Sia (title)

Sia (Chinese: 舍; pinyin: Shè; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Sià) was a hereditary title of Chinese origin in colonial Indonesia, borne by the descendants of high-ranking Chinese bureaucrats in the Dutch colonial government (see: Kapitan Cina).^[1][2] Many title holders were eventually appointed to bureaucratic posts themselves by the colonial authorities.^[3] In the later colonial period, it became fashionable among western-educated title holders to refrain from using the title, which was seen as an old-fashioned anachronism.^[4]

Prominent Sias include:

• Oey Tamba Sia (1827 - 1856): notorious Batavia playboy
• Phoa Keng Hek Sia (1857 - 1937): social reformer and philanthropist
• O. G. Khouw (1874 – 1927): philanthropist
• Khouw Kim An, last Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia (1875 - 1945): government bureaucrat
• H. H. Kan (1881 - 1951): politician, parliamentarian
• Loa Sek Hie (1898 - 1965): politician, parliamentarian, social worker
• Phoa Liong Gie (born in 1904): newspaper publisher, politician, parliamentarian

Notes

1. ↑ Blussâe, Lâeonard; Chen, Menghong; Myra Sidharta (2003). The Archives of the Kong Koan of Batavia. Amsterdam: BRILL. ISBN 9004131574. Retrieved 9 May 2017. 
2. ↑ Benedanto, Pax; A. S., Marcus (2002). Kesastraan Melayu Tionghoa (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia bekerjasama dengan Yayasan Adikarya IKAPI dan the Ford Foundation. ISBN 9789799023360. Retrieved 9 May 2017. 
3. ↑ Lohanda, Mona (1996). The Kapitan Cina of Batavia, 1837-1942: A History of Chinese Establishment in Colonial Society. Jakarta: Djambatan. ISBN 9789794282571. Retrieved 9 May 2017. 
4. ↑ Erkelens, Monique (2013). The decline of the Chinese Council of Batavia: the loss of prestige and authority of the traditional elite amongst the Chinese community from the end of the nineteenth century until 1942. Leiden: Leiden University. Retrieved 9 May 2017.