Khouw Kim An, 5th Majoor der Chinezen (; 1875 – February 13, 1945) was a high-ranking

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 ...

bureaucrat, public figure and landlord who served as the fifth and last ''Majoor der Chinezen'' ("Major of the Chinese") of

Batavia, Dutch East Indies Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The area corresponds to present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia can refer to the city proper or its suburbs and hinterland, the Ommelanden, which included the much-larger area of the Residency ...

(now

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 ...

). The Chinese Mayoralty was the highest-ranking, Chinese government position in the East Indies with considerable political and judicial jurisdiction over the colony's Chinese subjects. The Batavian Mayoralty was one of the oldest public institutions in the Dutch colonial empire, perhaps second only in antiquity to the viceregal post of

Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies The governor-general of the Dutch East Indies ( nl, gouverneur-generaal van Nederlands Indië) represented Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1949. Occupied by Japanese fo ...

Family and background

Khouw Kim An Sia was born in Batavia in 1875 to the ninth

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

of his father, Khouw Tjeng Tjoan, ''Luitenant-titulair der Chinezen'' (died in 1880). Khouw's father and uncles, Khouw Tjeng Kee and Khouw Tjeng Po, were the sons of the late eighteenth-century magnate, Khouw Tian Sek (died in 1843), patriarch of the

Khouw family of Tamboen The Khouw family of Tamboen was an aristocratic landowning dynasty of bureaucrats and community leaders, part of the ''Cabang Atas'' or the Peranakan Chinese gentry of colonial Indonesia. Many members of the family held the rank of ''Majoor ...

, arguably the richest dynasty in Batavia among the ''Cabang Atas'' aristocracy of colonial Java. The Chinese lieutenancies of Khouw's father, uncles and grandfather were honorary appointments without any of the entailed governmental authority. As the son and grandson of ''Chinese officieren'' ('Chinese officers'), Khouw Kim An was born with the hereditary title of ''Sia''. Khouw Kim An Sia received a traditional Chinese education grounded in 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 ...

, and acquired a good grasp of both

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

and

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 ...

in addition to his native Batavian Malay. He was also instructed by private tutors in European languages, including Dutch which he spoke fluently. The future Majoor's Chinese training, however, stands in sharp contrast to the Dutch education of many in his increasingly westernised

social class A social class is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the Upper class, upper, Middle class, middle and Working class, lower classes. Membership in a social class can for ...

and generation, most obviously exemplified by his cousin, the naturalised Dutchman and philanthropist O. G. Khouw. This familiarity with Chinese culture gave him a distinct, and by then rare, advantage in his career as the head and public face of the Chinese in the colony. At the age of 18, Khouw married Phoa Tji Nio, the daughter and heiress of an influential community leader,

Phoa Keng Hek Sia Pān is the Mandarin pinyin romanization of the East Asian surname . It is listed 43rd in the Song dynasty classic text ''Hundred Family Surnames''. It is romanized as P'an in Wade–Giles; Poon, Phoon, Pon, or Pun in Cantonese; Phua in Hokkie ...

, founder of the influential educational and community organisation

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 ...

. Khouw's wife was also the granddaughter of Phoa Tjeng Tjoan, Kapitein der Chinezen of

Buitenzorg Bogor ( su, , nl, Buitenzorg) is a city in the West Java province, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.Bogor Bogor ( su, , nl, Buitenzorg) is a city in the West Java province, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide. The two families already had significant ties. Since 1886, Khouw's older brother, Khouw Kim Tjiang, had served as der Chinezen of Buitenzorg, and would eventually succeed Khouw's grandfather-in-law as Kapitein. Khouw's cousin, O. G. Khouw, also served as Vice-President to Khouw's father-in-law, Phoa Keng Hek Sia, in the latter's capacity as the founding President of Tiong Hoa Hwe Koan. Khouw himself would later play an important role in his father-in-law's organisation. The newly married couple lived in Buitenzorg, where both bride and groom already had significant family ties. The marriage produced four sons and two daughters. Khouw Kim An Sia and his family remained in Buitenzorg until they inherited

Candra Naya Candra Naya (Hokkien: Sin Ming Hui) is an 18th-century historic building in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was home to the Khouw family of Tamboen, most notably its highest-ranking member: Khouw Kim An, the last ''Majoor der Chinezen'' ('Major of the C ...

