Loa Sek Hie

Loa Sek Hie Sia (born in Batavia in 1898 - died in The Hague in 1965) was a statesman, parliamentarian, patrician and landowner of Peranakan Chinese and Indo-European roots in the Dutch East Indies. All through his political career, he advocated the abolition of racial discrimination and the promotion of education, particularly in the ethnic Chinese community of the Dutch colony. During the Indonesian Revolution, he was instrumental in the founding of a Chinese self-defense force, called Pao An Tui, and was a leading proponent of the federalist movement.

Family and Education

Loa was born in Pasar Baroe, Batavia into one of the city's most prominent families. His father, Loa Tiang Hoey, was Kapitein der Chinezen of Pasar Baroe, son of the famous tycoon Loa Po Seng, of Jalan Poseng in Pasar Baroe. His mother, Louise Goldman, hailed from a well-known family of planters in Central Java, and was of Austrian-Jewish descent. Loa's adoptive mother and stepmother - his father's senior wife - was a cousin of Tio Tek Ho, penultimate Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia. As a descendant of Chinese Officieren, he bore the hereditary dignity of Sia, which he disliked and rarely used.

He was educated at the Europeesche Lagere School (ESL) and the Hoogere Burgerschool (HBS) in Batavia, then completed his studies at the commercial section of the Prins Hendrikschool. Despite his largely European education, Loa was brought up by his Indo-European mother to valorise the customs and ideals of Chinese civilisation.

In 1919, Louise Goldman arranged for her son to marry Corry Tan, daughter of Tan Liok Tiauw Sia, Landheer van Batoe-Tjepper, a respected landowner, and part of the Chinese gentry of Batavia. The young couple settled down in the then newly developed, fashionable suburb of Menteng in the outskirts of Batavia, where they lived with their three children.

Colonial Career

Loa was appointed to the Volksraad in 1927, where he worked closely with H. H. Kan and Chester Sim-Zecha to obtain legal equality with Europeans for the ethnic Chinese of the Dutch colony. From 1928 until 1951, he served on the Executive Board of Chung Hwa Hui, a political party that advocated change through cooperation with the Dutch colonial state. He also sat on the Municipal Council of Batavia until the Japanese Occupation.

As parliamentarian, he campaigned for the establishment of educational and health institutions for the Chinese community. When it became apparent that the colonial government did not intend to provide the Chinese community of Batavia with a suitable health facility, Loa played a leading role in the establishment of Jang Seng Ie, now Husada Hospital. He served on the governing council of the hospital from 1924 until 1951.

Around 1929, he also provided a character reference to the colonial government for Liem Bwan Tjie, a well-known architect who had been prevented from returning to the Indies due to the latter's supposed communist sympathies.[1] Liem stayed at the Loa family residence, and helped remodel it - a project that became the architect's first commission back home in the Indies.[2]

All through his adult life, Loa - like his grandfather, Loa Po Seng, before him - was an enthusiastic and active member of the Masonic Lodge of Batavia. He felt that it was an impartial space that allowed for the many difference races and religions of Indonesia to meet in terms of fraternal equality.

When the Second World War broke out, Loa was apprehended by the occupying Japanese forces due to his perceived closeness with the Dutch colonial state. He was interned for much of the war, and was released in 1945.

Indonesian National Revolution

In the feverish atmosphere that followed the end of the War and the start of the Indonesian Revolution, he deemed it important for the Chinese community to be able to defend its interests militarily. So, Loa became one of the founders of Pao An Tui, which many revolutionaries later accused to be a fighting, pro-Dutch militia. During the tenure of the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration, Loa acted as an adviser to Hubertus van Mook, the country's acting Governor-General.

After it became clear that Indonesia was to attain independence, Loa supported the federal movement that he felt would give the country its best chance of developing a strong civil society and a pluralist state. He was associated with other prominent federalists, such as Hamid II, Sultan of Pontianak and Tjokorda Gde Raka Sukawati, last reigning Prince of Ubud. With the defeat of the federal movement by the centralist faction, led by Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, Loa withdrew from the political sphere.

Exile and Death

Sukarno consulted Loa Sek Hie on issues ranging from Dutch business interests to Freemasonry in Indonesia, but generally ignored the latter's advice. Loa left Indonesia for the Netherlands when it became apparent that he was too closely associated with the colonial establishment in Sukarno's increasingly pro-Communist state. He died in The Hague in 1965.

References

  1. ↑ den Dikken, Judy (2002). Liem Bwan Tjie (1891-1966) Westerse vernieuwing en oosterse traditie. Rotterdam: STICHTING BONAS. p. 10. ISBN 90-76643-14-8.
  2. ↑ den Dikken, Judy (2002). Liem Bwan Tjie (1891-1966) Westerse vernieuwing en oosterse traditie. Rotterdam: STICHTING BONAS. p. 10. ISBN 90-76643-14-8.