Sandiaga Uno Says Batik Industry Absorbs 200 Thousand Workers

JAKARTA - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno said the batik industry drives the community's economy by absorbing more than 200 thousand workers.

"The batik industry is able to absorb a workforce of more than 200 thousand people in more than 47 thousand business units spread across 101 batik industry centers," Sandiaga said in the webinar "Improving the Quality of the Batik Wealth of the Archipelago" which was monitored online.

In a webinar held by the National Standardization Agency (BSN) with Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf/Bekraf), and PT Pupuk Kaltim in commemoration of National Batik Day, Sandiaga said batik began to move from traditional art to modern art.

There are more than 5.849 Indonesian batik motifs from Aceh to Papua. Batik is also rich in a variety of colors, designs, and ways of embroidering.

Along with being worn more and more in daily life, according to him, batik has become one of the sources of people's income that drives the community's economy.

Head of BSN Kukuh S. Achmad said that as a creative industry with promising market potential, a strategy is needed to face the challenges of this era of the creative economy industry so that Indonesian batik products can compete in the global market.

With the increasing public awareness of the quality of batik, according to Kukuh, the role of the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) is becoming increasingly important.

"The government has an obligation to encourage batik producers to improve the quality of batik, through the application of SNI," he said.

Kukuh explained that BSN is obliged to provide SNI and a scheme for the implementation, development, and facilitation of certification.

"In addition to playing a role in providing protection to the community, SNI is also a guide to increase the competitiveness of Indonesian products," said Kukuh.

The BSN has tried to preserve batik and batik products by stipulating 32 SNI for batik and batik products compiled by the Technical Committee 59-03 Batik and batik products.

Batik which is a creative economic asset in the handicraft sector is dominated by the MSME sector which is spread in 101 business centers spread throughout Indonesia.

"With SNI, it means that batik has guaranteed quality according to standards, which are recognized nationally and internationally," he said.