The origins of Chinese Kongsi with special reference to West Borneo

Abstract

A precise definition and translation of the term kongsi is , as Schlegel has pointed out, almost impossible. However, it is of necessity in this introduction of the thesis to set out various ways in which the term has been used and, in contrast to them all , the particular sense that I wi11 use. Old and new usages of the word sprang to life all over Islands of Southeast Asia, with waves of Chinese immigration and the evolution of the Chinese ways of life that have become the Chinese institutions - the kongsi. Of all the general usages, the account given by Beknopte Encyclopaedia van Nederlandsche Oost-Indie is so far the best, the clearest and the most detailed : Kongsi is a Chinese word which indicate s a firm, partnership or society in a very broad sense. The word has been commonly used in the archipelago over centuries and has become current in both Dutch and various native languages. Literally it means government by a general public or administration of public affairs . The word, kongsi, is derived from the dialect of the Hokkien people who have established themselves throughout Java and commercial ports of the outer islands . In the Hakka dialect , it reads as Kung-sze. In Riouw and Java, administrators of a firm are customarily addressed and referred to as kongsi. Chinese officials also used this title . Owing to the untiring pursuit of the Chinese of the means to raise capital , the Chinese kongsi is numerous not only in our colony but also in the Malay Peninsula, in the outer islands of Indonesia and in the Philippines. The significance of the kongsi for the flowering and development of Chinese industry, commerce and navigation is hard to overestimate. The kongsi were entirely established to hold people of the same home countries and clans in a closer tie or relationship. In the family kongsi, no one, because of the tradition, could have private fortune so long as their father lived. All the family capital were at the disposal of the patriarch. Undoubtedly, if under closer examination, many kongsi would no longer be family kongsi as they at first seem to be. The Chinese kongsi have, however become more and more divorced from the above-mentioned origins over time, more especially recently.