Celebrating a Century of Oey Soe Tjoen’s Peranakan Batik, UC Surabaya Holds the 2025 Peranakan Festival
March 2, 2025
SURYA.co.id | SURABAYA – Ciputra University (UC) Surabaya is holding the 2025 Peranakan Festival as part of its efforts to preserve national batik.
The festival, themed “Peranakan: Past, Present & Future,” is an important opportunity to introduce cultural heritage to the younger generation.
As part of the festival, held on Saturday (March 1, 2025), UC also launched a book titled “From the Rainbow for the Universe,” which documents the journey of Peranakan batik from the legendary batik house of Oey Soe Tjoen.
This book is a collaboration between Widianti Widjaja (Oey Kim Lian), the third generation of the Oey Soe Tjoen family, Marini Yunita and Dr Rani Prihatmanti, Director of the Ciputra Centre for Heritage Studies (CCHS).
The Chancellor of Ciputra University, Ir. Yohannes Somawiharja, MSc, stated that the 2025 Peranakan Festival is clear evidence that collaboration between academia and the community can play a significant role in preserving and developing Indonesia’s cultural heritage.
He also called batik a national masterpiece that must continue to be preserved and developed.
“Batik is not just a beautifully patterned fabric, but also reflects our historical journey and cultural identity,” he said.
He added that the Oey Soe Tjoen Batik House has created Peranakan batik that is recognised as one of the best in Indonesia.
As part of the preservation effort, UC invited Oey Soe Tjoen to share his knowledge about Peranakan batik.
He expressed his hope that more parties would participate in preserving batik as part of the nation’s cultural identity.
“We want to contribute to the Indonesian nation through batik preservation. The more people understand the artistic and historical value of batik, the stronger our efforts to preserve this heritage will be,” he said.
With Peranakan batik as a symbol of cultural diversity, this festival is expected to inspire future generations to maintain national identity and pride.
In addition to the batik exhibition, the festival also featured cultural seminars involving academics, artists, and cultural enthusiasts.
Prof. Dr Johannes Widodo from the National University of Singapore discussed the origins of Peranakan Chinese culture and its influence on architecture.
“Peranakan culture is a unique blend of Chinese and local traditions that forms a distinctive identity, both in fashion, cuisine, and architecture,” he explained.
Widianti Widjaja, one of the authors of the book and heir to the Oey Soe Tjoen batik tradition, revealed that making a single piece of Oey Soe Tjoen batik can take up to five years.
“We create the distinctive floral and butterfly motifs using a back-and-forth technique and meticulous dyeing. It’s a long and dedicated process,” he said.
He hopes this festival will attract more young people to continue the batik tradition and to further appreciate batik as part of the nation’s cultural identity.
“Hopefully, events like this can open the eyes of the younger generation to the fact that batik is not just a fabric, but a part of our history and identity as Indonesians,” he said.