Chinese Indonesian Democratic Party

[3] The two major ethnic Chinese political parties of the pre-revolutionary period, Chung Hwa Hui (CHH) and Partai Tionghoa Indonesia (PTI), were both disbanded in 1942 at the start of the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies during World War II.

[4][5] The idea of reviving a political party for Chinese Indonesians was proposed as an initiative by the Sin Ming Hui Association.

[7][8] The congress elected a former CHH board member Thio Thiam Tjong as the chairman of the party.

[10] In February 1950, Liem Koen Hian, founder of the colonial-era Partai Tionghoa Indonesia – CHH's old adversary – criticised the new Thio-led party as naive and incompetent, unable to deal with the indigenous Indonesian majority.

[8] Liem founded Persatuan Tenaga Indonesia (the 'Union of Indonesian Labour'), thus reviving the old colonial-era rivalry between CHH and PTI, but in a new post-revolutionary guise.