Info Indonesia

How do you feel when you wear shoes or slipper for your activities every day? Going to the campus, party, office, school and others activities, you must choose the shoes or slippers that comfortable to wear, beside fashionable. There are many fashionable and trendy shoes and slippers to sell now days and people are free to choose and buying. It is hard to competitive for shoes entrepreneurs and shoes craft now days. They must have strategy how to make the best products, marketable and cheaper than others shoes products.

There are many shoes craft in Java especially, Cibaduyut Bandung, Tajur Bogor, Mojokerto and Sidoarjo.

Sidoarjo regency is so near from Surabaya as capital City of East Java, to make starting point to create idea, making Kampoeng sepatu dan sandal or the shoes and slipper village center. There are almost 69 entrepreneurs including shoes craft and slippers have joined at Krian as center of this home industry. The history began in 1915 when the young man was called Talkah, started to make a shoes was clued by corn starch mixture with water and shook in the bamboo. The clue was also made from crepe mixture with gasoline that taken from invader car, Dutch.  A bamboo nail used to nail high heel shoes and used lemon nail from Dutch shoes, placed on top of the shoes. The improvement of technology makes the entrepreneurs and shoes craft change their mind, starting to design good model and the way to make the shoes. The existing of IFSC ( International Foot Shoes Center) at Sidoarjo helped the shoes craft to improve the quality products, cause the IFSC always gives training how to make the best shoes products to all shoes craft in Indonesia.

The Sidoarjo regency through Wien Hendrarso as the Regent of Sidoarjo tries hard to improve the economy local including entrepreneurs and shoes crafts together with chamber of Commerce and Industry Sidoarjo Regency and supported by others stake holders, hand and hand together to gain one vision. Empowering local economy in order to avoid broken economy, cause of never ending hot volcano mud. There are few strategies how to improve local economy, especially for shoes craft and shoes entrepreneurs,

1. Create Kampoeng sepatu ( Shoes Village Center) and support them capital and training to improve quality and ready to be competitive with others products.

2. Hold Sidoarjo Festival that had happened at September 11 until 18 September 2009 for this year. Hope, it will be annual event every year. According evaluation, the entrepreneurs pulled a lot of benefits from the event.

3. Show off to people how to make shoes rapidly and give a lot of discount for  buyers.

4. marketing through internet in order to gain global buyers.

The soul of entrepreneurs had been begun since 1913, make the entrepreneurs and shoes crafts have strong willingness to improve their business, talent and marketing strategies. The location of Shoes Village Center is far away from the capital city, must have strategies how to pull buyers to come. The tourism schedule for visiting the village center is good idea also.    

        

     

Most people have heard of Batik but many are not really aware of the process of batik or the history behind the origins of batik. Batik is an ancient craft dating back centuries and relates to hand drawing or hand painting involving wax. Wax-resist dyeing is the definition of the art of historical batik.

Wax is painted on to the fabric and the color is filled into the fabric between the wax. The instrument stated as used for this particular art form in Javanese cultures was called a canting. This is an item in design similar to a pen that was used to apply the design with the wax directly to the cloth. The wax is placed to stop the color running through to the next color of the design.

The wax is then later washed from the cloth leaving only the color hence the white lines you will always see on batik. There are then of course a variety of designs that are sold as batik but are actually made using more traditional methods and while the look may be similar they are not in fact original or true batik.

Batik is considered a traditional art in many Asian countries. In Javanese the definition of the word Batik is writing with wax. In Indonesia for example there are traditional batik colors mostly darker shades of indigo, dark brown, white and violet, which are used in representation of four main Hindu Gods. Other countries in Asia, as stated, are also traditionally using batik techniques, such as India, Sri Lanka, Iran, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma etc. There are also some West African countries such as Ghana, Cameroon and Uganda among others which also use batik all of which will be in varying degrees of the same original historical form of batik.

1500 years ago you could also find the wax style batik cloth in Egypt and the Middle East. Today you will find that Batik is a more commercial form of artwork often on sale in tourism rich countries for purchase by travelers. Almost all Asian countries will be offering up modern and traditional designs of batik and you will be amazed at what there is available however whether they are creating original historical forms of batik or not can only be known by requesting to visit with the artist while they are in fact creating. Of course if they are carrying out the traditional form of batik you, having been made more aware of what the art actually is, will be able to immediately tell for yourself if they are original batik designs or just a very good impression of this ancient art form.

