The Early Years
Born on January 16, 1922, in Sukabumi (Soekaboemi) on the island of Java in what was then the Dutch East Indies, Giok Po Oey, of Chinese descent, lived his early years in a period of great upheaval and change. Coming of age at the beginning of World War II, he witnessed the horrific Japanese occupation of Indonesia, an end to centuries of foreign control, and the beginnings of a tumultuous journey toward democracy.
Children - Early 1928
Giok Po on the far right, with his father, his mother, and his siblings. Not pictured, Giok Po's three unborn siblings.
Map of Java - 1929
Map of the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies from 1929 with the city of Sukabumi (Soekaboemi) highlighted just to the south of Batavia, now Jakarta.