For the past 30 years, Maria Yovita Meta Bastian has been concerned that the tradition of weaving that has lasted hundreds of years in North Timor Tengah, East Nusa Tenggara, will gradually fade. This worry prompted her to introduce the tradition back in schools and villages.
By
Kornelis Kewa Ama
·6 minutes read
For the past 30 years, Maria Yovita Meta Bastian has been concerned that the tradition of weaving that has lasted hundreds of years in North Timor Tengah, East Nusa Tenggara, will gradually fade. This worry prompted her to introduce the tradition back in schools and villages. Eventually, North Timor Tengah’s weaving survived the challenges of the times.
Maria Yovita Meta Bastian was interviewed in Kefamenanu, North Timor Tengah on Saturday (8/6/2019). She was busy arranging a number of Biboki-styled wastra (traditional fabric) stored in her special room and outlet.
About 25,000 pieces of Timor wastra of various sizes, motifs and types are stored in the outlet. Woven fabrics are made from factory threads, but some are made from real cotton yarn. The results of the original cotton woven cloth are sold for between Rp 500,000 and Rp 50 million per piece, depending on the motif, level of difficulty and size of the wastra. While the wastra made from factory threads are sold at a price between Rp 25,000 and Rp 400,000 per piece.
"I am worried that fabrics that are woven with a high level of difficulty and a complicated coloring process will be lost in the present and future generations. Weaving is a heritage tradition that must be preserved and passed down through generations," said Meta.
This concern has prompted Meta to visit a number of elementary schools and high schools in 1989 in the Biboki tribal community, North Timor Tengah regency. She talked with principals and teachers, discussing the possibility of weaving to be taught at the school. As a result, four elementary schools and one junior high school adopted weaving as an extracurricular activity.
In 1990, the activities in five schools began. Meta brought in a weaving device, threads and thread straps using her personal money.
In the first stage, students are trained to make scarves measuring 4 cm by 100 cm. This cloth is sold to local school teachers, at the market and some are displayed at Meta\'s showrooms. After six months, they are trained to weave sarongs in several larger sizes.
The proceeds from the sale of woven materials are used to buy instruction books and notebooks, pocket money and some are given to the students’ parents. With such a system, children are increasingly encouraged to continue weaving. Weaving traditions are a trend among them. Moreover, there are a growing number of orders. One order came from students at Atma Jaya Catholic University in Jakarta who ordered 200 scarves every year. Of course, the price of scarves at Rp 25,000 per piece is quite good for students.
Unfortunately, after the students graduated from junior high school and continued to high school, the weaving activities began to face obstacles. Besides not having weaving device and cloths, there is also no support from the new school. Some students who continue their high school in the city of Kefamenanu have to bring weaving device and thread with the help of their parents. Then, they can also weave at boarding houses.
As of today, the number of Meta’s students has reached thousands. Some of those who have graduated from high school choose to become Timor-styled fabric craftsmen.
"Marketing is still a problem. For the craftsmen who need funds immediately for their daily needs, the results of this weaving are not reliable. Moreover, almost all families in East Nusa Tenggara [NTT] can weave," Meta said.
In one month, the number of visitors to Meta’s shop can be counted by hand or at most 20 people. For this reason, Meta prefers to take part in exhibitions outside North Timor Tengah with the artisans. She participated in exhibitions in Jakarta, Denpasar and Kupang. Several times she also participated in exhibitions abroad, such as the Netherlands, the Philippines, Germany and Timor Leste.
Meta has built a network of cooperation with artisans in a number of cities and regions. Every time there is an exhibition, Meta is always involved. She used personal money to participate in the exhibition.
In addition, Meta\'s wastra is sold online. The result is quite good. Orders come not only from within the country, but also from abroad.
Independent craftsman
In addition to training students, Meta also empowers mothers to become weaving craftsmen. Meta trains groups of craftsmen. One of them came from Timor Leste. Three groups of craftsmen from Timor Leste attended training at Meta weaving house.
Timor Leste and West Timor (Indonesia) have almost the same weaving motif. The tradition of weaving in Timor Leste began to bloom since 1976.
The trainers were brought in from the weaving business group built by Meta in her weaving center and outlet in Kefamenanu, Tafean Pah. Meta’s weaving center has 400 weaving groups consisting of North Timor Tengah women.
Several of 400 groups of Meta’s weaving students since 1989 are now already independent. The groups that are still active and working together with Meta are as many as 200 groups. Each group consists of 20-40 women. Most of them are housewives in villages.
Mothers who are economically independent and have weaving ability establish their own businesses. They even spread to Kupang City, doing NTT\'s weaving business while building a weaving production house.
The weaving business got a boost after the provincial administration required civil servants to wear sarongs in offices. Meanwhile, elementary and junior high school students are required to wear vests from locally produced weaving materials.
However, there is a new challenge, namely in the form of imitation. The local fabric wastra is imitated in other areas using finer and lighter types of fabric. She was very surprised when she took part in a number of exhibitions outside NTT, even abroad. It turned out that the NTT woven motifs had circulated widely there.
"Such type of weaving began to expand into NTT market. This also threatens local woven products in NTT," Meta said.
Meta is proposing intellectual property rights for a typical Timorese wastra. Even though it\'s too late, intellectual property rights are still being fought for. At present, she has collected 64 typical Buna motifs from North Timor Tengah. She also began to list Insana\'s unique weaving motifs from Timor.
Weaving, for Meta, not purely pursuing profit, but more than that, namely maintaining traditional heritage. Weaving habits bring soul that lives and unites with ancestors and nature.
The various natural richness of the universe depicted in the motives mark the past life. The ancestors who are always united with the nature are clearly illustrated in every woven motif.
Maria Yovita Meta Bastian
Born: Kefamenanu, Dec. 4, 1955
Husband: Andreas Yosef Meta (deceased)
Child: Lina (40)
Education: Catholic religion teaching in Kefamenanu, 1972