After finishing her doctorate at University of California, Berkeley, Tan returned to Indonesia and wrote extensively on economics and Chinese Indonesians.
[5] Tan attended a Hollandsch Chineesche School, where she received high marks, and continued to a Hogere Burgerschool.
Tan later wrote that that was one of the factors that interested her in studying sociology formally; the contemporary focus on Chinese literature bored her.
Based on her work with him, Skinner chose Tan to receive the Cornell Southeast Asia Training Fellowship.
Despite slight culture shock, Tan enjoyed her studies,[8] under the guidance of Skinner and the sociologist Robin Murphy Williams.
[7] The thesis was published by the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project in 1963 as The Chinese of Sukabumi: A Study in Social and Cultural Accommodation.
[11] She later described this period as a time of great anxiety, as the political turmoil that Indonesia was experiencing – including a deteriorating economy and growing communist party – led many students to fear that their fellowships would be cancelled.
[12] During her studies at Berkeley, Tan participated in sit-ins as part of the Free Speech Movement, only stopping when warned that she could be deported if arrested.
[20] On 15 July 1998, responding to several days of rioting the previous May, Tan – together with activists including Saparinah Sadli, Mayling Oey-Gardiner, and Sinta Nuriyah – spoke with President B. J. Habibie regarding the need to prevent violence against women; the National Commission on Violence against Women was established later that year,[16] with Tan serving as one of its commissioners between 1998 and 2003.
[12] A festschrift titled Multikulturalisme, Peran Wanita dan Integrasi Nasional (Multiculturalism, Women's Roles, and National Integration) was dedicated to her that year.