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Sim Keng Koen, Kapitein der Chinezen (died in 1906) was a Chinese-Indonesian bureaucrat and the patriarch of the influential Lauw-Sim-Zecha family, part of the 'Cabang Atas' gentry of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). He was married to Louisa Zecha, the Indo-Bohemian widow of Sim's former employer, Lauw Tek Lok, Luitenant der Chinezen of Bekasi.

Sim began his career as the private secretary of Luitenant Lauw Tek Lok, one of the preeminent Chinese-Indonesian magnates of the second half of the nineteenth century. After leaving Lauw's employ, Sim was appointed Luitenant der Chinezen of the Kong Koan (Chinese Council) of Batavia in 1880. This was a senior civil government post in the Dutch colonial bureaucracy. He was further elevated to the rank of Kapitein in 1887, and was discharged with honour in 1889.

Together with his wife, Louisa Zecha, Sim settled down in Sukabumi, a hill station in the Preanger highlands of West Java. In 1892, he was appointed as the first Hoofd der Chinezen of Sukabumi with the rank of Kapitein-titulair der Chinezen. The sociologist Mely G. Tan calls Sim the most prominent of all of Sukabumi's Chinese headmen, in large part thanks to the high profile of his Eurasian wife. In the course of a violent uprising in Tamboen in the late nineteenth century, and in the absence of any Dutch military response, Sim accompanied Zecha to meet with the insurgents in order to negotiate a surrender. They succeeded in this aim without military intervention. The Kapitein's influence in Sukabumi was such that the local Chinese community celebrated Cap Go Meh a few days later so as to coincide with Sim's birthday festivities.

He requested an honourable discharge from the colonial authorities due to old age, which was granted, in 1899. He died in 1906. That same year, he was succeeded as Hoofd der Chinezen of Sukabumi by his step-nephew, Lauw Tjeng Kie, in which capacity, however, he bore the lower title of Luitenant der Chinezen of Sukabumi (the office having been downgraded in rank from captaincy to a lieutenantcy upon Sim's retirement).

Kapitein Sim Keng Koen is the step-great-grandfather of the hotelier Adrian Lauw-Zecha, the founder of Aman Resorts, and the grandfather of the ballerina Che Engku Chesterina, a princess by marriage of Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia.

References

1. ^ "MEVROUW ZECHA† Nijver en toegewijd leven". De Indische courant. 3 February 1939. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
2. ^ Tan, Mely G. (1963). The Chinese of Sukabumi: A Study in Social and Cultural Accommodation. Ithaca: Cornell University. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
3. ^ Sekretariat Daerah Kota Sukabumi (29 September 2021). "Pemkot Sukabumi Kaji Nilai Sejarah Makam Kapitan Tionghoa [The Municipal Authorities of Sukabumi Assess the Heritage Value of the Tomb of a Kapitan Tionghoa]". Situs Komunikasi Dokumentasi Pimpinan Sekretariat Daerah Kota Sukabumi (in Indonesian). Sekretariat Daerah Kota Sukabumi . Retrieved 7 November 2022.
4. ^ Redaksi Radar Sukabumi (29 September 2021). "Walikota Sukabumi Tinjau Makam Kapitan Sim Keng Koen" (in Indonesian). Radar Sukabumi. Radar Sukabumi. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
5. "BENOEMINGEN ENZ. OP HEDEN. Civiel Departement". Java-bode : nieuws, handels- en advertentieblad voor Nederlandsch-Indie. 5 March 1880. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
6. "Officiëele Berichten. Bestuur over Vreemde Oosterlingen". Java-bode : nieuws, handels- en advertentieblad voor Nederlandsch-Indie. 25 January 1887. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
7. "BENOEMINGEN, ENZ. CIVIEL DEPARTEMENT". Bataviaasch nieuwsblad. 16 October 1889. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
8. "Renoemingen, enz. CIVIEL DEPARTEMENT". De locomotief : Samarangsch handels- en advertentie-blad. 13 February 1892. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
9. "NEDERLANDSCH INDIE. Batavia, 2 Maart 1899". Bataviaasch nieuwsblad. 2 March 1899. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
10. "Bestuur over Vreemde Oosterlingen". Bataviaasch nieuwsblad. 27 August 1906. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
11. "Melewar Group's Tunku Abdullah dies | The Star". www.thestar.com.my. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
12. "Adrian Zecha (né en 1933) : ses hôtels hors de prix de la chaîne Aman ressemblent au paradis". Capital.fr (in French). 28 January 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
13. Magazine, Wallpaper* (29 March 2020). "How Aman has influenced the world of resort design". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 10 May 2020.

• Indonesian people of Chinese descent
• Lauw-Sim-Zecha family
• Kapitan Cina
• Cabang Atas
• People from Jakarta
• People from Sukabumi
• Indonesian landlords