Pondok Pesantren Darul Istiqamah, Barabai, South Kalimantan, Indonesia
Sasirangan: Traditional Textile Industry
Sasirangan is a unique traditional textile from Banjarmasin, Indonesia with a seven hundred year history. Sasirangan is produced locally, mostly in home industries. We researched Bayam Raja (the name translates to “King Spinach”) in Banjarmasin. Bayam Raja is a Credit Cooperation that gives credit to its members, who are the employees in sasirangan home industries. They can borrow some money and pay it back each month. Bayam Raja hopes to help its members when they need credit as the income of those who make sasirangan fluctuates with their work. Most of the workers are women, because women tend to be more diligent and thorough in this type of work. These employees usually come from the local neighborhood, and some bring their children to work.
Made by stitching, binding and dipping, sasirangan is famous for its designs. Examples of Sasirangan and more information can be found at Batik ‘n Craft (a commercial website that is included here for illustration, not promotion or endorsement).
Most of sasirangan home industries will not let outsiders record textile production activities due to the influx of fake sasirangan from China into the market. Industries will not even let anyone enter the rooms where they dye colors. The daily manager of Bayam Raja said this is the policy because many designs have been copied without permission, and the copiers sell sasirangan far cheaper since they manufacture it by machine, instead of by hand like original and authentic sasirangan. If the phenomenon of fake sasirangan continues, it is possible that one day the sasirangan home industries will be forced to shut down. This is the real impact of globalization when there is no protection for small industries. Protection could be in form of copyrighting designs, promoting sasirangan as one of Indonesia’s original traditional textiles, training employees so they might take part in trade competitions, and supporting the industry through promotions and sales, especially abroad so people all over the world can distinguish between fake and original sasirangan.
Another problem associated with the sasirangan industry is that it generates a lot of waste in the dyeing and coloring process. The government has tried to minimize waste by providing treatment tools and training, but it needs the cooperation of all stakeholders, and the people involved need to be continually enlighten as to the importance of caring for their environment.
This “Going Green” project is presented by the following lower secondary school girl students at the Darul Istiqamah Islamic boarding school. Darul Istiqamah has two separate schools: one for girls and one for boys.
Student Project Team: Yansen Alexander; Agus Hariyanto; Rizky Hadiansyah; Rifki Maulidinoor; Rani Perdana; and M. Rafi’i
Teacher: Elisa Hayatun
Apa yang paling jumlah waktu yang dibutuhkan untuk membuat tekstil?
Dear Students at Pondok Pesantren Darul Istiqamah-
I was unaware that this was an issue in your country. Now, I know that this is a major problem and globalization is causing local businesses to go out of business. This is not good. Are there other industries in your country that are also negatively impacted by globalization? In my town of Scarsdale, NY in America, we also face a lot of problems with waste. Almost all of our food and other items we buy come with a lot of wrapping and packaging. Though some of this can be recycled, a lot of people don’t recycle and some of the packaging can’t be recycled in the first place.
Dear Students,
From reading your project, I learned that the sasirangan industry is a tradition that would be detracting to Indonesia’s culture and economy if diminished. However, it would be beneficial to your environment to reduce the amount of waste created by making sasirangan by possibly using natural dyes or sustainable tools, taking into account that I am not familiar with these processes and do not know if these changes can be made. Nevertheless, the machine-manufactured, less expensive copies of sasirangan made by large, Chinese companies are beginning to wipe out the true, handmade textiles. This situation is comparable to grocery stores in Scarsdale. While there is locally-grown, sustainable produce at farmers’ markets, most people buy their groceries at large supermarkets that have similar produce that is transported unsustainably from around the world but sold at lower prices. Overall, your project helped me learn about an amazing industry in Indonesia and think about similar customs in Scarsdale. Thank you for your hard work!
-Charlie M, Scarsdale Middle School, Scarsdale, NY, USA
Do you think that sasirangan should go global and be traded around the world? Great project.
I like how you went outside the box by using a video! It really made it feel as if we were standing in a shop looking at the product. GREAT JOB!
I think it a good idea to keep the designs a secret and keep it local.
We hope sasirangan from Barabai is better quality than sasirangan that comes from China, although in China, they use advanced machinery.
I love the idea of using a video! It really makes you feel as though your there. Great project!
I cant believe that you guys had a 700 year history there. Do you guys also have loans like us is that what you mean by giving money.
You need to participate in a contest for among the finest blogs on the web. I’ll advocate this website!
This was very interesting!!!!!! And the video was a great idea!!(:
Charlie M., I think that your comment was very interesting:)