Batik: Spearheading a strategy to go international

Batik: Spearheading a strategy to go international

Sean Yoong
Associated Press
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Decked in batik blouses and sarongs, four teenage girls stride
down a fashion show catwalk, seemingly straight out of a village
in this Southeast Asian country. Statuesque models follow in a
batik-loaded swirl of silk scarves and colorful chiffon.

It's official: Malaysian batik is coming out of the closet.

After a lifetime of being overshadowed by the more widely
known Indonesian batik, Malaysia's version of the traditional
dyed textile is now the target of a big push to popularize it in
global fashion circles.

"Our ultimate aim is to bring Malaysian batik to the world
stage, where it would get the prominence, acclaim and sales that
it deserves," said Endon Mahmood, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi's wife, who has begun a campaign to boost batik
manufacturing standards, nurture new designers and tailor the
products to foreign tastes.

Batik-making has been a part of Southeast Asian culture for
centuries, possibly brought by travelers from India, the art's
reputed birthplace.

The skill flourished in Indonesia, spreading eventually to
neighboring Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Lauded for their polished craftsmanship, Indonesians have long
generated the most widely recognized batik, though production
steps are similar everywhere -- using wax to draw out designs on
cloth, dyeing the textile and boiling it to melt the wax away.

In recent years, Indonesian batik has sometimes been
incorporated into clothes by Western designers, and top
Indonesian designers have shown off batik costumes during
overseas shows.

Nevertheless, Malaysia insists its batik fabrics could have an
international edge because they have brighter hues and more
versatile patterns than the illustrations of animals and people
common in mystic-influenced Indonesian batik.

"It is very possible that Malaysian batik will reach the
shelves of Macy's, Fifth Avenue and Neimann Marcus and Harrods
and Printemps -- provided the support mechanism is well
operated," columnist Wahti Mahidin wrote in the Malay Mail
newspaper.

But challenging Indonesia's cross-border foothold won't be
easy, especially since the popularity of Malaysian batik has
faded even at home in recent decades and is now worn mostly by
government officials and aging matriarchs during formal
occasions.

Reviving the use of batik here is a priority of the campaign
orchestrated by Malaysia's first lady Endon, a fashion
trendsetter who published a coffee table book in early 2003 that
stirred renewed interest in a traditional ethnic dress called
kebaya.

Endon has voiced hopes that an ongoing publicity blitz, which
comprises fashion shows, trade exhibitions and even a batik-
themed street carnival, will drive up domestic demand and deliver
an economic incentive for hundreds of batik manufacturers
nationwide to improve their products.

"This is a matter of national pride in a craft that has served
us well," said Prime Minister Abdullah, who is abetting his
wife's campaign by encouraging civil servants to wear batik to
the office on Saturdays, a half-day in Malaysia's working week
and when dress has traditionally been more casual.

The efforts by Endon and her newly formed Batik Guild -- a
coalition of industry insiders -- are expected to culminate in
early 2005, when Malaysia plans to host a world batik convention.

For now, other initiatives include a design competition to
discover fresh Malaysian talents who could create innovative
attire and trendy accessories using batik material.

Officials have also flown overseas to hold pageants that
highlight batik and other Malaysian textiles, starting with a
Paris show in December attended by French Prime Minister Jean-
Pierre Raffarin's wife, Anne-Marie.

"This is the biggest thing our industry has ever tried to do -
turn our traditional craft into an international fashion craze,"
said Razali Arsat, a batik distributor in Kelantan, an eastern
state where factories and tiny home-based enterprises churn out
most of Malaysia's batik.