The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

Tracing the implications of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization&s;s (UNESCO) 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICHC) in a national context, this chapter explores the case of Indonesian batik, listed in 2009 as an element of Indonesia&s;s intangible cultural heritage. For the newly independent Indonesian nation, the 1950s and early 1960s was a period in which Indonesian leaders were concerned to throw off the history of colonial domination, to demonstrate the nation&s;s status as an independent nation, and to make its mark on the international scene. Against a background of the history of batik production that reveals that batik has been subject to political interests throughout Indonesian history, the chapter examines how the more UNESCO listing of batik has been integrated into Indonesia&s;s &s;creative industry&s; policy to achieve economic and political objectives, and utilised at the community and individual level for economic purposes.