'Outsiders value the culture here'

'Outsiders value the culture here'

Muslima Hapsari, Contributor/Jakarta

Enthusiasm never fades from his wrinkled face, and his eyes brighten as he talks about Sintang, a regency in West Kalimantan, and the ikat cloth produced there.

Dutch priest Jaques Maessen, known by his nickname Jac, has been living in Sintang for more than half of his life, since 1968. Working as a priest in a remote area in Indonesia was never an easy job for him, but he was ready to accept this noble, holy job as a missionary.

In the beginning, he had to give basic education to the villagers in Sintang. That was before he saw the beautiful ikat cloth and started to become very interested in it.

Ikat is traditional woven cloth, in this case made by Sintang villagers. It means "tied" or "bound". This weaving is special for its 58 beautiful designs. Each design carries a specific meaning related to the social order and religion of each clan.

From the villagers, Jac, now 64, learned that this traditional cloth had been made by elderly women for centuries.

It used to be made only by older women because the young people thought it was too old-fashioned and primitive. They did not want to wear ikat anymore. Instead, they wore T-shirts and jeans. They thought that was how modern dress should be.

When Jac encouraged them to continue making the ikat, they became very angry because he was merely an outsider. They thought he was trying to hold them back from the modern world.

For years, Jac kept supporting the villagers to maintain their traditional culture. It was not easy. He kept encountering difficulties, especially with the men because if the women made ikat, the men would have to work the rice fields. Traditionally, 75 percent of the work was done by women, including farming.

Language was also barrier, and it made his job harder. However, he still tried to do his job as a priest, including teaching at a boarding school, about four or five days' walk from Sintang.

While Jac was engaged in those activities he tried to learn more about ikat. That was when he realised it was starting to be forgotten.

"It was so sad that people started to forget their traditions that had been valued by their ancestors for so long," he said at the Ikat Woven and Art Works Exhibition at the World Trade Center lobby, Central Jakarta, recently.

The situation remained that way until one day he sold one of the ikat weavings he had for Rp 100,000 (about US$ 10). At that time in Sintang that was a large amount of money and people started to make ikat again.

In the beginning, only four people re-learned how to make it. But with his charming, persuasive personality, Jac made more and more people interested in it. That included members of the younger generation, who were aged from 15 to 30.

In the last 15 years, the number of people making ikat woven cloth has increased. Now, about 300 ikat-makers live in 21 different villages in Sintang.

Later on, Jac decided to create an official organization to cover all the ikat makers. In 1993, The Kobus (cultural and art community) Center was established.

Kobus functions as an institution for the ikat-making community to promote it to people outside Sintang, for the weavers to introduce the use of natural colors, and also for the elders to pass on their knowledge about ikat designs to the younger generation.

However, as the founder, Jac did not think this was enough. Soon after Kobus was established, he went to his former country, the Netherlands, to seek further information on ikat.

He could not believe it when he found not only one or two books on ikat but meters-thick scholarly papers in The Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam.

"I did not think I would find so much information and literature about ikat outside Indonesia. But I did, and I even found a collector who had ikat cloth who lived in Germany," added Jac.

This success did not satisfy him, though. To him, there was still something missing. One day, he discovered what it was.

He realised that so many old ikat cloths, even pieces more than 100 years old, had disappeared. They had usually been sold for a song by villagers to people living outside of Sintang.

Jac was sad and angry. For him, the ikat, which had been in the village for generations, should not have left the village. They were all passed down by ancestors and had a special meaning about life. The ikat was a truly precious inheritance.

That gave him the idea to establish a museum and move all the ikat collections, braided baskets, sculptures and documentation of Dayak history and tradition away from the Kobus center.

On Sept. 29, 2004, the Sintang regental government signed a memorandum of understanding with The Royal Tropical Institute to build Sintang Cultural Centre (SSC).

The SSC building will be finished in 2006 and the various collections that have been gathered over a period of more than 35 years will be displayed there.

Jac conceded that it was mainly foreigners that showed strong interest in Indonesia's traditional culture.

"Indonesians simply do not realize the richness of their culture. Even worse, they do not appreciate it," he said.

"I was born a Dutchman, but now I'm an Indonesian. It is Indonesians who should be interested in maintaining Indonesia's culture, not I," he said.