C. Java traditional couture dying out

By Ahmad Solikhan

MUNTILAN, Central Java (JP): Garment factories mass-producing ready-made clothes for various purposes, such as suits, office wear as well as men's and women's underwear sprang up in 1980s, a welcome phenomenon for the larger part of the community, who thought the clothes were efficient, practical and fashionable.

Unfortunately, this meant bad business for the ordinary dressmakers. Only once a year, when the beginning of a new school year is approaching, would they make a lot of money sewing school uniforms for students of elementary and high schools.

Today, these people, who enjoyed their golden era in the 1970s and 1980s, seem to have disappeared from the scene. It is difficult to find them around now, as many of them, believing that their job prospects are no longer promising, have turned to other employment. Djoko Pekik, now a renowned painter whose painting Celeng trilogy fetched Rp 1 billion, used to be a tailor. He quit the profession in the 1970s.

Some of these dressmakers still cling to their old job but to survive they have to really rack their brains. Usually they will have their bases of operation either in the town or in the suburbs and instead of making clothes they will usually just restyle shirts or jeans for people of various professions in the middle-to-lower income brackets.

Hundreds of dressmakers, mostly housewives, are found in Muntilan, a small Central Javanese town famous as a center of stone handicraft located not far from the tourist resort of Borobudur Temple. These women will sit in a row, ready with their hand-driven sewing machines, waiting for orders.

Strangely, they do not receive orders for clothes made of thick cloth like jeans. They will only accept orders for clothes made of thin cloth such as kebaya (a woman's blouse the front of which is pinned together), batik used as a wraparound, surjan (long-sleeved man's jacket usually of woven, striped material, sarong, stagen (women's waist sash), blangkon (male batik headdress) and even underwear. Their customers are usually local farmers and merchants.

Before or after visiting the Borobudur Temple, some foreign tourists will usually look around the place to buy some snacks or drinks. While doing so, they are attracted by the presence of so many dressmakers, and also by their manually-operated sewing machines.

One of these dressmakers, Mrs Abdullah Zainuddin, 80, said that one day a tall, blond Caucasian lady came to her, accompanied by her boy friend. She unabashedly took off her T- shirt and asked Mrs Zainuddin to sew some colorful patches on it. Obviously she drew a lot of attention in the market area as she was then only wearing her bra. "I sewed five patches and got Rp 5,000 in return. I was very happy, of course," said Mrs Zainuddin, who has seven children.

A resident of Jumbleng, Muntilan, Mrs Zainuddin said that she asked Rp 7,500 to sew a kebaya but that she did not name any price for doing patchwork. During the two market days in a week, Pon and Kliwon in the Javanese calendar, she can make Rp 10,000 a day. In the days toward the Muslim post-fasting festive day of Ied, a lot of customers ask her to sew new kebaya. "But I can finish only three kebaya a day. I don't want to force myself. If I get sick, I will have to spend more money for the medicine," she said, chuckling.

As old Mrs Zainuddin is already weak, she always needs to ask a favor from someone else to make the sewing machine ready. Every day she has to spend Rp 1,400 to cover the cost of carrying the machine (Rp 1,000), the market levy (Rp 100) and the cost of leaving the sewing machine in somebody's care. "If I do not get any orders, I will have to fork out my own money," she said, in a grumbling tone.

As a matter of fact, dressmakers began offering their services in this area as far back as 1957. Although the manually-operated sewing machines are no longer produced now, they have the machines serviced regularly so that the machines, mostly under a Singer trademark, can continue to be used.

Mrs Zainuddin, for example, bought her Singer sewing machine at Rp 2 in 1955 and it was not until 1984 that the machine was broken beyond repair, necessitating her to replace it with a Butterfly sewing machine, for which she had to fork out Rp 50,000. "I'm proud as this job has enabled me to raise my children properly," she added.

Suwandi, 52, the only male tailor in Muntilan traditional market area, said that he would only take orders for restyling jeans. He said he did not want to be a rival of the local women earning a living sewing kebaya. A father of one, he said that he began to receive sewing orders when he was 18. For eight years he worked every night somewhere near Jatinegara railway station in East Jakarta. As the number of people doing this job increased, he decided to move to Muntilan. "I can earn between Rp 15,000 and Rp 20,000 a day," he said.

Although the garment industry has pushed them aside, these ordinary dressmakers feel happy because kebaya and surjan are yet to be mass-produced. These traditional outfits are popular only among elderly women in particular areas. Women in large cities no longer wear kebaya and sarong. "City women find kebaya and sarong alien to them. They say they must keep up with the latest fashion. It is a pity they do not realize that in this way they ignore their own cultural wealth," said Mrs Subardan while sewing a kebaya.

Mrs Subardan is right. If kebaya is mass produced, what will happen to these ordinary dressmakers? Perhaps, the manually- operated sewing machines will have to go to the museum. Or, will foreign culture eventually wipe out our regional culture?