Fifi Yulianti The Jakarta Post Jakarta

Susana, 45, a medical lecturer at a private university, explained how she enjoyed the time she learned how to make batik, accompanied by gamelan instrumental music.

"It was really relaxing and comfortable. I felt as though I was at the Yogyakarta palace," she said.

The place where Susana made her batik, though, was not in Yogyakarta nor Surakarta, which are known for their batik. It was in the middle of this crowded metropolitan city, Jakarta.

Making batik is a special program run by the Textile Museum, Jl. KS Tubun, Central Jakarta, in celebration of the city's 476th anniversary and the museum's 28th anniversary.

The museum, established as a place for the cultural preservation of Indonesia's textiles, is giving visitors a chance to articulate their best wishes for Jakarta through batik.

Any visitor can participate simply by showing the entrance ticket to the museum. They will get a small piece of material for free to be painted with wax designs, while the tools needed to make batik are provided by the museum.

The first week of the program, which runs from June 6 through June 29, attracted 220 visitors, as shown by the guest book. Before the program began, between 17 and 20 people visited the museum daily.

"It's the museum's way of popularizing batik as one of Indonesia's traditional textiles," Tukiran Effendi, the museum's staff officer for education, told The Jakarta Post.

"Every batik made by visitors is hung in the gallery," he added.

Everyone is free to express themselves through their creation.

"There are many ways to express yourself; making batik is just one of them," said Yayu, 26, one of the tutors, explaining the excitement of making batik.

Tina, 14, said that the real enjoyment of making batik was when it was finished. "I really felt satisfied with the batik that I'd made, even if it was bad," she said modestly.

The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., from Tuesday through Sunday, except Saturday, when it closes at 12:30 p.m.