goodmorningpapua.com – National Batik Day is a day of Indonesia’s national celebration to commemorate the stipulation of batik as a Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on October 2, 2009 by UNESCO.
A Head of the Jayapura City Industry and Trade and Industry and Business, Robert LN Awi, ST., MT., admitted that the commemoration of National Batik Day remains a concern for the Jayapura City Government where recently Papuan OAP batik craftsmen have also been trained from the center on how to make batik, to determine the color of batik cloth and provided with training and supporting tools.
“The moment of commemoration of the national batik day we still guard and maintain well. We know that in Jayapura City also has a heritage of batik art with the characteristics of the Port Numbay culture in 14 villages, in batik there must be a typical pattern of images of Port Numbay there are paddles, fish, Tifa and others make batik as one of the characteristics of cultural arts that are still preserved in Papua, especially the City of Jayapura,” he said yesterday.
Robert explained, each region has its own distinctive batik motifs. For the uniqueness of Port Numbay batik is the existence of boats and paddles typical of Sentani, Jayapura. In addition, he also took wood carving motifs and tifa which are typical of a number of other Papuan tribes. “His batik business started with producing hand-written batik. And groups of Papuan batik makers still exist all this time,” he said.
Admittedly, Papuan batik cloth from Port Numbay has been widely used, not only in Jayapura City but throughout Indonesia, even abroad. This is because they are often given as souvenirs for guests or officials who come to Jayapura City and many batik outlets with original Papuan motifs or typical Port Numbay can also be seen in Jayapura City.
He added that to enrich the characteristics of Papuan batik motifs, not only native to Port Numbay, now many have been developed to issue the latest motifs, namely the Kamoro and Amukme tribes.
Where to raise Papuan cultures through batik, here we no longer stand as a child of Port Numbay, but a Papuan child, so it is time to also display other Papuan characteristics.
“The addition of a typical Papuan pattern is carried out following market developments, as well as introducing a variety of cultures that are widely available in Papua, both coastal and mountain culture, through art as outlined in batik motifs,” he explained.
Robert hopes that the younger generation of Papua can also continue to preserve and develop in the art of batik, so that Papuan batik motifs, especially the characteristics of Port Numbay, are still found throughout the ages. Moreover, every Thursday and Friday the City Government is also required to wear national batik and Papuan batik motifs, all of which are still carried out properly.