Kapitan Cina

Kapitan Cina, also spelled Kapitan China or Capitan China (English: Captain of the Chinese;

The origin of the office, under various different native titles, goes back to court positions in the precolonial states of

When Europeans established colonial rule in Southeast Asia, this system of indirect rule was adopted: first by the Portuguese when they took over Malacca in 1511, then in subsequent centuries by the Dutch in the Dutch East Indies, as well as the British in British Malaya and Borneo.^[5] Use of the title 'Kapitan' in the civil administration has parallels in the sixteenth-century, colonial Portuguese Captaincies of Brazil.

Since then, a long succession of Kapitans formed an intrinsic part of colonial history in Southeast Asia.^[10][11] Kapitans were pivotal in consolidating European colonial rule, and in facilitating large-scale Chinese migration to Southeast Asia, or 'Nanyang' as the region is known in Chinese history.^[10][3] Instrumental to the establishment of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia were Chinese allies, such as Kapitein Souw Beng Kong and Kapitein Lim Lak Ko in early seventeenth-century Batavia and Banten; and the brothers Soero Pernollo and Kapitein Han Bwee Kong in early eighteenth-century East Java.^[12][11] In British territories, important Chinese allies and collaborators include Koh Lay Huan, first Kapitan Cina of Penang in the late eighteenth century; Choa Chong Long and Tan Tock Seng, the founding Kapitans of Singapore in the early nineteenth century; and Yap Ah Loy, Kapitan Cina of Kuala Lumpur in the late nineteenth century.^[5][3][9]

Yet due to their power and influence, many Kapitans were also focal points of resistance against European colonial rule. For instance, in the aftermath of Batavia's

The institution of Kapitan Cina was most fully developed in colonial Indonesia, where an intricate hierarchy of Chinese officieren, or Chinese officers, was put in place by the Dutch authorities.

These officerial titles were also given by the Dutch colonial government on an honorary basis to retired officers or meritorious community leaders.[11] Thus, a retired Luitenant might be granted the honorary rank of Luitenant-titulair der Chinezen; or in very rare cases, a retired officer might be given an honorary promotion, such as the famously wealthy Luitenant Oei Tiong Ham, who became an honorary Majoor upon retirement from the colonial administration.^[11] Titular lieutenancies or captaincies were also sometimes granted to meritorious community leaders outside the bureaucracy.^[11]

Sitting Chinese officers, together with Arab and Indian officers, formed part of the colonial government's Bestuur over de Vreemde Oosterlingen or the Department of 'Foreign Orientals'.

In the early twentieth century, in keeping with their so-called 'Ethical Policy', the Dutch colonial authorities made concerted efforts to appoint Chinese officers and other government officials based on merit.^[11] Some of these candidates came from outside traditional Cabang Atas families, including totok appointees, such as Tjong A Fie, Majoor der Chinezen (1860–1921) in Medan, Lie Hin Liam, Luitenant der Chinezen in Tangerang, and Khoe A Fan, Luitenant der Chinezen in Batavia.^[20][11][21]

Despite Dutch attempts at reforming the Chinese officership, the institution and the Cabang Atas as a traditional elite both came under attack from modernizing voices in the late colonial era.

• Padoeka ('your Excellency'): a Malay prefix used by Chinese officers^[23][24]
• Twa Kongsi ('your Lordship' or 'my Lord'): used by Chinese officers^[25]
• Twa Kongsi Nio ('your Ladyship' or 'my Lady'): used by the wives of Chinese officers^[25]
• Kongsi and Kongsi Nio ('my Lord'; 'my Lady'): short form of the above or the styles of descendants of Chinese officers^[25]

See also

• List of Kapitan Cina
• Kangchu system
• Kong Koan
• Kongsi federations
• Peranakans

References