Luo Fangbo

Luo Fangbo (Chinese: 羅芳伯; pinyin: Luófāng bó; Jyutping: lo4 fong1 baak3; Dutch: De thaiko Lo Fong-phak; Indonesian: Lo Fang Pak, 1738-1795), formerly known as Lo Fong Pak, was born in Sak-san-po, Guangdong Province. He was the first Chinese person to hold the government position of 'president' and the founding father of the Lanfang Republic.

Luo Fangbo, was born into a family of farmers and students in Meixian Shifan Town, Guangdong, with the birthname of Luo Fong Pak. As a teenager, he was described as generous and especially joyful about marriage. From a young age, he learnt literature and martial arts, earning recognition among his friends. He tried to study various subjects and practiced swordsmanship, while also trying to master farming and livestock management. Known for his ambition and diligence, the townspeople held him in high regard. Until he was 34 years old, Luo Fangbo was still a poor scholar in Jiaying Prefecture who was not appreciated for his talent for scholarly acts and "lived by working hard in the fields with his tongue and writing with his inkstone for a living."

In 1772 (the 37th year of the Qianlong reign in the Qing Dynasty), Luo Fangbo had failed in the rural examination (鄉試) at 35 Years old. Luo Fangbo's Confucian beliefs and ambitions led him to seek a life beyond the countryside. Unwilling to spend his life confined to rural life, he "harboured the ambition to travel with great vigour" and sailed with more than a hundred relatives and friends to Borneo via Humen. Luo also wrote a poem entitled "The Journey to Jinshan" to recount the event. This drive for exploration and achievement is captured in Xie Fusheng's "Meixian Essentials," which notes his desire to cross the sea in search of greater opportunities. After multiple storms, he landed in Sanfa, Borneo.

At that time, Borneo was already inhabited by many Chinese. At the beginning, Luo Fangbo made a living in Kundin in the west with the career of teaching. He actively contacted local Chinese and indigenous people and began to use his innate communication skills. Luo Fangbo, who had just arrived, was immediately respected by the Hakka community because of his knowledge of literature and his decisiveness in doing things. He was known as "Luo Fangkou." By the time when he arrived in Dongwanlu (東萬律), modern-day Pontianak, he enjoyed high prestige among the Chinese in the Pontianak area and was elected as the leader by the local clansmen's associations. Thus establishing the Lan Fang Hui, an organization dedicated to protecting Chinese communities in businesses. Its main opponent was the Tiandihui and after many battles, the Tiandihui was destroyed, and the Lan Fang Hui grew stronger. He also had "one hundred and eight like-minded people" and began to try to make achievements. For his administrative skills, high cultural background, courage, Confucian education, and knowledge of martial arts, he was not only able to unite the Chinese, but also able to co-operate with the natives, and was very popular with the natives as well as the overseas Chinese. Later, in 1777, the reputation of the subordinate Luo Fangbo gradually surpassed that of Wu Yuansheng of the "Jusheng Company." Wu Yuansheng was a Jiaying native and bandit who fled to Borneo Island for plotting to launch an uprising against the Qing government. Due to this mass popularity, Luo Fangbo became Wu Yuansheng's superior and thus leader of the "Jusheng Company." Luo Fangbo then reestablished the company under the name, "Lanfang Company."

However, at that time, more than seven mining companies were fighting with each other in Borneo. Social order on the island was extremely chaotic as bandits were rampant and pirates dominated, causing the people to live in poverty while the indigenous leaders were helpless. In response, Luo Fangbo first united the Chinese and organized a "fellow countrymen association" (同乡会) where he assembled and personally trained guards in martial arts and arms to secure positions and fend off wrongdoers. Word later spread of an impending armed invasion of Borneo by the Dutch East India Company in Java. Luo Fangbo actively contacted the indigenous leaders of Sultan and the local people to set up an army combining the Chinese and the local people, which defeated the Dutch army twice and gained the jurisdiction of East Borneo. Leading a force of more than 30,000 troops, Luo Fangbo joined forces with the Sultan, believed to be from the Sultanate of Sambas, to pacify the rebellion. During the battle, Luo Fangbo's outstanding organizational skills and brave fighting spirit made his companions admire him and unanimously elected him as the leader. The Sultan prepared a banquet to celebrate the victory. Wen Xiongfei once wrote;

"The Yue natives sought to rebel, the Sultan prepared for the military expenses, bequeathed to Luo Fangbo to conquer. Phuong Bo is used in the open, secretly set up, the fruit of a great victory, the natives were killed and wounded. The sultan was pleased to get the report, and made wine and music, for Fangbo's birthday. From the table, the drink lifted up and said, 'There is a big trouble in our family. We are brothers. We will never forget each other from generation to generation. Fang Boweizhi.'"

According to the Luo genealogy, Luo Fangbo's (also known as Luo Fangbai) ancestors, from southern Jiangxi to Jiaying Prefecture (now Meixian District); after five generations, and then relocated to Shishan Town to open the residence and establish a business. From the founding ancestor of Luo Jiucheng to Luo Fangbo, after fourteen generations. Luo Fangbo's father Luo Qilong (the 13th ancestor), his wife Yang, gave birth to three sons Fangbai, Kuibai, and Taibai. Luo Fangbo had a younger brother named Luo Zhenbo. Luo Fangbo's first wife, Li, gave birth to a son Luo Zizeng (the 15th generation). Luo Zizeng married Guo and gave birth to sons Yuanhan and Yuanheng, the 16th generation, who are the descendants of Luo Fangbo left in Shishan. It is found that Luo Zizeng never went to Pontianak with his father, as there were little to no mention of Luo Zizeng in records in Pontianak. After Luo Fangbo pacified Dongwanlu, he married an indigenous person of Dayak ethnicity. It is not known whether Luo Fangbo's second wife gave birth to any children due to the lack of information. Throughout the ages, the Luo family has been engaged in farming and studying, and some of them have also been engaged in farming and trading. Luo Fangbo's Indonesian lineage however remains mostly a mystery, with many that connects lineages to Luo Fangbo scattered across Southeast Asia.

Later, in the lower reaches of the Kapuas River, there was a native tribal chief who often separated the unity of the natives and the Chinese. When the tribesmen living downstream of the Kapuas River insulted the Chinese, Luo Fangbo's subordinate Wu Yuansheng led an army to quell them and went southward. Whist traveling south, the Kun Tien, also known as the Pontianak sultanate, was newly established after its leader, Syarif Abdurrahman Al Qadri had left the Kingdom of Mempawah to found his own Kingdom who was supported by the Dutch VOC. Luo Fangbo, who was skilled in diplomacy and seeking an opportunity, liaised with the newly created and weak Sultanate of Pontianak to fight against the Chinese bandits and rebellious Kongsis' in the east and the west together. With cooperation, they both won great victory. The sultan of Pontianak, Syarif Abdurrahman Alkadrie, realised that he was no match for the tribesmen and could not control them, so he split the land into separate territories, to which Luo Fangbo was given control over the land of Dongwanlu as a sign of gratitude and a way to administer the land much more effectively. The land under Luo Fangbo's jurisdiction was bounded by Molor in the east, Kapuas River in the west, Dayuan (also known as Daiyan Tayan, today's upper and lower Daiyan Townships in Shanghou regency), Shanghou and Sekadau in the south, and Lara and Singkawang in the north.