Don't Let Payung Craftsmen Painting 'Sendirian' Klaten Fight In The Creative Industry

DPR Doc

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, encourages the Central Java Provincial Government to help promote painting umbrella craftsmen or what is also called Payung Lukis Juwiring in Klaten.

"This Juwiring painting umbrella is one of the traditional painting umbrellas that is beautiful and quite famous from Juwiring and it is time to be widely known," said Puan, Monday, December 4.

The creative industry group Payung Lukis Ngudi Rahayu himself makes umbrellas with various models. Starting from hot rain umbrellas, ritual umbrellas, Kraton umbrellas, to umbrellas for decoration purposes. Puan considers painting umbrella crafts as one of the icons of Klaten Regency.

"His works are good and can become one of the icons of Klaten Regency, they can even become one of the icons of the Indonesian creative industry," explained the first woman to serve as Chairman of the Indonesian Parliament.

To further introduce the beauty of Payung Lukis Juwiring, Puan encouraged the local government to make promotional events for craftsmen. Painting umbrellas are considered to have their own advantages, ranging from model variations to unique selection of raw materials.

"Local governments need to encourage the promotion of Juwiring's painting umbrella because this is part of the pride of Klaten area," said Puan.

The former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture added that the effort to further introduce the Klaten painting umbrella is part of preserving ancestral culture. In addition, said Puan, it can also increase the interest of the younger generation in the creative art of painting umbrellas.

"If the creative industry of painting umbrellas is increasingly famous, the younger generation can be more interested and can be part of popular culture," he said.

It is known, Payung Lukis Juwiring is one of the handicrafts from Klaten which is quite famous to national. Juwiring himself said that it was taken from Juwiring District which became the location of the painting umbrella.

It is said that this umbrella was originally used as a tool for death ceremonies and traditional rituals at the Kraton Kasunanan Surakarta Hadiningrat. However, along with the times, traditional umbrella craftsmen changed the use of umbrellas for decoration and decoration equipment.

In addition to the local government, Puan hopes that the Central Government through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Innovation (Kemendikbudristek) and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) will pay more attention to the development of the painting umbrella industry.

"We need a joint synergy between the central and regional governments supported by the DPR and other stakeholders to raise Indonesian cultural arts. This painting umbrella has great potential as a creative economy industry," said Puan.

Meanwhile, according to one of the craftsmen of Payung Lukis Ngudi Rahayu Juwiring named Ngadiyakur, the interest of young people in this craft is still lacking.

"I have gone through the bitter taste of starting this painting umbrella business. What I regret is the lack of the will of young people to preserve this craft," said Ngadiyakur during a conversation with Puan.

The man who is often called Ngadi admitted that he had started a creative painting umbrella business since 1999. He said that currently there are more than 50 people who have joined the Payung Lukis industry group Ngudi Rahayu Juwiring.

"Friends here are old (parents). Some are 80 to 100 years old. No one is under 30 years old," he said.

Therefore, Ngadi hopes that the local government will intensify socialization to young people about the importance of preserving the cultural heritage of the Juwiring painting umbrella.

"The Juwiring Umbrella is a cultural heritage that should be preserved by all of us. I as a business maker ask young people to accompany them until the handicraft process is complete and ready to be marketed," hoped Ngadi.

Ngadi also explained that since the first the Juwiring painting umbrella was a subscription from the Kraton family. Starting from Kraton Solo to Kraton Yogyakarta. However, entering the early 2000s, interest in painting umbrellas began to erode the times.

"Only in 2010 it was raised again, because we started playing social media. Orders began to come from all over the region and even from abroad," he said.

To preserve this cultural art, Ngadi hopes that the Ministry of Education and Culture will determine Payung Lukis Juwiring as one of the cultural heritages of intangible.

"In addition, Tanjung Village, which is located in Juwiring District, has also been designated as a cultural village and an educational village for Juwiring painting umbrella," said Ngadi.