Housewives in Lingga Village, Muara Enim, can earn additional income because of their skills as songket craftsmen. There are fifteen Lingga Village women making songket crafts, who are members of the Bukit Asam Industrial Center (SIBA) Songket.SIBA Songket was founded in 2016 by housewives in Lingga Village who sought to capitalize on the opportunities in their community. Songket was chosen since it is a distinctive feature of Lingga village.
Rogayah, one of the housewives in Lingga Village, taught other women to make songket crafts and with support from PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA), Lingga Village became a base for songket crafts.
"Bukit Asam provided us with a variety of supports, including looms, training, and financing," said Chairwoman of SIBA Songket, Yenny Puspitasari.
The songket is not a regular songket; instead, Yenny and her friends create a unique Tanjung Enim songket called Songket Behembang Lingge, with elements that showcase local wisdom such as as kujur, keris, gung, and rosella.
They also use the dyes derived from natural material such as turmeric, guava leaves, secang, areca nut, and so on.
The use of this natural dye boosted the selling value of Songket Behembang Lingge, as well as the craftsmen's income. "Since we started utilizing natural dyes in 2019, our income has increased," Yenny said.
Songket Behembang Lingge has been marketed in a variety of ways. "The majority of our sales revenue comes from souvenir products. Sales are conducted online, through social media (SIBA Songket), at social gatherings, and exhibitions," she said.
Meanwhile, VP Sustainability of PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) Hartono expressed his hope that this songket craft business will continue to grow and support the Tanjung Enim City Tourism Program.
"Songket Behembang Lingge continues to grow and the quality is improving. I hope that Songket Behembang Lingge will help support tourism in Tanjung Enim," he said.
