THE songkok crafters at Poros Bone-Wajo are mostly young girls and housewives. They make songkok in their leisure time or in the afternoon. On an afternoon two weeks ago, when Tempo visited the place, there were Kasmawati, 26, Suriani, 36, and several other girls weaving songkok on a bamboo table at the porch of Kasmawati’s house.

Besides weaving, they also worked on the raw material. The fibers of the lontar tree (Borassus flabellifer) th