung Islands, Indonesia for centuries.Peranakan Tionghoa di Bangka-Belitung
''historia.id''. 18-10-2016Melayu-Tionghoa Bersaudara Tanpa Sekat
''edukasi.kompas.com''. 18-10-2016 Bangka Belitung is one of the regions with the largest Chinese population in Indonesia besides Java,

Riau Riau is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of Sumatra along the Strait of Malacca. The province shares land borders with North Sumatra to the northwest, West Sumatra to the west, and Jambi to the south. Accord ...

Eastern Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

and

West Borneo West Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak. The province has an area of 147,307&nb ...

. Chinese immigrants came to the Bangka Belitung Islands in several waves during 1700–1800s. Many Hakkas from various parts of Guangdong came to the islands to work as tin miners. Bangka Island Chinese is quite different from Belitung Island Chinese because the first Chinese generation who were entirely male and arrived in Bangka Island, left China without women, they took local women as wives, so many Chinese in Bangka had mixed blood (''

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 ...

'': " Peranakan"), especially those who lived in the Eastern part of the island. Bangka Island Chinese language is a creole language mixed together Malay and Hakka words. Belitung Chinese is considered purer (''Indonesian'': " totok") because they were the first generation who arrived on the island, and they did so with Chinese wives after the 1800s. Although some town in Bangka Island, purer degree of Hakka can be heard as well, the Hakka-Malay mixture language is uniquely of Bangka Island Chinese. In Belitung, Chinese people adapted well with local culture. They changed their clothes and would like to wear Malay baju kurung with kebaya, pants with sarong. Hakka is spoken among the majority of Chinese speakers on the islands with a minority Hokkien-speaking population.

Notable Chinese from Bangka Belitung

* Lim Tau Kian, Chinese-Muslim known for his contribution in first tin mining. * Lim Boe Sing, businessman during East Indies period. * Tjoeng A-tiam, Chinese Major of Mentok. * Tan Hong Kwee, Kapitan Cina of Mentok (year 1832 – 1839). * Tony Wen, born in Sungailiat, Indonesian independence activist. *

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (, Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Chûng Van-ho̍k''; born 29 June 1966) is an Indonesian businessman, politician, and former governor of Jakarta. He is also known by his Hakka Chinese nickname Ahok (). He was the second minority gover ...

or ''Ahok'',

East Belitung East Belitung Regency (''Kabupaten Belitung Timur'') is a regency (''kabupaten'') of Bangka Belitung Islands Province, Indonesia, encompassing the eastern half of Belitung Island. It covers an area of 2,506.91 km2 (including 141 offshore isla ...

Regent (2005 - 2006) and Governor of

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

(2014–2017). *

Myra Sidharta Myra Sidharta (born Auw Jong Tjhoen Moy on 6 March 1927) was born in Belitung. She is an expert in Tionghoa Malay literature, a psychologist and a columnist for Indonesian magazines including ''The Jakarta Post''. She has an autobiography tit ...

, writer and

sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

. * Rudianto Tjen, politician, AKA Bacu. * Hidayat Arsani, Vice Governor of Bangka Belitung Islands. File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Portret van Lim A. Pat Luitenant der Chinezen in Muntok TMnr 60011467.jpg, Lim A-pat File:Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.jpg, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama

References

{{Overseas Chinese Bangka Belitung Islands Chinese diaspora in Indonesia