They fired five-under-par 67s at the Damai Indah Golf - Pantai Indah Kapuk Course in intense humidity and windy conditions.
They led by a stroke from Australian Anthony Summers and Taiwan's Hsieh Tung-shu - in what is the fifth event of this season on OneAsia.
Pre-tournament favourite Liang Wenchong from China carded a 70, former champion Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand and Mardan Mamat from Singapore came in with 71, while Japanese star Shingo Katayama finished the day even.
Indonesian fans had much to cheer about with Jamal Ondo and Ayadi Hermawan carding 70s, to reflect the growing strength of golf in their country.
"I did what I had to do and kept the ball on the fairway. I only missed two fairways. It was very tough out there as it was windy, very humid and the fairways are narrow. It's good to get a good first round in here as I started the year quite well but over the past few months I just have not been scoring well," said 27-year-old Brown.
The man from Melbourne, who once played for Australia's junior team, started on the back nine and nailed seven birdies and two bogeys. He finished joint 10th in last year's Midea China Classic on OneAsia for one of his best results in Asia and with his wife expecting their first child in August he is hoping for a good season.
The more experienced Wright, aged 36, played in the group behind Brown in the morning and made an impressive eight birdies.
"We started early today so I thought we would have a chance to get the best conditions but it was hard going. I had a real up and down round but thankfully my putter saved me," said Wright, who has enjoyed a good season on OneAsia finishing joint 11th in the GS Caltex Maekyung Open and equal 14th in the SK Telecom Open.
Tsai was once a familiar name on leaderboards in the region and is best known for winning the three biggest tournaments in Taiwan. He won the Taiwan PGA Championship in 1998, the Taiwan Open in 1999 and the Mercuries Masters in 2003.
"It is nice to be playing well in such a big event. It has been a long time. I didn't make many mistakes but it took a lot of concentration," said Tsai.
The 42-year-old lost his form and confidence after his big wins and spent time teaching golf on a driving range in Shanghai before two memorable back-to-back comeback wins on the China Tour in 2008.
Liang, a two-time winner on OneAsia including the season-opening Luxehills Chengdu Open, did not feature for much of the day but a solid two-under-par back nine with no bogeys saw him start the tournament well.
"I think everyone found it very difficult today. If conditions stay this way low scoring will be very hard," said Liang.
The burgeoning OneAsia which will stage 11 tournaments with a total of more than US$12 million in prize money this season.
This week's event will be showcased on OneAsia's television platform with live coverage for four hours a day across all four tournament days, and broadcast to over 260 million homes in more than 40 countries.
Full coverage of this week's event will be available domestically on ESPN Star Sports, as well as internationally on ESPN3.com, Network Ten, America One and Bloomberg Television among others.
Leading first round scores (Par 72):
67 - Anthony Brown (AUS), Michael Wright (AUS), Tsai Chi-huang (TPE)
68 - Anthony Summers (AUS), Hsieh Tung-shu (TPE)
69 - An Hyun-woo (KOR), Gary Simpson (AUS), Ronald Harvey (CAN)
70 - Lee Hyeon-woo (KOR), Liao Guiming (CHN), Liang Wenchong (CHN), Michael Hendry (NZL), Andrew Martin (AUS), Jamal Ondo (INA), Ayadi Hermawan (INA)
71 - Thaworn Wiratchant (THA), Simon Yates (SCO), Li Chao (CHN), Mardan Mamat (SIN), Suprapto (INA), Steven Jones (AUS), Shang Lei (CHN), Matthew Griffin (AUS), Henry Epstein (AUS), Scott Hills (NZL)
Selected:
72 - Shingo Katayama (JPN)
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