page_title: Cabang Atas
section_title: Modern history
hierarchical_section_title: Cabang Atas / History / Modern history
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Khouw Kim An, 5th Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia (now Jakarta) Bahasa Indonesia: Portret Khouw Kim An, Majoor der Chinezen Batavia V
context_page_description: The Cabang Atas — literally 'highest branch' in Malay — was the traditional Chinese establishment or gentry of colonial Indonesia. They were the families and descendants of the Chinese officers, high-ranking colonial civil bureaucrats with the ranks of Majoor, Kapitein and Luitenant der Chinezen. They were referred to as the baba bangsawan [‘Chinese gentry’] in Malay, and the ba-poco in Java Hokkien.
  As a privileged social class, they exerted a powerful influence on the political, economic and social life of pre-revolutionary Indonesia, in particular on its local Chinese community. Their institutional control of the Chinese officership declined with the colonial Ethical Policy of the early twentieth century, but their political, economic and social influence lasted until the Indonesian revolution.
context_section_description: In the early twentieth century, in keeping with their so-called 'Ethical Policy', the Dutch colonial authorities made a concerted effort to appoint government officials, including Chinese officers, based on merit rather than family background. Some of these candidates came from Peranakan families outside the Cabang Atas, such as the Semarang-based, left-wing newspaper owner editor and journalist, Sie Hian Liang, Luitenant der Chinezen. Also not born into the Cabang Atas were a number of significant totok appointees, such as Tjong A Fie, Majoor der Chinezen (1860–1921) in Medan, Lie Hin Liam, Luitenant der Chinezen in Tangerang and Khoe A Fan, Luitenant der Chinezen in Batavia.
  Nonetheless, descendants of the Cabang Atas continued to feature prominently in the officership until the end of colonial rule: for example, Han Tjiong Khing, the last Majoor der Chinezen of Surabaya, was a direct descendant of Han Bwee Kong, the city's first Dutch-appointed Kapitein der Chinezen.
  Beyond the Chinese officership, members of the Cabang Atas took a leading role in the emerging modernization social and cultural movement of the late colonial period. The influential Confucian and educational organization Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan, founded in 1900, was headed for many decades by its founding President, Phoa Keng Hek Sia, scion of a Cabang Atas family, and dominated by others of Phoa's class and background. The aim of the organization was to renew and purify the practice of Confucianism in the Dutch East Indies, and to introduce modern educational opportunities to the colony's Chinese subjects. Another important organization was the charity foundation Ati Soetji, headed for many decades by the women's rights activist Aw Tjoei Lan, better known as Njonja Kapitein Lie Tjian Tjoen, who as the wife, daughter and daughter-in-law of Chinese officers came from the ranks of the Cabang Atas.
  Politically, the Cabang Atas also pioneered Chinese-Indonesian involvement in modern politics. They were mainly associated with Chung Hwa Hui or CHH, a modern political party that was seen as the mouthpiece of the colonial Chinese establishment. CHH's chairman was none other than Majoor Han Tjiong Khing's distant cousin, the Dutch-educated landlord H. H. Kan, a doyen of the Cabang Atas and landowning gentry of Batavia. CHH representatives in Indonesia's first legislature, the Volksraad, were largely scions of the Cabang Atas: presided by Kan, they included Jo Heng Kam, Luitenant der Chinezen, Loa Sek Hie and Han Tiauw Tjong. Due to their largely establishment background, progressive elements dubbed CHH's parliamentary arm as the 'Packard group' after the expensive cars many of them used.
  Their close proximity to Dutch colonial authorities meant that many families of the Cabang Atas were early adopters of the Dutch language and many European cultural and social mores. European education and westernisation among the Cabang Atas began in the second half of the nineteenth century, and became the norm by the beginning of the twentieth century. By the start of the twentieth century, Dutch had become the most commonly spoken language at the homes of most families of the Cabang Atas. While tying them ever closer to the colonial authorities, the European outlook of the class put them at odds with the overwhelming majority of the Chinese-Indonesian population they had traditionally led.
  Already attacked for their perceived Dutch sympathies in the late colonial period, the Cabang Atas bore the brunt of the Indonesian Revolution from 1945 until 1949. The end of Dutch colonial rule in 1950 saw the exile and emigration of many families of the Cabang Atas. The turbulent early decades of Indonesian independence also ensured an end to their centuries-long dominating and privileged position in Indonesian political, economic and social life.
caption: Official portrait of Khouw Kim An, the 5th and last Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 30D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.4.1", "Image DateTime": "2012:01:06 22:09:47", "Image Artist": "unknown", "Image ExifOffset": "230", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/50", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:11:17 14:00:38", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:11:17 14:00:38", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "7670/1359", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "23", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "521", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "726", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "233600/59", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "233600/59", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "unknown", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "630514974", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[17, 55, 0, 0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF-S17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM"}