Lauw-Sim-Zecha family

Lauw-Sim-Zecha family
Ethnicity Peranakan Chinese, Indo, Bohemian
Current region Jakarta, Bekasi, Depok, Sukabumi
Founder Lauw Ho
Members Lauw Tek Lok, Luitenant der Chinezen
Sim Keng Koen, Kapitein der Chinezen
Louisa Zecha
Adrian Lauw Zecha
Che Engku Chesterina (née Lauw-Sim-Zecha)
Estate(s) Cimanggis

The Lauw-Sim-Zecha family is an Indonesian family of mixed Peranakan Chinese, Indo and Bohemian descent that came to prominence at the start of the nineteenth century as revenue farmers, landlords and mandarins in Batavia (now Jakarta) and Sukabumi, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).[1][2][3] The family formed part of the so-called 'Cabang Atas', or the Chinese gentry of colonial Indonesia.

Kampong Gang Zecha was an area in colonial Jakarta named after the Lauw-Sim-Zecha family.

Origin and rise

Lauw Ho, the founding father of the family, was a prominent pachter or revenue farmer in Batavia between 1845 and 1861.[4] He was also part of the powerful Ngo Ho Tjiang partnership that dominated the opium monopoly in Batavia.[3]

Lauw's son, Lauw Tek Lok, Luitenant der Chinezen (died in 1887), was a great landowner ('landheer') with significant agricultural landholdings ('particuliere landen') in the Ommelanden or rural hinterland of Batavia, including the estate of Tjimanggis (now Cimanggis).[5][6] The younger Lauw was appointed in 1854 to the post of Luitenant der Chinezen of Bekasi, a civil government position he would keep until his death in 1882 (see 'Kapitan Cina' for further information).[7]

Luitenant Lauw Tek Lok caused some consternation among the colonial authorities due to his unconventional and interracial marriage with an Indo-Bohemian woman, Louisa Zecha.[1] On being widowed in 1882, Zecha further scandalized colonial society by marrying her dead husband's former private secretary-turned-magnate Sim Keng Koen, who later had a distinguished government career as the first Kapitein der Chinezen of Sukabumi.[2] As the historian Mely G. Tan notes, the Lauw-Sim-Zecha family lived in a grand style as the premier gentry family of Sukabumi, where most of the extended clan settled down.[2]

Modern history

Luitenant Lauw Tek Lok's grandson, Aristide William Lauw-Zecha, became the first Indonesian-born graduate of an American university (Iowa University in 1923).[8][9] He was a prominent plantation owner in late colonial Indonesia, but due to the Indonesian Revolution (1945-1950) and President Sukarno's nationalization of private landed estates in 1952, the family lost most of their large landholdings and assets in Indonesia.[10]

In the aftermath of the revolution, many members of the Lauw-Sim-Zecha family, like other scions of the Cabang Atas, left Indonesia and settled overseas.[9] Notable members of the family today include the Malaysian royal Che Engku Chesterina (née Lauw-Sim-Zecha) and her cousin, Adrian Lauw-Zecha, son of A. W. Lauw-Zecha and the founder of Aman Resorts.[11][12][13] Lauw-Zecha's son, Ajai, is married to the Singaporean actress Michelle Saram.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 Fromberg, Pieter Hendrik (1926). Mr. P.H. Fromberg's Verspreide geschriften (in Dutch). Leidsche uitgeversmaatschappij.
  2. 1 2 3 Tan, Mely G. (1963). The Chinese of Sukabumi: A Study of Social and Cultural Accommodation. Ithaca: Cornell University.
  3. 1 2 Benedanto, Pax; Marcus A. S. (2012). Kesastraan Melayu Tionghoa 5 (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia. ISBN 9789799023759.
  4. ↑ Chen, Menghong (2011). De Chinese gemeenschap van Batavia, 1843-1865: een onderzoek naar het Kong Koan-archief (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 9789087281335.
  5. ↑ Almanak van Nederlandsch-Indië voor het jaar ...., Vol. 40 (in Dutch). Batavia: Lands Drukkery. 1865.
  6. ↑ "NEDERLANDSCH-INDIE". Java-bode : nieuws, handels- en advertentieblad voor Nederlandsch-Indie. Bruining. 11 August 1876.
  7. ↑ "Chineesch Bestuur te Mr. Cornelis". Java-bode : nieuws, handels- en advertentieblad voor Nederlandsch-Indie. Bruining. 1 May 1882.
  8. ↑ Lombard, Denys (2005). Nusa Jawa: Batas-batas pembaratan (in Indonesian). Gramedia Pustaka Utama. ISBN 9789796054527. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  9. 1 2 "International Alumni Profiles". students.tufts.edu. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  10. ↑ Hilditch, Tom (July 15, 2001). "Asiaweek". Paradise Regained.
  11. ↑ "Negri Sembilan". www.royalark.net.
  12. ↑ "Melewar Group's Tunku Abdullah dies - Nation | The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my.
  13. ↑ "Adrian Zecha (né en 1933) : ses hôtels hors de prix de la chaîne Aman ressemblent au paradis". Capital.fr (in French). 28 January 2016.
  14. ↑ "Singaporean actress Michelle Saram returns to acting in Paradox". The Straits Times. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
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