JP/19/SINGKAWN

JP/19/SINGKAWN

Singkawang boasts ceramic tourism

Bambang Bider The Jakarta Post

Singkawang, deriving its name from San Kheu Jong -- leaning against the hill, overlooking the sea -- is ideally situated according to the Chinese positioning system of feng shui.

It has also been called the Thousand-Shrine City, Amoy (Chinese girl) City and the Hong Kong of West Borneo.

A sightseeing tour of the city, as far as its outskirts, will surely include a lot of ethnic Chinese places of worship and decorations of an oriental type.

No wonder, almost 40.96 percent of Singkawang's population of 151,622, are ethnic Chinese, the rest comprising Malays, Dayaks and Javanese.

Long ago, Singkawang was a small village in the kingdom of Sambas, a transit place for merchants and gold miners from Montrado, which is located between Singkawang and Pontianak.

Mostly coming from China, the miners and traders received goods from abroad and sent gold dust from Montrado via Singkawang.

As the miners settled and gradually took up farming, the village developed. Today, the city -- 145 kilometers north of Pontianak, West Kalimantan -- is known for its unique history and natural, cultural and industrial tourist spots.

One of Singkawang's most popular tourist destinations, also famed abroad, is the ceramic industry of Sakok in Sedau district -- around two kilometers south of the city.

Sinar Terang, the oldest ceramic workshop there, which was set up in 1937, originally produced red bricks rather than ceramics. Later it manufactured ceramics with ancient motifs.

Among its products are Jampa urns, vases, ashtrays and animal replicas, which are all manually made and designed, thus enhancing their esthetic value.

Apo, Sinar Terang's supervisor, said his workshop employed four designers to create motifs. While they were trained in Yogyakarta, they use traditional motifs, such as dragons and phoenixes, besides flower and plant designs for vases.

According to Apo, the tradition maintained by the Sinar Terang management is tacitly understood. "The motifs have been used since the period of Madame Chai Kiam Djin, who set up this cottage industry. So we preserve the old designs also in her honor," added Apo.

Bong Thit Phin, who heads the second-generation management, says the traditional motifs are his shop's trademark, which is sufficient reason to keep using them. Sunardi, a ceramic designer at the workshop, however, described this preference for tradition as a constraint on creativity.

Sunardi's experiments with other motifs are not accepted by the management. He claimed that some visitors regarded the motifs of Sinar Terang's ceramics -- particularly urns -- as 1600 years behind the current trend.

Nonetheless, Sinar Terang has for nearly ten years used a reference book written by ceramic experts S. Adhyatman and Abu Ridho (1984), notably in urn making. The workshop adheres to the standards of designs described in the book, including motifs, colors and sizes. Urns with a dragon design are called Jampa and stand 1.5 meters high.

For the Dayaks in Singkawang, Jampa urns are particularly valuable. They are used as currency based on customary law, as well as being an indicator of social status and a component of traditional rituals.

"When displayed at various fairs, our designs were seen as unique, but the visitors wanted something more. In Yogyakarta, none of the urns displayed were sold, but there was interest in our vases," Sunardi said.

Apo acknowledged the market demand, but said the workshop was certainly not struggling. "Sinar Terang continues to use traditional motifs -- for a reason. Big orders come from the Philippines, the Dayak community and other local buyers, like Jakarta and Batam, while buyers in Singapore and Malaysia are also familiar with our ceramics," said Apo.

He said that, due to the abundant raw materials in the city, there are five other ceramic workshops in Singkawang.

Chinese-made ceramics are Singkawang producers' main rival. They use materials of a similar quality, but the Chinese ceramics are superior as they are fired in electric furnaces, which maintain a fixed temperature. In Singkawang, manual equipment is used, which increases the risk of the pieces being damaged during firing," he noted.

A few of Sinar Terang's 19 ceramic makers are very young, others have served the firm since its founding. They believe that ceramic making has a spiritual meaning.

This was indicated by the objection of an old man -- who was working on the base of a Jampa urn -- to having his picture taken. According to Apo, the man was convinced that by photographing it, the mystical power of the urn would be reduced.

As a tourist destination, Sinar Terang is not sufficiently promoted by the local administration, although it has received other kinds of assistance, particularly in the training of its ceramic makers.

The appeal of Sinar Terang ceramics is that their designers continue to use traditional motifs and designs -- steadfast amid the wave of globalization.