Many Javanese temples also have beautiful stone statues sculptured on their walls however confirmed historical proof of these designs being batik is as yet to be determined. They could in fact have been created using a weaving technique rather than the traditional batik. No doubt in the future there will be proof of these facts and it will be clear which traditional and historical art form was used in the creation of these amazing designs.

It is also said that there were specific Batik designs that were created for Javanese royalty and these particular patterns can only be worn by royalty whilst other regions in Indonesia offer their own patterns unique to their region. There are others however who deny that batik was meant for royalty alone and that it was a form of art created for all people.

Thanks to modernization you are easily able to purchase batik. Whether it is traditional or not you now have the tools to check for yourself. If the artist is not willing to show you how they are creating the designs then it is in all likelihood that they are using a modernized form of batik and therefore while still beautiful you will not be purchasing a traditional batik. Therefore just because the cost of a particular batik is perhaps more than another it does not also mean that it is original.

Ask the artist to show you their work space and see for yourself whether you are getting the real thing. If you find you are not do not despair you will come away with a wonderful piece of art work either way to add style and flair to your home just don’t go passing it off as an original batik!

Bali is a beautiful island that is in harmony with nature. It is also known worldwide for having a unique colorful spiritual culture. Inherent in the fascinating culture are its many rituals and practices which originated thousands of years ago, and till today they have survived. Such is the endurance of Balinese culture, which in turn reflects on the deep faith and resilience of the Balinese people.
Bali’s history remained vague for the first few centuries, though many Hindu artifacts have been found, which lead back to the first century, indicating a tie with that religion.  Though it is strongly held that the first primary religion of Bali, discovered as far back as 500 AD, was Buddhism.  Additionally, Yi-Tsing, a Chinese scholar who visited Bali in the year 670 AD stated that he had visited this place and seen Buddhism there.
• 1019-1042
Hindu influence
Hindu Java began to spread its influence into Bali during the reign of King Airlangga, from 1019 to 1042. At the age of 16.

• 1284-1292
After Airlangga’s death, Bali retained its semi-independent status until Kertanagara became king of the Singasari dynasty in Java two centuries later. Kertanagara conquered Bali in 1284, but his power lasted only eight years until he was murdered and his kingdom collapsed.

• 1343
In 1343 Gajah Mada, the legendary chief minister of the Majapahit dynasty, defeated the Pejeng king Dalem Bedaulu and brought Bali back under Javanese influence.

• Late 14th Century-16th Century
Here the ‘capital’ moved to Gelgel, near modern-day Semarapura (once known as Klungkung), around the late 14th century, and for the next two centuries this was the base for the ‘king of Bali’, the Dewa Agung.The Majapahit kingdom collapsed into disputing sultanates. As the Majapahit kingdom fell apart, many of its intelligentsia moved to Bali, including the priest Nirartha, who is credit¬ed with introducing many of the complexities of Balinese religion to the island. Artists, dancers, musicians and actors also fled to Bali at this time, and the island experienced an explosion of cultural activities. The final great exodus to Bali took place in 1478.

• 1597
European Contact
The first Europeans to set foot in Bali were Dutch seafarers in 1597. When they returned to Indonesia in later years, they were interested in profit, not culture, and barely gave Bali a second glance.

• 1846–1949 Period
Fight Against the Dutch
In 1846 the Dutch used Balinese salvage claims over shipwrecks as the pretext to land military forces in northern Bali. In 1894 the Dutch chose to support the Sasaks of Lombok in a rebellion against their Balinese rajah.
That era constituted with the period of fighting against the Dutch in Bali. Those years were marked by the out break of various wars in Bali. When the Dutch won all the battles and the Klungkung kingdom fell down into their hands, this meant that Bali as a whole was under the foreign influence.

• 1906
On 20 September 1906, the Dutch mounted a naval bombardment of Denpasar and then commenced their final assault. The three rajahs of Badung (southern Bali) realised that they were outnumbered and outgunned, and that defeat was inevit¬able. Surrender and exile.Bali was now under Dutch control and became part of the Dutch East Indies. Dutch rule over Bali was short-lived, however, as Indonesia fell to the Japanese in WWII.

