Siauw
Giok Tjhan (1914-1981) was one of the most influential Chinese Indonesian
political leaders active in the early decades following Indonesia’s
independence from 1945 to 1965.
His
participation in politics at this time set him apart from the majority of
Chinese who were regarded as non-political and business-minded. When Indonesian
independence was declared in 1945, Siauw was appointed a member of the new
Republic’s legislative and executive bodies. He remained a high profile member
of parliament until the end of 1965. A leader and co-founder of Baperki (the
Consultative Body of Indonesian Citizenship), the largest organisation of
Chinese Indonesians, from 1954 to 1965, he had widespread support from both peranakan
and totok Chinese.
When the balance of power tilted to the right after
October 1965, Baperki was attacked and banned. Siauw and many other Baperki leaders were arrested and interned without
trial for twelve years. It was not until after the fall of President Soeharto
in 1998 that his place in modern Indonesian history could be properly
recognised. He
made important contributions in relation to an inclusive Indonesian
citizenship, propagation of a solution to the ‘minority problem’, which he
defined as the integration approach, better known today as multiculturalism, and
the proposal that the Chinese be accepted as one of the ‘sukus’ or ethnic
groups of Indonesian nation.
