Phoa Keng Hek
| Phoa Keng Hek Sia | |
|---|---|
Phoa, c. 1900
|
|
| Born | 1857 Buitenzorg, West Java, Dutch East Indies |
| Died | 1937 (aged 79–80) Batavia, Dutch East Indies |
| Occupation | Social worker, entrepreneur |
| Children | Phoa Tji Nio (daughter) |
| Parent(s) | |
| Relatives |
Majoor Khouw Kim An (son-in-law) Phoa Liong Djin (grandson) Phoa Liong Gie (great-nephew) |
Phoa Keng Hek Sia (Chinese: 潘景赫舍; pinyin: Pān Jǐnghè Shè; 1857–1937) was a Chinese Indonesian businessman and first president of the Tiong Hoa Hwe Koan, a school system and social organisation meant to better the position of ethnic Chinese in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). He served from its establishment in 1900 until 1923.
Phoa was born in Buitenzorg (now Bogor), Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), in 1857 into an influential Peranakan Chinese family. His father, Phoa Tjeng Tjoan, held the post of Kapitein der Chinezen of Buitenzorg. This was a civil government position in the Dutch colonial administration with legal and political jurisdiction over the local Chinese community. As the son of a Chinese officer, the younger Phoa held the hereditary title of Sia. His great-nephew, Phoa Liong Gie (born 1904), would later attain prominence as a jurist, politician and newspaper owner.
Phoa's earliest formal education was in a school run by ethnic Chinese, but after Sierk Coolsma opened a missionary school in Bogor on 31 May 1869, Phoa was in the first class of ten. Among his classmates was Lie Kim Hok, who would later become known as a writer. At this school Phoa studied, among other subjects, Dutch. Although the school was meant to convert people to Christianity, Phoa remained well-versed in Confucianism.
After graduating Phoa married the daughter of a Chinese lieutenant in Batavia (now Jakarta), the capital of the Indies, and he moved there to be with his wife. The couple had a daughter, Tji Nio, who later married Majoor Khouw Kim An, last titular head of the Chinese community of Batavia. Phoa proved very outspoken and soon he was a viewed as a leader of Batavia's Chinese. Because he had a command of Dutch, used by the colonial forces, Phoa was able to easily interact outside of Chinese and native groups.
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