Khouw Tian Sek

Khouw Tian Sek, Luitenant der Chinezen (died on November 17, 1843), popularly known as Teng Seck, was a Chinese Indonesian landlord in colonial Batavia (now Jakarta, capital of Indonesia).[1][2][3] He is best known today as the patriarch of the prominent Khouw family of Tamboen.[2][3]

Luitenant Khouw Tian Sek
Born	Batavia, Dutch East Indies
Died	1843 Batavia, Dutch East Indies
Occupation	Luitenant der Chinezen, community leader, tycoon, landowner
Years active	late eighteenth - early nineteenth century
Children	Khouw Tjeng Tjoan, Luitenant der Chinezen Khouw Tjeng Kee, Luitenant der Chinezen Khouw Tjeng Po, Luitenant der Chinezen
Parent(s)	Khouw Tjoen (father)
Relatives	Khouw Yauw Kie, Kapitein der Chinezen (grandson) Khouw Kim An, Majoor der Chinezen (grandson) Khouw Kim Tjiang, Kapitein der Chinezen (grandson) O. G. Khouw (grandson) Khouw Oen Hoei, Kapitein der Chinezen (grandson)

He was born in Batavia in the late eighteenth century.[2][3] His father, Khouw Tjoen, was a successful, Chinese-born merchant, who had migrated around 1769 from Fujian to Tegal on Java's north coast, thence to Batavia.[1][2] Khouw Tian Sek succeeded his father in the family business upon the latter's death.[3] He significantly reinvested the family fortune away from moneylending and pawnbroking to landownership, which was seen as more respectable.[1][2][3]

Among his acquisitions was a great deal of land along the Molenvliet canal, a semi-rural area immediately south of old Batavia, which became the city's most prestigious business district in the mid-nineteenth century.[2][3] As Arnold Wright points out, '[t]his [area] subsequently increased so enormously in value that without further effort on...[Khouw's] part he was changed from a comparatively well-to-do into an exceedingly wealthy man.'[3] Khouw and his family commissioned three extravagant compounds along the fashionable Molenvliet (now Jalan Gajah Mada and Jalan Hayam Wuruk), of which only one, Candra Naya, has survived today.[1][4][5]

Outside Batavia, Khouw became an important landheer through his acquisition of many particuliere landerijen or landed estates – including, in 1841, the family's largest and most important estate: Tamboen.[6] Here, they would build their palatial country seat, landhuis Tamboen (now id:Gedung Juang Tambun).[6] Rice, indigo, sugar, coconut, rubber and peanut were all cultivated at Tamboen and the family's other landholdings.[2][3][6]

In old age, Khouw became the first member of his family to be elevated by the Dutch colonial government to the dignity of Luitenant der Chinezen.[7] His lieutenancy, however, was honorary and entailed none of the usual political and legal jurisdiction over the local Chinese community.[8] Khouw died in 1843.[7][8]

His family became one of the principal dynasties of the Cabang Atas or the Chinese gentry of colonial Indonesia.[3][8] All three of his sons, Khouw Tjeng Tjoan, Khouw Tjeng Kee and Khouw Tjeng Po, were later also given honorary lieutenancies by the colonial authorities.[2] In contrast, many of Khouw's grandsons would later serve as substantive Chinese officers as part of the colonial bureaucracy.[2][9] Khouw Yauw Kie (son of Luitenant Khouw Tjeng Po) became the first member of the family to be appointed to the higher rank of Kapitein der Chinezen with a seat on the Chinese Council of Batavia.[3] Another grandson, Khouw Kim An (son of Luitenant Khouw Tjeng Tjoan), was appointed to the highest rank in the Chinese administration, that of Majoor der Chinezen and ex officio chair of the Chinese Council of Batavia.[2][8][9] Other prominent grandsons included the philanthropist O. G. Khouw (son of Luitenant Khouw Tjeng Kee); the bureaucrat Khouw Kim Tjiang, Kapitein der Chinezen of Buitenzorg (son of Luitenant Khouw Tjeng Tjoan, brother of Majoor Khouw Kim An); and the planter and landowner Khouw Oen Hoei, Kapitein der Chinezen (son of Luitenant Khouw Tjeng Kee, brother of O. G. Khouw).[8][9]

To this day, an area in Asemka, Pinangsia, Jakarta is called Kebon Tengsek in his memory.

References

1. Knapp, Ronald G. (2015). Chinese Houses of Southeast Asia: The Eclectic Architecture of Sojourners and Settlers. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
2. Erkelens, Monique (15 October 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 (PDF). Leiden: Leiden University. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
3. Wright, Arnold (1909). Twentieth Century Impressions of Netherlands India. Its History, People, Commerce, Industries and Resources. London: Lloyd's Greater Britain Pub. Co. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
4. Widayati, Naniek (2003). ""Candra Naya Antara Kejayaan Masa Lalu dan Kenyataan Sekarang" [Candra Naya Between The Glory of the Past and The Present Reality]". Dimensi Journal of Architecture and Built Environment (in Indonesian). 31 (2). Retrieved 28 November 2016.
5. Merrillees, Scott (2000). Batavia in Nineteenth Century Photographs. Singapore: Curzon. ISBN 9780700714360. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
6. "Het particuliere land Tamboen [The estate of Tamboen]". Soerabaijasch Handelsblad. Kolff & Co. 1 October 1943. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
7. "Javasche Courant". Familiebericht (93). Landsdrukkerij. 22 November 1843. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
8. Lohanda, Mona (1996). The Kapitan Cina of Batavia, 1837-1942: A History of Chinese Establishment in Colonial Society. Jakarta: Djambatab. ISBN 9789794282571. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
9. Setyautama, Sam (2008). Tokoh-tokoh etnis Tionghoa di Indonesia. Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia. ISBN 9799101255. Retrieved 28 November 2016.