Ganjar Encourages Development of Kauman Batik Tourism Village

SURAKARTA – The Governor of Central Java, Ganjar Pranowo, encouraged the residents of the Kauman Solo Batik Tourism Village to continue to develop and innovate in attracting visitors. Moreover, the village has a lot of potential and inspiration to become a destination, a place to meet, and learn, especially related to batik.

Being in the Kauman Batik Tourism Village, Ganjar seems to be looking back at the glory of the batik craft and industry in Solo.

The memory flashed again, when Ganjar went around seeing an exhibition of 1,000 ancient and contemporary batik motifs, in the framework of the 2022 National Batik Day, at the Kauman Batik Tourism Village, Solo, Saturday (1/10/2022).

“In Solo there is something interesting, because in Kampung Batik Kauman there are approximately 1,000 batik designs, both very ancient and modern. It is displayed. We remember the glory of batik in the past which we can still see today. It's also interesting that in front of me there are younger students from outside Java, they are learning batik here. There must be some experience that he can get,” said Ganjar, after walking around the batik exhibition.

Ganjar said that previously Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) also gave directions to love and buy domestic products. The directive is very appropriate with the current conditions. Moreover, the condition of batik sellers is struggling to increase sales after being hit by the pandemic.

“Earlier I also asked whether the condition of the people selling batik has returned to its original position. It turns out that compared to the time of the pandemic, now 70 percent is starting to get better. If it is related to what was conveyed by the President, there is no need for a picnic abroad, only domestically, then this is part of a very good tourist destination," he said.

In the Kauman Batik Tourism Village, people don't just buy batik but can learn to make batik so they get experience. According to Ganjar, visitors can also have many choices. This is because all the typical Solo batik motifs are displayed in an exhibition at the Kauman Batik Tourism Village, Solo. In addition to buying, visitors can also gain in-depth knowledge about the philosophy of each motif.

“Earlier, there were hundreds of years of batik, and then there were people who wanted the classics, those who like batik, I like batik by chance, it can be reproduced. In fact, many can order if we want batik like that we will make again. Because maybe people can't get batik like that anymore,” he explained.

The governor assessed that batik is the work of the nation's children that must continue to be developed. He hopes that in the future young people will emerge who create new batik motifs or designs. Of course, with a philosophy that is much deeper and has meaning from each of these works.

Ganjar encourages the development of tourist destinations in the Kauman Batik Tourism Village to be even more innovative. For example, in addition to batik motifs on cloth, at that location Ganjar also found batik motifs on food, namely cakes. He even met a small child named Hasna Shaqueena Makhfin (6) who was drawing batik motifs on cakes.

"There are so many people from this village who can inspire. Not only batik on cloth but also batik pattern on food. It turned out that the children knew more and more what batik was and the patterns were applied in various media, including cakes. The little boy made a nice cake,” said Ganjar.

Kauman Batik Tourism Village itself is currently starting to be developed by providing many different touches. For example, there are several cafes complete with batik exhibition halls. So visitors who come not only buy batik, but can also hang out while enjoying coffee with friends or family.

Ganjar himself has an idea if the buildings at the location of the Kauman Batik Tourism Village are painted with batik motifs. The design with batik nuances with its heritage according to Ganjar will add to the attraction for many people's tourist destinations.

“If you really want to be a destination, that's right, you have to make various innovations. Food is served, there is coffee, people shopping for batik can hang out first while going to the cafe. So it's an interesting rendevu (meeting) place, in my opinion, it just needs to be arranged, and people will flock here later. This is very good,” said Ganjar.

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