Pekalongan will lose 5,271 hectares by 2035. The batik industry is already feeling the pinch of sea level rise. Industry players share their stories.
The batik industry in Pekalongan is already struggling to survive. To add insult to injury, many batik makers were forced to move their homes due to damage caused by tidal floods, further eroding their economic stability.
Like Lukni Maulana, he had to move house a few times, affecting his livelihood. Once a batik owner, he is now a worker who receives orders for batik coloring.
He colors from his house in Karangjompo Village, Pekalongan. “We only focus on coloring here,” he told Mongabay at the end of 2022.
Lukni turned his house’s side yard into a work area. A makeshift hut with tarpaulin walls and a roof was built around a wooden frame for a 4×5 meter room.
In that room, the father of two finds serenity in his daily tasks.
For this work, Lukni usually earns IDR500,000 per week — after all other costs like dyes and the daily workers he hired to help. His income has become irregular, depending on the job he takes. In the past, he pocketed Rp700,000-Rp1 million weekly. In his old house, Lukni was a batik producer and often outsourced coloring work to others.
“Now I am just a worker,” he said.
Lukni moved to his current house in June 2022 following a tidal flood that hit at the time. That was the second time Lukni had to relocate. He lived in Tegaldowo Wetan, two kilometers north of his current house. But Lukni and his family only lived for a year. Then frequent tidal floods damaged his house. He moved again to a location not far away and survived for more than two years.
Lukni’s first house in Tegaldowo is now destroyed. The only thing left behind are ruins that once bear witness to his diligent batik production.
Mongabay also visited his second house. It’s now submerged up to an adult’s knee. Access to the second house was difficult. Water pools not only from the sea but also from the small river that separates Tegaldowo from Karangjompo.
“During the rainy season, the level of water there doubles. If the flood is high, it can reach our stomachs,” said Lukni.
He still remembers severe flooding two years ago. At that time, the flood reached the Pantura (North Coast) Highway, about one kilometer south of his current house.
The floods cut off electricity and forced the community to evacuate to public kitchens in areas safe from flooding. Lukni had to evacuate to Kedungwuni, 10 kilometers south of his house.
“Water settled in people’s houses for up to one month. We resigned, couldn’t think about what to eat, let alone work,” he said softly.
That is when Lukni decided to take his family south. In his current house, the floods only reached the road, not the house. He deliberately made the house floor higher than the road.
All of these efforts depleted Lukni’s financial resources. His batik business capital was quickly depleted.
“If you want it to be like before, the minimum capital is Rp20 million. That is if I have my own place,” she said.
Although the house now seems safe from tidal floods, Lukni is still concerned. The 3X13 meter house is surrounded by three streams and rivers that can overflow at any time.
About 30 meters west of his house is the Pencongan River. Other rivers are east and south of his house.
Lukni couldn’t do much. Moving house is no longer an option. “My livelihood is here. Many people have moved furhter south, but they still work here.”
The same fate befell Nur Afidatul Azimah. But in her new home, business is smoother. The owner of Mukena Zialova Wholesale Store has moved to Jl Pelita III, Pekalongan. She turned part of her house into a shop. Before the move, Azimah lived in Pabean, four kilometers north of the city.
She was forced to move to the heart of the city because the Pabean area was often submerged by tidal floods, disrupting her batik business
Since 2014, floods have frequented the city with varying intensity. Under normal conditions, Azimah — a Pekalongan native — can deliver fabric and clothing orders from her home to local shops or in large cities that ordered online.
When floods were moderate, she would use the community-run boat business to take people or goods out of flood-affected areas. When she received large orders, her trusted courier service picked up the products at home. This is because the goods to be delivered could be more than five sacks or 100 clothes.
Around January-February 2020, tidal floods prevented couriers from picking up clothes. “Once, a buyer asked for same-day delivery. They said if it was not delivered, they would refund it. Couriers cannot pick up a package when there is a flood like that,” said Azimah.
Some customers understood, but many were indifferent to her misfortune. In the end, she had no choice but to accept the refund.
