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Chung Hwa Hui
Chung Hwa Hui (CHH; lit. 'Chinese Association') was a conservative, largely pro-Dutch political organization and party in the Dutch East Indies (today Indonesia), often criticised as a mouthpiece of the colonial Chinese establishment. The party campaigned for legal equality between the colony's ethnic Chinese subjects and Europeans, and advocated ethnic Chinese political participation in the Dutch colonial state. The CHH was led by scions of the 'Cabang Atas' gentry, including its founding president, H. H. Kan, and supported by ethnic Chinese conglomerates, such as the powerful Kian Gwan multinational.
The party's close relationship with, and allegiance to, the Dutch colonial state is clearly demonstrated by the fact that CHH was represented in the Volksraad – the embryonic legislature of the Dutch East Indies – all through the party's entire existence from 1928 until 1942. In the study of colonial Chinese-Indonesian politics, CHH is most often contrasted with the so-called Sin Po group, which called for loyalty to the pre-war Republic of China, and the Partai Tionghoa Indonesia (PTI: the 'Chinese-Indonesian Party'), which promoted ethnic Chinese participation in the Indonesian nationalist movement and demanded Indonesian nationality for all Indonesians.
Founded in 1928 after preliminary congresses through 1926 and 1927, CHH was loosely associated with the eponymous Chung Hwa Hui Nederland, a Peranakan student association in the Netherlands, established in 1911 in Leiden. Throughout its existence, CHH was dominated by its founding and only president H. H. Kan, a patrician doyen of the Cabang Atas. Members of the party's founding executive committee consisted of other scions of the Cabang Atas, such as Khouw Kim An, the 5th Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia, Han Tiauw Tjong and Loa Sek Hie, or representatives of ethnic Chinese conglomerates, including Oei Tjong Hauw, head of Kian Gwan, Asia's largest multinational at the time, and the Semarang business tycoon Thio Thiam Tjong. Due to its elitist leadership, CHH was referred to by critics as the 'Packard Club' after the expensive cars many of its leaders used. The general membership of the political party was drawn largely from Dutch-educated, upper and upper-middle class Peranakan circles.
Chung Hwa Hui was loyal to the Dutch East Indies and supported Indies nationality, but campaigned vigorously for legal equality with Europeans for the colony's Chinese subjects. To this end, the party advocated ethnic Chinese participation in colonial Indonesian politics: until the Japanese invasion in 1942, the majority of ethnic Chinese members of the Volksraad were CHH leaders. H. H. Kan articulated in his Dutch maiden speech to the Volksraad in 1918 a position that later came to define CHH:
"Our group is very thankful for all the improvements in the position of the Chinese thus far, but entire satisfaction can only come with complete legal equality with Europeans.
"[A]lthough the Chinese population group...is still not completely satisfied, a large proportion of this group nevertheless values the steps taken to improve its position in society.
"I speak here of that vast majority, the practical and soberly thinking part of this industrious group, who...keeps its cool and fully realizes that the link with the former fatherland does not need to be broken in order to protect its own real interests in the country whose welfare is so closely tied to its own existence. Without having to renounce one's race, without having to be unfaithful to what has been called by an English writer 'the religion of the seed', each must consider it a duty to oneself and towards his fellow inhabitants to give his best for the progress of the country and for the improvement of the people, to whom also the Chinese are thankfully indebted".
Despite their conservative reputation, the party's Volksraad members, led by H. H. Kan, voted in favour of the Soetardjo Petition of 1936, widely seen as progressive, which requested Indonesian independence as part of a Dutch commonwealth under the Dutch Monarchy. CHH members in the Volksraad did, however, oppose widening the electoral franchise for elections to the legislature to either more indigenous people (H. H. Kan) or to women (Loa Sek Hie). They maintained an ambiguous, and sometimes dismissive, stance on the emancipation of Indonesia's indigenous population.
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Chung Hwa Hui
Chung Hwa Hui (CHH; lit. 'Chinese Association') was a conservative, largely pro-Dutch political organization and party in the Dutch East Indies (today Indonesia), often criticised as a mouthpiece of the colonial Chinese establishment. The party campaigned for legal equality between the colony's ethnic Chinese subjects and Europeans, and advocated ethnic Chinese political participation in the Dutch colonial state. The CHH was led by scions of the 'Cabang Atas' gentry, including its founding president, H. H. Kan, and supported by ethnic Chinese conglomerates, such as the powerful Kian Gwan multinational.
The party's close relationship with, and allegiance to, the Dutch colonial state is clearly demonstrated by the fact that CHH was represented in the Volksraad – the embryonic legislature of the Dutch East Indies – all through the party's entire existence from 1928 until 1942. In the study of colonial Chinese-Indonesian politics, CHH is most often contrasted with the so-called Sin Po group, which called for loyalty to the pre-war Republic of China, and the Partai Tionghoa Indonesia (PTI: the 'Chinese-Indonesian Party'), which promoted ethnic Chinese participation in the Indonesian nationalist movement and demanded Indonesian nationality for all Indonesians.
Founded in 1928 after preliminary congresses through 1926 and 1927, CHH was loosely associated with the eponymous Chung Hwa Hui Nederland, a Peranakan student association in the Netherlands, established in 1911 in Leiden. Throughout its existence, CHH was dominated by its founding and only president H. H. Kan, a patrician doyen of the Cabang Atas. Members of the party's founding executive committee consisted of other scions of the Cabang Atas, such as Khouw Kim An, the 5th Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia, Han Tiauw Tjong and Loa Sek Hie, or representatives of ethnic Chinese conglomerates, including Oei Tjong Hauw, head of Kian Gwan, Asia's largest multinational at the time, and the Semarang business tycoon Thio Thiam Tjong. Due to its elitist leadership, CHH was referred to by critics as the 'Packard Club' after the expensive cars many of its leaders used. The general membership of the political party was drawn largely from Dutch-educated, upper and upper-middle class Peranakan circles.
Chung Hwa Hui was loyal to the Dutch East Indies and supported Indies nationality, but campaigned vigorously for legal equality with Europeans for the colony's Chinese subjects. To this end, the party advocated ethnic Chinese participation in colonial Indonesian politics: until the Japanese invasion in 1942, the majority of ethnic Chinese members of the Volksraad were CHH leaders. H. H. Kan articulated in his Dutch maiden speech to the Volksraad in 1918 a position that later came to define CHH:
"Our group is very thankful for all the improvements in the position of the Chinese thus far, but entire satisfaction can only come with complete legal equality with Europeans.
"[A]lthough the Chinese population group...is still not completely satisfied, a large proportion of this group nevertheless values the steps taken to improve its position in society.
"I speak here of that vast majority, the practical and soberly thinking part of this industrious group, who...keeps its cool and fully realizes that the link with the former fatherland does not need to be broken in order to protect its own real interests in the country whose welfare is so closely tied to its own existence. Without having to renounce one's race, without having to be unfaithful to what has been called by an English writer 'the religion of the seed', each must consider it a duty to oneself and towards his fellow inhabitants to give his best for the progress of the country and for the improvement of the people, to whom also the Chinese are thankfully indebted".
Despite their conservative reputation, the party's Volksraad members, led by H. H. Kan, voted in favour of the Soetardjo Petition of 1936, widely seen as progressive, which requested Indonesian independence as part of a Dutch commonwealth under the Dutch Monarchy. CHH members in the Volksraad did, however, oppose widening the electoral franchise for elections to the legislature to either more indigenous people (H. H. Kan) or to women (Loa Sek Hie). They maintained an ambiguous, and sometimes dismissive, stance on the emancipation of Indonesia's indigenous population.