Batik Friday at Our Jakarta Office — Epoche B1
Friday 2 October — Jakarta Batik Day fell on a Friday this year, which is nearly a joke, because Friday is already the batik day at our office. Today the two rules agreed with each other, and the whole floor bloomed at once. An inventory, from my desk: Pak Rudi, head of department: batik tulis from Solo, the brown sogan colours — drawn by hand with a canting, the little copper wax pen. He mentioned, twice, that the maker needed a month for it. Bu Sari at the next desk: batik cap, pressed with a copper stamp. You can tell by the repeat — the pattern meets itself again every stamp-width, neat as tiles. A fraction of the price, and she looked wonderful. Me: a printed shirt from Tanah Abang market. Batik pattern, no batik — purists insist that if no wax ever touched the cloth, it is just a picture of batik. They are right, and the shirt was cheap. The custom has an exact origin. When UNESCO listed Indonesian batik as cultural heritage on 2 October 2009, the government declared the date National Batik Day and asked the country's offices to wear batik on Fridays. Ministries and schools took it up first, then banks, then everyone. So a cloth that once belonged to ceremonies now marks the end of the working week. And it goes up as well as down: a long-sleeved batik shirt counts as formal here. Men wear one at weddings, and officials wear them where other countries would demand a suit. Next month is the office anniversary dinner. I am saving for a cap shirt from Cirebon — mega mendung, the cloud pattern. The printed one can go back to being pyjamas. References Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Free Press.