Pong Tiku (also spelled Pontiku and Pongtiku; c. 1846 – 10 July 1907), known among his Buginese allies as Ne' Baso, was a Torajan leader and guerrilla fighter who operated in southern Sulawesi, part of modern-day Indonesia.

By exploiting the coffee trade and allying with the lowlands Buginese, Tiku was able to obtain large amounts of wealth, land, and power.

When the Dutch colonials, based in Java, invaded Sulawesi in the early 1900s, Tiku and his soldiers utilised fortresses to withstand and launch attacks.

B. van Heutsz considered him damaging the stability of Dutch control over the region and dispatched the Governor of Sulawesi to oversee his capture.

As a leader, Tiku worked to strengthen the economy with an increase in the coffee trade and strategic alliances with predominantly Buginese lowlands groups.

[5][6] Fearing competition from the kingdoms of Luwu and Bone to the north and Sidareng and Sawitto to the south, Tiku worked on reinforcing his country's defences.

[7] The Bone military leader Petta Panggawae and his Songko' Borrong soldiers[a] invaded Pangala' and sided with Pong Maramba', a minor lord.

[12] To avoid a repetition of the raze of Tondon, Tiku began construction of seven fortresses in his lands, as well as several surveillance outposts and storeholds.

[10] The Torajan fortresses were designed to prevent entry to the valleys leading to population centres, and Tiku's were divided between the eastern and western parts of his land.

[14] In July of that year the king of Gowa, a nearby state, began collecting soldiers to fight off the invaders and prevent the remainder of the Torajan lands from conquest.

The result was that the local lords were to stop warring amongst themselves and focus on the Dutch, who had superior strength;[15] these internal conflicts, however, did not completely abate.

Tiku, tasked with diverting the Dutch from the indefensible town of Rantepo, began to build his army and work on his defences.

[23] The failed expeditionary force led to open warfare between Tiku, who went into hiding in his fortress at Buntu Batu, and Dutch troops.

On 22 June they reported that the preceding night a Dutch battalion consisting of roughly 250 men and 500 porters had departed the village, headed south towards Tiku's fortress at Lali' Londong.

[26] The Torajan troops were armed with rifles, spears, boulders, swords, and chili pepper extract,[27] sprayed into enemy eyes with a device called a tirik lada, or blowgun, to blind them.

He wore protective armour, a sepu (crotch guard), and a songkok with protrusions in the shape of buffalo horns, and carried a decorated shield.

[31] After three days of peaceful intermingling, on the night of 30 October the Dutch forces took over the fortress, appropriated all weapons, and captured Tiku.

After several days in prison,[39] on 10 July 1907 Tiku was shot and killed by the Dutch soldiers near the Sa'dan River; some reports have him bathing at the time.

[40] During the occupation, the Japanese forces used Tiku as a symbol of Torajan struggle against colonial aggression, working to unite the people against Europeans.