Ongwatko

Ongwatko
王悅
Kapitan Cina of Makassar
In office
1679–1701
Preceded byOeikoeko
Succeeded byOngkiego

Ongwatko (Chinese: 王悅; fl. 1679–1701) was a Chinese merchant active in Makassar during the late seventeenth century, serving as the city's second Kapitan Cina (Captain of the Chinese). He traded in slaves, maritime products and bird's nest across Eastern Indonesia and the Philippines.

Early life

Ongwatko was the son of Makassar's first Kapitan Cina, Oeikoeko (or Intje Couko). Oeikoeko was a Muslim Chinese who owned an arrack brewery with monopoly rights from the Dutch East India Company, and when Oeikoeko moved to Batavia in 1679 Ongwatko took over the refinery. They were part of Makassar's then-small Chinese community, which numbered just nineteen people shortly after the Makassar War in 1669.

Mercantile career

Ongwatko's mercantile activities centered around Sulawesi, the Maluku Islands, and he also traded to Timor, Mindanao, and Sulu. His tenure as Kapitan Cina coincided with the opening of maritime trade in Qing China, resulting in a boom in Chinese trading activities in Southeast Asia. He was one of the most prominent traders in Makassar during his time, and held a virtual monopoly on the trade of tortoiseshell and edible bird's nest (exports to China), obtaining his supplies from local communities through giving advance payments. He also traded in slaves, and pioneered the trade in sea cucumbers, entering a contract with the king of Buton where Ongwatko paid a fee to the king to allow the collection of sea cucumbers on the island. On one occasion, a trading ship belonging to Ongwatko was looted by pirates, and its cargo manifest included textiles, metal tools, rice, Japanese axes, and Siamese ceramics.

In the local political scene, Ongwatko maintained a good relationship with Arung Palakka, the king of Bone, and was recorded to attend his funeral in 1696. Ongwatko also helped resolve a dispute between Chinese, Wajo, and Malay merchants in 1698, and funded the construction of a Chinese temple in Makassar (today the Ibu Agung Bahari Vihāra) in 1685. Aside from leading the Chinese community, Ongwatko was also responsible for Makassar's Malay community, which did not appoint their own Kapitan until 1706. He would be succeeded by his son Ongkiego as Kapitan Cina in 1701, and his grandson Ongkingsai in turn would succeed Ongkiego in 1732.

Notes

  1. ↑ Also referred to as Ong Goat Ko, I Wakko, or Wang Yue.

References

  1. ↑ Sutherland, Heather (2026). An Indonesian History: Personalized Politics in Makassar and South Sulawesi, c. 1600-2018. NUS Press. pp. 105, 107. ISBN 978-981-325-205-9.
  2. 1 2 Alsair, Ach Hidayat (8 February 2026). "Para Kapitan Pemimpin Masyarakat Tionghoa di Makassar". IDN Times Sulsel (in Indonesian). Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  3. 1 2 Sutherland, Heather (2011). "A Sino-Indonesian Commodity Chain: The Trade in Tortoiseshell in the Late Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries". Chinese Circulations: Capital, Commodities, and Networks in Southeast Asia. Duke University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-1-4780-9148-6.
  4. 1 2 Sutherland, Heather (2005). "Trade, court and company: Makassar in the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries". Hof en handel: Aziatische vorsten en de VOC 1620-1720. KITLV Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-90-6718-231-7.
  5. ↑ Xu, Guanmian (2021). Pepper to Sea Cucumbers: Chinese Gustatory Revolution in Global History, 900-1840 (PhD thesis). Leiden University. p. 224.
  6. 1 2 Wirawan, Yerry (2013). Sejarah Masyarakat Tionghoa Makassar dari Abad ke-17 hingga ke-20 (PDF) (in Indonesian). Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia. p. 19. ISBN 978-979-91-0633-9.
  7. ↑ Xu 2021, p. 247.
  8. ↑ Wirawan 2013, p. 18.
  9. ↑ Sutherland 2005, p. 102.