The history of the Khek Chinese in Bangka
The history of the Khek Chinese in Bangka
The history of the Chinese on the island, which is famous for
its rich tin deposits, dates back hundreds of years.
The Dutch came to the island to mine the tin and sell it in
Europe. Kui Fong said the Dutch, about three centuries ago,
brought Chinese migrants from China to Bangka to work in the tin
mines.
However, few of the Chinese-Indonesians of Bangka today know
anything about their ancestral villages in China.
"I do not know where my ancestral village in China is as my
parents never told me about it," 45-year-old Heri, or Asiong,
head of Gedong village, told the Post.
The residents of Gedong believe that they are the 15th
generation of villagers. Khek Kui Fong said the village was given
the name Gedong, which means mansion, because their houses and
yards are very large.
"In the old days, the indigenous islanders referred to the
houses of the Chinese as gedong. That's why the village became
known as Gedong village. Today, we live a much poorer life than
previous generations. We earn just enough to make ends meet,"
said Kui Fong.
The economic situation of the ethnic Chinese here suffered a
downturn following Indonesia's independence. Tin mining came
under the control of PT Timah, a state-owned enterprise, and
output began to decline after centuries of tin mining by the
Dutch.
The Dutch colonial rulers intentionally prevented Chinese
migrants on Bangka island from mingling with the indigenous
locals, going so far as to provide special school for these
migrants. The teachers were brought to the island from mainland
China.
Understandably, these migrants spoke only Hakka in their
everyday lives and hardly ever spoke Indonesian.
It was not until 1970s, several years after an aborted coup
allegedly staged by the now banned Indonesian Communist Party on
Sept. 30, 1965, that the Chinese schools on the island were
closed.
In place of these schools, the government set up an elementary
school close to Gedong.
"We used to go to Chinese schools. The Dutch brought the
teachers here from China. We cannot speak Indonesian because we
only spoke our Hakka language," Kui Fong said.
Today, many of the younger Chinese-Indonesians from the
village complete their secondary schooling and then move to
Jakarta or Palembang to find work.
All of the Gedong villagers are Confucianists so the village
will turn festive and merry during the two week-long Chinese New
Year celebration, which this year will commence on Jan. 22.
Family members and relatives from far and wide will gather in the
village to ring in the new year.