There was once a supposed democratic entity in West Kalimantan referred to as Lanfang Republic which existed for 107 years between 1777 and 1884. It lasted longer than the kingdom of Singapura which existed for 99 years between 1299 and 1398.
Both Lanfang and Singapura were vanquished by foreign hegemons - Singapura by the Majapahit empire in 1398 and Lanfang by The Netherlands in 1884. The story of Singapura is still being told in Singapore but Lanfang has been reduced to an obscure footnote of history.
In 2013, Singapore Minister Chan Chun Sing cited the Lanfang Republic as a cautionary tale to remind Singaporeans not to take the country's long term survival for granted. So, what was this Lanfang Republic?
In the 1700s, the Muslim kingdoms (sultanates of Sambas 三发, Sukadana, Mampawah, Landak, etc) in West Kalimantan recruited Chinese labourers from south China (Guangdong and Fujian) to exploit the tin and gold deposits in their territories.
The Chinese miners who were Hakka, Hokkien, Teochew, and Cantonese came in the tens of thousands. The majority were Hakka. The miners were organised in clan associations 同乡会 known as kongsi 公司 according to their hometown / village and family names. There were up to fifty such kongsi or associations of miners in West Kalimantan with mining mandates from the various sultans of West Kalimantan. There were kongsi(s) of farmers too.
Far from their homeland, the kongsi(s) were autonomous political entities with their own governance and even their own currency. For example, the Lintian Kongsi 霖田公司 in Boedok, West Kalimantan even issued their own coins.
Heshun Zhongting 和顺总厅 1776
In the 1730s, clashes broke out between the kongsi(s) over territory (inter clan rivalries already existed back in China and the enmity just followed them overseas). To restore the peace among the kongsi(s), fourteen kongsi(s) banded together to form a federation of kongsi(s) known as Heshun Fourteen Kongsi 和順十四公司.
The member kongsi(s) of Heshun Fourteen Kongsi were located around the Monterado 打唠鹿 region of West Kalimantan. They included Dagang 大港, Santiaogou 三条沟, Shanxin Jinhu 山心金湖, Sida Jiawei 四大家围, Jusheng 聚胜, Lanheying 兰和营, etc.
Heshun Fourteen Kongsi pioneered a organisation structure with democratic characteristics. It had a governing structure known as Heshun Zhongting 和顺总厅 founded in 1776 (co-incidentally, this was also the year the Americans declared their independence from Britain).
Heshun Zhongting had an elected president 总厅大哥 or 大唐總長, executive council (ministers), (elected) parliament, (public) assembly, temple, and military headquarters.
Elected officials were from all Chinese communities (clans). It had no standing army but had trained clan members ready for war. The Heshun Zhongting was headquartered in Monterado town. The first leader of Heshun Zhongting was Xie Jiebo 谢结伯.
Langfang Zhongting 1777
Luo Fang Bo 羅芳伯 was a Hakka born in 1738 in Jiaying (known today as Meixian district) in Meizhou, Guangdong province of China. Luo was unsuccessful in the Imperial Exams and thus left for Kalimantan to seek his fortune. Luo initially worked as a teacher. He was well read and poised, earning him the respect of his compatriots and was appointed head of Lanfang Kongsi (originally a farming kongsi).
In 1777, Luo Fang Bo reorganised Lanfang Kongsi into a federation of kongsi(s) following the Heshun Zhongting model and was elected its inaugural president in 1777.
The Lanfang Kongsi Zhongting was established in 1777 and based in Mandor town. Lanfang Kongsi Zhongting had its own currency, and taxation system.
In 1789, at the request of the sultan of Pontianak, Luo Fang Bo and Lanfang Kongsi helped him defeat the sultan of Landak. To reward Luo Fang Bo for his help, the sultan of Pontianak gifted Lanfang Kongsi land for its activities.
Luo Fa Bo died in 1795 after 19 years as president of Lanfang Kongsi Zhongting. His tomb is still in Mandor today. Lanfang Kongsi had 12 more presidents before it was dissolved.
The Twelve Kongsi of Maw San 帽山 (Bau, Sarawak)
In the 1830s, following unrest between the kongsi(s) and trouble with the Dutch, 4,000 miners from Sambas led by Liu Shan Bang uprooted and started anew in a place called Maw San (Gunung Krian or hat mountain because of its hat shape) in Sarawak. At Maw San, the miners formed an association known as Twelve Kongsi.
Maw San was rich with gold and antimony deposits and soon Twelve Kongsi prospered. Sadly, the good times didn't last long. Twelve Kongsi soon got into trouble with James Brooke the British "White Rajah" of Sarawak.
The dispute led to the Chinese rebellion (also called Chinese Insurrection) in 1857. Liu Shan Bang led 600 miners to assault James Brooke's residence at the Astana in Kuching. A number of British officials and their family were killed, but James Brooke escaped.
The next day, Liu Shan Bang and his followers retreated back to Maw San but were intercepted by British and Dayak troops. Liu Shan Bang and most of his men were killed.
Reprisals were swift and widespread. The Chinese settlement in Maw San was annihilated. Very few of its inhabitants were spared.
The end of Lanfang Kongsi came when the Dutch East India Company used the tried and tested strategy of divide and rule. The Dutch recruited Liu Tai Er 劉台二, sixth president of Lanfang Kongsi who helped the Dutch capture the leader of Dagang Kongsi of Heshun Zhongting and handed him over to them. The Dutch then went on to attack and subdued the Kongsi(s) of Heshun Zhongting one by one.
The last president of Lanfang Kongsi Zhongting Liu Asheng 劉阿生 signed a secret non aggression treaty with the Dutch. But, when Liu Asheng died, the Dutch attacked Lanfang Kongsi as well.
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| Mandor Monument in Pontianak commemorating the Dutch victory |
This led to the Mandor Revolt and Monterado Last Stand by the Lanfang Kongsi and sultanate of Sambas against the Dutch. Resistance collapsed in 1885, thus ending both the Lanfang Kongsi and sultanate of Sambas.
After the war with the Dutch, many Chinese remained in Kalimantan or moved to British Borneo (such as the towns of Simanggang, Engkilili, Lundu and Bau in Sarawak). Some migrated to British Malaya (including Singapore).
There were unsubstantiated claims that Republic of Singapore founder Lee Kuan Yew was a descendant of Lanfang Republic.
John Crawfurd, the second Resident of Singapore (1823 - 1826) wrote that the estimated 130,000 Chinese in West Borneo were "living under a kind of rude republic" - the first time the kongsi is described as such.
Why is this relevant?
This background article prepares me for my trip to trace the legacy of Heshun Kongsi and Lanfang Kongsi through the food of Pontianak and Singkawang (Kalimantan), Bau and Lundu (Sarawak) today.
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