WHO IS “THE KIM HOK”?

In this article I want to continue the story of THE KIM HOK- one of the cigarette brand in Temanggung, Central Java, Indonesia that I explained in the previous article. The history of this company is really interesting to be share to the public, it is because there are many unique stories which can evoke the people curiosity to know more about local history. Actually THE KIM HOK is the founder’s name of this company that eventually became a brand of the product.

I was really lucky because Johan- a friend of mine is the family of THE KIM HOK. Thereby, the stories and documents about THE KIM HOK that I needed to support my research were accessible. Trying to seek the information of this company was surprising me, it was because when the first time I came to this place several monts ago, I found several private documents relating to the trade transaction of this company was located in an dirty box that i though it had not been touch for a long period of time. I never expected that the document in that box  was important since the location of this box was in a veranda of the factory.

At 22 march 2018 I had a chance to come to the private house of THE KIM HOK with my friends named Johan and Steve. It was my second time visiting this house, however in this chance I could meet with the great-grandchild of THE KIM HOK directly who is actually the Johan’s grandma. Johan called her “IK PO”. Johan’s grandma invited us to explore the whole part of the house and she gave us explanation about the story of this house.

She told to us that this house was not built by THE KIM HOK. THE KIM HOK bought it from the other businessman in Temanggung. Before THE KIM HOK bought it, in early 20 century this house had not inhabited for a long time and this house was well known as a haunted house for the local people in Temanggung. Thereby, the owner of this house sold it below the standart price of house in that time because almost potential buyers were reluctant to buy this house with this condition.

After we reached the living room of this house, we seated in this room to hear the story about the life of THE KIM HOK from Johan’s grandma. She explained that THE KIM HOK came to Temanggung because there was a chaos in his hometown-purworejo in about 1880, thereby he had to find a saver place with the other local society to another city. THE KIM HOK still under five years old when this affair occured, then the terrible thing happened when he lost his family in this escape. Fortunately, THE KIM HOK was carried by someone from the group of escapee to the saver place. In Temanggung, because they felt a tired so that this group was took a rest in the veranda of one store in Temanggung.

THE KEE DJWAN photo between THE KIM HOK photos

Hearing the crowd in front of the store, the owner of this store went out to see.  The owner tried to ask to the escapees about the reason why they had to take a walk from Purworejo to Temanggung. Those escapee condition was terrible that looked thirsty and hungry, therefore the owner gave them a drink and some foods. Then the owner asked the escapees to offer them to stay for a several day to take a rest berfore continued their journey. However they chose to keep moving to find a saver place. Moreover, one of the escapees asked to the owner that it was better that they gave one of the youngest escapee to the owner since the situation was not conducive.

THE KEE DJWAN is the name of the store owner. He actually did not has a child in his life. Therefore, he felt really happy in that moment when someone  asked him to raise up one of the youngest escapee with his family, then he approved it directly. Subsequently this youngest escapee being his fosterchild that he gave a name THE KIM HOK which used the same family name with him “THE”. THE KEE DJWAN raised up his adopted child with love, respect, and pride. During his life, he adopted three children, however only THE KIM HOK who got official certificate as a son of THE KEE DJWAN.

THE KIM HOK

Johan’s grandma explained that THE KEE DJWAN was not only opening a store for his business but also he produced a cigarette in his house. In the life of THE KEE DJWAN, he always showed a happinest for having a son. When THE KIM HOK married, he held a luxurious wedding party for THE KIM HOK. In this moment THE KEE DJWAN payed some groups of “Wayang” (The traditional puppet of Java) which performed 10 days non-stop in Temanggung. THE KEE DJWAN also invited a lot of guests in this wedding party. He spent a great deal of money to held this event since he really loved his adopted son “THE KIM HOK”.  However, the teribble thing happened when THE KEE DJWAN had to pay the budget of this party. This wedding party was handled by his worker, it was because THE KEE DJWAN could not read the text in Melayu or Dutch language relating to MoU of this event. Unfortunatelly, his worker used this situation to deceive him.

the wife of THE KIM HOK

When the party finish, such a worker showed several documents that had to be signed by THE KEE DJWAN, this worker said that it was relating to the payment of THE KIM HOK wedding party.  In fact, these documents said that THE KEE DJWAN had a debt to this worker which had to be paid. Furthermore, because THE KEE DJWAN trust with his worker, without hesitation, he sign that documents directly. Several days later, the authority sent a letter to THE KEE DJWAN that he had to pay off his all debt to his worker, if he could not deal with it the authority will seize all his assets.

Eventually, all the THE KEE DJWAN’s assets was seized by the authority, then he went bankrupt. Facing with this situation his son (THE KIM HOK) had to struggle  to support his family. In this condition, he ever became a peddler to sell boiled peanuts. After he had enough money, in 1904 he tried to rebuild his father business to produce a cigar.  As time went by, this business could develop significantly that could produce a big income for his family. THE KIM HOK died when he turned to fifty-five years old in Temanggung, then this business was continued by THE YAN GIEM- the third children of THE KIM HOK.

Lastly, Johan’s grandma said that THE KIM HOK is mixed blood between javanese and chinese and his real family name is TAN. She knew the real family name of THE KIM HOK from someone who knew about the real family of THE KIM HOK in Purworejo. This story was amazed me since I heard directly from the decendant of THE KIM HOK and I can access every single part of the THE KIM HOK history. My happinest completed when I can share this story to the reader of my blog.

Thank you for being a reader of my blog.

BIG HUG

Abel Jatayu Prakosa

Telon Coffee-Salatiga, 5 April 2018