Kapitan Cina
The institution of Kapitan Cina was most fully developed in colonial Indonesia, where an intricate hierarchy of "Chinese officieren", or Chinese officers, was put in place by the Dutch authorities. The officers acted as "Hoofden der Chinezen" ('Heads of the Chinese'), that is as the legal and political administrators of the local Chinese community. There were three separate ranks of "Majoor", "Kapitein" and "Luitenant der Chinezen" depending on the incumbent's seniority in the administrative structure, the importance of their territory or their own personal merit. Thus, the post of Majoor only existed in the colony's principal cities: Batavia, Semarang and Surabaya in Java, and Medan in Sumatra. The Majoor in each of these jurisdictions presided over lower-ranking officers, who sat in council together as the Kong Koan (Dutch: 'Chinese Raad'; English: 'Chinese Council') of their local territory. In jurisdictions deemed less important, the presiding officer bore the rank of Kapitein or Luitenant.