Best platform to promote Sabah Batik, says Musa
Published on: Tuesday, November 08, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah batik has unique qualities that differ from other batik and Sabahans should be proud of this as it personifies the creativity and originality of the people.Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said although the batik industry in Sabah is not as big as in Kelantan or Terengganu, the State Government is very interested in its prospect and encourages the industry as much as it could."If you look at other countries, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar or Indonesia, they are very proud of their products.
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We should emulate this attitude. We should be proud of our own products as well, our own batik," he said, when opening the Viva Batik Festival 2016 at the Oceanus Waterfront Mall, Monday.The festival which runs from Nov. 5 to 13, is jointly organised by Waterfront Urban Development Sdn Bhd and Yayasan Budi Penyayang Malaysia (Penyayang).Also present were former Prime Minister and patron of Malaysian Batik Crafted for the World Movement Tun Abdullah Badawi and Penyayang Chairperson Nori Abdullah.
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Congratulating Oceanus Waterfront Mall and Penyayang for bringing the festival to Sabah's shores for the first time, Musa said he believed the festival is the best platform to promote and market batik products to the consumers especially Sabahans."Batik is not only an art that must be preserved because of its aesthetic value, but also because of its contributions to the economy. I believe this programme will also benefit other industries such as transportation and logistics.
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"This shows that local batik has its own niche market with a huge potential for development," he said.The batik industry, he said, is capable of generating extra income to its practitioners while at the same time, provide job opportunities to the masses, either on part-time basis or full-time. The industry registered 4,997 women practitioners, which translates to about 70 per cent of total batik artists in the country."This showed that women have the finesse and elegance to produce high-quality batik. Therefore, I urge women batik artists to stay up-to-date with any development within the industry and to grab every opportunity and programme provided by the government," he said.Musa also hoped that supporting industries will continue to work together with the batik industry to ensure that they will be able to grow together in tandem with the national's development programmes.In order to increase demand for local batik products, he said, entrepreneurs must produce creative, innovative and high-quality batik products."This must be done consistently so that the industry remains strong and competitive," he said.During the event, Musa also witnessed the handing over of RM50,000 in cash contributions to Penyayang from Oceanus for various charity programmes.Penyayang was established to collect donations, fees and other contributions and to manage the donatives for the purpose of education, welfare, research, health, medicine and other programmes aimed for the benefit of needy Malaysians, regardless of race, ethnic and religion. The Festival will see around 20 batik entrepreneurs and designers showcasing their collections. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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