Si Jin Kwi’s comic by Otto Suastika (Siauw Tik Kwei).

Sie Jin Kwi was a Chinese general from the Tang Dynasty under Emperor Tong Thai Cong,

626 -649 AD, and his story appeared in a novel, movies and performance art in China. This

Chinese character Xue Renqui, who went by the name Si Jin Kwi, was more familiar to

Indonesian comic readers and was adopted in to Javanese culture to become known as Prince

Joko Sudiro (Mastuti, interview, 2015). Javanese is one of 672 local languages and is used

by more than 75 million people (Grimes, 1988: 565). Indonesian comic communities

(Komunitas Komik Indonesia) and martial arts story communities (Komunitas Masyarakat

Cerita Silat) both published Si Jin Kwi’s comic in a new format with a new Indonesian

version on January 29, 2011.

The first Si Jin Kwi comic strips were published in “Star Weekly” and “Sin Po” in 1955, but

they were so popular again during President Soeharto’s time that they were published again

by Gabungan Tridharma in Indonesia in 1983. The creator Siauw Tik Kwi, who was better

known as Otto Suastika, was among the most successful Indonesians who adapted Chinese

legends to comics. It is also possible that Suastika was the first comic artist in the world to

draw the comic of Si Jin Kwi as even the Chinese artists did not make one about him during

Soekarno’s period (Mastuti, interview, 2015, Lulianto, interview, 2015).

Content analysis

This research uses a content analysis of the comic books available from various sources. We

interviewed Dwi Woro Retno Masturi from University of Indonesia, who is an expert in Si

Jin Kwi and Potehi puppets, Hasmi (Harya Suryaminata), the creator of Gundala Putra Petir

who knew Suastika, as well as Roby Lulianto, the pupil of Otto Suastika who is a watercolor

painter, and Agus Dermawan T, art critic, who has interviewed Otto Suastika. The research

materials were based on Si Jin Kwi comic books.

Fig.1. Portrait of Otto Suastika or Siauw Tik Kwie

Fig.2. Cover of a Si Jin Kwi comic

Fig.3. Drawing of Si Jin Kwi in Chinese-Javanese manuscripts (NR 340 collection of

University Indonesia Library) (Mastuti, 2014)

Migration and Acculturation

The Chinese descendants had already been in Indonesia many centuries and possibly even as

early as 3rd Century BCE through trading and spreading Buddhism religion (Ganeri,

2007:20). However, the osmosis of Chinese culture into Javanese took a long time.

According to Xueqin (2013: 1-3), Chinese mass migration can be divided into the following

four phases: the first Chinese Mass Migration to Southeast Asia (1600-1850) which was

inextricably linked with trade; as well as the second Chinese Mass Migration (1850-1920)

which was related to the Ching government that was forced to open to western powers after

the first Opium War. The Chinese males seldom brought their wives when they came to Java

and their interracial marriage with native women, especially Javanese women, formed the

Peranakan. The third was the Chinese women’s Migration (1920-1950) in the Southeast

Asia region where women reunited with family and desired to make a living independently in

Southeast Asia. Chinese women intermarried between immigrants, enabling them to preserve
their cultural heritage, beliefs, values, and language (Handoko, 2009). This migration of

Chinese woman enabled settlers to form the totok community (Suryadinata, 1993: 78).

The fourth Chinese Mass Migration (1978) involved student Chinese diaspora, traders and

businessman and unskilled labourers. Being a communist country, Chinese citizens were

banned to migrate in Southeast Asian Countries by the local authorities. On the other hand,

governments in South Asian Countries promoted the assimilation of Overseas Chinese into

indigenous society. Some descendants of Chinese were probably so completely acculturated

that they became Javanese during 1850-1899, and most of them could not speak mandarin

(Onghokham, 2005:96). They built the Tiong Ho Hwee Koan (THHK) school for peranakan

in Batavia (Jakarta during colonial times) in 1900 (Handoko, 2009: 184) much to the

dissatisfaction of the Dutch colonisers who did not like the fact this school was so oriented to

the Chinese. This led to the establishment of their own new school, HCS (Hollandsch-

Chineesche School) for Peranakan, with Dutch as the first language of communication

(Mastuti, 2011: 50).

