Guess What? Koos Arumdanie

Guess What? Koos Arumdanie

Collector of traditional Indonesian textiles Koos Arumdanie
couldn't hide her disappointment upon seeing that the Borobudur
Inter-Continental Hotel's Flores room -- where a one-day seminar
on Indonesian traditional woven cloths was held on Thursday --
was almost empty. Not more than 50 people occupied the room which
has a seating capacity of 500.

Koos, who is also general manager of the Rumah Indonesia
traditional handicraft center in South Jakarta, complained that
many Indonesians currently do not appreciate their own culture.
"Now, the traditional woven cloth industry is dying. Other
countries' traditional cloths like Thai silk are starting to
enter our market. And if we want to study our own traditional
textiles, we have to go abroad."

She said the seminar could have offered a good occasion where
government officials could speak directly with traditional
weavers.

However, neither the minister of industry nor the minister of
cooperatives, who were scheduled to give talks, showed up at the
seminar.(als)