Indonesians don Batik with pride

Published on: Sunday, April 21, 2024

By: Lorena Binisol

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Visitors at Ethy’s batik factory.

TRADITIONAL products such as Batik Indonesia had long become the trademark of Indonesia and had reached the international market.

The material had become sought-after by all walks of life and proudly worn by dignitaries and commoners alike.

According to Ethys Mayoshi, owner of Rumah Batik Gobang in Jakarta, its citizens are proud of their local Batik as it reminds them of their root and family values.

“We are eager to promote our local brand (products) because we are very patriotic and have high sense of belonging. We love our country very much.

“We have come so far in designing and creating pieces of this Batik where the whole world is wearing our identity and we continue to promote to as many countries as possible.

“Each piece of fabric created with meaning behind. Besides appreciating its beautiful design, we want to commemorate it with some historical facts that happened in our country.

“That way, we are able to have loyalty towards our past leaders who had fought for our country from the beginning,” said Ethys.

She was grateful for the visit of a group of international journalists to see her craftwork and learned basic Batik design.

She said Batik-making was a handed-down skills from generations and each family regarded their product as sacred and unique to the family.

“We are very expressive people, we show our emotions through the Batik design and that makes us creative, too,” she said.

Ethys showing the visitors basic design of fabric.

Muhamad Widodo, representative of Indonesia Consulate in Kota Kinabalu, and Batik Gobang owner Ethys Mayoshi.

She has a background in Masters in Business Psychology and had vast experience of more than 15 years in this regard.

She had been to Sabah to provide workshop on Batik designing.

“I have been to many parts of the world to promote my products and I had also organised workshops in teaching the technique of producing good Batik design. I visit Sabah often since we are just neighbouring countries.

“I look forward to visit Sabah again if I receive any invitation to conduct workshops on Batik-making in the future,” she said.

She said since the country is rich in flora and fauna, Batik makers are inspired to design their crafts using nature around them.

They could never run out of ideas on the designs, she opined.

Besides Jakarta, she had also travelled to districts in Kalimantan, Sumatera and others to promote her Batik-making workshops.

Besides Malaysia, she had also travelled to Singapore, Netherlands, France and Azerbaijan, to name a few, to share her skills to the young people beyond the comfort of her home soil.

Ethys briefing the visitors.

Besides her business, Ethys is very much involved in community projects, especially in caring for the underprivileged children and orphans.

“We have programmes such as Care for Society, focusing on the unfortunate children and those who are mentally challenged.

“We provide basic care and teach them skills, and for those who are inclined to fabric design, we hire them,” she said.

Giving out free workshops, apart from other humanitarian assistance to the vulnerable communities, gave her a sense of satisfaction as it is better to give than to receive.

The visit by the journalists was part of the arrangement by Jakarta Tourism Board in promoting the country’s local products.