Hundreds of people yesterday gathered in Taipei to celebrate an Indonesian cultural day honoring a traditional cloth-dyeing technique known as batik.
The Batik and Lurik Festival, organized by the Indonesia Diaspora Network (IDN) in Taiwan, the Cultural Taiwan Foundation and National Taiwan Museum, was held at the museum’s Namen Park, attracting about 300 people who participated in a series of Indonesian cultural activities.
Indonesian migrant workers, students and immigrants, officials from Southeast Asian representative offices and Taiwanese attended the event, and were presented with displays of batiks and luriks, traditional striped fabrics worn at Javanese ceremonies.
The festival also featured a fashion show, with about 30 members of Taiwan’s Indonesian community dressed in traditional or traditional fusion attire.
Putri Catur Suryani, a caregiver from New Taipei City, took part in the fashion show dressed in a traditional Sundanese top from West Java and a long skirt from Bali.
IDN in Taiwan executive director Hanas Soebakti said that the event celebrates Batik Day, which is observed annually on Oct. 2 to mark the date when UNESCO added batik to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.
“It is not just about the artwork, as batik allows us to conduct dialogue with other countries. The batik is our identity,” said the 27-year-old, who is studying for a doctorate in computer science at National Central University.
Batik Day is an important celebration in Indonesia and all government ministries celebrate the occasion, said Fajar Nuradi, director of the Indonesian Citizens Protection and Social Cultural Department at the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office in Taipei.
“The uniqueness of batik is not only historical, but also very spiritual,” Fajar said. “Indonesians are very proud to wear it almost every day.”
Deputy Minister of Culture Hsiao Tsung-huang (蕭宗煌), who is also the chairman of the Cultural Taiwan Foundation, said that the festival is important, because it allows Taiwanese to further understand Indonesian culture.
“To mutually understand each other’s culture means bridging any gaps between people,” Hsiao said.
It was the fourth time that Batik Day was celebrated at the museum, which holds the event on the Sunday closest to Oct. 2.
Taiwan has a large Indonesian community that includes more than 267,000 migrant workers, Ministry of Labor data showed.
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