VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Director of Cultural Heritage and Diplomacy, Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, Nazaruddin Ramli, at a press conference ahead of the Decade of the National Batik Day Celebration, at the Library of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Tuesday (1 Oct) said, Batik was a masterpiece of Indonesian civilization which had been an honored guest abroad. So that it is natural for Indonesia to host Batik itself and this wealth needs to be passed on to the Indonesian young generations. The same thing was expressed by Aditya Yusma, activist of Central Javanese batik art and culture. He said that currently the number of batik makers who use canting to make batik is very small. Therefore, Aditya Yusma along with batik conservation community facilitated by the Ministry of Education and Culture, will continue to increase the interest in making batik among millennials by holding trainings, even for people abroad.

“We have conducted batik training in more than 147 countries in 5 activities. And I am the third generation of batik. I left my business in film industry a few years ago then I returned to Pekalongan. I began to learn batik until finally given the opportunity by the Ministry of Education and Culture to provide the first training in the World Jamboree. The training is in line with our vision to re-generate batik, especially batik craftsmen, because canting maker is the most important 'tool' in batik,” said Aditya Yusma.

The National Batik Day Celebration is intended to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Batik included into the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) list of UNESCO, precisely on October 2, 2009. This year's commemoration carries the theme: Batik, Khazanah Peradaban or ‘Batik, the Treasury of Civilization’. The highlight of the National Batik Day Celebration is centered on the courtyard of the Ministry of Education and Culture Building, in Jakarta, Wednesday (2 Oct) night. The event attended by 400 invitations including representatives of the Ambassador in Jakarta, relevant ministries and various batik communities. The whole series of activities is packaged in a musical drama featuring world batik figures. This musical show was directed by Aditya Yusma and Dwiki Dharmawan as Music Director // Agus/Trs.YT