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Setelah Yap Hong Tjoen, tokoh
mahasiswa Cina asal Indonesia (baca: Hindia Belanda), dapat dikatakan tokoh
penting berikutnya adalah Li Tjwan Ing. Mereka termasuk dua diantara para pendiri
organisasi mahasiswa Cina di Belanda, Chung Hwa Hui. Kebetulan keduanya menjadi
ketua pada periode kepengurusan yang pertama dan yang kedua. Siapa Yap Hong
Tjoen? Sudah dideskripsikan pada artikel sebelumnya.
It would have been 1927 when this photo was taken. My
grandfather Li Tjwan Ing concluded his HBS Atheneum (university-bound secondary
school) in Schiedam, and attended medical school at Leiden University,
finishing up with a specialisation in syphilis-serology. Around 1914-15 he was
on the board of the Chung Hwa Hui (student association for Peranakan Chinese).
He did his studies in dermatology/venearology in Vienna and Berlin.
Unfortunately, my grandmother Albertine ten Raa burnt all his documents, which
showed that some of his professors were Jewish. Immediately after he finished
his studies in 1921, Li Tjwan Ing and Albertine returned to Indonesia. He was
apparently the first Chinese specialist in Batavia. Life was not easy for them:
the mixed Chinese-Dutch couple was not acceptable in Batavia’s Dutch community.
Tjwan Ing’s parents and family in Jombang, East Java, did not approve of his
wife since she was not Chinese. The Dutch wife of his brother Li Tjwan Kiat,
who also studied in the Netherlands, suffered from the same negative family
sentiments. Moreover, Tjwan Ing had more work as a general practitioner than as
a dermatologist, which dissatisfied him. Patients with little money got a free
treatment. Despite all that, they were a happy family. Alas, fate dictated
otherwise. In 1928, he suffered from blood poisoning (erysipelas). He was not
properly treated for it, despite his protests, and he passed away. Three months
later, grandmother Ten Raa hastily – alone and panicked - packed her bags and
went to the Netherlands with her two children. She did not receive any support,
including financially, from the Li family. The only one who did so was her
brother-in-law Tjwan Kiat. Moral of the story: follow your heart, not just the
conventions, and allow others to do so. Photo
caption: Li Tjwan Ing (1889) and his wife Albertine ten Raa (1892), on the left
is Kitty (1924, mijn moeder) en Tineke (1922) in Batavia (lihat @ChineseIndonesianHeritageCenter).
Lantas
bagaimana sejarah Li Tjwan Ing? Seperti disebut di atas, sebagaimana dikutip
dari sebuah tulisan singkat di facebook, cucu Li Tjwan Ing menulisnya, Li Tjwan
Ing menjadi pengurus Chung Hwa Hui di Belanda 1914/1915. Tulisan itu disertai
foto keluarga Li Tjwan Ing 1927. Lalu bagaimana sejarah Li Tjwan Ing? Seperti
kata ahli sejarah
tempo doeloe, semuanya
ada permulaan. Untuk
menambah pengetahuan dan meningkatkan wawasan sejarah nasional, mari kita telusuri
sumber-sumber tempo doeloe.