In her old home, her batik business earned between Rp50 million-Rp70 million. But when floods hit, her operational cost increased especially to cover alternative transportation means to deliver her product to her customers.
At her new home, Azimah has never experienced flooding and no longer has to prepare extra expenses when disaster strikes.
She can earn Rp70 million a month. At times her revenue reached Rp100 million because other traders without a physical shop would leave their goods with Azimah. This, in turn, diversified her products.
“I think it is more suitable here and safe from flooding. Even if there’s a flood, it is mostly from rain and recedes in 1-2 days,” she smiles.
***
Tidal flooding is a chronic problem in Pekalongan. Heri Andreas, a geodesy expert from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), said that climate change and land subsidence in Pekalongan trigger tidal floods on Java’s north coast.
Several studies have shown land subsidence problems in Pekalongan. Heri said that land subsidence in Pekalongan varies between 1-20 cm per year.
Galdita Chulafak, a researcher from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), also quoted figures within that range; around 10-11 cm per year.
The varying degrees of land subsidence mentioned above have one common thread: environmental damage in Pekalongan. Heri estimated that half of Pekalongan City would be under the sea by 2030.
A study by Mercy Corps Indonesia (MCI), together with academics from Bogor Agricultural Institute and Diponegoro University estimated that Pekalongan district and city will lose 5,271 hectares of land by 2035 due to sea level rise and land subsidence.
The study wrote that this condition would impact many sectors. Economically, for example, MCI estimated that losses in 2035 could reach US$2.15 billion, five times the 2020 loss of US$474.4 million.
“The 2020 condition is already double the regional budget (APBD) of Pekalongan,” Denia Syam, program manager and advocacy specialist at Mercy Corps Indonesia told Mongabay last October.
He said the most affected areas are coastal areas. These areas are inhabited by economically and socially vulnerable communities with minimal access to resources and facilities.
In Pekalongan, batik makers occupy nearly every flood-affected area. Most of them, he said, fall into that category.
Kartini and Faizyah, a mother and daughter living in Degayu Village, are examples of low-income batik workers.
‘We are a poor family receiving social assistance from the regional family aid program (PKH),” is spray-painted on the front wall of their house.
Kartini’s and Faizyah’s condition reinforces the third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which underlined the poor as the most affected by climate change, and their economic activities will continue to be disrupted.
To maintain their living space, people affected by flooding in Pekalongan usually have to dig deep into their to raise the floor of their houses from the ground. Those who can afford it will raise each room in the house. Some even raised the roof.
Kartini and Faizyah have also raised their house. In June 2022, they raised the living room and kitchen floors, but not the bedroom. One can see the difference between the two rooms that are as high as an adult’s thigh.
As soon as the flood hit, their bedroom was the first submerged. There wasn’t anything they could do.
To raise the floor of the two rooms alone, they spent around Rp2 million, most of which was spent on acquiring sand and stone and transporting them to their house. One truckload of sand and stone cost Rp450,000, and the worker cost Rp200,000.
In some cases, the worker’s wage can be the same as the price of sand and stone. This is due to the distance from the unloading point to the buyer’s house. Limited access caused by floods also determines the cost of labor and work.
“That time, two trucks of sand and stone were used,” said Faizyah.
Although they are classified as poor, the local government and juragan who use their batik work services have not provided assistance.
MCI called this condition a vicious poverty cycle. “Because they work to survive, not to improve their quality of life,” said Denia.
The Pekalongan City Trade and Cooperative office acknowledges tidal flooding as a disaster that threatens the batik industry and its workers. However, there is yet to be a special program to assist local economic drivers.
Nugroho Hepi Kuncoro, head of Dindangkop Pekalongan cooperative said, the only thing they can do is issue a regulation that urges juragans to pay attention to the welfare of batik makers, especially in the northern areas where they are mostly frequented and affected by tidal floods.
“We arranged for BPJS Employment (insurance) for them. But not all of them can. Indeed, the informal sector is difficult. It also depends on the juragan,” said Hepi.
