Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Jadi Batek Gallery is a batik and handicraft retail centre and open workshop in Kuala Lumpur, founded in 1976 by husband-and-wife team Yong Jo and Thong Lai Ying. The couple bought the business from their employer, Tan Sri Dato Dr Tan Hian Tsin, the Singapore-based founder of the Crocodile clothing brand, who had run the shop as a sideline on Jalan Sultan Ismail in Bukit Bintang. Through the 1970s and 1980s it grew into one of Kuala Lumpur's largest batik and souvenir shops, supplying the batik shirts once required of visitors entering the Genting Highlands casino. In 1999 the founders' eldest son, Colin Yong, a Hitotsubashi University business graduate who had worked as an IT consultant in Japan, took over the family firm and relocated it to its present site at 30 Jalan Inai. In February 2024, British singer Ed Sheeran took a batik-painting class there during his Kuala Lumpur concert stop, reported by Free Malaysia Today.
1947
Tan Hian Tsin, an immigrant from Swatow, China, founds the Crocodile clothing brand in Singapore. In Kuala Lumpur he separately owns a small batik shop on Jalan Sultan Ismail in the Bukit Bintang area.
1976
Tan sells the Kuala Lumpur batik shop to two of his staff, husband and wife Yong Jo and Thong Lai Ying, who rename it Jadi Batek and begin making batik shirts and ties on site.
1970s-1980s
As one of the few batik retailers in Bukit Bintang, Jadi Batek grows into one of Kuala Lumpur's largest batik and souvenir shops, supplying the batik shirts tourists and locals needed to meet the dress code for entry to the Genting Highlands casino.
1999
Eldest son Colin Yong, a Hitotsubashi University business graduate who had worked as an IT consultant in Japan, returns to Malaysia to take over the family business and relocates it to 30 Jalan Inai, off Jalan Imbi.
2004
The relocated premises opens a dedicated demonstration gallery with an open batik workshop, adding hands-on visitor classes alongside the retail floor.
February 2024
British singer Ed Sheeran takes a batik-painting class at Jadi Batek during his Kuala Lumpur concert stop on his Mathematics tour, a visit reported by Free Malaysia Today.
Open batik workshop floor
Visitors watch resident artisans draw wax patterns and dye cloth in full view of the retail area rather than behind a screen, a layout Colin Yong introduced when he rebuilt the business after 1999.
1970s retail stock line
The ready-to-wear batik shirts, ties and dress fabric on sale trace back to the shop's original 1976 product line, once bought by visitors heading to Genting Highlands, where batik attire was required for casino entry.
The 'Batek' spelling
The gallery kept the 1970s Malay spelling 'batek' in its name even after the government standardised the word to 'batik' in the 1980s, making the name itself a small piece of period signage.
Crocodile brand connection
The shop's premises and stock were bought in 1976 from Tan Hian Tsin, the Singapore-based founder of the Crocodile clothing label established in 1947, linking Jadi Batek's origins to one of Southeast Asia's best-known apparel brands.
Kelantanese artisan lineage
Senior batik makers on the floor, including craftsman Wan Jafnan Wan Ariffin, trained in Kelantan's batik tradition and have since taught the technique to their own children, who now also work at the gallery.
Jadi Batek was established in 1976 by husband-and-wife team Yong Jo and Thong Lai Ying, who took over an existing batik shop in Kuala Lumpur's Bukit Bintang area. The business has operated continuously since, moving to its current Jalan Inai site in 1999.
The premises previously belonged to Tan Sri Dato Dr Tan Hian Tsin, who sold it to his staff Yong Jo and Thong Lai Ying in 1976. Tan is better known as the Singapore-based founder of the Crocodile clothing brand, which he started in 1947.
In the 1970s, when the shop was founded, the Malay spelling for the craft was 'batek'; the government standardised it to 'batik' only in the 1980s. Jadi Batek kept its original 1976 name rather than updating the spelling.
The shop first traded on Jalan Sultan Ismail in the Bukit Bintang area of Kuala Lumpur. In 1999, new owner Colin Yong relocated it to its present address at 30 Jalan Inai, off Jalan Imbi.
Colin Yong, the eldest son of founders Yong Jo and Thong Lai Ying, has run Jadi Batek since 1999. He studied business administration at Hitotsubashi University in Japan and worked as an IT consultant before returning to Malaysia to lead the family business.
British singer Ed Sheeran took a batik-painting class at Jadi Batek in February 2024, during the Kuala Lumpur stop of his Mathematics tour. The visit was reported in the Malaysian press, including Free Malaysia Today.
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