Louisa Zecha

Francisca Louisa Zecha (1848–1939), usually known as Louisa Zecha, was a prominent, colonial Indonesian community leader and the Indo-Bohemian matriarch of the Lauw-Sim-Zecha family, part of the 'Cabang Atas' gentry of the Dutch East Indies (today Indonesia). She attracted significant attention due to her controversial interracial marriages to two Peranakan Chinese magnates, Lauw Tek Lok, Luitenant der Chinezen of Bekasi and Sim Keng Koen, Kapitein der Chinezen of Sukabumi. Zecha's community leadership, philanthropy, personal bravery and longevity earned her widespread respect and admiration in colonial society by the time she died in 1939.

Biography Born in 1848 in Batavia, Java, Francisca Louisa Zecha was the daughter of a Bohemian engraver and adventurer, Josef Zecha.

In 1892, with the couple having settled in Sukabumi, West Java, the former Kapitein Sim Keng Koen was appointed the first Hoofd der Chinezen of Sukabumi with the rank of Kapitein-titulair der Chinezen. In 1916, she initiated the installation of a statue of the god Kongco Han Tan Kong at Sukabumi's main Chinese temple, Wihara Widhi Sakti, in order to provide a moral inspiration to the town's Chinese community during an ongoing and persistent cholera epidemic. She also spearheaded more practical measures to address the epidemic at her own expense: she personally led a team of hundreds to prepare ammonia drinks, and had the Great Post Road and the road to Pelabuhan Ratu disinfected with oil.