Exceptional new book on keris hilts and keris

[David]

Originally Posted by JustYS

It seems so David, see below pics when you google search using keyword “busana adat sasak”:

Picture with information text mentioned selepan (weapon) not necessarily Keris.

I'm not sure what to make of these illustrations JustYS. The top photo of the seated man clearly shows a modern era Madura dress. Was this person presented as someone from Lombok or is he Madurese? If he is from Lombok i do not understand the Maduran keris.
The illustration shows an example of President Jokowi (Joko Widodo) dressed in what is supposed to be traditional Sasak dress. Fair enough since the Sasak people make up about 85% of the Lombok population. About the weapon shown here the caption reads: "Jokowi uses pemaje, a work tool for the Sasak people which is usually used in the "finishing touch" stage of a work or result."
But then i found this information about the pemaje in the book "Sword" by Putra Danayu: "In the implementation of the traditional Sasak ceremony, sometimes the pemaje also appears as an obligatory clothing accessory. It is not like the placement of the keris that is pinned to the back of the waist. Pemaje is often instead in the front of the stomach. Rather slanted tucked into the front belt of traditional clothing."
By the way, President Jokowi is of Javanese decent, born and raised in Surakarta.
So i am not sure that a photo of an gentleman with a Maduro keris stuck into his front or an illustration of the Javanese President of Indonesia (albeit in Sasak dress) with a blade that is not a keris, but rather a pemaje which IS traditionally worn in this position, says about how keris are traditionally worn in Lombok.
I did, however, find a few photos of men in some ceremonial processions in Lombok with keris in this front position, so these images might serve as better evidence of the practice. It does still seem rather awkward to carry such large keris in this manner, but it does seem to be done. Of course i also found some photos of men in procession carrying their keris in the Balinese fashion.