Your correspondent went to Yogyakarta a couple of weeks ago
for a short getaway weekend. The purpose of the trip was to visit the city and
its famous Batik workshops as well as the two Unesco-listed temples of Borobudur
and Prambanan. What actually happened is that besides adding two more sites to
my list of Places To See in 2014, I got a true insight into the Indonesian
economy and potential for development.
Let me explain. Yogyakarta is a city of over 630,000
inhabitants (as of 2012) in Indonesia’s largest and most populated island of
Java. It was the capital of the Mataram Sultanate between 1575 and 1640, and
was briefly the political capital of Indonesia during 1945 to 1949 before the
title returned to Jakarta. Today, the city remains the island’s centre of
classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music,
poetry and puppet shows. Geographically, Yogyakarta rests in a plain surrounded
by high volcanoes and is centred around the Kraton, or Sultan’s palace.
A stroll on the main street of Jalan Malioboro (which for a
number of years was overlooked by a giant commercial poster by Marlboro, who
decided to play on the similarity of the names to advertise its cigarettes)
brings out a number of resemblances to other cities in Indonesia and Java. One
is that the country is developing rapidly and that rural populations are moving
to cities in mass while large numbers are coming out of poverty and entering
the middle class segment. While newly arrived populations cluster in hastily
built slums made of corrugated metal sheets and wood, in Yogyakarta thousands
of others are little by little building sustainable homes with concrete bricks
and glass windows, creating neatly organised neighbourhoods and establishing
deep-tied communities. Sweeper, ojek (motorcycle taxi) or cycle tuk tuk driver,
shop owner, street food cook – all are hard at work and contributing to the
development of Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Another impression is that in
Java, Batik remains a highly worn design and that most Javanese still wear it
daily; men can be seen with short-sleeved brown or maroon patterns while a lot
of women still wear the traditional kemben or torso wrap. In Yogyakarta, the
strong presence of Batik workshops and the city’s historical attachment to
Batik means that the Batik designs have evolved to appeal to a younger, more
trend-oriented customer segment, with Batik-covered baseball caps, backpacks
and purses covering stalls along main streets.
While visiting Borobudur and Prambanan, two other elements
stand out. As a foreigner from Europe strolling around two of Indonesia’s most
visited sights on a Sunday morning, your correspondent was arrested no less
than a few dozen times by local school children and students looking to speak
and improve their English, exchange impressions on Indonesia and pose for a
picture. Two things are to be noticed here. First, it is impressive to witness
the level of education millions of young people are accessing across Indonesia
today. Most youngsters I spoke to had learnt English for a number of years already
and knew how to have a simple conversation with a foreigner, asking name,
country of origin, things liked about Indonesia. Most also fully understood the
benefits of speaking English in building a career in the future. All across
Indonesia, students are graduating from high school with a level of English
which even some developed countries could envy. Second, all the school children
I posed for a photo with took the photo... with a smartphone. What was once
considered a unaffordable electronic item is slowly becoming mainstream, used
to whatsapp, Facebook (with 64m active users, Indonesia is Facebook’s largest
market in Asia-Pacific), email as well as make money payments and transfers.
Witnessing the economic emergence of a country happens in
many ways, but sometimes, as in Indonesia, a close look at the locals, their
work activities, hobbies and attire is quite sufficient.
