The Oei Tiong Ham Concern and the Change of Regimes in Indonesia, 1931–1950

CHAPTER EIGHT THE OEI TIONG HAM CONCERN AND THE CHANGE OF REGIMES IN INDONESIA, 1931–1950 Peter Post Introduction The central decades of the twentieth century posed tremendous chal- lenges for ethnic Chinese family firms in Indonesia. During this period the late colonial Dutch regime was forcefully replaced by a short-lived but highly significant Japanese military administration and followed by the independent Republic of Indonesia. Each of the regime transi- tions was accompanied by widespread anti-Chinese violence resulting in many deaths and great material damage to Chinese shops, trading firms, manufacturing industries, and agricultural enterprises. Since each of the regimes professed different economic policies and created highly different sets of economic institutions (partly because of the changes in the global economic environment, partly because of different ideolo- gies), ethnic Chinese firms were forced to adapt and adjust themselves constantly in order to sustain their businesses. Some were successful, others failed. The mechanisms underlying the various Chinese business responses towards the enforced institutional changes during these crucial decades in Indonesian history have so far hardly been studied, let alone understood. The major reason seems to be that most writ- ings on the ethnic Chinese experience during the Japanese military administration and the Sukarno regime have used political frameworks, rather than business perspectives. The powerful nation-state paradigm fitted the indigenous bourgeoisies and U.S. hegemonizing efforts in the region. In the post-war debates on modernization, development and nation-state building simplified dichotomic frameworks ruled the dice, and within these frameworks no need was felt to delve deeper into the experiences of the ethnic Chinese business elites, since they were simply seen as collaborators and profiteers of an unjust colonial order and exploiters of the indigenous populations, actually preventing their emancipation rather than supporting it. This collaboration-resistance 170 peter post dichotomy has dominated the post-war research agenda for decades, although it was termed differently in different regions. Regarding motivations and business strategies of Chinese capital- ists in wartime China, North American scholars have recently started to question the usefulness of the collaboration-resistance framework, pointing out that matters were far more complex and fluid (Coble 2003; Brook 2004; Cochran 2006). Similarly, in regard to Chinese business responses in Yogyakarta under the Japanese military regime, Kwartanada (2002, 257) has argued, that they were confronted with “three major issues: competition against the emerging Indonesian entrepreneurs and Japanese business expatriates; patriotism towards their ancestral land China in fighting against Japanese aggression; and collaboration with the new regime run by their former enemy, the Japa- nese.” Except for Twang (1998) and Kwartanada (2002), little research has been done into the way Chinese family businesses in the Nether- lands East Indies coped with the period of intense and often extremely violent regime changes when Western colonial rule was swept aside by Japan’s military power and subsequently by nationalist forces resulting in the decolonization of the region. This essay aims to fill this gap by looking at the fates and fortunes of the Oei Tiong Ham Concern (OTHC), the largest ethnic Chinese conglomerate in pre-war Asia, during the reign of Oei Tjong Hauw.1 Unlike many other ethnic Chi- nese businesses in pre-war Indonesia, OTHC was able to survive the regime changes fairly well, and by the mid-1950s was once again rated as the largest ethnic Chinese business conglomerate in Asia. This essay 1 The Kian Gwan trading firm, predecessor of the Oei Tiong Ham concern, was established in Semarang by Oei Tjie Sien in 1863. Under the directorship of the leg- endary Oei Tiong Ham (1866–1924), son of Oei Tjie Sien, the company grew into a multinational corporation. After Oei Tiong Ham’s death, the company was first directed by Oei Tjong Swan (1899–1944), son of Oei Tiong Ham’s third wife, from 1925 until 1930, and subsequently by Oei Tjong Hauw (1904–1950), eldest son of Oei Tiong Ham’s fifth wife. The latter steered the corporation through the depression years and the Japanese period. There are several articles and books on the development of the Oei Tiong Ham Concern and more specifically on the achievements and entrepreneurial cunning of Oei Tiong Ham. See for example, Liem (1979), Koo (1943 and 1975); Tjoa (1963); Panglaykim and Palmer (1970). Yoshihara (1989) brings sec- tions of these books and articles together. In addition, Yoshihara added contributions by Onghokham (on Chinese capitalism in Java) and Charles Coppel (on Liem Thian Joe’s unpublished History of Kian Gwan) and included two extensive interviews with Oei Tjong Tjay and Oei Tjong Ie. But as Coppel noticed in his contribution to the Yoshihara volume, little is known about the Oei Tiong Ham Concern during the central decades of the twentieth century. .

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