T

he government has highlighted the importance of enhancing the intellectual property protection of the country'€™s batik industry to enable Indonesia to further expand its batik exports in the coming years.

Industry Ministry director general of manufacturing-based industry Panggah Susanto said in Jakarta on Tuesday that Indonesia'€™s batik industry, which showcased the nation'€™s cultural identity, continued to grow due to rising demand from international buyers.

'€œBatik is enjoying a lot of respect from the international community, seeing how fast exports have developed,'€ Panggah said in his speech at the opening of the 7th Batik Cultural Heritage Exhibition in South Jakarta.

According to the ministry'€™s current figures, batik industry exports have grown from US$32 million in 2008 to $300 million in 2013 in the last five years, with the bulk of exports going to the US, Germany and South Korea.

Even so, batik still accounts for a very small percentage of the country'€™s total textile exports, which stand at around $13 billion a year, Panggah implied.

Given the growing interest in batik overseas, Panggah said intellectual property rights were important for ensuring a competitive advantage in a free-trade era.

Panggah added that the definition of batik as a cultural commodity needed to be regulated to prevent other nations from taking advantage of its large market potential.

Batik is protected by Law No. 19/2002 on copyright, which aims to prevent the misuse of Indonesian traditional culture, especially traditional batik.

The Industry Ministry is hosting a four-day batik exhibition from Sep. 30 to Oct. 3, which features 54 batik small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from various regions like Yogyakarta, Bandung and Cirebon, all of which receive tutelage from the Indonesian Batik Foundation (YBI).

The ministry'€™s secretary-general, Busharmaidi, said batik producers should also be empowered not only in the production process but also in the marketing of their products so they were able to take advantage of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of next year.

He said Indonesian batik makers should be able to tap into the growing business potential.

In anticipation of the so-called ASEAN single market, Busharmaidi said most SMEs needed to be pushed toward strengthening the domestic market and at the same time improve their competitive edge to compete in the ASEAN market.

'€œThe AEC will have a population of around 500 million people, half of which is from Indonesia. We have to prepare the SMEs so that no one can infiltrate our market,'€ he said.

Busharmaidi said about 20 percent of Indonesia'€™s 3.4 million SMEs were in the batik production-related business.

Premium batik sellers only accounted for 5 percent of all batik businesses, even though they contributed 50 percent of the total industry value, he added.