January 19, 2016 edition

One needs never be afraid to create new designs and motifs, exhorted Musa Widjatmodjo, 50, at a workshop held as part of the Flobamora Fashion Festival in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), last December. The event was attended by scores of weavers and designers from all over the NTT province. Many wanted to learn how to turn woven cloth into fashion garments.
Musa, a designer known for his eclectic style, noted that the young local designers appeared reluctant to innovate because traditional woven cloth was looked upon as an ancient heritage not to be tampered with. He decided to encourage the local weaverswho were also designersto try their hand at designing new motifs on woven cloth and cutting them into contemporary apparel as a nod to the age-old traditions.

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More Outreach articles in other editions

January 12, 2016 edition

A group of 50 men and women form a line, sitting crossed-legged, their hands on their chests. They are all wearing black and white. I Wayan Wirasa, 46, is among those assembled at the Seruling Dewata Silat School in Tabanan, Bali, two weeks ago. "We have to regulate our breathing before we practice the moves," he told Tempo after the training.
At the 40-acre vicinity, the men and women are students learning the ancient Balinese martial arts of Seruling Dewata, surrounded by lush greenery and a view of the towering Watukaru Tabanan mountain. Wayan said that during the reign of the Majapahit, when the Balinese martial arts tradition began to form, the mandala (training facility) was located on top of the mountain. Today, it is 40 kilometers from the summit.

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January 5, 2016 edition

Local Music Goes Global
A number of musicians in North Sumatra combine ethnic musical instruments with the contemporary ones. Traditional mantras are rearranged into modern songs.

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December 29, 2015 edition

Pre-Departure Measures
A shadowy migrant labor industry leaves many migrant laborers vulnerable to exploitation overseas. Two villages in West Nusa Tenggara have created a system to better protect Indonesian workers.

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December 22, 2015 edition

A Study in coexistence
Two of Bali's oldest churches incorporate elements of Balinese Hindu culture into their services.

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December 15, 2015 edition

THE government will soon issue a moratorium on peatland farming to put a stop on all uses of peatlands and restore degraded peatlands damaged by forest fires. President Joko Widodo said he will engage indigenous people to care for the forests. In his statement during the opening of COP21 (United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties21), the President stated that Indonesia was committed to unconditionally reduce 29 percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and 41 percent with international assistance.
The government said peatlands are currently in critical condition and will stop issuing new licenses on peatlands. According to Minister for the Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar, as of late 2014, licenses had been issued to operate on 6.3 million hectares out of a total 31 million hectares of peatlands. The largest licenses, covering 4.5 million hectares, were issued to process timber products and natural forests, while other licenses were issued to cover 1.8 million hectares of industrial forests. She added that the area of peatlands needing to be restored cover no less than 2 million hectares, most of it damaged by the 2015 forest and land fires across the country.

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December 8, 2015 edition

If Muharram, a farmer from Pao Pao village in South Sulawesi, had doubts about the benefits of organic farming, they were gone by his first harvest. The 32-year-old was able to harvest six tons of paddy from his one-hectare farm. Before, he was only to harvest four.
"I started using organic fertilizer in 2014. At first I applied it three times on the crops during a single season," he said.

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