Khouw Keng Nio was a colonial Chinese-Indonesian heiress and businesswoman, best known as the first woman in both Indonesia and China to become a licensed pilot. [1] [2] [3]
Born in Java, Dutch East Indies, Khouw came from a wealthy Peranakan business family. [2] Her father, the entrepreneur Khouw Kim Goan, founded N.V. Merbaboe, a large livestock, milk and beverage conglomerate in late colonial Indonesia; and her mother was an indigenous Indonesian woman. [4] [2] Her better-known brother, Khouw Khe Hien (1907-1938), also a pioneering aviator, initially envisaged air transportation for the company's products as a more efficient alternative to land and sea transportation. [1] [3] This grew into a full-blown obsession, which ended with Khouw's brother causing an international sensation in 1935, when he flew his Indonesian-built aeroplane, Walraven 2, in a 20-day-long journey from Bandung to Schiphol, Amsterdam, and onwards to other European destinations. [1] [3]
Around the same time, Khouw Keng Nio also caused a sensation in the Dutch and Indonesian press by training as a pilot, qualifying in March 1936, thereby becoming both the first Indonesian and the first Chinese woman aviator. [5] [6]
When her brother died in a plane accident in Batavia in 1938, Khouw Keng Nio took over the reins of N.V. Merbaboe. [1] [2] [3] Under her tutelage, the company maintained its headquarters in Batavia, but expanded, opening branches in Bogor, Bandung and Sukabumi. [2] Her company employed over 300 workers, and slaughtered between 75 and 80 cows daily to meet the needs of around 40,000 consumers, extending from hotels and restaurants to the colonial shipping fleet and army. [2] Her yearly tax bill amounts to the extraordinary sum of f. 100,000. [2]
The Walraven 2 was a colonial Indonesian, twin-engine cabin monoplane, commissioned by the Chinese-Indonesian aviation pioneer Khouw Khe Hien, designed by Laurens Walraven, and built by personnel of the Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force during the 1930s.
Phoa Keng Hek Sia was a Chinese Indonesian Landheer (landlord), social activist and founding president of Tiong Hoa Hwe Koan, an influential Confucian educational and social organisation meant to better the position of ethnic Chinese in the Dutch East Indies. He was also one of the founders of Institut Teknologi Bandung.
Khouw Kim An, 5th Majoor der Chinezen was a high-ranking Chinese Indonesian bureaucrat, public figure and landlord who served as the fifth and last Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia, Dutch East Indies. The Chinese Mayoralty was the highest-ranking, Chinese government position in the East Indies with considerable political and judicial jurisdiction over the colony's Chinese subjects. The Batavian Mayoralty was one of the oldest public institutions in the Dutch colonial empire, perhaps second only in antiquity to the viceregal post of Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.
Kan Hok Hoei Sia, generally known as Hok Hoei Kan or in short H. H. Kan, was a prominent public figure, statesman and patrician landowner of Peranakan Chinese descent in the Dutch East Indies.
Lauw Giok Lan was a Chinese Indonesian journalist and writer. He was one of the founders of the newspaper Sin Po.
Khouw Oen Giok Sia, later more popularly known as Oen Giok Khouw or O. G. Khouw, was a prominent philanthropist and landowner in the Dutch East Indies. He gained notoriety for acquiring Dutch citizenship, thus breaking down the race barriers of colonial society. Today, he is best remembered for his extravagant mausoleum in Petamburan, Jakarta.
Khouw Tian Sek, Luitenant der Chinezen, popularly known as Teng Seck, was a Chinese Indonesian landlord in colonial Batavia. He is best known today as the patriarch of the prominent Khouw family of Tamboen.
The Khouw family of Tamboen was a bureaucratic and landowning dynasty, part of the Cabang Atas or the Chinese gentry of colonial Indonesia.
Mausoleum O. G. Khouw is a historic site and tourist attraction in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is the last resting place of Oen Giok Khouw (1874–1927), a prominent philanthropist and scion of the Khouw family of Tamboen at the turn of the century. His widow, Lim Sha Nio (1879–1957), was also later interred there.
Tan Eng Goan, 1st Majoor der Chinezen was a high-ranking bureaucrat who served as the first Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia, capital of colonial Indonesia. This was the highest-ranking Chinese position in the civil administration of the Dutch East Indies.
Oey Tamba Sia, also spelt Oeij Tambah Sia, or often mistakenly Oey Tambahsia, was a rich, Chinese-Indonesian playboy hanged by the Dutch colonial government due to his involvement in a number of murder cases in Batavia, now Jakarta, capital of colonial Indonesia. His life has become part of Jakarta folklore, and inspired numerous literary works.
Khouw Tjeng Kee, Luitenant-titulair der Chinezen was a Chinese-Indonesian magnate and landlord in Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies.
Khouw Tjeng Po, Luitenant-titulair der Chinezen was a Chinese-Indonesian magnate and landlord in Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies.
Tan Liok Tiauw Sia was a prominent Chinese-Indonesian landowner, planter and industrial pioneer in the late colonial period, best known today as the last Landheer of Batoe-Tjepper, now the district of Batuceper.
Khouw is a Dutch-based romanization of the Hokkien surname Xǔ (許) in West Java, Indonesia. In Central and East Java, Kho is a more common romanization.
Tan Tjoen Tiat, 2nd Majoor der Chinezen was a Chinese-Indonesian bureaucrat who served as the second Majoor der Chinezen, or Chinese headman, of Batavia, now Jakarta, capital of Indonesia. This was the most senior Chinese position in the colonial civil bureaucracy of the Dutch East Indies. As Majoor, Tan was also the Chairman of the Chinese Council of Batavia, the city's highest Chinese government body.
Khouw Khe Hien (1907–1938) was a Chinese-Indonesian aviation pioneer, businessman and millionaire heir. He is best remembered today for commissioning Walraven 2, the first aeroplane manufactured in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia.
Kang Keng Tjong, also spelt Kan Keng Tiong, was a Chinese-Indonesian tycoon and one of the richest men in Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies.
Tan Tiang Po, Luitenant der Chinezen, also spelled Tan Tjeng Po, was a colonial Chinese-Indonesian bureaucrat, landowner, philanthropist and the penultimate Landheer (landlord) of the domain of Batoe-Tjepper in the Dutch East Indies.