Stories from Deli

Today we received the obituary of the major of the Chinese in Medan, who was renowned throughout the Indies, who had just these days enjoyed the dubious honor of having been given the baptismal certificate by MP Hermans with regard to the ribbon, to him as a royal award for his various social workers. work assigned. What was written on that occasion by the witty pen of the former official for Chinese affairs De Bruin in his defence, we copied it in our issue of January 27, could now be regarded as ‘in memoriam’. The figure of this Chinese A.C. Wertheim was drawn there in full. In order to properly assess colonial personalities such as Tjong A Fie, one has to see them in their environment and in the context of their time. This illiterate but astute son of the other “ancient people” represented a piece of Deli history. Mr De Bruin has contradicted that Tjong A Fie would have started as a coolie emigrant “singkeh”, they say in Deli. It was common to say, also in Deli, that he had indeed come from this ‘not’ to ‘not’. He would then have climbed from coolie to ‘tandil’ (overseer), from tandil to main tandil — and further the way was clear, for from the main tandil, the heavily paid and all kinds of emoluments enjoying the hundreds of Chinese coolies, who After all, populating the tobacco company, from the Hoofdtandil, the right-hand man of the administrator, the Chinese Deli capitalist grew. Anyway, Tjong A Fie was one of those many Chinese who worked their way up from a small age, but the special thing with him was that he never sat down on his millions, but continued to work restlessly, his enormous capitals with astonishing sharpness managing business acumen and working with it continuously, like the all-round American businessman, who conducts business as an ever-exciting sport. It could be said that on Sumatra’s east coast there was hardly any business with which to make money, unless Tjong A Fie was in it. The latter he organized himself, and he, who had never attended a trade school, knew how to arrange all his affairs in such a way that he always had an insight into it. Only when, after the abolition of leases, his enormous capitals were also invested in all kinds of cultural and industrial enterprises, did he acquire European administrative assistants; before that he got rid of everything with Chinese “krani”‘s, a few native loyalists and, in the Chinese fashion, with the necessary spies. Tjong A Fie always knew exactly what was for sale in every corner of the East Coast of Sumatra, and through his position of major he represented a power which the Chinese community, moreover, economically so dependent on him, was able to fully appreciate. Businessmen who came into contact with Tjong A Fie praise his succinctness. He was able to decide quickly because he understood quickly. Long conference could not bear. Administrative officials also know this, who always had to turn to him when something new had to be introduced. Thus the successful elimination of the dollar is due in no small part to Tjong A Fie. Just like, for that matter, the smooth conversion of opium rent into directing. No one who, even when former arrangements that were profitable to him were converted into new ones, more readily cooperated as soon as the inevitability was clear to him. Then he tried “to make the best of it”. De locomotief 04-02-1921