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 The Unique and Exotic Batik of Jambi

Besides its rich flora and fauna, Jambi has the distinction of being the only province in Sumatra to have developed a batik industry. Right in the heart of the city of Jambi, beyond the Batang Hari River, a few craftsmen and women have resurrected one of the great sources of pride from the ancient era of Jambi’s Melayu Empire - their production of batik. 

My trip along the Batang Hari River took me to a neighbourhood called Seberang Kota Jambi which is named after its location alongside and “on the other side” of Jambi’s river. Here we can still find many dwellings built in the traditional Jambi style. Furthermore, living in some of those old houses are craftsmen and women who produce Jambi’s batik.
Getting to Seberang Kota Jambi from the city is pretty easy. From Angso Duo Market, which is not far from the Governor’s residence, Seberang Kota Jambi can be reached by crossing the Batang Hari River on a ketek (a type of boat used by local people) which takes 10 minutes. Alternatively you can follow the river by motor vehicle for 45 minutes and then cross it using the 1,000 metre long Aurduri No.1 bridge. Then you turn right and head for the Mudung Laut district, directly opposite the city of Jambi.
One of the traditional houses, characteristically raised on stilts had an interesting name plate that caught our eye. Pengrajin Batik Jambi-Dua Putri (makers of Jambi Batik-Two Daughters) is located in the Jelmu neighbourhood of Mudung Laut, next to the main road, Jl. K.H. A. Madjid Rofar. Nafisah, a young 27 year old mother, gave us a warm welcome.
Together with her sister Saodah and her mother Nursiyah, she was busy making batik on the floor of their house. The room seemed to be filled with pieces of batik, still at the colouring stage, hanging up to dry.
According to Nafisah, every Melayu woman must have a skill such as embroidery, weaving or making batik. The skill she has for making batik was not handed down to her by her ancestors but instead started out as a hobby. She has been crafting batik for only 10 years after receiving help to set herself up from the Department of Industry.
Most of the batik she produces is sold to the people who come to visit her house or is ordered by businesses in Jambi or even further afield.
Right now there are around 50 batik makers working under her guidance. Unlike Javanese batik, which uses long pieces of cloth, Jambi batik usually comes in the form of a loose robe called a sarong or as a shawl or scarf. The distinctive Jambi colour scheme is red, blue and yellow. The time it takes to work on it, though, is not different: a sarong or shawl takes between 15 days to a month to finish, depending on the complexity of the motif.

I was invited to take a walk and have a look at the traditional raised houses in the vicinity of Nafisah’s place. There are around 100 households in the Jelmu neighbourhood in Mudung Laut. From time to time the Batang Hari River overflows and this kampung is inundated with floodwater.
These raised houses in Jelmu are over a hundred years old and have been lived in for more than four generations. The architecture exhibits a fusion of Melayu, Dutch and Chinese styles which can be seen in the structure of the roof, the columns and the doors and windows. Unfortunately, several of these houses are now tilting and their doors have been damaged due to the earthquake that struck Padang not so long ago. I could see women in some of the houses drying out fish crackers they had made or working on batik.
Jambi is also renowned for being a safe and friendly city. Some women invited us into their homes. Indeed, one even suggested we visit when there was a flood. Being inside of one of these house-on-stilts is like being on the river. When the floods come, the local people usually use small wodden boats to go about their daily business and it become an interesting part of the scenery.
Nafisah is one of the young leaders in the place where she lives. In 2005-2006, she was Runner-Up in the National Youth Pioneer competition. Apart from crafting her batik, she actively seeks out innovations to improve the quality of her batik as well such as experimenting with natural colourings including using the bark from a jengkol fruit - a discovery that earned her the national award.
“I want the youth in this area to stand on their own two feet and not become slaves to people in the city. So they need to make money for themselves,” she said.
Although the batik has become increasingly popular, there is not so much interest in becoming batik makers among Jambi’s youth. Nafisah has on several occasions tried to recruit young local people to take up the craft like she has but, typically, only one out of every ten youths she works with sticks with it. For this reason, every time there is an batik related event in the city, including training, Nafisah always brings young people along with her. Her hope is that when they see the development of batik, and the economic rewards that can be associated with it, they will become interested and want to promote Jambi batik.

