August 18, 2026 | 03:06 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The telephone at the headquarters of the Indonesian Party (Partindo) rang one afternoon in late November 1963. On the other end of the line was Kwee Loan Nio—better known as Rika—looking for her husband, Oei Tjoe Tat, who was attending a meeting at the party's office on Jalan Merdeka Selatan in Jakarta. Rika delivered startling news: Oei had been summoned to meet President Sukarno at the Bogor Palace in West Java the following day.
Oei was puzzled by the sudden invitation because he had never held a private meeting with Sukarno. He could count the number of times he had met the President on one hand. One of those occasions came when Partindo requested an audience with the Proclamator. "Father discussed the invitation to Bogor Palace with mother," Oei's second child, Desita Atma Brunier, also known as Oei Ling Siem, told Tempo on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Desita, now 76, lives in France.
As Oei recounted in Memoar Oei Tjoe Tat: Pembantu Presiden Soekarno (The Memoirs of Oei Tjoe Tat: Assistant to President Sukarno), Rika's phone call brought Partindo's daily meeting to an abrupt halt. Everyone in attendance was stunned by the news. They worried the invitation might be fake and could be a trap set by people hostile to Partindo. The meeting therefore decided that several party leaders, including Sardjono and Sumarsono, would accompany Oei to Bogor Palace.
Before meeting the Great Leader, the epithet Sukarno often referred to, Oei tried to find out why he had been summoned by consulting people close to the President. Among them were Indonesian Citizenship Consultative Body (Baperki) Chair Siauw Giok Tjhan and Partindo Chair as well as former Minister of State Anak Marhaen Hanafi. "They also had no idea why I had been called to Bogor," Oei wrote.
A Test of Loyalty Behind Bars
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Oei Tjoe Tat closely observed the behavior of fellow prisoners during his years behind bars. His loyalty to Sukarno was also put to the test in prison
Oei Tjoe Tat in the Crush Malaysia Operation
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Oei Tjoe Tat was involved in the "Crush Malaysia" campaign. His cover was blown by Indonesian Communist Party leader Dipa Nusantara Aidit.
Why Oei Tjoe Tat Matters
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Oei Tjoe Tat was a loyalist of Sukarno who was imprisoned under the New Order regime. He fought for equal rights for Chinese Indonesians.
