Songket Palembang has many variants, the first songket is Lepus. Lepus songket is so glamorous, there are so many golden thread appeared, it almost covering the surface of textiles. Songket is Palembang language and as a name of fabrics was born at the Sultanate Palembang era in 1659 (Indonesiana:2015). Songket used to be mentioned as “Golden Fabrics” (Maxwell:2014). As gold and silk is the new status symbol in Southeast Asia, King and Queen wear it as festive clothes when they held important ceremony. The Sriwijaya kingdom blessed by the land which has gold mines.

Multicultural definitions by Robert Longley is the way in which a society deals with cultural diversity, both at the national and at the community level. Sociologically, multiculturalism assumes that society as a whole benefits from increased diversity through the harmonious coexistence of different cultures (Longley:2018). Multiculturalism is the key to achieving a high degree of cultural diversity. Diversity occurs when people of different races, nationalities, religions, ethnicities, and philosophies come together to form a community. A truly diverse society is one that recognizes and values the cultural differences in its people.

The position of Palembang as the capital city of Sriwijaya made this Kingdom as important port in Asia. The strength of Sriwijaya Kingdom in the Economy before the 15th century is:

  1. Product Market. Trading by Chinese sailors happened here (Reid:2011)
  2. Trading Center. Palembang as a city of trader visited by many Arab (Islamic), China, Portugues (Ferrand:1992 )
  3. Trade Link. The Sriwijaya controlled the Malayan sea. Sriwijaya is a trade hub because of its position which lies in the path in international trade from East Asia to West Asia and Europe (Burger, 1962: 26).

This economic facts is the source of multicultural relations that happened since Palembang has the strength in international territory. The traders brought their culture to Palembang, and vice versa they bought Sriwijaya cultures to their country. Gold trading between Palembang royalty with China trader is one of the important roles in the history of Lepus songket. The methods of producing golden thread was came from China and Thailand. Natural silk fabric is the canvas of golden thread with patterns followed by the daily life of Kings or symbol of power. Tha symbol of power is Dragon, in Palembang called as Nago. Nago besaung (Palembang language) is fighting dragon. This philosophy explained about the hope or prayer to the King who would be powerful, prosper and granted happiness forever.

Red and gold color of Lepus songket influenced by China. The red colors symbol of power, happiness. Gold color is the symbol of prosperity. The Chinese reported to have made gold thread at 300 BC (Maxwell:2014). The golden thread China has so many development in Tang Dynasty in 7th Century AD, this was the prove of influence of China to Lepus songket in Palembang.