The sense of Indonesian nationalism began to grow after the World War I, with the young generation declaring the national language in 1928, known as Bahasa Indonesia. During the height of World War II the Japanese arrived, expelling the Dutch and ruled the country for about 3.5 years, which ended later in 1945 when Indonesia declared independent led by its very first president, Sukarno. Yet the new-born nation was only recognized by the international community as an independent country in 1949.

• Modern Bali
The tourism boom started in the early 1970s and has brought many changes. It has helped pay for improvements in roads, telecommunications, education and health. Though tourism has had some marked adverse environmental and social effects, Bali’s unique culture has proved to be remarkably resilient.

Bali, like most places, has also been affected by global politics. The 2002 Bali bombings occurred on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack was the deadliest act of terrorism in the history of Indonesia, killing 202 people with a further 209 people injured.
The island’s vital tourist industry was dealt a severe blow. It had mostly recovered by 2005 when in October of that year , a series of terrorist suicide bomb attacks that occurred. The bombs exploded at two sites in Jimbaran and Kuta, both in south Bali. Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.

The Bali government tourism office says the number of visitors dropped following the October bombings.  Normally, 5,000 to 6,000 tourists visit the island each day.  Now it is only about 2,000.  It is a big blow for a community that relies heavily on tourism.  Bali was just recovering from the 2002 bombings, with a record-breaking number of tourists in 2004. 
The tourism industry in Bali is making every effort to ensure safety.  Security checks and extra officers are now standard operating procedure at malls and hotels.  The tourists are slowly coming back to Bali .Inbound tourism to Bali is rebounding strongly, with a record-high 472,000 foreign visitors for the first four months of 2007.Australians, who make up more than 15 percent of the total foreign tourist arrivals in Bali, are flocking to one of their favorite destinations.

Batik as traditional culture from Indonesia, begin to be empowered by Government. The starting policies, because of young generations are not interested in continuing to design batik.
Indonesia archipelagos have different culture and language, so batik design performances are the same as culture of people.
Sidoarjo and Surabaya are starting point to create Village center or Kampoeng batik in Indonesia. Philosophy of creating Kampong batik in order to invite many visitors and foreigners come and find batik home industry easily. You can find women and men to assemble to design batik, using canting, showroom to show varieties of batik to sell and batik processing. It is very interesting to see. The most interest one, Sidoarjo as industry town in east java Indonesia that has serious problem to handle social struggling, because of volcano mud, become pioneer of Kampoeng batik.
Once upon time, the story began when the son of kingdom, anonymous as Mulyadi came to Jetis village. Jetis village as center of government, was so near mosque, called Al Albror in 1675.
Mulyadi as a new visitor try to take sympathy from Pekauman villager. He taught about religion, how to design batik and how to be entrepreneur.
Jetis village that had been varieties ethnic, as madurese, Javanese and others ethnic would have problems, if the people had not tolerance.

The Madurese are popular with strong behave and strong entrepreneurship, diligent, consistent and never give up, success as entrepreneur and getting rich.
To create tolerance between many ethnic at Jetis village, Mulyadi gave training to local people in order to serve Madurace as customers. So design Jetis batik was influenced by Madurese orders and philosophy. Birds, spinach, flowers and spread rice always becomes symbol design in Jetis batik. Birds reflect of free animal. They can fly whenever they wish, work hard, never give up and can live every where. Spinach and flowers reflect that Madurase always sell vegetables in the market and have strong entrepreneurship. Spread rice reflects prosperous.
Sidoarjo is popular with motto, Sidoarjo resurgence to bright future, start to motivate their people to work hard again and never give up.
To motivate batik entrepreneurs, government try to give stimulant through capital, much information how to market products, beside batik entrepreneurs try to redesign batik to be popular between young generation. So young generations, like to wear batik in their daily activities.
According Tan Han Foen, popular designer from Surabaya said that young generations can create new design that suitable with their character.
There are few suggestions how to keep batik in order to look good, according Tan Han Foen,

1.Keep your batik, suitable with batik varieties, because batik is created from varieties tips, silk and cloth,

2.Especially silk batik, you can do dry clean when washing them. For batik that using cloth material, you can wash by washing machine.

3.To avoid faded color, do not wash batik frequently.