National Batik Day to Be Celebrated at Special Events in Jakarta and Solo

National Batik Day will be celebrated in Jakarta on Sept. 24-27 and in Solo, Central Java, on Oct. 2.

A woman participates in a parade during the Kajen Batik Carnival in Pekalongan, Central Java, on Sunday. (Antara Photo/Harviyan Perdana Putra)

"This year, we are planning a special Batik Day in conjunction with the Creative Economy Agency Festival in Solo, so the event will be big and festive," Triawan Munaf, head of the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf), said on Tuesday.

The Jakarta event, themed "Making Batik for the Nation" and featuring a fashion show by designers affiliated with the Indonesian Batik Association, will take place at the offices of the Ministry of Industry.

The spouses of at least 15 ambassadors, including Japan, Thailand and Brazil, will attend the Jakarta event.

There will also be a batik bazaar and an exhibition of handmade batik from various parts of Indonesia, which will be open to the public.

Meanwhile, 500 batik artists will be demonstrating the batik-drawing process at Solo's Mangkunegaran Palace. 

"Five hundred artists will draw batik together at the palace; we will provide the tools," Diana Santosa, head of the 2019 Batik National Day organizing committee, said on Tuesday.

She said the mass event was aimed at cultivating an appreciation for handmade batik and that the choice of the Mangkunegaran Palace as festival host was based on its role in the origin of the traditional Indonesian textile.

However, Triawan said the batik industry was being undermined by imports of cheap knockoffs.

"The community knows about this; we are being bombarded with imported products with batik motifs. So we must point out the fact that real batik is made by hand and not printed [by machines]," he said.

The Bekraf head advised batik producers to promote the use of the traditional cloth among young people and to encourage them to make it part of their wardrobes for general and daily use.

Indonesian batik was recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009.(JakartaGlobe)