, one of Batavia's grandest historic mansions, from Khouw's cousin, Khouw Yauw Kie, a Kapitein der Chinezen in the Chinese Council of Batavia (Dutch: ''Chinese Raad''; Hokkien: ''Kong Koan'').

Chinese mayoralty

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM De Majoor-Chinees van Batavia met een Europese gast TMnr 60018277

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Opening van de Volksraad door gouverneur-generaal Van Limburg Stirum op 18 mei 1918 op Java TMnr 10001373

In 1905, Khouw was raised to the post of der Chinezen with a seat on the Chinese Council of Batavia. In 1907, Tio Tek Ho, 4th Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia resigned. The former Majoor was seen as a reactionary traditionalist; and many in the Dutch government and Batavia's Chinese community desired a change of direction in the governance of the Chinese community. Following extensive consultations with Khouw's influential father-in-law, Phoa Keng Hek, the Dutch government decided to appoint Khouw as eventual successor to Majoor Tio Tek Ho. Tradition, however, demanded that only Kapiteins could be considered for elevation to the Mayoralty. Khouw, who was still a , was quickly raised to the rank of Kapitein in 1908 before his final appointment in 1910 as the fifth and last Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia. His elevation, while seen as a progressive appointment, nonetheless took place thanks to the influence and family background of both the new Majoor and his wife. As Majoor and head of the Chinese community, Khouw also acted as the ''ex officio'' Chair of the Chinese Council of Batavia, and part of 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 ...

(or colonial legislative assembly) of the Dutch East Indies. He maintained close relations with other Chinese members of the Volksraad, such as

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 ...

and

Loa Sek Hie Loa Sek Hie Sia (born in Batavia in 1898 - died in The Hague in 1965) was a colonial Indonesian politician, parliamentarian and the founding ''Voorzitter'' or chairman of the controversial, ethnic-Chinese self-defense force Pao An Tui (1946 - 19 ...

. In 1918, all Chinese officers, including Khouw, were relieved of their office as part of the government's review of the role of the Chinese officership in the colonial administration. Many community activists had criticised the system of governance by Chinese officers, or 'Indirect Rule', as an archaic relic of feudalism. Khouw, however, remained in the government's good books, and was appointed an Officer of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

in 1920. Finally, in 1927, Khouw − but not the other Chinese officers − was restored to the Chinese Mayoralty of Batavia, probably thanks to the antiquity and, therefore, the historic and symbolic value of the institution Khouw represented. By then, a lot of the political and legal powers of the Chinese Mayoralty had devolved upon the colonial civil service. Many of the duties of the last Majoor were, consequently, ceremonial in nature. While on a visit to The Netherlands in 1927, he was received formally at Court by

Queen Wilhelmina 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 Wa ...

, and conveyed to the Sovereign the loyal greetings of the Chinese community of the Dutch East Indies. The Majoor celebrated his Silver Jubilee as ''Chinese Officier'' on February 10, 1930, on which occasion the Queen conferred upon him the Great Gold Star for Loyalty and Merit (''Groote Gouden Ster voor Trouw en Verdienste'') in recognition of his long service to the Crown. It was the highest grade, awarded only to the most eminent native chiefs, in what was seen as the colonial counterpart of the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

Second World War and death

During the

Second World War 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 ...

, the Japanese invaded and occupied the

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 ...

. In 1942, Majoor Khouw Kim An was apprehended by the Japanese and imprisoned with other leaders of the Dutch colonial government in

Tjimahi Cimahi () is a landlocked city located immediately west of the larger city of Bandung, in West Java Province, Indonesia and within the Bandung Metropolitan Area. It covers an area of 40.37 km2 and had a population at the 2010 Census of 541 ...

. He died in prison on February 13, 1945. His remains were buried near the famous mausoleum of his cousin, O. G. Khouw, in Petamburan.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Khouw, Kim An 1875 births 1945 deaths People from Batavia, Dutch East Indies People of the Dutch East Indies Indonesian people of Chinese descent Indonesian Hokkien people Kapitan Cina in Indonesia Members of the Volksraad (Dutch East Indies) Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Khouw family of Tamboen Sia (title) Civilians killed in World War II Indonesian people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Japanese detention World War II civilian prisoners held by Japan