WONDERFUL WEAVES OF PALEMBANG

Story and Pix by Geraldine Goh

If you are looking for the best songket or woven fabric embellished with golden thread, look no further than Palembang in South Sumatera, Indonesia.

Here, you can find beautiful songket in a rainbow of colours.

These magnificent fabrics are made by the womenfolk in a cottage industry that has survived through the centuries. The designs have been influenced by Palembang’s cultural heritage of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. 

This town in South Sumatera had in the past been the seat of the Sriwijaya empire, a maritime power in the Strait of Malacca that existed more than a millennium ago.

Most of the songket materials have geometric and floral designs and they resemble the richness and grandeur of the fabrics that had been worn in the past by courtiers and members of the nobility.

Today, the songket is used mainly for weddings and grand occasions. As such, red, green and yellow are the colours that are the most commonly found songket fabrics.

The songket often comes in a set comprising a sarong - a two-metre material for a skirt – and a selendang – a narrow, rectangular scarf.

Both can also be used as wall hangings.

As the songket material cannot be washed or dry cleaned, it is better to frame it with glass to keep the dust away.

The songket that takes a month to produce, can last more than a lifetime.

How To Get There

Garuda Indonesia Airlines has several flights a day to Palembang from Jakarta, which is just 45 minutes away.

You can take the first flight out at 7am and return to Jakarta on the last flight back from Palembang at 6.40 pm.

Or you can leave on the 3.20 pm flight back to Jakarta if you are done with your shopping by then.

Where To Stay

There are not many good hotels in Palembang. The best of the lot is the three-star Hotel Sandjaja, which is an old establishment. Rooms cost around US$25 a night inclusive of breakfast.

As there is not a lot to see or do in Palembang, a day trip would suffice.