Tan Po Goan
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Tan Po Goan ( zh, t=陈宝源, 1911–1985), sometimes spelled Tan Po Gwan, was a
Chinese Indonesian Chinese Indonesians (), or simply ''Orang Tionghoa'' or ''Tionghoa'', are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries. Chinese Indonesians are the fourth largest community of Overseas Chinese in th ...
lawyer and
Socialist Party of Indonesia The Socialist Party of Indonesia (, PSI) was a socialist political party in Indonesia which existed from 1948 until 1960, when it was banned by President Sukarno. Origins In December 1945, Amir Sjarifoeddin's Socialist Party of Indonesia (P ...
politician. He was a
Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...
representing the Chinese community in the
Third Sjahrir Cabinet The Third Sjahrir Cabinet () was the fourth Indonesian cabinet. It served from October 1946 to July 1947, when it fell due to disagreements related to the implementation of the Linggadjati Agreement and subsequent negotiations with the Dutch. B ...
(1946–7), making him possibly the first Chinese Indonesian to be appointed to ministerial rank. As a Socialist Party representative in the Provisional House of Representatives from 1950 to 1956, he was involved in a number of high-profile matters relating to citizenship and civil rights.


Biography


Early life and law career

Tan Po Goan was born in
Cianjur Cianjur () is a town and district in the West Java province of Indonesia, and is the regency seat, seat of Cianjur Regency. The district of Cianjur is located along one of the main roads between Jakarta (120 km to the northwest) and Bandung ...
, Batavia Residency,
Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...
(now in
West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...
, Indonesia) on 24 October 1911. He was of Peranakan Chinese descent. He was educated at an Algemene middelbare school in
Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...
. In 1932 he enrolled in the law program at the , the precursor to today's Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia. He graduated in 1937
Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...
() degree. After graduating he moved to
Makassar Makassar ( ), formerly Ujung Pandang ( ), is the capital of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, ...
to open a law practice and become an officer of the court at the (a local higher court). He worked there for two years, and in January 1939 he requested and obtained an honorary discharge and returned to Java, taking up a similar post at the in
Surabaya Surabaya is the capital city of East Java Provinces of Indonesia, province and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern corner of Java island, on the Madura Strai ...
. During his time there, he became involved in journalism and started writing for the popular Chinese Indonesian newspaper '' Sin Po''. He also joined the prestigious law firm of Lie Hwee Yoe, with which he would have a longstanding association. He continued working as a lawyer and writing for ''Sin Po'' until the
Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–1942 was the conquest of the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) by forces of the Empire of Japan in the early days of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Allied forces attempted unsuccessfully t ...
in 1942; during this era he was a popular and well-connected figure and known as a bon vivant. In 1942 he was then interned by the Japanese, along with many Chinese Indonesian intellectuals.


