Malaysia congratulates RI over Batik

Official delegations from the Malaysian government congratulated Indonesia over the handmade batik that had just been listed as world heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik said on Friday.

UNESCO has officially declared that Indonesia's batik as one of the world heritage during a ceremony in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

"Delegations from Malaysia came to Abu Dhabi (to attend the UNESCO ceremony). They congratulated Indonesia's delegations after the ceremony," Jero told Antara news agency during the inauguration of People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) members.

He said that all 114 UNESCO member countries had agreed that batik was Indonesia's contribution to world heritage.

Jero said that he was very happy and proud after noticing that Malaysia had congratulated Indonesia over the batik.

Jero suggested that Indonesia citizens wear batik all the time.

"After batik, our next job is angklung and gamelan (Indonesia's traditional music instruments)," he said.

Prior to batik, UNESCO has also named keris (a traditional Javanese dagger) and wayang (puppets) as Indonesia's world heritage.

Indonesia had competed against other batik producing countries, like Malaysia, to be included on UNESCO's world heritage list.