Jakarta - Indonesian batik products are more superior than those imported from China and Malaysia, Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik said here on Thursday. "Our handmade batik products are more superior than those from China and Malaysia because theirs are printed ones. Therefore we don't have to worry about the number of batik imports," Wacik said. The culture and tourism minister noted that his office would continue to promote Indonesian handmade batik products intensively in overseas countries to make Indonesia known as the home of batik. "It is through an intensive promotion in overseas countries that Indonesian handmade batik products be more well-known than the imported ones," the minister said. Indonesians were asked to wear batik on October 2, 2009 following UNESCO's decision to add the traditional dyeing technique to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list. "Following UNESCO's recognition, we should continue to maintain and preserve our traditional batik products," Wacik said, asking the Indonesian people from all walk of life to always wear batik and love it. Meanwhile, Industry Minister MS Hidayat admitted that the entry of imported batik products into domestic markets was feared to disturb the competitive power of national batik industry. Therefore the government has resisted Batik-mark logo for the people to distinguish domestic batik products from the imported ones from other countries. Batik products from China and Malaysia with much cheaper prices in the past few years have dominated a number of markets in Jakarta, but the culture and tourism minister expressed hope that Indonesians would love domestic batik than those from other countries.

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Editor : FAROCHA


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