Nafisah is not afraid of competition.
“Every person is different. The handiwork of two people is never the same. And the same goes for their livelihoods. If we are scared of people competing with us then we cannot progress,” she said.
Much like Nafisah, Edi Sunarto, from Olak Kemang, Danau Teluk Jambi, is a batik maker who uses natural colouring such as indigo for his craft including those from types of wood such as marelang, lombato, tinggi, sepang and bulian.
Aside from the traditional motifs of Jambi, such as kapal sanggat, duren pecah, Batang Hari, Angso Duo, the motifs created by Edi and his 30 craftsmen and women always include new ones. He is always trying to make original ones that can become trendy and popular in the marketplace, like ones depicting the marshes and forests that are so typical of the land around Jambi. In order to give batik lovers other alternatives, he also blends Jambi and Javanese motifs.
The History of Batik in Jambi
Historically, there was a limited amount of batik production and trade during the era of the Sultans. Jambi batik was a kind of handicraft that could not be owned by just anyone. It was exclusively for members of the community with social standing such as aristocrats and royalty. With the end of the Jambi Sultanate came the dramatic decline in batik production.
Whatever batik making that might have been going on was only being carried out by a few elderly cratsmen and women.
During the era of Dutch colonial rule, the buzz surrounding Jambi’s batik was revived thanks to various articles written by Dutch commentators, one of whom was B.M. Goslings. In his article he talked about getting permission from Prof. Vam Eerde to approach Jambi resident H.E.K. Ezermann and asking him to research the local batik craft. In October 1928, Ezermann reported back that in Dusun Tengah at that time there was batik production and its results were very beautiful. (B.M. Goslings, 1928, p.141.

Accordingly, it can once again be said that, since the era of sultans in Jambi, through the colonial period, the Japanese occupation, and even the war of independence, the craft of batik was never one of mass production.
Since the establishment of the New Order, the founding and development of batik production in Jambi was intensive and on a large scale. In the 1980s Jambi’s traditional colours were in the ascendency whereas in the 1990s the brighter colour schemes of Pekalongan and Cirebonan were used more. Nowadays, they have reverted back to Jambi’s original batik colours.
Handmade batik from Jambi has unique and exotic characteristics, from the point of view of colour and also motifs. Most colourings are made with natural ingredients which are mixed with the various kinds of wood mentioned above and substances from other plants, like palm leaves, all of which are available locally. In addition, there are mixtures using ingredients not available in Jambi, such as seeds from the tinggi tree and indigo leaves, which are usually obtained from Yogyakarta.
Aside from the colouring agents used, Jambi’s handmade batik has an abundance of motifs with bright colours that symbolize the bright and cheerful community of Jambi. There are 31 recorded handmade batik motifs to be found such as Candi Muaro Jambi, Kaca Piring, Puncung Rebung, Angso Duo Bersayap Mahkota, Bulan Sabit, Pauh (mangga), Antlas (tanaman), Awan Berarak, and Riang-riang.

Kuluk or TengkulukOne of Jambi’s cultural assets is the local women’s habit of wearing a kind of headdress known as kuluk or tengkuluk. Each part of Jambi has its own unique style of headdress which is not only beautiful but meaningful too. Although the tide of modernisation cannot be resisted, we can still find tengkuluk both as a daily fashion choice and also during special events.
To prevent tengkuluk from being wiped out by modern fashions, the Museum of Jambi Province, in cooperation with Jambi’s Dewan Kerajinan Nasional Daerah (the local office of the National Crafts Agency or ‘Dekranasda’), works hard to promote their use at various opportunities. The Provincial Government of Jambi is also currently encouraging women to wear tengkuluk on Wednesdays.
The traditional tengkuluk headdress is made by folding a piece of batik cloth or sarong - truly unique and exotic.
Getting to Jambi:
Garuda Indonesia has flights making the Jakarta-Jambi-Jakarta trip 14 times a week.
Seberang Kota Jambi can be reached by ketek (small boat) which takes 10 minutes from Angso Duo Market or by motor vehicle, which takes 45 minutes, and involves following the Batang Hari River to Aurduri No.1 bridge, crossing its 1 km span, and then turning right and heading for Mudung Laut.

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