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Indonesian Batik Day

2 Oct posted by
Attack Batik Cleaner

Coming from non-Javanese background tradition, Batik wasn’t a big thing in my upbringing. It actually wasn’t until I was working when I started paying attention to them. Shame, I know because Batik really is one of Indonesia’s most unique heritages. Batik today is thought of as the most quintessentially Indonesian textile.

Batik has so many different unique styles, patterns that can distinct themselves and an expert would be able to tell you which part of Java it came from. That alone is truly something.

Some years ago Batik is typically looked at as an old fashion piece, worn by the elders on ceremonial events or formal occasions.

Luckily, in the past few years Batik has crawled its way back into many of Indonesians hearts. People proudly wear them in daily life not just for those special occasions. The design itself has evolved tremendously, now you can easily finds Batik clothing’s in all kinds of styles. From a mini skirt to a hip purse, you name it, you can find it here.

Now, I have several pieces of Batik clothing’s, Batik tablecloths, Batik handheld fan, Batik accessories that I love to pieces. Back when I was still living in America, these are the symbol of home. There’s a certain pride inside looking at them being displayed in a home that was thousands of miles away from Indonesia. There are indeed pride in wearing them and hear strangers commenting on how beautiful they look.

Batik also makes for perfect souvenirs to represent Indonesia. My in-laws had all loved their batik scarves that I gave them. I had mailed some to my American friends as well.

In one of the big department store in Jakarta that carries Indonesian handicraft they still showcase Batik being made and it really is a unique form of art. The lady would paint by hand on the piece of fabric using a small tool thus some batiks can worth a lot of money. The more intricate the patterns, usually they are pricier and if they have gold fabrics then you can guarantee they are more expensive.

Of course these days there are ‘quick ways’ to produce them but the authenticity of handmade Batik really is something amazing. Imagine the patience and times spent to make something this beautiful?

Having a son that is a dual citizen, I am hoping that he too will embrace and come to appreciate Batik for what it is…an Indonesian unique beautiful heritage. I had dressed him up with Batik shirts since he was a baby and that always caused some praised and wows from others.

I just love how some companies in Indonesia nowadays select Friday as Batik day and requires all their employees to wear Batik. This is an excellent way to promote Batik and to make us Indonesians, fall back in love with it.

Good thing Indonesian government has been working hard to preserve Batik as one of our heritage and have the United Nations recognized Indonesian batik as one of the world’s important cultural traditions. After that pretty public squabble between Indonesia and Malaysia over this, let’s not go there but it was pretty historic that Indonesia president declare October 2 as Batik Day.

Back to Batik clothing’s, due to its sometimes intricate design one would have to take extra care to wash them.

Wrong handling may cause your Batik to lose its magnificent colors. Some people will use baby soap or even shampoo or have them dry clean – which can be pricey in times. So it is pretty fantastic to know that today you can find a detergent specially made for Batik textile. Let me introduce you to Attack Batik. This brand new liquid detergent will surely make caring for your collection easier and effortless. To learn more about this product please visit Batik Cintaku.

Happy Batik Day, Indonesia…may Batik live forever in the hearts of us Indonesians and more generations to come.

Disclosure: This has been a paid post but opinion stated are purely my own.

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Filed Under: Indonesia

Happy 65th Independence Day, Indonesia

17 Aug posted by

Today Indonesia celebrates her 65th Independence Day after proclaiming its freedom from Japan (Japan took over Indonesia from Netherlands occupation in 1942) on August 17, 1945. Still young compare to some other countries but we’ve surely come a long way.

Unfortunately, because the day fall during the Ramadhan month, seems like there won’t be too much of traditional celebrations going on, sadly much like last year.

For fun, here are my top 10 reasons why I love my country:

  1. My rich cultural background. Yes, I’m Indonesian but when people asks me where I’m from and I asked them to guessed they all failed miserably. My father is from Ambon one of the most beautiful island in Indonesia that I have sadly yet to visit, while my mother is originally came from Manadonese descents but I was born in Makassar. My family had hopped around quite awhile growing up which is something that I will forever treasure.
  2. The foods – need I say more? With so many cultures there are too many delicious foods here.
  3. The beaches and underwater wonders. Granted I haven’t visit all of Indonesia beaches but with over 17,000 islands you bet there are still a lot of virgins white sands beaches around. I don’t dive but I’ve heard and have seen so many breathtaking views from our underwater ecology like the ones in Manado and other islands. Diving is on my bucket list for sure and checking out these fantastic beaches. Can’t wait for my trip to Rote island this November!