Currently, there is no allocation of funds or assistance from the government for batik workers or residents whose house or land is submerged by tidal floods. Afzan Arslan Djunaid, Pekalongan city mayor confirmed this.
“There is no (compensation). Unless their land is acquired to build embankments.”
***
The Pekalongan City Tourism, Culture, Youth, and Sports office recognizes batik-making as part of the city’s culture and economy. It’s also an identity inherent in the community.
“Culturally, batik has been recognized by UNESCO. Pekalongan City and its batik were also awarded as a creative city in 2021,” Dede Umi Hani, secretary of the Pekalongan City tourism office told Mongabay last October.
Batik was recognized as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO on October 20, 2009, while Pekalongan City was designated as a creative city on November 30, 2021, by the United Nations.
Seeing the cultural importance of batik, the Pekalongan administration has run many programs to preserve this identity. These programs include the celebration of batik day every October 2, wearing batik every Friday, and batik training and curriculum in schools.
These are efforts by the government to preserve batik as a cultural heritage in Pekalongan.
According to the Pekalongan City Industry and Trade office, there are around 1,300 registered batik makers in the city. “There are also many batik industries on the coast, such as Pasir Sari, Panjang Village, Bandengan Village, and Krapyak. They are the ones affected by tidal flooding,” he said.
Hepi said batik makers are spread across every inch of the city due to their nature of bringing their work to their homes.
In other cities, he noted, the batik industry is more centralized as workers are often required to perform the production process at the juragan’s shop or compound.
“This is where our local wisdom comes in, this is what makes Pekalongan batik more affordable,” Hepi said. In Pekalongan, hand-drawn batik cloth can be priced at between Rp100,000-Rp350,000 ($7-$23) apiece. Motifs and the type of fabric will be among the determining factors.
Labor wages, however, are indirectly affected by the relatively lower price. And for Lukni, Kartini, Faizyah, and others, their already low income now must cover losses and repairs caused by tidal floods.
“We have discussed this with batik entrepreneurs. We have emphasized that they cannot make big profits but workers are only paid Rp50,000 or Rp60,000,” said Hepi.
The informal nature of the batik industry and the absence of working contracts between juragans and workers are factors why it has been challenging to implement state-run welfare schemes such as BPJS.
“It all depends on the juragans.”
A study on Policy Formulation of Local Economic Development Plans and Strategies through Mapping the Pekalongan Batik Business Value Chain published in 2017 showed that batik has a large profit margin. For mori (cotton) batik cloth alone, for example, the profit margin could be 47.58%-68.71%.
The study conducted by the Pekalongan City planning agency (Bappeda) in collaboration with the Diponegoro University Participatory Development Planning Service Center, found that from one batik cloth sold at Rp350,000 ($23), the seller could fetch a profit margin of Rp165,500 ($11) while the batik maker’s wage is Rp80,000 ($5-$6) per cloth.
Sodikin, the chairman of Pasir Sari Batik Artisans Union (Serba Pas) said that there has not been much margin gap between workers and batik masters in the small and medium industries.
This, he said, is reflected in workers’ ability to fulfill their daily needs.
“Even if there is a three-week flood, there is still money. The gap is not far,” he said, giving a random example.
Sodikin does not believe tidal floods threaten batik makers in Pekalongan. He also doesn’t seem to concern himself with studies that show Pekalongan will be underwater by 2035.
Sodikin believes that if juragans have the ability (and resources) and there is a house elsewhere, workers can also afford to buy new land or raise their house.
“We are happy, our geography is like this, what else can we do? It’s fate, so we shouldn’t be bothered,” he said.
He sounded indifferent about workers who are forced to move or those who have no money to raise their house like Lukni, Faizyah, and Kartini, who still hope there will be solutions to help them adapt and mitigate the impacts of sea level rise and land subsidence.
“What we want is for the floods here to stop. The road should be repaired, and the road can dry up again,” said Kartini.
Lukni is wary of his current condition. He does not want another flood to force him to move again. He is concerned about the fate of Pekalongan, referring to the projection that the city will be submerged by 2035.
“I want the business to be busy again. But if there is no flood management, I am afraid.”
