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Batik Marunda: Jakarta's living heritage
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A group of Abang None Jakarta Utara sing and dance while presenting Batik Marunda. (JP/Sylviana Hamdani)
Women living in Rusunawa Marunda and Rawa Bebek, North Jakarta, produce batik pieces that represent the capital.
“Batik is a living heritage,” Anderson Sitorus, a history expert of the Indonesia Hidden Heritage (IHH) community, said. “[Batik] records what’s happening in a society and perpetuates the story in a piece of fabric to wear.”
During the Festival Cerita Kota Jakarta (Jakarta’s Tales of the City Festival), held by the community in Jakarta Maritime Museum on Feb. 25, IHH featured Batik Marunda in a fashion show presented by members of the Ikatan Abang None Jakarta Utara (Association of Miss & Mr. North Jakarta) beauty pageant.
Hard work and determination
Batik Marunda is indeed a living testament to the struggles of the women of North Jakarta in improving themselves and their livelihood in the midst of changing times.
Between 2014 and 2016, more than 11,000 people living in Kalijodo, Pasar Ikan and Waduk Pluit slums were relocated to government-owned apartment blocks (Rusunawa) in Marunda and Rawa Bebek, North Jakarta.
“Many women that worked as cooks, house assistants and laundry washers in those areas lost their jobs,” Irmanita “Irma” Sinurat, architect and member of the Jakarta Handicrafts Council (Dekranasda) said, when interviewed by The Jakarta Post in the Jakarta Maritime Museum on Feb. 25.
