Batik Malaysia

Balinese artists in different stages of processing hand-printing batik, the intricate motif on the batik is almost lifelike. Wan the orang kampung who is only used to economical batik sarung "cap kelapa" , stood mesmerised.

Sorrylah, the best batik has to be of Javanese origin and not batik Malaysia, this is an undeniable fact. That showcase piece I saw years ago was the possession of a rich man who bought it from Bali for RM1000! He used it to decorate his wall...

Impact of Batik Malaysia on Bahasa Malaysia

We can't really trace the beginning of this beautiful art of decorating textiles by covering areas that are not to be coloured using molten wax. What we know is this technique is employed in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Turkestan, and West Africa. Somehow, it spread to Java.

A word of Javanese origin, "ambatik", literally "amba" means " to write" and "titik" for "dots". "Ambatik" becomes "batik" in Malay which means a textile with small dotted patterns.

While most folks link batik to textiles, Wan still has fond memories of childhood story books featuring mythical characters in batik style. It's a shame Wan hardly finds such exquisite artwork for children these days. Hmmm...if you happen to be a batik artist producing children's books in Bahasa Malaysia please kindly contact me, I shall be happy to promote it for you. :-)

A reference book also defines batik as " A textile decorated and processed traditionally as sarongs by ethnic groups in Indonesia and Malaysia." If you were an alien who doesn't know what is sarong. Well... you sew a piece of batik textile into a cylinder, it becomes a sarong. Here, I need to discuss sarong.

Impact of Batik Malaysia on Malaysia Culture

If I remember correctly, I bought my sarung cap kelapa from a Pakistani vendor. For the price of RM15 per piece, I use it as a pajama, beach-wear, picnic mattress, bed sheet, pillow cover and blanket during warm nights. Eventually, a few holes appeared on the sarong so I reluctantly demoted it to the status of a rag.

Sarong may be an indispensable item for the Malay people. But as you can see from the example of my poor sarong, it is soooo versatile and useful that other Malaysian tribes have accepted sarongs as part of their lives. Remember the Baba-Nyonyas and Chitty Indians? They love to wear sarongs.

As I am writing this page, I began recalling the weekly excursions to rural areas during my younger days where it is common to see ancient Dusun women relaxing under verandahs, staining their mouths blood-red with betel nuts, wearing only bras and--sarongs.

When you see these old ladies selling betel nuts at the local market, they don blouses ( not necessarily matching ) above the sarongs , and another piece of sarong on the head as a protection from the sun. Mothers strap suckling children to their chests --kangaroo style with sarongs or strap the kids at the back. At home, the sarong is hooked to the roof and serves as a little hammock for the baby.

There's a difference between sarongs of men and women. Batik patterns are for ladies. Men's sarongs are chequered and limited to blue, green and brown more accurately called kain pelekat.

Malays, Chinese, Indians and the other ethnic tribes may use different mother tongues, or have different preference for food. But Wan is sure all of them love to use sarongs at home and wear the more elegant versions at formal occasions. So batik Malaysia promotes unity rather effortlessly.

Batik Patterns

Wan perceives three main types of batik Malaysia patterns:

1. No symbolisms--If you see plain orchids on a white background, or a few marine animals swimming on your wrap around skirt. Come onlah that is straight forward. No need to analyze.

2. Non-geometric symbolisms --Examples are motifs of banana flower as a symbol of purity and fertility, garudas and phoenix the auspicious religious symbols. The same principle applies to all mythical animals such as lions, snakes, nagas and temples. Then there is the natural phenomena such as rocks, the Taoist symbols of the creative force of nature, its strength, endurance and majesty. Clouds, when placed together with rocks is to symbolise the union of the earth and sky suggestive of procreative powers, according to Javanese mythology. If you see mountains most probably it is Mount Meru, the centre of the Hindu-Buddhist universe. During the old days when sultans were powerful, these motifs are larangan, meaning reserved for royalty.

3. Geometric symbolisms --Let's begin with the commonest pattern, the elongated lying triangles at the ends of sarongs symbolised life force. Diagonally aligned malay daggers forming diamonds called garis miring are considered auspicious and naturally were once reserved for royalty. Wah...seems like Sultans like to keep all the auspicious stuff. I am surprised to find out that my poor sarong is actually composed of swastika, the auspicious symbol of the Hindus and Buddhists.

After reading this page, are you going to inspect your batik Malaysia and analyze the symbolisms? Ah...batik Malaysia can be as intriguing as Da Vinci's Code.

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