Her efforts were successful. Her family still lives today on their land at the edge of Jakarta, which has become a center of Betawi batik.
By
Dian Dewi Purnamasari
·5 minutes read
Aryani Dwi Agustina “Tina” Sitio tried to prevent her extended family from being evicted through batik. Her efforts were successful. Her family still lives today on their land at the edge of Jakarta, which has become a center of Betawi batik.
Tina grew up surrounded by members of her extended family on a plot of land that belonged to her grandfather, Minan. The land is located in Kampung Terogong, sandwiched between the elite South Jakarta neighborhoods of Pondok Indah and Fatmawati, and was once lush with cermai (Malay gooseberry) and mengkudu (noni) trees. Tina had a happy life with her extended family, which often gathered together to enjoy Betawi meals. However, in the early 2000s, property developers eyed the kampung as a site for developing apartment and office buildings. Plot by plot, the developer bought up the land of her neighbors.
“We saw how new buildings started to rise around the kampung. My mother grew worried, that we would be evicted from our family’s land, too,” Tina recalled on Thursday morning (5/9/2019) under the shade of a tree at her house in Kampung Terogong, which has held on to the green and cool environment of the past.
Tina did not want their land to be sold off and her extended family separated in the suburbs. She decided to protect their land by increasing its value so they would not be evicted. Her original plan was to open a children’s library, but her family opposed the idea. While she was looking for ideas, an uncle invited her to participate in a batik-making workshop that was organized by the Jakarta administration in 2012.
“In the past, batik-making might have been the job of old women, but I learned batik to become the boss.”
Tina eagerly accepted the invitation. Along with other women, she learned how to make batik from Umi S. Adi Susilo, the owner of Batik Semarang 16. The training workshop was held in Marunda, North Jakarta, where commercial batik-making had been developed. “I had to take a taxi and leave at 6 a.m. I spent Rp 600,000 round-trip between Marunda and Terogong,” said Tina, who was determined to learn how to make batik in the two-month workshop.
Her family often teased her as she left for the workshop. For them, making batik was something that uneducated old women did, doing the job of applying wax as their tauke (employer) instructed. “In the past, batik-making might have been the job of old women, but I learned batik to become the boss,” she said.
Tina fell in love with batik. After completing the workshop, she aspired to become a producer of Betawi batik. She started developing motifs for Betawi batik, taking inspiration from her immediate environment, such as ondel-ondel (traditional Betwai puppets), cermai and mengkudu. This was her way to preserve the icons of Betawi culture.
“I did this not for me, but for our land. I didn’t want my family to be evicted. So I wanted to turn this kampung into a place for learning batik-making,” said Tina.
Tina did not want to go it alone, so she urged her relatives and neighbors to join her and learn how to make batik. She started receiving funding from the Jakarta administration, and she raised Rp 50 million in capital from her relatives and through bank loans.
She was successful in encouraging her relatives and neighbors to join the business. Today, six of her eight aunts and uncles work at the business, helping to market its products that they have named Betawi Terogong batik. They produce two types of batik: stamped batik and hand-drawn batik.
Women in Terogong work at the batik-making business by applying wax to dyed fabric, a technique called menembok. A draft design is drawn on white fabric, which is then traced in wax before it is dyed. The process is repeated for each color of dye to produce the final batik.
By 2013, Betawi Terogong batik started gaining recognition. Tina said celebrities like Kasandra Putranto and Maudy Koesnaedi helped introduce her batik products. Actress Maudy ordered batik to make costumes for her theatrical group. Meanwhile, psychologist Kasandra invited Tina to join an empowerment program for housewives.
The batik home industry continues to grow and it also produces bespoke motifs.
“We also received assistance from Jakarta International School [JIS; now Jakarta Intercultural School]. They came to learn batik-making here, so Terogong batik became more well known,” said Tina.
The key motifs of Betawi Terogong batik are the cermai and mengkudu. It also uses motifs derived from the ondel-ondel, traditional Betawi structures, the Yapong dance and the national monument (Monas). The Betawi Terogong batik house develops 6-7 new motifs every year, several of which have been registered with the intellectual property directorate general of the Law and Human Rights Ministry.
“The Betawi Terogong batik motifs have meaning. Cermai comes from ceria [cheerful] and ramai [festive]. That is why women often wear this motif, because women are happy and easygoing. For men, the motif is tebar mengkudu, because men should be tekun [determined] and sabar [patient],” said Tina.
Seven years later, the batik home industry continues to grow and it also produces bespoke motifs. More importantly, Tina’s family was able to keep their land, which is now sandwiched between high-rises and a luxury residential complex. Today, people come to the family’s land to learn how to create batik.
Aryani Dwi Agustina Sitio
Born: Jakarta, 16 Aug. 1978
Education:
Jakarta Muhammadiyah University; SMA Taman Siswa Pematang Siantar; SMPN 86 Jakarta; MI Al Hurriyah Jakarta