Promoting the Heritage of Batik in Indonesia through the Empowerment of Batik Semarang Craftsmen

Abstract

Batik is the identity and personality of the Indonesian people which is developed continuously. Many regions in Indonesia have had declared their cultures through the media of Batik. In Japanese colonialization era, Batik Semarang used to be very popular as one of Indonesian heritages. Nowadays, however, the popularity of Batik Semarang is less compared to other kinds of Batik exist in Indonesia. Semarang has a Batik heritage that has already went through value crystallization, and it also has unique characteristics within itself. The objectives of this research are to re-promote the prestige of Batik Semarang as a heritage, so that the values of Batik Semarang can be equally compared to other kinds of Batik that have already well-known; as well as to increase the welfare of Batik Semarang craftsmen. To be able to achieve those objectives, an empowerment and development strategy of Batik Semarang needs to be composed. This research uses primary data collected by questionnaires and interviews to 17 Batik craftsmen, as well as through FGD and in-depth-interview involving 10 key persons. The collection of the sample was conducted by purposive sampling method. Key persons consist of Academicians, Business people, Goverment, and Community of batik craftsmen  (ABGC). The result of this research shows that the level of empowerment of Batik Semarang craftsmen is still below 50%. This represents low level of empowerment of Batik Semarang craftsmen. Therefore, an empowerment and development strategy of Batik Semarang that involves the elements of Batik Semarang craftsmen and stakeholders (ABGC), needs to be composed. The empowerment strategy is determined through Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and in-depth-interview, supported by quantitative evidence obtained through Analitical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The empowerment strategy of Batik Semarang craftsmen can only be implemented if an awareness from stakeholders exists, in order to fulfill the commitment in re-promote the existence and sustainability of Batik Semarang, along with its local wisdom.

Keywords : Batik, empowerment, stakeholders, AHP, Semarang, Indonesia.