Iwan Sulistiawan, Contributor, Jakarta
Along with Marga T., Mira W. and Clara Ng, Indonesian literature now has to take into consideration another prominent figure, namely Lan Fang.
Born in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, on March 5, 1970, the first of two daughters of the late Johnny Gautama and Yang Mei Ing had her first short story published in Anita Cemerlang magazine in 1986. Since then many of Lan Fang's short stories have been published in teenage magazines, especially Gadis and Anita Cemerlang; the latter of which no longer exists.
In the nineties, Lan Fang, who lives with her husband and three children in Surabaya, started sending stories to magazines targeted at more mature audiences and she has been published numerous times in newspapers such as Jawa Pos, Pikiran Rakyat and Media Indonesia.
The cheerful and outgoing Lan Fang, who is a fan of Enid Blyton and Kahlil Gibran, has won many fiction writing contests. In 1997 Bicara Tentang Cinta, Sri (Talk about Love, Sri) won the first runner up prize in a contest held by Nyata tabloid.
The following year, another short story, Bayang-Bayang (Shadows), achieved the same result in a competition in Femina magazine.
In 2003, Lan Fang's novel, Kembang Gunung Purei (the Flower of Purei Mountain), became one of the winning novels in Femina magazine's novel writing contest.
What distinguishes Lan Fang from Marga T. and Mira W. is the fact that while the latter two mostly focus on romance, Lan Fang has made an attempt to go further. Though love stories dominate her work, Lan Fang has also tried to touch on issues of feminism.
Some stories in her anthology of short stories (2006), Laki-Laki yang Salah (The Wrong Man), articulate discontent toward the condescending way in which men often treat women. In a story in the anthology, Jangan Main-Main dengan Perempuan (Don't Mess with Women), Lan Fang asks, ""Why can a man be a polygamist when his wife is found sterile whereas a woman can't have another husband due to the same reason?"" A similar direction, though not as profound as in the previously mentioned short story, can be found in her latest novel (2006), Perempuan Kembang Jepun (The Woman of Kembang Jepun). Set in an area called Kembang Jepun in 1940's Surabaya, the novel describes the life of a former geisha who got married as a second wife to a Javanese man who took advantage of her, sexually and financially.
However, when I asked Lan Fang whether she wanted to be a feminist writer, she diplomatically answered, ""I'm not trying to be a feminist. We have to admit that in certain cases women should yield to men, to be one level below men. Yet women should be smart to prevent themselves from being treated unfairly"".
Lan Fang once told me that she wanted become wealthy from writing, and considering her productivity, I believe she can.
The writer is an English-language lecturer and contributes original short stories to the Post.
