The Pamekasan Regency Government, East Java is trying to improve the economy of local hand-drawn batik artisans through the Klampar Batik Center, as a center for handicrafts and batik marketing. "So, the Klampar Batik Center is a place for making and selling written batik, targeting tourists or people outside Pamekasan who visit Pamekasan," said Pamekasan Regent Baddrut Tamam on the sidelines of the inauguration of the batik center, Monday. The batik center, located in Klampar Village, Proppo District, Pamekasan, was built on an area of more than one hectare, about 5 KM to the northwest of Pamekasan City. The construction has been carried out since 2017 and will only be completed at the end of 2021 with a total budget value of more than IDR 5 billion. The Regent of Pamekasan, Baddrut Tamam, explained that the batik center in Klampar Village, Proppo District, Pamekasan will become an icon for people outside Pamekasan that Pamekasan is a center for hand-written batik. Therefore, he continued, all parties are expected to work together, hand in hand to advance the batik center by intensifying promotions. On that occasion the Regent also said that the batik center was built before he led Pamekasan. At that time, the construction of the batik center had not been completed, so it could not be used by Pamekasan batik craftsmen. "This has been under construction since 2017 and has spent a budget of IDR 5 billion. Therefore, so that the construction of this batik center is useful, let's join hands to advance this batik center. One of them is to intensify promotions, so that the existence of this batik center is widely known by the public and becomes an attraction for tourists. to visit this place," said the Regent. Regent explained, there are three strategies that need to be done. First, introduce the existence of a batik center to the wider community. Second, maintaining good quality, and third, there are always items to be sold, so that visitors who come do not go home disappointed when they come to the batik center. The Regent also admitted that he was very grateful, because the creative economy in Pamekasan Regency had increased to 7% in 2021. The inauguration of the written batik center in Klampar Village, Proppo District, Pamekasan was marked by the breaking of a jug by the Regent of Pamekasan Baddrut Tamam.
Furthermore, the Regent and his entourage directly observed the process of making written batik and various types of batik-patterned crafts, such as batik bags, batik shoes and batik skullcaps and sold and produced at the written batik center. Pamekasan Regency is one of four regencies on Madura Island, East Java, where most of the population depends on the income from the batik business. The batik artisans in the district are spread across 38 centers, with 933 business units, and 6,526 people depend on this type of creative business for their fate. According to data from the Department of Industry and Trade (Disperindag) of the Pamekasan Regency Government, the batik business economy contributes 1-2% in the industrial sector, lower than the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors which reached 35.66%, then the second position is occupied by the wholesale and retail trade sector. (19.61%), and the third largest contribution is the construction sector, which is 10.12%.