Indonesian national revolution and early political career

He was freed after the end of the war and became involved in politics in newly independent Indonesia, and was a supporter of the Republican side against the Dutch in the
Indonesian National Revolution The Indonesian National Revolution (), also known as the Indonesian War of Independence (, ), was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during A ...
. The Indonesian Republic offered the opportunity for people of Chinese descent to become citizens; under the Dutch system, they had been considered subjects of China. Tan obtained Indonesian citizenship in the summer of 1946 and also joined the board of
Sutan Sjahrir Sutan Sjahrir (5 March 1909 – 9 April 1966) was an Indonesian statesman and independence leader who served as the first Prime Minister of Indonesia, prime minister of Indonesia from 1945 until 1947. He played a key role during the Indonesian Na ...
's
Socialist Party of Indonesia The Socialist Party of Indonesia (, PSI) was a socialist political party in Indonesia which existed from 1948 until 1960, when it was banned by President Sukarno. Origins In December 1945, Amir Sjarifoeddin's Socialist Party of Indonesia (P ...
. On 2 October 1946 he was appointed a
Minister of state Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...
(
Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...
) representing the Chinese community in the
Third Sjahrir Cabinet The Third Sjahrir Cabinet () was the fourth Indonesian cabinet. It served from October 1946 to July 1947, when it fell due to disagreements related to the implementation of the Linggadjati Agreement and subsequent negotiations with the Dutch. B ...
. The purpose of his appointment was partly to try and work through the difficult relations between native Indonesians and Chinese Indonesians during the war against the Dutch. It was received positively by his old ''Sin Po'', which saw it as a significant move and more than a token gesture by the Republican government. He did face some difficulties; in early 1947 he was accused of blocking the evacuation of Chinese Indonesians from Republican to Dutch-held territory; he denied it and insisted that it was the Dutch who had limited the number of refugees they were allowing into the parts of Java they controlled. On 3 March 1947 he was appointed to the 47-member Working Committee of the
Central Indonesian National Committee The Central Indonesian National Committee (, KNIP), also known as the Central National Committee (, KNP), was a body appointed to assist the president of the newly independent Indonesia. Originally purely advisory, it later gained assumed legisl ...
(KNIP), again representing the Chinese community. This was the fifth meeting of the KNIP which met in
Malang Malang (; , ), historically known as Tumapel, is an inland List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of East Java. It has a history dating back to the age of the Singhasari, Singhasari K ...
and ratified the
Linggadjati Agreement The Linggadjati Agreement (''Linggajati'' in modern Indonesian spelling) was a political accord concluded on 15 November 1946 by the Dutch administration and the unilaterally declared Republic of Indonesia in the village of Linggajati, Kuningan ...
. In his role representing the Chinese he still had to intervene to help Chinese residents who were in some cases being persecuted by Republican forces, as in
Demak Regency Demak () is a regency located in the Indonesian province of Central Java, on the northern coast of the island. It is bordered by Jepara Regency and the Java Sea to the north, Kudus and Grobogan Regencies to the east, Grobogan and Semarang Re ...
in July. Not long after, he stepped down from his position as advocate for the Chinese. In August 1949 he traveled with a delegation to Schipol in the Netherlands to participate in the
Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference The Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference (; Indonesian: ) was held in The Hague from 23 August to 2 November 1949, between representatives of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Indonesia and the Federal Consultative Assembly, ...
.


Provisional House of Representatives (1950-1956)

