Mandela's example
Indonesia's batik shirts, or at least colorful men's shirts inspired by Indonesian batik, have finally broken the dignified but rather drab tradition of wearing a suit and tie on formal occasions. So who had the guts to do it? Not a visiting Indonesian dignitary, model or designer, but South African President Nelson Mandela on an official visit to Britain. His colorful wardrobe of colorful Indonesian batik-inspired shirts has made him perhaps the first statesman to break the suit-and- tie mold in Britain, according to a Reuters news dispatch from London.
President Mandela, as his stylist Yusuf Surtee explained to the press, was always a sleek dresser before he went to prison. When he was finally released in 1993 he began to demonstrate his identification with the people. "Lots of people in South Africa, the underprivileged, were not wearing suits. They were wearing shirts," Surtee explained.
But it was not until Mandela came to Indonesia in 1994 that the style really took off. "He decided that if they can wear it in Indonesia 'I can start it in South Africa,'" added Surtee. So, at a formal state banquet held in his honor at Buckingham Palace, President Mandela appeared in a black silk and satin shirt. For a tree-planting ceremony in London he chose a shirt with a blue, orange and gray pattern, apparently reserving his suits for only the most formal occasions, such as a meeting with Queen Elizabeth or for delivering an address to Parliament.
Not only did Mandela start the batik shirt tradition in South Africa, he became the first to do so in a foreign country -- one where conservative traditions are reputed to be stronger than anywhere else in the western world.
It's not as if we haven't tried to make men's batik shirts more popular for formal occasions. We might recall the APEC summit in Bogor a couple of years ago, when all the heads of state or government, including American President Bill Clinton, were presented with batik shirts to wear during the conference. But never have we heard of any prominent Indonesian dignitary with the determination to do what President Mandela has done for batik.
The kind of attire one wears on any given occasion is dictated by tradition, and it takes guts to break with tradition. Asked whether he thought British politicians would follow Mandela's example and opt for less formal attire, Surtee's reply was: "I don't know if they have the guts to do it."
It's also difficult to know if President Mandela's example will encourage Indonesians to wear batik outside of our own country, where the attire is appropriate for even the most special occasions.
The least we can hope for, thanks to President Mandela's gallant example, is a greater appreciation of one of Indonesia's oldest and finest traditions.