The ITB Team Provides Batik Training to Buti Residents, Samkai Village, Merauke

In the context of economic recovery for the 2021 period, the ITB team carried out community service to increase the productivity of MSMEs in Buti Village, Samkai Village, Merauke Regency, Papua. The activities carried out were providing training on gutta tamarin techniques for 3 days. The gutta tamarin technique is the development of the latest batik technique using the basic ingredients of mashed tamarind seeds. The sour powder is then mixed with water and a little vegetable fat or margarine into a kind of paste. In this training, several techniques and materials were introduced, as well as typical Merauke patterns.

“We have developed it five years ago, but only got the opportunity in Papua. The target is young children who have dropped out of school, but many housewives are also interested. Maybe this can be for the empowerment of mothers in Papua,” said the ITB FSRD Lecturer. as well as the trainer of batik activities, Dr. Nuning Yanti Damayanti at the Samkai Lurah Office, Papua.

Nuning said the participants were very enthusiastic and responsive to the knowledge being taught so that the provisional results were very good. The training which lasted for two days was enough to attract the interest of residents who wanted to join the registered 27 participants and even more will continue to grow. Participants in this training included junior high school students, senior high school students, Musamus students, IRT, and school dropouts.

“In the future, we hope that it can be developed for economic recovery in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic, then become new products such as making masks, bags, wallets, used as book covers, clothing and tourism purposes. Phase 2 Insyaallah in July will be continued with cloth being applied on products such as masks, bags, fans, and the transition to the digitization process. Thank God the support from local agencies is very good,” said Nuning.

The young generation of Papua has the potential to produce works of art and has a selling point. Papuan batik which is marketed outside Papua also costs very high so that the native Papuans, Merauke, must be able to produce their own local batik.

Meanwhile, Samkai Village Head Amelia E. Padwa said that this batik activity was the first time to be carried out in Samkai Village. In addition to the new participants, some of them are women who have joined the knitting or weaving business group.

“I hope that new motivation can be created to create the latest works or innovations that have their own charm because they introduce Merauke culture,” he said.

As a native Papuan, he said he was happy and expressed his appreciation to ITB Bandung who held special training activities for the empowerment of indigenous Papuans and the results will be sustainable with the support of the local government through the relevant agencies.