Businessmen from Malaysia and Germany, together with the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, have started a programme in Kelantan and Terengganu to encourage and carry out sustainable eco-friendly batik production.
The programme, under the European Union Switch-Asia grant and called the Clean Batik Initiative (CBI), aims to “green” both the supply and demand side of the batik industry by taking into account the environmental impact on production. Malaysian-German Chamber of Commerce general manager Thomas Brandt said many batik factories operate with excessive use of water, wax, chemical dyes and bleaching agents that are harmful to people and the environment.
“We believe the successful implementation of CBI will strengthen the Malaysian batik industry.
“CBI is a comprehensive development assistance project which teaches environmentally friendlier methods of batik production to small and medium entrepreneurs.
“It also aims to enhance the marketing of batik products,” he told The Star.
Brandt said environmentally produced batik, using sustainable production methods, will act as a major sales and marketing tool in promoting the fabric.
“We will support the batik industry in Malaysia with a lot of supporting events in the coming months.”
Present at the launch of the programme here recently were officials from the state Department of Environment and ambassador and head of the EU delegation Vincent Piket.
Piket said the EU was willing to be partners to organisations that promote good environmental practices and sustainable growth.
He said that CBI programme was selected from 300 proposals from all over Asia, signifying the enormous attention the EU gives to the Malaysian batik industry.
The CBI programme also has the support of Kraftangan, the Budi Penyayang Foundation and batik makers.
