Made up of five migrant workers from Indonesia, boy band “The Mandalas” is using music to bridge the gap between local Taiwanese and the country’s growing South-east Asian community.

Words and photos by Yu Chih-wei (余志偉)

Translation by Fang Liu

This piece originally appeared in the Reporter in Traditional Chinese and is translated with permission of the publisher.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor, as of January 1 2018, there are already 677,698 migrant workers in Taiwan. They come from all over Asia, including Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Mongolia. Indonesia is the largest source of migrant workers, with 258,703 people hailing from the country.

Simply put, one in forty people in Taiwan is a migrant worker from the Asia-Pacific region.

Most of these workers reside in Taoyuan, but some live in nearby New Taipei City, as well as farther away in Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung. All of these cities are well connected by train. Taipei Main Station, the main transport hub of the capital city, serves as the meeting place for workers to celebrate their native festivals. It’s also a site for social activists to promote the labour rights of migrant workers.

“Hello, I am Mandala!”, shaking my hand as if we were old friends, Mandala and his band members greeted me with joyful smiles. In fact, this was my first time meeting these young men.