Tan Po Goan: Difference between revisions

He was freed after the end of the war and became involved in politics in newly independent Indonesia, and was a supporter of the Republican side against the Dutch in the [[Indonesian National Revolution]].<ref name="Lev1" /><ref name="Historia bio" /> The Indonesian Republic offered the opportunity for people of Chinese descent to become citizens; under the Dutch system, they had been considered subjects of China. Tan obtained Indonesian citizenship in the summer of 1946 and also joined the board of [[Sutan Sjahrir]]'s [[Socialist Party of Indonesia]].<ref>{{cite news |title=EERSTE GESPREK SCHERMERHORN-SJAHRIR. |url=https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ABCDDD:010936810:mpeg21:p001 |work=Trouw |date=1 October 1946 |location=Meppel |language=nl}}</ref> On 2 October 1946 he was appointed a [[Minister of State|Minister of state]] ([[Minister without portfolio]]) representing the Chinese community in the [[Third Sjahrir Cabinet]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Seperempat abad Dewan Perwakilan Rakjat Republik Indonesia |date=1970 |publisher=Dewan Perwakilan Rakjat |location=Jakarta |page=24 |url=https://archive.org/details/Seperempatabad/ |language=id}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kahin |first1=George McTurnan |title=Nationalism and revolution in Indonesia |date=1952 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, N.Y |page=195}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Kabinet Sjahrir III |url=https://setkab.go.id/kabinet-sjahrir-iii/ |website=Sekretariat Kabinet Republik Indonesia |publisher=Sekretariat Kabinet Republik Indonesia |access-date=3 December 2024 |language=id}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=HET NIEUWE KABINET. |url=https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010898241:mpeg21:p001 |work=Het dagblad: uitgave van de Nederlandsche Dagbladpers te Batavia |date=3 October 1946 |location=Jakarta |page=1 |language=nl}}</ref> The purpose of his appointment was partly to try and work through the difficult relations between native Indonesians and Chinese Indonesians during the war against the Dutch.<ref name="CW46">{{cite journal |title=Indonesia. |journal=The China Weekly Review |date=19 October 1946 |volume=103 |issue=7 |page=204}}</ref> It was received positively by ''Sin Po'' as more than a token gesture by the Republican government.<ref name="CW46" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Tan Po Gwan OORDEEL UIT EIGEN KRING. |url=https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010898245:mpeg21:p002 |work=Het dagblad: uitgave van de Nederlandsche Dagbladpers te Batavia |date=12 October 1946 |location=Jakarta |page=2 |language=nl}}</ref>

In early 1947 he was accused of blocking the evacuation of Chinese Indonesians from Republican to Dutch-held territory; he denied it and insisted that it was the Dutch who had limited the number of refugees they were allowing into the parts of Java they controlled.<ref>{{cite news |title=DE EVACUATIE VAN CHINEEZEN. |url=https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMNIOD04:000100128:mpeg21:p001 |work=Nieuwe courant |date=13 February 1947 |location=Surabaya |language=nl}}</ref> On 3 March he was appointed to the 47-member Working Committee of the [[Central Indonesian National Committee]] (KNIP), again representing the Chinese community.<ref name="Lev1" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kahin |first1=George McTurnan |title=Nationalism and revolution in Indonesia |date=1952 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, N.Y |page=205}}</ref> This was the fifth meeting of the KNIP which met in [[Malang]] and ratified the [[Linggadjati Agreement]]. In his role representing the Chinese he still had to intervene to help Chinese residents who were in some cases being persecuted by Republican forces, as in [[Demak Regency]] in July.<ref>{{cite news |title=Terreur in Demak. |url=https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010897489:mpeg21:p001 |work=Het dagblad: uitgave van de Nederlandsche Dagbladpers te Batavia |date=7 July 1947 |location=Jakarta |page=1 |language=nl}}</ref> Not long after, he stepped down from his position as advocate for the Chinese.<ref>{{cite news |title=De ��Sin Po" maakt een balans op. |url=https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMNIOD04:000100561:mpeg21:p001 |work=Nieuwe courant |date=14 July 1947 |location=Surabaya |language=nl}}</ref>