Following the signing of the Round Table agreement and the passing of the
Provisional Constitution of 1950 The Provisional Constitution of 1950 (, ) replaced the Federal Constitution of 1949 when Indonesia unilaterally withdrew from Netherlands-Indonesia Union, the union with the Netherlands agreed at the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference, Ro ...
, KNIP was expanded into the Provisional House of Representatives and a number of former KNIP members were appointed to it. Tan joined as a representative of the 15-member Socialist Party faction under Soebadio Sastrosatomo. He was also briefly a member of the Chinese Indonesian Democratic Party (, PDTI) for a time, though he formally left it in 1953. One of his most high-profile moments during that session was his public advocacy for left-wingers and Chinese Indonesians arrested and held without charge in the August 1951 mass arrests. After months of extralegal detention of thousands of citizens by the Soekiman Cabinet, he led an effort to put an official Interpellation to the government. He worried that hundreds of people had been held in Jakarta arrests since August and none had been convicted yet, due to the weak legal basis for their arrest. He led several rounds of debate with the government on this matter over a two month period. In November, Tan and some of the left-wing parties tried to pass a censure motion against Soekiman, but were voted down. Another cause of his during that session was press freedom. At that time the censorship laws from the Dutch East Indies were still in force in Indonesia, and in late 1953 he advanced a motion to defend the national journalist's union from persecution by Minister of Information Ferdinand Lumban Tobing. It was supported by
Masyumi The Council of Indonesian Muslim Associations Party (), better known as the Masyumi Party, was a major Islamic political party in Indonesia during the Liberal Democracy Era in Indonesia. It was banned in 1960 by President Sukarno for supporti ...
and the Socialist Party, but voted down by a majority which included the
Indonesian National Party The Indonesian National Party (, PNI) was the name used by several nationalist political parties in Indonesia from 1927 until 1973. The first PNI was established by future President Sukarno. After independence, the new PNI supplied a number of pri ...
(PNI) and the
Communist Party of Indonesia The Communist Party of Indonesia (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'', PKI) was a communist party in the Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its Indo ...
(PKI). The following summer, he advanced a cross-party motion to finally do away with the Dutch press censorship laws; in this he enlisted the support parliamentarians Peris Pardede and Siauw Giok Tjhan (PKI), Yunan Nasution (Masyumi),
Rasuna Said Hajjah Rangkayo Rasuna Said (14 September 1910 – 2 November 1965) was a campaigner for Indonesian independence and women's rights, particularly their rights to education and participation in politics. Being politically active herself prior an ...
(unaffiliated). The House passed the motion and Minister Tobing agreed to pursue the abolishment of press laws after some consultation. Another affair he became involved in was a
Motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...
he advanced against the Minister of Justice Djody Gondokusumo, who was involved in the deportation of two high-profile
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
-supporting Chinese Indonesians, Tjong Hoen Ni and Chu Chan Tang. Part of the problem was that, according to regulations, the Minister had essentially unchecked power to deport foreigners from Indonesia. The case of Tjong in particular became a cause for members of Masyumi and the Socialist Party in the autumn of 1954, expressing their opposition to
First Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet The First Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet () was an Indonesian cabinet named after the prime minister, and also known as 'Kabinet IV', that served from 30 July 1953 until 12 August 1955. Composition Cabinet Leadership *Prime Minister: Ali Sastroamid ...
. Tan objected to the method in which Tjong had been deported for his political activities and that he had been officially deported to the People's Republic of China, which could have ended in a death sentence. The reason for this was that Indonesia recognized the PRC over Taiwan and considered Chinese Indonesians who had not taken on Indonesian citizenship after independence to be citizens of the PRC. With the help of the Philippines Embassy in Jakarta, Tjong was able to go to the Philippines and then to Taiwan instead, where Chu Chan Tang had also ended up. Tan's non-confidence measure was eventually defeated in the house in mid-April 1955, but the process revealed some embarrassing documents showing the government had mishandled the situation with Tjong. Sosrodanukusumo, the head of investigations in the Ministry of Justice, was fired as a result. Tan continue to pursue then ex-Minister Djody in the courts, accusing him of having accepted bribes in exchange for residency permits. Djody was eventually found guilty in the
Supreme Court of Indonesia The Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia () is the independent judicial arm of the state. It maintains a system of courts and sits above the other courts and is the final court of appeal. It can also re-examine cases if new evidence emerg ...
in January 1956 and sentenced to a year in prison. Tan joined the Consultative Council for Indonesian Citizenship (BAPERKI), a progressive and pro-integration Indonesian Chinese organization, in 1954 and was nominated to run for it in the
1955 Indonesian legislative election Legislative elections were held in Indonesia on 29 September 1955 to elect the 257 members of the House of Representatives. The election was the first national election held since the end of the Indonesian National Revolution, and saw over 37 mil ...
. However, he withdrew his membership and candidacy with BAPERKI in May 1955, decided to run again with the Socialists (PSI). Supposedly part of his reason for withdrawing from BAPERKI was that they wanted to dictate which positions he was to take in the House, and also concerns that it was becoming increasingly close to the Communist Party. He campaigned in the 1955 election with Sutan Sjahrir, Injo Beng Goat, Maria Ulfah Santoso, and others from the PSI slate. The party only received 2% of the vote and sat five members in the House; Tan was not among them.


Later life

In March 1957, Tan was called in to face a Military Police commander along with 11 other civil servants who were suspected of corruption, although he does not seem to have been found guilty of anything. He was abroad in 1958 when the
Permesta Permesta was a rebel movement in Indonesia that was declared on 2 March 1957 by civil and military leaders in Eastern Indonesia. Initially the center of the movement was in Makassar, which at that time was the capital of the province of Sulawe ...
rebellion broke out, which implicated some of his Socialist Party colleagues. Feeling alienated by the direction of Indonesian politics thereafter, and possibly worried about being arrested in connection with the Permesta rebellion, he stayed abroad for a decade. He briefly returned after Sukarno's death. He had been living in Singapore and Thailand during that decade; when he tried to rejoin his old law firm, they refused, possibly out of fear of his political associations. He decided to leave again and settled in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, Australia. He died in Sydney in November 1985.


References

{{Reflist 1911 births 1985 deaths Indonesian politicians of Chinese descent Peranakan people in Indonesia Lawyers from the Dutch East Indies People from Cianjur Indonesian lawyers Socialist Party of Indonesia politicians