    Flores beach - photo courtesy of Mauricio

    Sumba beach - photo courtesy of Mauricio

  4. Living cost – depends on your chosen lifestyle – but moderately living cost in Indonesia is still considered much cheaper than in other countries.
  5. The spas – oh how I love the spas here. From the fancy swanky ones to the ones that is dirt cheap.
  6. Handicrafts and jewelries. Again, with so many different cultures Indonesia really have so much to offer when it comes to its traditional handicrafts. Some of my favorite necklaces are gems coming from Borneo.

    7. Stones of Borneo

  7. Batik and other traditional weave textiles from all over Indonesia, not only beautiful but also timeless piece with rich historical culture stories behinds each patterns.
  8. Habitat of some of the world’s endangered species such as the orangutans, komodo dragon, etc. I remember growing up in Borneo and seeing our little ‘neighbors’ the orangutans swinging from tree to tree. Those were precious moments that I will never forget.

    9. Image from Greenpeace

  9. Despite the glitz and glam of big city such as Jakarta there are still people who live and dress like this in Irian.  It shows cultural diversity. Traditions still plays important roles in plenty of Indonesian people lives.

    10. Image from Incito Tour

  10. The smiles – Indonesians are generally a very friendly people. Yes, of course there are bad apples everywhere but in general people here are friendly and smiles a lot.

Yes, as a developing country there are still so much work to be done to bring this country into a better future, there are still things that irked me to death but I still love this country with every ounce of my being.

Happy birthday, Indonesia!

The song above still brought tears to my eyes – try listening to it when you’re thousands miles away from home! :D

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Filed Under: Indonesia, Photoblog

Inter-religious Tolerance, A Possibility?

11 Aug posted by

So it’s that time of the year again in Indonesia where you will see most restaurants either closed down during the day or spread a curtain on their usually cleared windows to cover the people eating inside. These veiled windows will be a very common sightings for a month.

It’s the holy month for the Muslim as they start their one month long fasting or known as Ramadhan. Being one of the largest Muslim populated country in the world, it means this whole month long event will affects everyone even from different religions.

When I was still working, the company’s canteen will be closed for lunch leaving us, non Muslim to find lunch somewhere else or just fast away and eat after 6PM where they will break the day’s fast – if they are on the second shift, etc.

Also because people who fast will be up before the crack of dawn, the ‘wake up call‘ can be really annoying for those who wish to sleep peacefully. On some parts of Jakarta, the kids will literally use firecrackers especially in the first few days. Imagine being woken up by them at around 3-4AM? But we put up with it as part of the custom.

Yes, it’s all about tolerance…

I do respect my Muslim neighbors and friends and growing up we are taught to do so.

But this one tweet I saw today got me thinking

“Fasting is about self control, not blindly forcing other people to conform to your standards or preventing others from going about as usual.” – Aulia

If it’s correct then why do we let FPI (Islamic Defender Front) still untouched by the laws when they go on a raid to ‘clean-up’ entertainment places such as bars, pubs, etc? Oh wait, I forgot our very own Jakarta’s governor Fauzi Bowo and the police chief himself had acknowledge these hard line Muslim group by attending their anniversary, right?

These entertainment places by law suppose to be close during the whole month, not all of them but around 400 nightspots will be shut down.

We – the non-Muslim – Indonesians are asked to respect our Muslim brothers and sisters in their holy month and we would love to do that but I personally don’t think it’s wise to force this into our throats by putting such tight controls.

And won’t it be nice to get the same respect and tolerance back for the non-Muslim? If there is such thing as balance interfaith tolerance then maybe just maybe there won’t be anymore church goers being attacked by FPI like on last Sunday. Maybe the government wouldn’t put such a tight stronghold on issuing church building permit.

Hats off to our brilliant smart Minister of Information, who decided to banned porn sites starting this month. Not that I’m pro porn sites but really, this mommy thinks blocking such sites solely won’t improve the mentality of this country. Morality of this country needs to fixed no doubt about that, but will blocking some websites help? I seriously don’t think so.

I dream of a peaceful country where there will be no more torching, attacks, burning, whatever against one another…until then Have a blessed Ramadhan to all my Muslim friends.

25 Comments
Filed Under: Indonesia, Musings

Top 10 Favorite Indonesian Cuisine

6 Aug posted by
Ayam rica-rica

Being Indonesian, I love Indonesian foods and being a country of so many tribes and islands, you bet there are plenty of  different kinds of food here that Anthony Bourdain from No Reservations did an episode  in Jakarta and Bali. Andrew Zimmerman was here too but my favorite gotta be Anthony Bourdain – he’s just so cool like that.

With no particular order, here are my Top 10 Favorite Indonesian Cuisine

1. Mie Ti Ti (Makassar Fried Noodle) : This is a traditional fried noodle from Makassar – the place where I was born – What makes the noddle so special is the way they fried the noodle first it is super crunchy and crispy. Then you pour the vegetable mix on top of it, mix it and enjoy!

