John Yap Thiam Hien (25May 191325April 1989) was an Indonesian
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
lawyer.
[''Yap Thiam Hien (1913-1989) - Obor Pejuang Keadilan dan HAM''](_blank)
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Life
Born in Kutaraja
Banda Aceh ( Acehnese: ''Banda Acèh'', Jawoë: كوتا بند اچيه) is the capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra and has an elevation of . The city covers an area of and had ...
, Aceh
Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
, Dutch East Indies, his father was Yap Sin Eng and his mother was Hwan Tjing Nio. Yap's family, living in genteel but reduced circumstances, was part of the ''Cabang Atas
The Cabang Atas (''Van Ophuijsen Spelling System'': Tjabang Atas) — literally 'highest branch' in Indonesian — was the traditional Chinese establishment or gentry of colonial Indonesia. They were the families and descendants of the Chinese ...
'' or the local Chinese gentry; through his father, Yap was a great-grandson of Yap A Sin, '' Luitenant der Chinezen'' of Kutaraja from 1901 until 1922, a high-ranking position in the colonial civil bureaucracy.Chinese Indonesian
Chinese Indonesians ( id, Orang Tionghoa Indonesia) and colloquially Chindo or just Tionghoa are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries.
Chinese people and their Indonesian descendants have l ...
heritage, Yap was an advocate for human rights. He believed achieving minority rights needed to be part of the larger struggle for the rights of all people.Chung Hwa Hui
Chung Hwa Hui (1928–1942; the 'Chinese Association'), also known as CHH, was a conservative, largely pro-Dutch political organisation and party in the Dutch East Indies (today Indonesia), often criticised as a mouthpiece of the colonial Chine ...
due to his skepticism of the latter's elitist outlook.
Career
Yap moved often when he was young in pursuit his studies. He obtained the ''Meester der Rechten'' degree from the Faculty of Law, Leiden University in the Netherlands
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in 1947.John Karwin
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Seco ...
in 1950, and later joined the firm of Lie Hwee Yoe. He opened his own law firm in 1970. Since then, he has fought for human rights and for justice and equality for ethnic minorities and the poor. He was one of the founding members of PERADIN (Persatuan Advokat Indonesia) and served as the leader.
Together with Adnan Buyung Nasution, Mochtar Lubis
Mochtar Lubis (; 7 March 1922 – 2 July 2004) was an Indonesian Batak journalist and novelist who co-founded ''Indonesia Raya'' and monthly literary magazine " Horison". His novel '' Senja di Jakarta'' (''Twilight in Jakarta'' in English) ...
, P.K. Ojong, Victor D. Sibarani
The name Victor or Viktor may refer to:
* Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname
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* Victor (1951 film), ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film
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, Albert Hasibuan, Bambang Widjojanto, Johannes Cornelis Princen and other notable human rights activists and lawyers, Yap was one of the founders of (YLBHI), formerly known as Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH), which was a legal aid society to help the poor.Indonesian Chinese
Chinese Indonesians ( id, Orang Tionghoa Indonesia) and colloquially Chindo or just Tionghoa are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries.
Chinese people and their Indonesian descendants have l ...
, in 1954 Yap was an early member of BAPERKI
The Consultative Council for Indonesian Citizenship ( id, Badan Permusjawaratan Kewarganegaraan Indonesia), often known by its Indonesian abbreviation Baperki, was an organization founded in Indonesia in 1954 by Indonesians of Chinese descent. It s ...
Badan Permusjawaratan Kewarganegaraan Indonesia, an organization originally dedicated to obtaining citizenship for ethnic Chinese. After the 1965 fall of the Sukarno regime, BAPERKI was accused of having links with the Indonesian Communist Party ( PKI) and was banned by the new Suharto regime.''Non-conformist memoirs'' by Oei Tjoe Tat ''Memoar Oei Tjoe Tat'', Pembantu Presiden Soekarno, Jakarta: Hasta Mitra, April 1995
Death and legacy
While attending the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development conference in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Yap suffered from internal bleeding and was treated at St. Augustin Hospital for two days before he died on April25, 1989.
The
Yap Thiam Hien Award is a human rights award named after him to commemorate his steadfastness and commitment. The Yap Thiam Hien Award Program has been managed by the Human Rights Study Center Foundation (''Yayasan Pusat Studi Hak Asasi Manusia'' or YAPUSHAM) since 1992.
References
Further reading
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yap, Thiam Hien
1913 births
1989 deaths
Cabang Atas
Indonesian people of Chinese descent
People from Banda Aceh
Leiden University alumni
Indonesian human rights activists
20th-century Indonesian lawyers