Oen Giok Khouw

Khouw Oen Giok Sia (1874 – 1927), later more popularly known as Oen Giok Khouw or O. G. Khouw, was a prominent philanthropist and landowner in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).^[1] He gained notoriety for acquiring Dutch citizenship, thus breaking down the race barriers of colonial society.^[2] Today, he is best remembered for his extravagant mausoleum in Petamburan, Jakarta.^[3]

Born in Batavia (now Jakarta), he was a scion of the Khouw family of Tamboen, part of the baba bangsawan, or Chinese gentry, of colonial Java.^[1] His grandfather, Khouw Tian Sek, was one of the largest landowners in Java, and held the titular dignity of Luitenant der Chinezen, or 'Lieutenant of the Chinese', a government position that came with political and legal jurisdiction over the Chinese community in the colony.^[4][5] O. G. Khouw's father, Khouw Tjeng Kee, and uncles, Khouw Tjeng Tjoan and Khouw Tjeng Po, were also Luitenants-titulair der Chinezen.^[6] As a descendant of Chinese officers, Khouw was born with the courtesy title of 'Sia'.^[7] Many of his cousins, including Khouw Yauw Kie, Kapitein der Chinezen, and most notably, Khouw Kim An, Majoor der Chinezen, would later acquire ever higher appointments in the colonial administration.^[4][6]

O. G. Khouw was part of the first generation of Indonesians to receive a thoroughly western upbringing and education.^[1] Although he grew up in Batavia, Khouw spent most of his later life in fin-de-siècle Europe, primarily between Switzerland and the South of France.^[1] Although married to Lim Sha Nio, he did not have any children.^[1]

During his lifetime, he was well known as a generous patron and benefactor of many charitable causes, both in Indonesia and Europe.^[1] In 1901, together with Phoa Keng Hek and other community leaders, he helped establish Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan, a Chinese educational and cultural organization, and served as its inaugural Vice-President.^[8] (His cousin, Majoor Khouw Kim An, would later marry Phoa Keng Hek's daughter.^[6]) Khouw was also head of the hospitaalfonds 'Jang Seng Ie', which later grew to become Husada Hospital.^[1] After the outbreak of World War I, Khouw – already living in Europe – donated f. 40,000 for the Dutch Red Cross in 1915.^[9][10]

Together with Mas Asmioen and Oey Tiang Hok, he shocked Dutch colonial society by becoming naturalized citizens of the Netherlands in 1908. In so doing, they bypassed the racial caste system of colonial Indonesia.^[2]

He died in 1927 at the spa town of Bad Ragaz in Switzerland.^[1][11] His ashes were transferred from Europe to Indonesia on board the SS Prins der Nederlanden.^[12][13]

His last resting place, Mausoleum O. G. Khouw in Petamburan, is now a local landmark in Jakarta.^[14][15] It was constructed in the Art Deco style by G. Racina, an Italian contractor, at the then massive cost of f 500,000 (around US$ 250,000 at the time; or US$ 4.5 million in today's money).^[1][3] On its completion in 1932, the mausoleum's astronomical cost caused a sensation among the press of colonial Indonesia and the Netherlands.^[16][17] One commentator noted that Khouw's mausoleum was considerably more expensive than the burial memorial of America's first billionaire, John D. Rockefeller.^[1][18]

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