Makassar Noodle

2. Nasi Campur Kenanga (Kenanga Mixed Rice): This pork laden feast is just heaven! The rice is cooked Hainan style so it does have a Chinese influence. Losely translated Nasi Campur means Mixed Rice. I had a really bad craving for this when I was pregnant but failed to make it because I can’t track down the recipe.

Kenanga Mixed Rice

3. Sate Lilit (Wrapped Satay): This is a Balinese cuisine. Made out of minced fish (or fish paste) and shrimps also other ingredients then usually wrapped around a lemon grass to be grilled to perfection (usually by a charcoal grill) or you can use regular sticks. Recipe from my friend, Dhi can be found here.

4. Coto Makassar (Makassar Stew): This is another signature dish of Makassar. Traditionally it will include beef and some cow’s intestine parts – which I had avoid due to its cholesterol levels – and opted for the meat only. Eaten with ketupat (rice cakes), it really is delicious despite the intestine parts.

Coto Makassar

5. Seafoods: This is also famous because there are so many different kind of seafood cuisine from grilled fish to grilled shrimps in Indonesia. My favorite is anything that is charcoal grilled!

Shrimp & Fish

6. Rendang (Slow cooked spicy beef): Originated from Padang, Sumatra, this is a signature dish. It takes forever to cook and weirdly enough, the longer it is kept (in the fridge) the better they taste – after of course you reheated it. They almost looks like a beef curry.

Beef Rendang

7. Lontong Sayur (Vegetables in Coconut Milk with Rice Cake): Usually served as breakfast, this is quite a wholesome meal that’s delicious. It consist of tofu, chayotes, young jack-fruits, sometimes tempe cooked in coconut milk and served with cut up rice cakes.

8. Nasi Uduk (Scented Coconut Rice): This rice smells so fragrant and you eat it fried chickens, eggs, tempe and tofu or just about anything you wants with really.

Nasi Uduk

9. Ayam Rica-Rica (Manadonese Spicy Chicken): This one is my husband’s favorite really. Coming from Manado, this cuisine is not only delicious but the spicy-ness will keeps you wanting more.

Ayam rica-rica

10. Tempe: I love tempe! Tempe is made from fermented soybeans and here in Indonesia, there are so many kinds varieties on how to cook them. From deep crispy fried to spicy chili loaded ones. Pepy have a recipe for the same picture below.

Tempe

Curious to see Anthony Bourdain’s visit to Indonesia? I found the videos on Youtube and here’s one of them:

PS: Thanks Pepy from Indonesia Eat for allowing me to link to her recipe blog. Seriously check out her blog – I dare you not to drool :D

Thanks Dhi from Cooking Etcetera for her recipe and fantastic picture as well! Besides an awesome cook, a mad talent on photography, she’s also a web designer! She did my first blog design which I love so much I still use the Tatter Scoop header she created last year.

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Filed Under: Indonesia, Photoblog

Will Indonesian Language Go Extinct?

31 Jul posted by

Sign

New York Times ran an article a couple of days ago about how Indonesians’ younger generations nowadays are more fluent in English, some can’t even master the national language. It’s a pretty good article and pretty much portraying the current ‘trend’ in upper – middle class parenting accurately.

I have noticed this since we moved back here, these little children running around talking in fluent English with their Nannies barely-there-English tendering after them.

Me, I think it is fantastic to introduce another language to a child since their tender age because we all know that it’s easier to teach them early but honestly it is sad to thinks that most of these children can’t even speak in their own native language when they were born, live and growing up in Indonesia.

Just as our boy holds dual citizenship, we hope and we try to grow him into someone who master both languages. I have to admit that sometimes I still let him get by with mixing both languages, I’m a firm believer that he will eventually pick it up. He can carry a full sentence in English and in Indonesian now although there are times where if he doesn’t know the word in Indonesian, he’ll use English.

He is half Indonesian and my lack of nationalism feelings will be offended if he doesn’t know his other half of the two major languages in his life. Of course I understand if these ‘mixed kids’ live outside of Indonesia where the only interactions they will be exposed to the native language would be at home with their mother but from a blogger/writer name Santi Dharmaputra who co-wrote a book called “Anak-Anak Multibahasa” (Multilingual Children), I had learn so much more about raising multilingual child. I highly recommend this book to parents of Indonesian mix marriages. Her children are fluent in Indonesian, French and English!

The key is One Parent One Language – and consistency, which is something I’m still trying to balance out because I still speaks some words in English too but meeting Santi has opened up a lot of discussions about this and you bet I will stay in touch with her.

