The Late Rear Admiral John Lie on Patriotism

Last night, Metro Files featured the life of a Chinese Indonesian patriot by the name of John Lie. I’ve heard about him before but forgotten until Metro TV exposed his profile in the series of Chinese New Year Program. Actually, these days I’ve been thinking to search for some information on Chinese Indonesians who devoted their lives to their country in order to impart patriotism to my (Chinese Indonesian in particular) students. So let’s take a brief look at his life I compiled from various sources.

John Lie was born in Manado on March 9, 1911 to the family of Lie Kae Tae and Oei Tjeng Nie Nio. He worked for a Dutch ship before joining the Indonesian Navy. He was well known due to his heroic feat to sell raw rubber and other commodities to Singapore and bought guns from Thailand for the Indonesian struggle against the Dutch. He successfully led weapon smuggling operation for at least fifteen times during the Dutch blockades from 1947 to 1949. One night his boat was seen by the Dutch warship and it seemed like there was no way to run. Under the fire, he asked his crew to gather, opened his Bible, read it and prayed. Miraculously, his small boat was able to slip through the enemy’s fingers. Part of his life story was documented by LIFE Magazine under the title "Guns and Bibles, Are Smuggled to Indonesia" in September 1949 edition. The picture above was tagged as "Before a Smuggling Trip" and the text on the flower painting at the left was "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

After the independence he continued his career in the Navy and took part in the operations to crush secession movements, including the RMS (Republik Maluku Selatan). One morning, the shells were ready to fire from his ship to one of the Moluccan islands. Noticing that it was Sunday, he pleaded his commander to postpone the bombardment because that was the moment for the Christians to go to the church and the wise commander granted his appeal. After retiring on December 1966 at the rank of Rear Admiral, he was actively involved in social and religious activities. He passed away on August 1988 and was buried in Kalibata National Heroes Cemetery.

Former Coordinator Minister for Political and Security Affairs Sudomo, as one of his colleague in Navy, recalled John Lie as a very religious man who was willing to give his best effort for his country. He was a leader who was deeply concerned about the welfare of his men and practiced the life motto 'love your neighbor as yourself'.

Admiral Lie, thank you for what you’ve done for the independence and unity of this country. Thank you for living a profound life as an inspiration to many of us. Thank you for giving us a lesson that being a Christian or Chinese Indonesian is not an oxymoron.