8. The development of English as
lingua franca
in Batik industry
in Indonesia
Pramesi Lokaprasidha, S.S., M.Par
.
Tourism Practitioner, Politeknik Negeri Jember, Indonesia
Abstract
Batik is rated as a cultural icon that has a unique and profound philosophy, also includes the human life cycle, thus established as a cultural heritage of humanity. Determination of the traditional cloth called batik as a world cultural heritage of Indonesia, among others, by weighing the traditional craft of batik as the hereditary from Indonesia are rich in cultural values. One effort to keep the existence of these traditional fabrics has also been carried out by the city of Solo by creating Batik Tourism Village. Batik is a handcraft that has a high artistic value that today it has become a part of the Indonesian culture, particularly in Java. The journey of batik that has taken many centuries proved that batik has the specific appeal, which makes batik today widely used by the larger part of Indonesian society. This article will further discuss about the use of English in developing tourism dealing with Batik Industry. Concerning the result of the research, it shows that Batik Industry has a significant progress not only in Indonesia but also in other Asian and European countries. As the globalization era has a big influence in many aspects in our life and English becoming the second language, so today everything becomes simpler and easier.
Keywords: Batik, Heritage, English as lingua franca
Introduction
Batik is one way of making fabric. Besides, batik can refer to two things. The first is the technique of colouring cloth using wax to prevent staining part of the fabric, in the international literature, this technique is known as a “wax-resist dyeing”. The second meaning is a fabric or clothing made with these techniques, including the use of certain motifs as its uniqueness. Batik, as the overall technique, technology, and development of the motives and culture, UNESCO has been designated Batik as Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity since October 2, 2009.
Kauman, one of the two cities of production of Batik, which has become a touristic destination.
The hypothesis that could be seen from the above problem is that batik is a very important part of the local culture, and so for the tourist it represents the cultural icon of Indonesia. Moreover, these days batik becomes one of the strongest tourist attractions in Solo. The local people and the stakeholders in Solo have a very good teamwork to maintain and increase the number of tourist. They work together to make many kinds of events about batik, not only in Indonesia but also in foreign countries such as Netherlands and China. They are introducing and promoting batik at the same time. On the other hand, the ability and the use of English becomes more than just a daily needs. Now the local people believe that English is their second language, the increasing ability of the local people brings a fresh air for their economic life.
It would contain about not only the history of Batik as a living heritage but also how it develop from a domestic to international tourism. The use of English as the second language also helps the local people to increase the number of tourist through the event and promotion. The economic life of the local people is getting better. The stakeholders and the government always support and help the local people to develop the industry as well as giving the education such as training for marketing and learning English.
The History of Batik as a Living Heritage
The origin of batik dates as early as the period when our ancestor in the 17th century attempted to write and paint on the palm frond. During that age, the motif was predominantly local flora and fauna, which subsequently developed into ornaments influenced by the Hindu religion, such as clouds, temple stone relief, shadow puppet characters and other intriguing objects. The integration of painting motifs and decorative clothes eventually led to the rise of hand–drawn batik, as we know it today.
The types and motifs are as diverse as the culture and ethnic groups producing it, reflecting very much the inspiringly rich philosophical ideas behind the creation. Indonesian batik has a rich symbolism related to social status, local community, nature, history and cultural heritage; provides Indonesian people with a sense of identity and continuity as an essential component of their live from birth to death; and continues to evolve without losing its traditional meaning.
The history of batik is closely related to the rise of Majapahit14 Kingdoms and the succeeding of its kingdoms. It has been widely believed that according to some written references batik that we know today, using wax as the resist agent to draw the
14
Majapahit was a vastthalassocratic archipelagic empirebased on the island ofJava, from
1293 to around 1500, source :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majapahit. Retrieved : June 23,
motifs, was first developed in Mataram15 Kingdom reign, continued by the age of the Kingdom of Surakarta (Solo) and Yogyakarta. The golden age of batik producing was toward the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 20th century (Pusponegoro, 2007:3).
The art of painting images on the clothes has become the favourite activities of the successions of the Kings. Originally, batik was produce within the royal compound and worn by the royal families along with their retainers. Over the year batik found its way to the heart of the masses (peoples), as these retainers lived outside the palace and brought with them some pieces to be finished at home. The tradition to produce batik rapidly influenced the community and it soon became the favourite past time (activities) by homemakers, breaking the boundaries of such royal restriction and in its process making batik a common textile for larger part of society.
Historical development of Indonesian batik is a historical heritage from generation to generation. The term of batik comes from "amba" and "nitik"16(Javanese language), which means writing. The word itself refers to the technique of batik making patterns using“canting”or“cap”17and cloth dyeing, using shades of the colour barrier material, called wax that is applied on the fabric. So resist the entry of dye into the motives of others. Those techniques could be applied only on the material made from natural fibers such as cotton, silk, and wool. It could not be applied over the polyester (artificial fibers). While the making process of the fabric patterns which are not using the wax-resist dyeing technique known as batik printed cloth. Usually such fabrics are made in industrial-scale printing techniques and it could not be called batik.
By the kingdoms in Solo and Yogyakarta around the 17th, 18th, and 19th century, batik start to develop widely, especially in Java. At first, batik was just one of the hobbies of the royal family to shows their social position. However, by the time goes by, the community developed batik into a commodity trading.