Funny is how if he’s asked in English, he would often reply in Indonesian especially if the person who ask him is a local. Even one of my Aunt noticed this and she said “If you put him in an international school with local teachers that speaks English, imagine him answering questions in Indonesian?”

Honestly, I have no idea how he would handle school but I want him to go to school that teaches both languages. International schools are like mushrooms here in Jakarta, they’re pretty much all over but there are schools who doesn’t offer Indonesian language lesson at all.

Children have amazing abilities to learn languages so I really think that if the parents only limited their children to one language – in this case English and totally ditched out their own native language – they pretty much underestimate their children!

If  Lil’ A who is a ‘mixed product’ like so many other mix children can masters two languages fluently, what is stopping you from teaching two languages? If we would’ve stayed longer in China, you bet we would be introducing a third language in the mix.

Sometimes people do make comments about Lil’ A when they hear him speaking in Indonesian. “Bule kok bahasa Indonesia yah?” (He’s ‘bule’ but why is he speaking in Indonesian?) this is just one example of the comments I usually heard and of course I would reply with “Why not?”

What do you think about this ‘phenomenon’? Will it make our language extinct? What do you think about teaching your children other language?


Filed Under: Indonesia, Musings, Single Mommyhood

Medan Is NOT The Worst City In The World

27 Jul posted by

P1010611Creative Commons License photo credit: a_rabin

I came to read this article that says Medan (capital of North Sumatra) is the worst city in the world from Twitter. Eyebrows were raised reading it, disturbing but at the end I found myself laughing.

Disturbing, because as much as I have this love-hate affair with my own country, it always pull a few nationalism nerves on me when I read others write badly about Indonesia. Funny, because it sounds like that piece of crap – yes it is crap – article came out of an amateur bitter tourist.

Let’s analyze it a bit, will you.

You’re slim pickin’s for hotels, you don’t seem to boast a single, decent restaurant and from what I’ve heard, you’ve got no real nightlife

Last I heard they do have 5 stars hotels there such as the Marriott. Maybe next time you need to consult Mr. Google or better yet a travel agent! As for nightlife ‘activities’…what kind of nightlife are you expecting? It’s not Jakarta or New York City!

Okay, I admit, there’s a personal element to this. See, I got robbed in one of your hotels.

It wasn’t a very nice hotel. It promotes itself as a four star hotel when in actual fact it’s closer to a two. But that’s fine. I don’t need luxury and it cost less than $100 a night.

Except, in the end, it actually cost a couple of grand. Because while I was out one night scouring the streets for a decent meal – in vain, of course – someone broke into my room and stole a giant wad of company cash from my suitcase.

Okay…number 1 rules of travelers are: NEVER EVER EVER leave your money – especially couple of grand like you said in your hotel room! That’s what the hotel’s safety deposit box at the Front Office is for! Common sense…not that hard. You know you’re staying in an ‘average’ hotel with several grand in your suitcase, isn’t exactly the smartest move! The guy said the hotel doesn’t have safe deposit…well, tough luck then you shouldn’t even stay in that measly hotel in the first place!

Needless to say I moved to a different hotel for my final night. I woke up the next morning in blood-stained sheets. Mozzies never take any interest in me but your Medan mozzies made quite a frenzied exception.

I didn’t get malaria. But I did get spectacularly, violently sick about a week later from an intestinal parasite, which I’m certain I picked up from you, Medan. I just know it.

See the pattern here people…cheap hotels? Wait, maybe all the 5 stars ones were booked? Could possibly be…but intestinal parasite? Maybe this guy just ate something that’s not cooked right or ate street foods that his weak stomach can’t hold. Oh and he said he lives in Jakarta too? Interesting isn’t?

Personally, I haven’t been to Medan but knowing how poorly some of Indonesians infrastructures are outside of Jakarta, it is possible that the roads are bad, their public transportation are inadequate but to call it the worst city in the world? I think that’s a tad too far!

I understand some tourists will have digestive problems when they first got here because let’s face it, in Indonesia hygiene issues are still questionable. You most certainly cannot drink straight out of the tap like in some other countries. That’s why if you consider coming to Indonesia for a visit I strongly advise you to bring some pepto-bismol (or anything like that) and just take it religiously everyday for at least a week and always drinks bottled water and avoid ice in your drinks if you’re in a place where the hygiene may be questionable.

Indonesia is an acquired taste…that’s for sure but when you are a tourist, try to explore the country with an open mind. Keep in mind that Indonesia is still a developing country and also a country with such vast cultures so chances are things will be different than back home.

Granted, I haven’t seen all the cities in the world but Medan is certainly not the worst one.

Do you have any bad experience in a city that you considered calling them the worst city in the world? Share away.

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Filed Under: Indonesia
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