Nadya acknowledges her homeland

By K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): There are many television video jockeys (VJs) on the air at the moment, but Nadya Hutagalung of MTV Asia has a special "status" in the eyes of viewers in Indonesia.

There are mqny possible reasons for this.

It might be due to her tantalizing appearance, or just her Batak family name, Hutagalung. It might also be due to her being the only Indonesian video jockey at the Hong Kong-based music channel, which is broadcasted throughout Asia.

Or maybe she became popular on account of the sad story regarding her marriage, which has raised people's curiosity.

A comment from one of her fans might provide a clue: "She is outrageously cute, sexy and has an international reputation. Yet she has still retained her family name, Hutagalung, which shows she is Indonesian. We're proud of her because she has made herself a good model for Indonesian women."

The popularity of the Sydney-born entertainer in her homeland has lured many large-scale producers to hire her as a model for their products.

Her most recent project in Indonesia involved appearing as a model in a full-page newspaper advertisement for Lux soap, in addition to television and radio commercials.

Nadya admitted, however, that she only recently became involved in modeling projects in Indonesia, even though she has been working as a model for about 10 years.

Prior to working at MTV, Nadya, whose full name is Nadya Yuti Hutagalung, worked as a model in several countries -- including Australia, Japan, Britain, the United States, Singapore and Thailand -- to promote a wide range of products, from cars to noodles.

In Japan, for instance, Nadya said she often appeared in magazines such as Non-no, Oliver, Junnie and San-san. Among the Australian magazines she has been featured in are Elle, Cleo, Vogue and Dolly. In London, she appeared in Seventeen. And the list goes on.

"I've been a model since I was 12," said Nadya, 22, who joined MTV music television about two years ago.

During her teenage years, she played in the Korean television series Farewell to Song Ba River, whose shooting took place in Vietnam.

Hollywood

Now, Nadya, the mother of a three-year-old son who once dreamed of being a fire fighter, wishes to enter the world of Hollywood to pursue an acting career and achieve star status.

"It's one of my dreams," said the jovial VJ. "My other dream is to own a big house by the ocean. Yes, I'm a woman with a lot of ambitions and dreams."

In a recent interview with The Jakarta Post at the Regent Hotel's Season Cafe, Nadya -- speaking in "not bad" Indonesian -- talked about her childhood, traveling on the road to success and an unforgettable beautiful moment with her former Australian husband.

During the interview, she was accompanied by her manageress, Esther Sitompul, who is also her aunt.

Nadya is the only child of an Australian-Indonesian couple, who have devoted themselves completely to their daughter.

"I was always so happy when I was a child. I can't recall a single bad experience," she said.

Her Australian mother, Dianne Thompson, used to be a teacher of several languages, including Indonesian. Her Indonesian father, Ricky Marihut Hutagalung, is a businessman.

"I was a tomboy. I really enjoyed climbing trees and dreaming of being a hero like men from the fire brigade, who often came to my school for a drill," Nadya said. "But you know, it was the past and, anyway, it was a child's dream."

Once in her childhood, the girl -- without the knowledge of her parents -- snuck into her parents' car parked on a hill near their house and loosened the gear.

"The car suddenly moved and sped down the steep road, down the hill and bang! It hit a fence," Nadya said. "I was okay, and didn't cry."

She was introduced to the modeling world by a close friend of her parents, Greaham Shearer, whose wife was an agent for models.

"I was too young when he suggested that I become a model. Only at the age of 12 did I come to him and say 'I'm ready'," said Nadya.

Her first fee as a model was about US$180.

Traveling

Since then, she has been traveling a lot, focusing on her career and also making education a priority.

"I just took classes via a correspondence system and my mother, who was a teacher, was really helpful until I graduated from Holy Cross College at Randwick North in Australia," she said.

She spent most of her childhood in Sydney before frequently moving from one place to another.

At the age of nine, she moved from Sydney to the nearby town of Tamworth, then to Bandung in West Java for two years before going back to Sydney. A few years later, she settled in Tokyo for two years before being stationed by MTV at its Singapore base since 1995.

"Bingung ya? (Getting confused?)," she said.

In Indonesia, Nadya can be seen almost every day on MTV shows broadcasted by ANteve, a local private television station. Her music program can also be seen directly through the MTV channel via satellite discs.

During the English-dominant shows, Nadya sometimes speaks Indonesian.

Perhaps her Indonesian fans will miss Nadya soon, because she has been offered a job at MTV in London. However, she said, she is unsure whether or not she will accept the offer.

"Let's see later," she said.

Her mother still lives in Australia, running her own business, while her father is temporarily in his hometown in North Sumatra, taking care of his family's business.

"I'm proud of being an Indonesian citizen and a Batak woman," said Nadya.

"Everybody will have to think twice if they want to do something bad to me, because I am a Batak woman," she said jokingly.

The Batak ethnic group are well known for their straightforwardness and firmness.

Memory

Nadia was more than happy to talk about her parents, childhood and career. Her stories on these subjects were lively and bright. She often roared with laughter while recounting them.

However, when it came to questions about her ex-husband, whose identity remains a secret to the media, Nadya looked to her manageress, asking for help.

It seems that married life was a difficult experience.

"The most beautiful memory while we were together was when I was giving birth to my son," Nadya recalled.

"He was around my bed, taking care of me for three days," she said.

During the first year of Nadya's appearance on MTV, only a handful of people knew about her marital problems. But when she revealed "her" story to a local media last year that she had been married and divorced, with a three-year-old son, many people wanted to know her further.

Now, Nadya is alone with her only son in Singapore.

"My kid always asks me where I am going and questions why I should go back and forth to Jakarta if I also have a job in Singapore," she said.

While on duty, her son is taken care of by a babysitter, who is one of her relatives from Sumatra.

Learning from her first marriage, Nadya hoped that her next husband would be a gentleman from Batak.

"I hope he won't be as rude as some Western people and not a jealous guy," she said.

She wondered, however, whether or not she had the time for a relationship at the moment, because she had so many responsibilities as a model in Jakarta and as a VJ, as well as a mother, in Singapore.