Batik, which comes from Solo, is famous for its traditional style and patterns, whether it is printed or traditional hand-made batik. The materials used for coloring was still originally comes from domestic materials such as Javanese Soga18 already famous
15
Mataram was a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom existed in 570-927, source :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mataram. retrieved June 23, 2012
16
Amba and nitikis a Javanese language means writing. Hamidin, Aep S. 2010.Batik– Warisan Budaya Asli Indonesia, Narasi, Yogyakarta, p.7
17
Canting and capis a tool that used for making batik motif. Hamidin, Aep S. 2010.Batik– Warisan Budaya Asli Indonesia, Narasi, Yogyakarta, p.7
18
since the first. The pattern remains, among others, famous for "Sidomukti" and "Sidoluhur"19.
Meanwhile, the origin of batik known from Yogyakarta since the first Mataram kingdom, namedPanembahan Senopati20. Batik at the time was limited within the royal family and it is made by the women who work for the queen. From that moment batik was spread to the other royal family such as the wife of the courtier (the maid in the palace) and the soldiers. At the official ceremony, the royal family both men and women dressed with a combination of batik. The people outside the palace started to be interested in the clothes worn by the royal family, and then they try to imitate the style of the dress that worn by the royal family. Finally, starting from the interest of the
people outside the palace, batik eventually spread out outside the palace’s wall
The spreading of batik out of the palace was happened after the end of the Diponegoro21war. Many royal families moved outside the area of Yogyakarta and Solo because they refused to cooperate with the colonial government. The royal family who brought his courtiers (house cleaner who works in the palace) into the new areas continues to make batik which then it becomes their new job and a livelihood for them.
Batik patterns born in the new areas outside Solo and Yogyakarta are well adapted to the circumstances that exist in those areas. So, that the result or the batik pattern has the specific characteristics of each region from where they were made. Between one region to the other, there are many differences, especially in the development of the motif or pattern
Batik nowadays is no longer become the official clothing that worn by the kings and their maid, but now batik is very popular with common people that have no relation with the king or the palace. Many people interested in batik and worn batik as a formal dress in a formal occasion such as wedding ceremony, or events that was held by the state or government.
Batik has been recognized not only in Indonesia but also by the international community, that today batik becomes the cultural identity of Indonesia. Nowadays, the word batik is widely known in western countries. Both Indonesian women and men from all over the cities like to wear batik and they create the design of their batik dress by themselves. Foreign tourists or expatriates who live in Indonesia were very fond of batik and they often make it as a souvenir.
Becoming an International Destination
Today, Solo become one of the international destinations for tourism in Indonesia. The famous of batik brought a lot of tourist came to visit the uniqueness and of course, they want to experience this world living heritage by themselves. The stakeholders such as the government and local people work as a team for this. They both work to create some events abroad, to introduce and promote batik. This is one of the great ideas to promote
19
The name of Javanese batik pattern.
20
Javanese title for the first King of Mataram.
21
the local culture to become
ernment always give the annual training for the romotion abroad. The good teamwork which the local people develop in order to keep this c d, such as in Netherlands, China and other Asi
event was greatly appreciated by all the peopl
to foreign countries is one of the biggest event s not the only one that creates the interest of for
ates different interest such as the event of Kerat of foreign tourist. Since the number of tour ple has to increase their ability to speak Engli sh become the second language for the local pe life of the local people.
number of tourist could be shown in the chart below
ure 2. Number of Foreign Tourist in Solo
e 3. The Origin of Foreign Tourist who come to S
From the above chart, it could be seen that the number of foreign tourist are increasing significantly, from January up to June. The increasing number of foreign tourists starts to increase from 2005 with 9.649 people, and one year after it was increase to 10.626 people. It was significantly increasing until the year of 2009, which the numbers of foreign tourist reach 26.047 people in a year. This data proves that batik was successfully reaching the international market by the increasing number of foreign tourist every year. Despite the fact that Solo is not a big city in Central Java, but the history of its cultural heritage and how the local people could welcome the foreign tourist very well, it could attract the interest of international tourist. The success of its promotion and most of all the use of English for its promotion done very well by the stakeholders such as the government and local people help batik spreads globally. The origins of the tourist also various, start from Netherlands, Japan, Germany, France and Singapore as the big five, followed by Malaysia, Australia, United States, Italy and others. Netherlands always become number one for foreign visitor to Solo. It is because they want to have nostalgia tourism in Indonesia, they wanted to regain the memories when their great grandfather was invaded Indonesia. Moreover, since they invaded Indonesia for 350 years, there must be a lot of heritage from Netherlands such as buildings or bridges in Indonesia. However, specifically in Solo, there are a lot of old buildings made by the Netherlands thousand years ago and those buildings stands still up to these days. The local people inhabited the old building now and some of them were used as government offices.
Conclusion
This paper has been discussed about the history of Batik, and how it becomes international. The development of batik production becoming a touristic place also has been explained in Part 1. The process of becoming international touristic destination through the hard times and today everything seems to be ready. It is all because the good teamwork that happen between the local people and the government to introduce and promoting batik overseas. Creating the batik event become one good point that has been done by the local community in Solo that today it becomes the biggest attraction for tourist in Solo. Developing the idea and creating the new motif of batik also becomes the special interest that brought tourist to see the beauty of art and cultural heritage in the same time.
Therefore, Batik today is not only a local heritage but also it goes international because of English.
References
Hamidin AepS. (2010)Batik–Warisan Budaya Asli Indonesia.Narasi: Yogyakarta. Ramelan, Tumbu. (2010) The 20th Century Batik Masterpieces. KR Communications:
Jakarta.
Wulandari, Ari. (2011) Batik Nusantara – Makna Filosofis, Cara Pembuatan, Dan Industri Batik. Andi Publisher: Yogyakarta.
Majapahit Kingdom. Accessed on: 23 June 2012 Available at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majapahit.
Mataram Kingdom. Accessed on: 23 June 2012 Available at:
