Kapitan China
Kapitan Cina (English: Kapitan China; Dutch: Kapitein der Chinezen) was a title given to leaders of overseas Chinese enclaves in Southeast Asia.[1][2] The local 15th century rulers of the region, such as Melaka (modern day Malacca) and Banten (or Bantam), chose to deal with a single individual from each ethnic group under their rule.[3][4] This administrative method of indirect rule was later adopted by the Portuguese when they took over Melaka in the 16th century, as well as the Dutch in the Dutch East Indies, and the English in British Malaya.[3]
Throughout Southeast Asia, Batavia (now Jakarta) arguably boasts the longest continuous history of the institution of Kapitan Cina.[5] In 1619, the Dutch appointed Souw Beng Kong, formerly Kapitan Cina of Bantam, as the first Kapitein der Chinezen of Batavia. Through Kapitein Beng Kong, then, the Batavian Captaincy succeeded the much-earlier institution of Kapitan Cina of Bantam. Batavia also produced probably Asia's only female Kapitan Cina, the so-called Nyai Bali, who was appointed officially to her post in 1649 by the Dutch East India Company.[6] The Batavian Captaincy ended in 1945 with the death of Khouw Kim An, the last Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia, possibly also the last such intermediary rulers in Southeast Asia. The issue of a Luitenant, Kapitein or Majoor der Chinesen are entitled, by Peranakan custom, to the hereditary dignity of Sia.
With the end of the colonial period, the title became purely an honorary one.[3]
See also
- List of Kapitan Cina
- Kangchu system
- List of place names of Kangchu system origin
- Lanfang Republic
- Overseas Chinese
References
- ↑ The Kapitan System and Secret Societies published in Chinese politics in Malaysia: a history of the Malaysian Chinese Association - Page 14
- ↑ Southeast Asia-China interactions: reprint of articles from the Journal of the Malaysian Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, Issue 25 of M.B.R.A.S. reprint, 2007, - Page 549
- 1 2 3 Ooi, Keat Gin. Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, From Angkor Wat to East Timor, p. 711
- ↑ Hwang, In-Won. Personalized Politics: The Malaysian State Under Matahtir, p. 56
- ↑ The official website of the Koang Koan Archives at Leiden University.
- ↑ Yuan Bingling, "The Last Resort" in Blussé, Leonard & Chen, Menghong, The Archives of the Kongkoan of Batavia(Den Haag, 2003), pp. 30–31)
Bibliography
- Trocki, Carl A. (1979), Prince of Pirates: The Temenggongs and the Development of Johor and Singapore 1784-1885 (2nd ed.), NUS Press (published 2007), p. 130, ISBN 978-9971-69-376-3 External link in
|publisher=(help) - Hwang, In-Won (2003). Personalized Politics: The Malaysian State Under Matahtir. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. ISBN 981-230-185-2
- Lohanda, Mona (1996). The Kapitan Cina of Batavia, 1837-1942. Jakarta: Djambatan. ISBN 979-428-257-X.
- Ooi, Keat Gin (2004). Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, From Angkor Wat to East Timor. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-57607-770-5