Close to the offices and shopping malls on Jl. Prof. Dr. Satrio in South Jakarta lies the modest, but well-known art village of Kampung Batik on Jl. Pal Batu, where a neighborhood is taking all efforts to preserve and teach the art of batik.

In 2011, one resident, art-lover Budi Dwi Haryanto, and several of his friends decided they would establish a neighborhood promoting this piece of Indonesian heritage.

Fast forward a number of years and the neighborhood is a success. Now, dozens of men, women and children are skilled in the art of batik and produce dozens of pieces every month.

They have also painted the walls and roads along Jl. Pal Batu with colorful batik patterns.

'€œIn Jakarta, many people wear batik to work. But they forget '€” or probably don'€™t know '€” what batik represents,'€ Budi told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

He said that batik represented patience, perseverance and persistence, the characteristics every batik maker needed.

Budi added that many people did not understand the culture behind batik and how difficult is was to make it.

'€œMany people have forgotten its history. It'€™s an unfortunate situation,'€ he said.

It was this lack of knowledge and appreciation from the majority of Jakartans that prompted Budi and his friends to establish Kampung Batik.

Over the last three years, Kampung Batik has attracted local and foreign enthusiasts, keen to more about the art of batik.

Moreover, the residents have turned one of the houses into the residents'€™ batik headquarters, which also hosts a showroom and an information center.

Budi said that the house was open to the public every day.

'€œMany people come here to learn how to make batik. Aside from Jakartans, we also get foreigners from Japan and the Netherlands,'€ Budi said.

Residents of Pal Batu have also received invitations to teach batik making at schools, government agencies and even embassies.

'€œHonestly, we didn'€™t expect this kind of response. We feel honored. The fact that foreigners are interested in batik is good. The fact that locals are also interested is even better because they rarely take the time to appreciate their own culture,'€ Budi added.

Actually, he said, many residents initially opposed the idea of the art village because they were worried about noisy tourists and chemical waste from batik ink. '€œHowever, they have gradually made peace with us,'€ Budi said.

One local batik maker, Ninuk Indira Sinta, said that Kampung Batik had a positive effect on the neighborhood.

'€œChildren in this neighborhood enjoy making batik. It'€™s great that they prefer to make batik rather than watching television,'€ she said.

Ninuk added that prior to the development of the art village, she knew hardly anything about batik.

'€œI learned from zero. Now, I know how to make batik and some visitors have even bought my work,'€ she said.

Meanwhile, another batik maker, Rahayu Probowati, complained of the lack of support from the community unit (RW) management.

'€œWhenever we ask for permits to hold events in our headquarters, we have to work through a complicated process. They'€™re worried if visitors bring cars they will block the street,'€ she said.

'€œWhat we'€™re doing is very positive. They should support us,'€ she said. (dwa)

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