In spite of these constant social changes, the story of Si Jin Kwi remained ever popular

during the period of 1855-1900; even the older people still remembered the story. This time

was the most important for acculturation between Javanese and Chinese culture. 118

Chinese-Javanese scripts, and 53 scripts had Si Jin Kwi’s story. His legend consisted of two

scripts: Si Jin Kwi Centang (conquering of the East); and Si Jin Kwi Ceng See (Conquering

of the West) (Mastuti, 2011:51). These stories were found in popular writing in China

(Cheng, 1991:53) and Suastika’s comic version is no different from the old Chinese legend.

The story reflected Chinese culture and Siauw Tik Kwie did not change or modify it. The

story starts from Si Jin Kwi the son of a rich trader who wasted all his wealth he inherited
from his parents, but went on to learn martial arts from various masters. He became stronger

and had such impressive sword and battle skills that he became a general in the Tang

Dynasty (Siauw Tik Kwie, 1983:6). After Si Jin Kwi defeated Tong Thai Cong’s or King’s

enemy, he wanted to see his wife in the village. Si Jin Kwi saw a boy who has very good

arrow skills on the way to his village. He accidentally killed his son, Si Teng San (Xue

Ding Shan) who was unbeknown to him, and was taken away by a tiger and saved by an Ong

Go Lo Cou. Si Teng San was cured and became Ong Go’s pupil. The story continued, and

Teng San was sent to rescue his father. When Teng San came to the place, he saw a white

tiger without realizing that the tiger was his father Jin Kwi’s spirit. In the story, Teng San

killed Jin Kwi ,and he was accused of being non filial, and it was also considered the biggest

mistake in Chinese tradition. Similar to many Chinese stories, the God is always the most

powerful and the people have to obey the King while the son and wife have to obey the

husband or father (Cheng, 1991:53).

Biography

Otto Suastika (Fig.1) was born on June 21, 1913 in Solo. He had three siblings, two brothers

and one sister. He was educated at Tiong Hoa Hwe Kuan School, which was a school for

Chinese as Ethnic group of East Asia race in Dutch colonial times. He learned many things

at school including how to draw portraits, still lifes, natural subjects, as well as Confucius

philosophy. He also read many Chinese myths and legends, such as Hong Sin, Sam Kok, Si

Jin Kwi, Si Teng San, Di Kong, Gak Hui, Se Yu Ki (the story of Sun Go Kong), Pak Yu Ki,

and Tong Yu Ki (the legend of 8 Gods). His mother Poa Tjin Nio could read hanacaraka

(Javanese script) and also liked to read the Chinese myths and legend. She liked to watch

Chinese operas, which were cast by Peranakan , such as Si Jin Kwi and Lo Tong Cin. These

Chinese operas used Betawi language that was also known as “Jakarta-Malay-Dialect’
(Klenden-Probonegoro, 1996). Peranakan is the term used to describe the Chinese people

who came to Java Island (one of the islands of Indonesia) in the 1900s (Suryadinata, 1994).

These settlers abandoned the Chinese language, gravitated to the Westernized type of

education offered by Indonesia’s non-Muslim institutions, and often aimed for a professional

job, such as a medical doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc., but not as traders. (Woff and

Poedjosoedarmo, 2002). When Otto Suastika was about 12 years old, he saw a drawing by

Liem Too Hien of Lo Cia fighting with a dragon and this impression influenced him in his

career decision. He started to collect Chinese hero pictures out of cigarette packet covers

and tried to enlarge the pictures before giving them free of charge to people who ordered

them. At the age of 14 he quit school to work at his uncle’s company, Jamu Cap Jago

(Indonesian traditional herbs) and help him to plant palawija (crops planted as 2nd crop in dry

season), but by 1930 he moved to Solo where he became interested in Tridharma (Buddhist

teaching). He even got a job publishing books and magazines promoting Tridharma. At the

same time he learned the art of painting from Sterneberg, H.V. Velthuisen and Jan Frank and

made friends with other artists, such as Kho Wan Gie, who drew Put On, and Lee Man Fong

who was a painter (painter). He made illustrations for Moestika Dharma and Moestika

Romans, as well as a comic strip for Sin Po, Jakarta, Sin Tit Po, Surabaya, Liberty Magazine,

Malang and Starmagazine, Jakarta. He also worked for advertising agencies Exelcior, de

Lamar, De Unie, Preciosa, etc. and married Tan Poen No in 1938, whose relatives supported

his career as an artist. After the Pacific war in 1942, Suastika moved to Solo and made a

living by offering painting course. He learned Javanese philosophy and the ethics of Ki

Ageng Suryomentaram in order to comprehend Buddhist teaching, and became interested in

J.Krishnamurti teachings about self-knowledge; and as a Buddhist follower, he also became

involved in teaching in Khong Kau Hwee’s Confusius religion organization. All the while he

continued with his paintings, making ads, drawing for Star Weekly until 1952, and was an
active member of Kay Kio Sokai’s art organization (Suastika, 1983). P.K. Oyong, the editor

of Star Weekly and the founder of Kompas News paper then asked Suastika to draw Si Jin

Kwi in 1952 (Suastika, 1983). He agreed to draw 1900 panels for seven years and was paid

Rp 7500 for every 5 panels he drew. The money was enough to live on modestly for one

month (Suastika, 1983). His preference was to draw in a wide panel format, which was

similar to a wide cinema screen, but this technique was quite common for comic strip artists

in his time. Considered one of the top naturalist painters in Indonesia within Soekarno’s

period, Suastika developed Si Jin Kwi’s character and drew many Chinese landscapes as well

as all the buildings in his comics. Although he had never visited China during the process of

his comic making, he was heavily influenced by Chinese comics available at the time and

also by western comics, such as those of Alex Raymond (1909-1956), Hal Foster (1892-

1982). His drawing styles resembled cinematic photo-realism which was created by Alex

Raymond. This new style also appeared in Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim (Sabin, 1996:54).

Harold Rudolph Foster, better known as Hal Foster, was a possible influence on Suastika,

because many old magazines, such as Star Weekly published Hal Foster comics. (Hasmi,

interview, 2015). Otto Suastika drew figures in Foster’s same realist style, but he did not

draw the same landscapes. His backgrounds more closely resembled a Chinese style.

Furthermore, he developed his own style in Chinese martial art comics by taking into

consideration the motif and properties of Potehi Puppets, especially in his drawing of the

King’s dress, flags, and fort. If we compare the figure and horse paintings of the Tang

Dynasty (James Canhill, 2011) with those of Suastika, the figure and horses of Suastika are

more realistic than those of the Tang Chinese’s painter. He drew shadows with very thick

lines, a technique that was also the influence of Foster and Raymond. He further transformed

the potehi puppet characters into his own style, which is particularly evident in his

presentation of the Royal Family dress and forts. Moreover, even though Potehi was brought
from China to Indonesia around 16-19 century (Pan, 1998) the Potehi Puppet was probably

only shown around 1909 (Mastuti, 2013). These characters were known also to Javanese

people as Kethoprak. Some of Potehi’s puppet characters’ names were even changed to

Javanese names, for example, Si Jin Kwi became Joko Sudiro (Prince Sudiro), (Mastuti,

2004). Kethoprak Cakraijo groups, a traditional performance arts, are used to tell Chinese

myths and legends at Yogyakarta (Mastuti, 2004) There were also many types of wayang

(Shadow puppets) already in Java, such as wayang kulit purwa (leather shadow puppets

purwa), wayang gedod, wayang klithik/krucil, Sundanese rod-puppet theater of West Java,

wayang mask, wayang revolusi, etc. The assimilation between Chinese and Javanese culture

produced two types of wayang: wayang potehi and wacinwa (wayang Javanese-Chinese).

Both types of wayang characters were probably influenced Otto Suastika when he created Si

Jin Kwi’s comic.

Fig.4. Tionghoa-Jawa shadow puppet (Mastuti, 2013)

Fig.5. Gatotkaca is the Hindus hero in Mahabrata and Bharata yudha, Hindi myth. This was

the illustration for Gatotkaca gandrung (Gatotkaca falling in love with Pergiwa) by Otto

Suastika

Other unique visual characters of Si Jin Kwi were created by Gan Thwan Sing (1895 - 1967)

in Yogyakarta, as well as Chinese-leather puppet theatre called wacinwa (Tionghoa-Jawa

puppet). Once Gan Thwan Sing passed, however, it was not performed again. (Mastuti,

2013). Nevertheless, it was possible that Otto Suastika had been inspired by the Tionghoa-

Jawa puppet when he drew Si Jin Kui in his comic, especially the royal family clothes. Both

potehi and wacinwa have detailed and complex textures in this area and their particular

technique could have been what influenced Otto Suastika to draw the royal family in his

comics the way he did. However, Agus Dermawan said that Otto Suastika had never

mentioned Wacinwa and Gan Thwan Sing (Dermawan, interview, 2015). Otto Suastika
drew nearly every day (Hasmi, 2015) and not just Chinese myths, but also Hindu

mythological heroes such as Gatotkaca and other gods. This is one of the possible reasons

that his texture in the drawings of the Si Jin Kui royal family in his comics is so complex.

