Thung Sin Nio

Betsy Thung Sin Nio (Chinese: 汤新娘; pinyin: Tāng Xīnniáng, 22 May 1902 – 5 January 1996) was an Indonesian-Dutch women's rights activist, physician, economist and politician.

Born into a wealthy and progressive Peranakan family of the 'Cabang Atas' gentry in Batavia, she was encouraged to obtain an education, which was unusual for Indonesian women at the time.

She became an activist for improved socio-economic and civil status of women, writing articles for feminist journals in both the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies.

In 1968, when assimilationist policies were introduced to force Chinese citizens to take Indonesian names, Thung permanently immigrated to the Netherlands, where she continued to work as a physician.

[2] The Chinese officership, consisting of the ranks of Luitenant, Kapitein and Majoor der Chinezen, was a high-ranking government position in the civil bureaucracy of the Dutch East Indies, part of the colony's system of 'indirect rule'.

[7] Belonging to one of the 10 wealthiest, Chinese-Indonesian families, her progressive parents encouraged their daughter to study, which – though unusual in the general community at the time – reflected a trend for westernized modernity among the Cabang Atas.

[14] Wanting to continue her education, Thung decided to go abroad and enrolled at the Nederlandsche Handels-Hoogeschool (Netherlands School of Business), on 15 October 1924, where she studied economics with Willemijn Posthumus-van der Goot.

After writing to the author to express her enthusiasm, Thung was invited to visit Jacobs, who introduced her to Kee Groot [nl] and other feminists.

She joined the Vereniging voor Vrouwenbelangen en Gelijk Staatsburgerschap (Association for Women's Interests and Equal Citizenship) and became an active campaigner for changes to the legal statutes for matrimonial property and employment.

[7][14][18] In 1930, Thung began working as a physician's assistant and social worker at the Yang Seng Ie Hospital (Chinese: 养生院) (now Rumah Sakit Husada [id]), founded by doctor Kwa Tjoan Sioe.

[7][14][15] Thung decided to study medicine at the University of Amsterdam, believing, after her experience working in the hospital, that there was a need for women physicians in Java.

[15] After graduating in medicine in 1938, Thung returned to Batavia[7] and on 13 September opened a private practice catering to women and children in her family home in the Salemba neighborhood.

Modeling a child care course on those she had encountered in the Netherlands, Thung held classes for mothers, undertaking regular health checks on their children.

[19] Her articles in Maandblad Istri, on whose board she served, typically provided medical advice on child care and nutrition or addressed education for women.

Neuyen-Hakker, to the Volksraad (the colonial legislature) which advocated granting the right to vote and hold office to educated women of any race under the same terms as men.

[28] The following year, when the Japanese invaded Java and interred all the European physicians in 1943, Thung opened a private clinic, San Te Ie Juen to provide medical service to the upper classes.

In 1978, she returned to China for a visit[7] and was noted for her contributions to charitable organizations, including a fund for repairs to the primary school in her ancestral village, Yunshan (Chinese: 云山) in Hua'an County.

[8] She has been remembered in books published in China for her social activism and in 2000 her biography was included in a publication about the Thung (Tang) family from the Fujian province.

A photograph with a streetcar on the left and a city street with pedestrians crossing on the right
Salemba, Batavia circa 1940