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Tan Jin Sing: Dari Kapitan Cina sampai Bupati

Yogyakarta (Tan Jin Sing: From Captain of the
Chinese to Bupati of Yogyakarta). By T.S. Werdoyo.
Jakarta: Pustaka Utama Grati, 1990. Pp. xx, 162.
Map Illustrations, Bibliography, Index.

Peter Carey

Journal of Southeast Asian Studies / Volume 23 / Issue 01 / March 1992, pp 141 - 142
DOI: 10.1017/S0022463400011358, Published online: 07 April 2011

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0022463400011358

How to cite this article:

Peter Carey (1992). Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 23, pp 141-142 doi:10.1017/
S0022463400011358

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Book Reviews 141

Tan Jin Sing: Dari Kapitan Cina sampai Bupati Yogyakarta (Tan Jin Sing: From
Captain of the Chinese to Bupati of Yogyakarta). By T.S. WERDOYO. Jakarta: Pustaka
Utama Grafiti, 1990. Pp. xx, 162. Map Illustrations, Bibliography, Index.

Tan Jin Sing (c. 1760-1831) post-1813, Raden Tumenggung Secadiningrat) is a fascinating
example of a cultural chameleon in early nineteenth-century Java. A man who spanned
the Chinese, Javanese and European cultural worlds, he went from being Kapitan Cina
(Captain of the Chinese) in Kedhu (1793-1803) and Yogyakarta (1803-1813) to Bupati
(senior administrator) of the Yogyakarta Sultanate (1813-31), a post which he owed
largely to the British and the third Sultan (r. 1812-14) whom he had helped to power
in June 1812. Intelligent and ambitious — he was fluent in Chinese, Javanese and
Malay — he used his contacts with high-ranking European officials and the court to
advance his own career and that of his family. A Muslim convert with no priyayi (high
Javanese official) blood relations, he still delighted in European ways and arrogated
himself privileges which were the preserve of the court. By the time of his death in
May 1831, he had won the undying enmity both of his own peranakan (mixed blood)
Chinese community in Central Java, and of many high-placed Javanese who referred
to him contemptuously as a "Cina wurung, Londa durung, Jawa tanggung" ("no longer
a Chinese, not yet a Dutchman, a half-baked Javanese").
The appearance of a modern Indonesian biography written by one of his lineal
descendants and a member of the ever swelling Paquyuban Trah Raden Tumenggung
Secodiningrat Yogyakarta (Association of blood relations of R.T. Secadiningrat in
Yogyakarta) was thus a source of much intellectual curiosity for me. Here at last,
painstakingly and lovingly compiled from carefully preserved family histories — both
Chinese and Javanese — was, I hoped, a definitive work on one of the most unusual
figures in Modern Javanese history, a Chinese who had crossed the cultural divide into
the charmed circle of the Javanese court elite and whose career had been interwoven
with some of the most significant events and personalities of his age. What a rich
subject for a biographer and historian. Yet, on opening this thin volume, what does
one find? A mish-mash of pure fantasy and make-believe embedded in soi-disant early
nineteenth century Yogyakarta history which swarms with the most egregious errors
of fact and understanding. Even such a key date as the British storming of the Yog-
yakarta court (19/20 June) is cited wrongly (17 June), as is the notion that the British-
Indian troops used in Java were Gurkhas (Nepal had not then even fallen under the
sway of the Raj). Also can one really accept the notion that Crawfurd, that dour and
correct Scotsman, had intimate conversations with Tan Jin Sing about the relative size
of Javanese and European women and the importance of jamu (herbal potions) in
ensuring a good waistline (p. 40)? Amidst these flights of fancy, there are tantalising
glimpses of perhaps more plausible family traditions relating to Tan Jin Sing (e.g. his
'Javanese' parents in Kedhu and the origins of his two wives), but in the absence of
any notes and references what can one justifiably believe?
Apart from a reference — in the publisher's introduction — to an archival docu-
ment (the Notarial Act of 24 April 1861 which arranged the financial affairs of the
legatees of Tan Jin Sing's son, R.T. Secadiningrat II) not a single primary source has
been cited and it is clear that the author has not set foot inside an archive. Worse,
he seems to have been prepared to plagiarise the work of others — the present reviewer
142 Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 23, 1 (1992)

included — without acknowledgement or notational reference. Even then, some of the

most basic texts, such as my own "Changing Javanese Perceptions of the Chinese Com-
munities in Central Java, 1755-1825", which have long been available in Indonesian
translation and which contain useful information for any biographer of Tan Jin Sing,
have been ignored. Why publish such a work? Clearly other considerations than the
purely scholarly have weighed here. Perhaps there has been the influence of the ever
fashionable quest for the establishment of yet another pahlawan nasional (national
hero), this time for the Central Javanese peranakan Chinese community, or the demands
of family-based hagiography and the need in modern Indonesian culture to be associated
with an orang besar (great man) whose influence can assure success for later genera-
tions? Yet even then, why not do the job properly and spend a little time on the hard
graft of archival research? A naive question maybe for a contemporary Indonesian
book-reading public which seems to thrive on the synthetic and the second-hand.

Trinity College, Oxford, England Peter Carey

'Phoey Kuan': kansong ngoen klap prathet to chao chin phonthale nai prathet thai
('Phoey Kuan': Money Remittances to China by the Overseas Chinese in Thailand).
By SUCHADA TANTASUKRIT. Bangkok: Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn
University, 1989. Pp. 184. Illustrations, Tables, Notes, Bibliography. [In Thai.]

This book is a sociological thesis presented to the Political Science Faculty of Chula-
longkorn University. Its purpose is to examine the role of 'Phoey Kuan' business (money
remittances business) in the process of capital accumulation by Overseas Chinese
in Thailand. The monograph consists of four chapters and twelve appendices with
detailed lists of 'Phoey Kuan' firms, state proclamations dealing with the 'Phoey Kuan'
business, and the amount of remittances by 'Phoey Kuan' firms from 1911 to 1965.
Chapter One comprises a historical and sociological sketch of Chinese communities
in Southern China and Thailand. The author points out that social and cultural prac-
tices, particularly honouring one's ancestors and gratitude to family, are crucial causes
of money being remitted by the Overseas Chinese. Chapter Two discusses the evolution
of the 'Phoey Kuan' business. The author defines 'Phoey Kuan' as a message and
money remittance service agency between the Overseas Chinese and their families in
China. She divides the development of 'Phoey Kuan' into three periods: before 1942
when 'Phoey Kuan' was organized by Chinese traders who travelled to or had trading
connections with China; 1942-75, the period when this service was controlled by the
Bank of Thailand; and since 1975, after the opening of diplomatic relationship between
Thailand and the People's Republic of China. The author focuses on the second period
and on the involvement of the Thai government on remittances and collaboration
between the political-military groups and the Chinese business class in controlling
'Phoey Kuan'. She suggests that state financial enterprises promoted the establishment
of Chinese commercial banks to the detriment of 'Phoey Kuan' firms. However, the
author fails to discuss the result of this monopoly in the evolution of 'Phoey Kuan'.
In fact, the.author's main interest in this chapter is the role of 'Phoey Kuan' in the