VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Commemorating National Batik Day on 2 October 2021, the Indonesian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan held a batik exhibition on 11-13 October in collaboration with Indonesian and Pakistani batik fashion houses. The Indonesian Embassy in its written statement  received in Jakarta Wednesday (13/10) stated that the event was held at the Batik Studio Fashion Store boutique owned by Pakistani entrepreneur, Mohsin Qamar at the Centaurus Mall shopping center in Islamabad.

By inviting batik fashion house from Indonesia, Alleira Batik, the exhibition featured lots of types of batik and wastra or traditional cloth from many regions in Indonesia. Indonesian Ambassador to Pakistan, Adam M Tugio when opening the exhibition said that Indonesia and Pakistan have  a lot of similarities, starting from history, culture, culinary until fashion.

In terms of batik, Pakistan has clothes which have similar patterns and motifs to batik, but the method of making is different. The Indonesian Embassy in Islamabad stated that Indonesian representatives in Pakistan will continuously intensify the promotion of batik in the country; one of them is by holding a Pakistani patterned batik design competition. The competition will be held with a number of art colleges and art-loving communities in Pakistan, as well as stakeholders from Indonesia.

The Ambassador also explained that the winners will get the opportunity to visit Indonesia, to learn directly  the method of making batik in batik industry centers in Indonesia and to have the opportunity to print their work. He hopes that art and fashion lovers in Pakistan will have the opportunity to explore interesting experiences about  the uniqueness and beauty of traditional textiles, as well as their blend with Pakistani fashion and lifestyle..

Furthermore, he wants to strengthen people-to-people contacts of both  countries by involving educational and cultural institutions, students, and other elements of civil society in Pakistan. The Ambassador also said that there are good intention and trust built between Indonesia and Pakistan so that the collaboration in the soft diplomacy sector is bright. Related to this, Manager of Communication and Coordination of the Center for Global and Strategic Studies, a Pakistani think-tank, Laraib Fatima Hassan explained that  people-to-people contact is one of the cores of bilateral relations between Indonesia and Pakistan.