John Yap Thiam Hien (25 May 1913 – 25 April 1989) was an Indonesian human rights lawyer.

[2] Born in Kutaraja, Aceh, Dutch East Indies, his father was Yap Sin Eng and his mother was Hwan Tjing Nio.

[5] Despite his Cabang Atas background, he turned down an offer to join the influential political party Chung Hwa Hui due to his skepticism of the latter's elitist outlook.

He obtained the Meester der Rechten degree from the Faculty of Law, Leiden University in the Netherlands in 1947.

Ojong, Victor D. Sibarani, Albert Hasibuan, Bambang Widjojanto, Johannes Cornelis Princen and other notable human rights activists and lawyers,[6] Yap was one of the founders of Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia [id] (YLBHI), formerly known as Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH), which was a legal aid society to help the poor.