Pertamina Accompanies MSMEs to Go Modern, See Pertamina's Fostered Partners, Batik Kudus Preservation Hero
Jakarta, November 9, 2020 - From 1993 until now, PT Pertamina (Persero), through its Partnership Program, has coached more than 250 batik artisans spread throughout Indonesia with a total distribution of IDR 10 Billion. Besides business capital loans, Pertamina also accompanies the traditional batik artisan to Go Modern to Go Global.
One of Pertamina's fostered batik artisans is Yuli Astuti. The owner of Muria Batik Kudus studio began her career in batik in 2005. Yuli is not a mere batik maker. She is known as a figure who should be called a hero to preserve the Batik Kudus, which was almost extinct.
"Batik Kudus has a unique story. But no one knows. Until 2005, there was only one batik maker who was still alive, but because he was old, the story's memory had also been forgotten. In the end, I had to do my own research," she said.
The information about Batik Kudus is scarce that Yuli had to wander everywhere, looking for information about batik. As well as having to go back and forth to Solo and Pekalongan to learn batik, Yuli also researched until she climbed directly to Mount Muria to get the original story about the legend of the Kandas Ship with the elders there. There, she also studied Parijoto fruit, Muria's signature fruit, which is also the hallmark of Yuli's batik designs.
Yuli's ups and downs had to be experienced on her way to bring back the Batik Kudus. Not surprisingly, now there are several "rivals" of Yuli who are working in Kudus batik. Even so, Yuli never considered them as rivals. By prioritizing a sociopreneur concept business, she tries to get more and more people to cultivate Batik Kudus, including providing training for school children.
"One of the things I do is to provide batik training through school coaching, children with disabilities, children with special needs so that they get to know batik from an early age," she continued.
Not surprisingly, she was rewarded with multiple awards throughout her career. One of them is the Local Hero Pertamina 2018 award. Through this award, Yuli's door was opened even wider; Together with Pertamina, Yuli received many benefits, from coaching to invitations to exhibitions and fashion shows.
Yuli Astuti has been a Pertamina Fostered Partner since 2018. Since joining Pertamina, Yuli's turnover has increased by 30 percent and earns a turnover of up to IDR 100 million per month. Muria Batik Kudus produces typical Kudus batik products sold online, which can be seen through social media @muriabatik and its offline store in Karang Malang 4/2 Gebog Kudus, Central Java. Yuli has also explored local, national, and international markets, including Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, and China. In 2018, Yuli was included by Pertamina for an exhibition in Malaysia.
Vice President of Corporate Communication of Pertamina, Fajriyah Usman, appreciated the steps taken by Yuli Astuti. According to her, the role in preserving Indonesian culture must be imitated by everyone. "Moreover, batik, as a world cultural heritage from Indonesia, we are obliged to protect and preserve it," said Fajriyah.
Pertamina's role, continued Fajriyah, in preserving the batik culture, is facilitating good crafters to develop and excel. "This is an implementation of the Goal 8 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is hoped that it can help people get decent jobs and encourage national economic growth," concluded Fajriyah.**