TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- An Indonesian man, who had been searching for his Taiwanese father for 13 years, finally found him in northern Taiwan on Sunday (March 24).

Fanuel Yasun Polak, 26, who currently works as an entrepreneur in Manado City on the Indonesian island of North Sulawesi, has been searching for his Taiwanese father after he lost contact with him when he was 14 years old. Fanuel's father, Huang Chi-fa (黃紀發), who had first met Fanuel's mother in 1991, mysteriously left the country in January 2006 and was never heard from again.

After many unsuccessful attempts to gather information from Indonesia over the years, including announcing his story on Taiwan News, Fanuel booked a flight to Taiwan scheduled to arrive on Saturday (March 23).

On late Friday evening, prior to his flight the next day, Fanuel said that he had called one of his father's older sisters, who told him that the extended family lives in Taoyuan City's Zhongli District. However, when he asked about the whereabouts of his father, she said they used to see him once a year, but had not heard from him in three years.

When he arrived in Taoyuan, his aunt gave him the phone number of his oldest uncle, who said he would try to find his father.

Fanuel (left) and Huang (right). (Photo from Fanuel Yasun Polak)

On Sunday (March 24), Fanuel informed Taiwan News that he had successfully located his father, who agreed to a brief interview. When asked how he had found his father, Fanuel said that his phone call to his aunt saying that he was arriving the next day spurred the family into starting a search for him.

It was an older brother who was ultimately able to find him and took Fanuel to meet him in person. When asked why he had not returned to Indonesia, Huang said that the last time he visited Indonesia, he had overstayed his visa and therefore was unable to renew it and return to the country.

Huang said that he struggled for the next decade to make a meager existence in Zhongli and that, in addition to visa issues, he was never able to make enough money to go back to Indonesia again. Huang said he was overjoyed to finally see his son again after so many years.

Huang (left), Fanuel (right). (Photo by Fanuel Yasun Polak)

Fanuel said that he has also been able to meet with his three older half-brothers since coming to Taiwan.

Fanuel said that he had just tried making a phone call before visiting Taiwan as a last ditch effort and did not expect someone to pick up the line on such an old number. He also began to give up hope again when they told him that his father had not been seen for three years.

In the end, Fanuel felt it was divine intervention that enabled him to finally see his father again: "I believe this all happened because of God's intervention."

Fanuel's father met his mother at the beauty parlor where she worked in Jakarta, Indonesia. At the time, Huang was sent to work in Indonesia by a shoe manufacturing company and went by the name Johanes.

Three months after the couple met, they were wed on July 20, 1991. Fanuel says his parents were married in a church, but not legally.

Fanuel says that because his parents' marriage was not registered in Taiwan, he did not believe he could be eligible for Taiwanese citizenship. However, now that he has found his father, he may be able to assist him in applying for a Taiwan ID card.

Fanuel (left) with his wife and two children.

Fanuel was born in May of 1992, and his younger brother was born in October of 1998. He said that his father had previously been married to a Taiwanese woman, with whom he had three sons.

Huang would visit Fanuel and his family in Indonesia for a month at the end of every year. Fanuel says his father also took him to Taiwan to visit relatives, including his half brothers, for the first time when he was 6 and again when he was 10.

However, when Fanuel was 14 years old, his father left them for the last time in January, 2006. On the way to the airport, he told Fanuel that he should love his brother and not be naughty.

Fanuel's father (left), Fanuel (center), mother and brother (right).

They expected him to come back the next year as usual, but he never did and was never heard from until this weekend.

Fanuel's father (left rear), mother (center rear), brother left, paternal grandmother (center front), himself (right).

Fanuel's father on far left with some of his siblings.