I'm a confirmed pre-washer of all fabric, batiks especially. I wash most of my batik colors in the machine (in hot water), but my reds, blues, purples and blacks I wash by hand in hot water in the kitchen sink so that I can see when they've stopped bleeding. I've had these colors bleed through 2-3 hot water washes. After that I dry them and either fold and store, or starch iron and use.
Batiks and starch are great companions. If I use a good amount of starch on a batik I find that 'finger pressing' seams take and hold really well. I also like a well starched batik to prevent slippage in the machine and nice crisp cutting.