Meaningful lives
Members of the group hail from Jakarta, Surabaya and other places in Indonesia. Multitalented, they all wear multiple hats.
Indra Tan, the group leader and conductor, is an interpreter and guide at historic sites. She has founded musical groups and dance companies, and in 2017 she even cowrote songs with Black Hand Nakasi, a Taiwanese “workers’ band.” Expanding her realm beyond home and office, she has planted her feet into Taiwan’s public realm as the island has become her second homeland.
Kartika Condro Ester, the first in her family to go to college, studied in a STEM field and made a good income when she was working back in Indonesia. Her marriage to a man from Taiwan is what brought her here. To set an example to her own children, she insisted on pursuing another year of higher education in Taiwan. After passing the exam to serve as a legal interpreter, she provided the voiceover for a Ministry of Education video introducing Taipei’s “Indonesia Street.”
Fluent in English, Fonny Zhang is an editor of Indonesian mother-tongue educational materials at the Ministry of the Interior, and she often hosts foreign visitors. Cognizant of the importance of language skills, she has spoken Indonesian with her children since they were little. Her son Zheng Yaotian hasn’t disappointed her: After graduating from university he was posted abroad, where he has performed well on the job and earns over NT$1 million per year.
Mona Lin is a skilled chef and was once invited to the National Taiwan Museum to give a demonstration, where she showed how best to use spices and herbs such as sand ginger in downhome Indonesian cooking. A tireless learner, she is a licensed hair stylist. Every year she brings her children back to Indonesia to travel and visit relatives.
Gema Angklung has also brought in members of the next generation: Lin’s son Liu Huasheng has developed confidence by participating in the group and is determined to pursue a future in music, having enrolled in a performing arts program. The night before the junior-high general assessment exam, he still participated in a dress rehearsal, and right after finishing the exam he hurried to the National Taiwan Museum to give an outstanding performance. Formerly highly introverted, he has gradually gained confidence as he has matured. That has delighted his father to no end.
The angklung is a traditional percussion instrument made from bamboo that originated in western Java.