Han Tiauw Tjong

Han Tiauw Tjong Sia (1894–1940), known as Dr. Ir. Han Tiauw Tjong, was a prominent colonial Indonesian politician, engineer, community leader and a member of the influential Han family of Lasem. He sat in the Volksraad (the colonial legislature) of the Dutch East Indies for two terms (1924 – 1929, 1938 – 1939), and was a founding member of the centre-right political party Chung Hwa Hui. Han was the son of Han Biauw Sing, Luitenant der Chinezen of Kutaraja in Aceh (in office from May 21, 1913, until September 12, 1918), who was in turn a great-grandson of Han Phik Long Sia (1761–1788), one of the sons of Han Bwee Kong, Kapitein der Chinezen of Surabaya (1727–1778), an early comprador and ally of the Dutch East India Company.

While in the Netherlands, Han was active in Chung Hwa Hui Nederland, a Peranakan student association. He occupied several board positions in the group between 1916 and 1922, and served as its president from 1919 until 1920.

"the appointment of women doctors for the inspection of the medical health of Chinese women who arrived here, after complaints had been made about the malpractices involving newly arrived Chinese women…; the establishment of H. C. S. [Dutch Chinese schools] for girls…; investigation into the treatment of journalists in Glodok prison…; points that should be observed when doing house search [for police work]…; expansion of the cinema committee to include one Chinese member…; presumably, the number of H. C. S. will increase as a result of the discussions in the Volksraad…"

These concessions given to the ethnic Chinese community by the colonial authorities were part of the overall campaign, on the part of Han and his ethnic Chinese colleagues in the Volksraad, for racial legal equality in the Indies. Han's preoccupation with education also led him to serve as a Trustee of the Technische Hoogeschool te Bandoeng (ITB) from 1924 until 1940. The couple had five children: Han Bing Yang, Han Tjia Nio, Han Bing Hoo, Han Bing Tjoe and Han Bing Siong. Completed in 1932, Leo Suryadinata calls the house ‘the grandest of his experiments [Liem's]’. According to Judy den Dikken, it recalls the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, but in an Indies setting.

On June 25, 1940, Han underwent what appeared initially to be a successful bowel operation at the Juliana-ziekenhuis in Semarang. On June 27, the Governor of Central Java prematurely announced the success of Han's operation to the Provincial Council and wished him a speedy recovery. Han Tiauw Tjong's condition, however, took a turn for the worse; and he died on June 29, 1940.

Major publication De industrialisatie van China (in Dutch) [English: 'The Industrialisation of China']. Nijhoff (1922)