Local resident Merry Dogopia gleefully explained about the growing popularity of the Papuan traditional bag called noken after UNESCO included it five years ago in its intangible cultural heritage list on Dec. 4, 2012.

In Jayapura, the capital city of Papua, mama mama (Papuan women) who sell noken have enjoyed increasing sales of the woven bag, she said.

“The buyers are numerous, especially when there are events held in Jayapura,” Merry, who chairs a local group of noken producers called Ania, said on Monday.

Papuan women sell the bags from Rp 50,000 (US$3.50) up to Rp 500,000, depending on size.

Noken is a knotted net or woven bag made from wood fiber or leaves by communities in Papua and West Papua.

It is considered a symbol of Papua’s cultural richness and diversity, playing an important part in the lives of Papuan people. Besides being used by men and women for carrying plantation produce, babies, animals or fish, it is also used in the tribal political system.

Papua is the only province allowed to use a special voting scheme called the Noken System in elections, where residents gather to make decisions by consensus, and are then represented by their tribal leaders who lodge votes at polling stations.

Papuans celebrated Noken Day on Monday.

Despite the significant rise in income from noken sales, Merry expected government support to provide a special space to carry out business activities for the vendors, many of whom still sell their goods on the street.

“We really hope there is a special place in several areas for noken vendors to carry out transactions, as well as highlight the signature style of the local area,” she said, adding that she also expected government support to empower local women to diversify their products.

Every area in Papua has its own signature model and characteristics of noken.

At the celebration of noken day, many locals proudly wore their noken in Jayapura.

“We need to celebrate noken by wearing it to show our appreciation to this symbol of world cultural heritage,” said Mega, who works as a local TV reporter.

Meanwhile, Ania Group, comprising 200 Papuan women in Jayapura, had begun to diversify the products produced from raw materials used in noken.

Ania member Christina Degei, 25, said the group is currently working on an order of shoes made by the wife of Pegunungan Bintang regency councilor. The shoes are made from the same Mandaun wood fiber, considered the best quality.

The women learned to make shoes independently by taking real shoes as examples. They first used flip flops as the base of the shoes and then covered them with the knitted wood fibers by hand. It takes a lot of precision and time, as the women work together for one month to complete a single pair of shoes, which is then sold for Rp 1.5 million.

Besides the shoes, the women also began to make clothes from the wood fibers. It takes around two months to complete a dress worth Rp 2 million per piece.

“We have many orders, especially from the wives of local officials who like to wear traditional Papuan clothing during official events,” Christina said.

Merry added that following UNESCO’s inclusion, a value chain had been created for noken producing activities. While in the past most women had to create their own fibers, from searching for the materials in the woods, drying them and then twisting them into wooden threads, now there were groups who produced and sold the raw material.

“Now the producers can buy the threads to be made into noken or other products,” she added.

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