Hauw Tek Kong

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A portrait of Hauw Tek Kong, Chinese Indonesian newspaperman

Hauw Tek Kong (Chinese: 侯德廣) (1887-1928) was a Peranakan Chinese newspaper editor and publisher from the Dutch East Indies associated with Sin Po and later Keng Po.

Biography[]

Hauw Tek Kong was born in Batavia, Dutch East Indies in 1887. He is thought to have studied at the Anglo-Chinese School in Singapore.[1]

Around 1908 he became interested in silent film theatres and became director of a company aiming to open one in Batavia, the Solar Bioscope Company Ltd..[2] This company purchased the equipment that same year and toured it around various temporary venues in Batavia and as far afield as Bogor before having a permanent location built for it in Meester Cornelis by 1910.[3] The films shown at the Solar Bioscore included English productions and those produced by Pathé.[3]

Sin Po[]

In 1913, when Oey Tjioe Yong, the former director of the popular Indies Chinese newspaper Sin Po stepped down, Hauw, who was already a major shareholder in the paper, was appointed in his place.[4][5][6] Under his tenure the paper became embroiled in a high-profile feud with some more conservative elements of the Chinese community due to its criticism of the colonial Chinese Officer system. That feud resulted in calls to boycott Sin Po.[7] In particular the paper harshly attacked Phoa Keng Hek and Khouw Kim An, high-profile Chinese Officers, and accused them of corruption and abuse of authority.[8]

In early 1919, Hauw became embroiled in a court case against J. R. Razoux Kühr, the former editor of Sin Po who was then at rival paper Perniagaan.[9] It is unclear what the substance of the case was.

Hauw also became known as a high-profile opponent to Dutch proposals to grant citizenship or some sort of qualified subjecthood for Indies Chinese.[10] In 1919 Sin Po sent him to China to negotiate with the government there about the matter of potential repudiation of that citizenship; when he tried to re-enter the Indies, the Dutch would not let him in.[1] In his absence Sin Po appointed Tjoe Bou San both editor-in-chief and director of the newspaper, and Hauw resigned.[6][4] By 1922, when Hauw had abandoned his public opposition to the Dutch citizenship law, he was allowed to re-enter.[1]

Keng Po[]

In 1923, due to a disagreement with Tjoe Bou San of Sin Po, Hauw founded a new newspaper called Keng Po, which he launched on August 1st. At first he appointed himself director and editor-in-chief, although he soon stepped aside from editorial duties.[11][12] , who would be director of the paper in later years, joined as an editor at some point in the early years.

In early 1928 Hauw was returning from a business trip to Tangerang he suffered some kind of health crisis and people remarked that he seemed different after that.[12] He died in Batavia at age 51 on April 7 1928, apparently of a stroke.[1][12]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Suryadinata, Leo (2015). Prominent Indonesian Chinese : Biographical Sketches (4th edition) (4th ed.). Singapore: ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute. p. 64. ISBN 9789814620512.
  2. ^ "Nieuwe Maatschappijen". De Indische mercuur (in Dutch). 1908-10-27.
  3. ^ a b Ruppin, Dafna (2016). The Komedi Bioscoop : the Emergence of Movie-Going in Colonial Indonesia, 1896-1914. Bloomington, IN: John Libbey Publishing. p. 245. ISBN 9780861969234.
  4. ^ a b Sin Po Jubileum Nummer 1910–1935. Batavia: Sin Po. 1935. p. 5.
  5. ^ Suryadinata, Leo (1971). The Pre World War II Peranakan Chinese Press of Java: A Preliminary Survey. Center for International Studies. p. 20.
  6. ^ a b Salmon, Claudine (1981). Literature in Malay by the Chinese of Indonesia : a provisional annotated bibliography. Paris: Editions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme. p. 223. ISBN 9780835705929.
  7. ^ "Batavia, 4 Febr". De nieuwe vorstenlanden (in Dutch). 1913-02-05.
  8. ^ "De Ruzie in het Chineesche Kamp". Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 1913-02-05.
  9. ^ "Persdelict". Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië (in Dutch). 1919-04-28.
  10. ^ Suryadinata, Leo (1977). "The search for national identity of an Indonesian Chinese : a political biography of Liem Koen Hian". Archipel. 14 (1): 43–70. doi:10.3406/arch.1977.1357.
  11. ^ "Familiebericht". Bataviaasch nieuwsblad. 10 April 1928.
  12. ^ a b c "Hauw Tek Kong †". www.delpher.nl (in Dutch). 1928-04-10.
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