As a painter, Otto Suastika has had 4 independent exhibitions in Balai Budaya, Jakarta. His

last exhibition was opened by the Ministry of Education representative, Dr. Daoed Joesoep,

and was sponsored by Jusuf Wanandi (Liem Bian Kie). He was a man many young talented

artists consulted with and he would sometimes take them outside the city to paint together.

His subject matters were usually landscapes, fishermen, old cities, and traditional markets. In

his 70s, he even travelled and painted Bali’s landscape, Bromo Mountain in East Jawa, and

Galunggung Mountain in West Jawa. Finally, he went to China one year before he passed

away (Darmawan, interview, 2015). Similar to Kho Wan Gie who drew Put On, Otto

Suastika did not involve politic. He hid his identity as Ki Ageng Suryamentaram’s translator

during Soeharto’s period. Unfortunately, his 1900 comic panels was burnt by the publisher

during

the September 30th Movement Gestapu (Gerakan Tiga Puluh September or G 30 S)

(Lulianto, interview, 2015), because they were afraid to be accused affiliated with Chinese

communist. However, some of artists thought that the panels were hidden because artist was

more appreciated during Soekarno’s time compare to this day (Darmawan, interview, 2015).

Otto Suastika will be remembered not only as a painter, art teacher, comic artist, and

Buddhist activist, but also as a figure of acculturation. He influenced the Javanese (the

biggest local ethnic group in Indonesia) to be involved in Chinese culture. He leaves behind

his advice to young artists to learn anatomy, perspective, and other nature shapes and

environment.
Fig. 6. Si Jin Kwi was born into a rich trader’s family

Frame one: Si Eng is a rich trader who lived with his wife Phoa at the Thai Peng Chung

Village, Liong Bun Koan regency, Shoa Sai province. One day, Phoa had a dream that she

was hugging a falling star. Ten months later, Si Jin Kwi was born. They were happy, but not

for long. They became unhappy when they found out Si Jin Kwi would not be able to speak

for 15 years.
Frame two: One night Jin Kwi was hit by a white tiger. He screamed, and since then, he

could speak.

Frame three: The next day, Si Jin Kwi gave respect and congratulated Si Eng on his 50th

birthday.

Frame four: Several days later, Si Jin Kwi was unlucky with his parent’s sudden death.

Frame five: Si Jin Kwi used various weapons to practice his martial arts. He ignored the

responsibility to run his parent’s business. Instead, he spent a lot of money to call in many

martial arts teachers from all regions.

Frame six : He practiced riding a horse and played war games with his friends every day

while he spent all his wealth.

Frame seven: After Si Jin Kwi wasted all his money, he became poor, stayed in a small

house, and started to starve. Desperate to make a living, he remembered his uncle, Si Hiong,

whom he wanted to call on for help.

Fig.7. Ong Go Lo Cou, the god asked the black panther to rescue Si Jin Kwi’s son, Si Teng

(Xue Ding Shan).

Frame one: When Si Jin Kwi admired to the boy’s archery skills, a strange looking animal

suddenly leaped out from the jungle to attack the boy.

Frame two: The strange animal approached and tried to attack.

Frame three: Then Si Jin Kwi reacted fast, and released his magic arrow.

Frame four: Surprisingly, the strange animal disappeared and the boy screamed loudly.

Frame five: Khai Sou Bun’s spirit acted as a strange animal to trick Si Jin Kwi.

Frame six: Ong Go Lou Cou felt a strange phenomenon/ presence in his meditation at Sui

Liom Tong Cave. He ordered the black tiger to bring him the boy.

Frame seven: The black tiger rode on the cloud, and carried the boy to Siu Liom Tong ‘s

Cave.

Fig. 8. Widescreen comic panels

Fig. 9. Varieties of animal drawings, such as a bird, tiger, turtle and dragon.
Fig.10. King’s dress and fort and interior of Chinese palace resemble Potehi puppet.

Fig.11. Drawing technique by Oto Suastika to show “in the night”.

Fig. 12. The weapons and the action of Si Jin Kwi

Fig. 13. Goddess of Kiu Thian Hian Li Nio Nio helped Si Jin Kwi (left) and Seng Seng Tan

attacked Si Jin Kwi from above (Right)

Fig.14 Otto Suastika’s painting

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