John Lie Tjeng Tjoan

John Lie Tjeng Tjoan, also known as Jahja Daniel Dharma, was a National Hero of Indonesia and one of the first high-ranking navy officers during the Indonesian National Revolution. He was born in Manado, Sulawesi, on 9 March 1911 to a Chinese-Indonesian family. He started his navy career as a ship-navigator on a Dutch merchant vessel. He joined the Kesatuan Rakyat Indonesia Sulawesi (KRIS), a local militia group in Sulawesi during the Indonesian War of Independence. The marine division of this group later became a part of the Indonesian Navy. Initially, he was stationed in the naval harbour of Cilacap, Java. Within a few months, he managed to clear this harbour from mines, placed by the Imperial Japanese Navy against an eventual Allied naval invasion. For his services, he was promoted to mayor laut (lieutenant commander). In 1947, he was assigned the duty of escorting boats smuggling products to Singapore to be sold for financing the Indonesian independence war. He used a speedboat named the Outlaw for his operations. He had to avoid the Dutch naval blockade around Singapore and exchange rubber and other products for weapons. The weapons were then handed over to the Indonesian revolutionary troops in Sumatra and Riau. He was captured by British customs once, but was released by the Singapore court. He was also stopped by a Dutch patrol boat, but managed to escape. He was nicknamed the "Ghost of the Malacca Strait" by the Dutch for his daring and elusive actions. He was later appointed as the commander of the Indonesian Navy in Sumatra. He also participated in the negotiations with the Dutch in the Roem–Van Roijen Agreement and the Round Table Conference. He retired from the navy in 1966 with the rank of rear admiral. He died of a heart attack in Jakarta on 28 August 1988. He was buried in the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery with full military honors. He was posthumously awarded the title of National Hero of Indonesia in 2009.