Raw material of Besemah traditional house construction in Indonesia

The Pelang Kenidai Village is located at an altitude of 150 m above the sea level and has an area of 1,777.5 ha. The topography of the area is generally hilly and a small of the marshes area. The administrative boundaries are in the north bordering Karang Dalo Village and Padang Temu Village, to the east by Fajar Bulan District, to the south by South Dempo District and to the west by the Jokoh Village.

The indigenous leadership in Pelang Kenidai Village is governed by indigenous institutions, or the so-called Jurai Tue. The institution sequence is different from the traditional institutions that established by the Government of Pagaralam City to socialise the government culture programmes to the public. Tue sequence is a leader of the customs fields that govern society, culture and ancestral heritage. Jurai Tue’s sequence is accompanied by an Apit Jurai on t he traditional ceremonies or during the deliberation. When Jurai Tue has a hitch and could not lead the activity, then Apit Jurai will take over his position.

The inhabitants of this area are part of the Besemah Tribe. Besemah is a tribe that inhabits the highlands of South Sumatra Province and spreads to various regions in the regencies and other cities around it. Besemah cultural centre is believed to be in Pagaralam City with quite a lot of cultural objects as attributes of the weak culture. (Arios 2014) stated that one of the relics is a traditional settlement in the Pelang Kenidai Village.

Traditional settlements in Pelang Kenidai Village is characterised by the division of the living area by social and cultural conditions and also the interests of the inhabitants of this region. The utilisation was intended for traditional houses, farming and traditional halls. Structuring the region was believed to have time immemorial, since the existence of traditional houses, known as ghumah baghi/old house (Fig. 1) by the local community and has reached around 200 years old.

Figure 1

Traditional settlement conditions in Pelang Kenidai Village have undergone many changes. This happens due to the construction of new houses and other buildings. Construction of settlements makes the area increasingly narrow. Currently, there are 14 traditional houses (ghumah baghi) remaining that are still liveable and consisting of eight ghumah tatahan and six ghumah gilapan. Ghumah tatahan is a house that has carvings on the outer wall, while ghumah gilapan house does not have an engraving on its walls. Ghumah tatahan is older compared to ghumah gilapan.

The wood species used in the preservation of traditional Besemah houses consisted of three species such as mersawa (Anisoptera sp.), surian (Toona sureni Merr.) and rasamala (Altingia excelsa Noronha). This species of timber will have a different level of durability and strength class (Tab. 1).

These wood species were selected in the manufacture of Besemah traditional houses since 200 years ago because they are still easy to find and known as wood that has good quality and dense fibres. Entenam wood is the name given by the Besemah community for the type of mersawa wood, this type of wood is a type that belongs to the Dipterocarpaceae. This mersawa tree has a large embodiment with a height of up to 45 m, clear bole trunk 15–35 m long, no buttresses and a diameter of up to 135 cm. Mersawa has an outer skin of kelai, grey-yellow, grey-brown. The buttress could reach 1.5–3 m height. The tree trunks emit white resin, light green, yellowish-green or yellow.

The sapwood is white to light yellow and contains resin, while the heartwood is dirty orange-yellow, dirty yellow or yellow-grey, and the wood is sometimes red or reddish-brown. The timber is a Strength Class II–III, Durability Class II–III and the wood also has a slightly rough to coarse texture with a straight grain direction. This wood has a high level of durability, especially for its heartwood. This wood texture is rather coarse and uneven, which has a straight grain direction or sometimes so chime. The impression is somewhat rough wood touch with a slightly shiny wood surface (Martawijaya et al. 1981).

The distribution of mersawa wood, does not grow as a group, is found in the forests of Sumatra, Borneo and the Malay Peninsula (Lukmandaru et al. 2015). Mersawa wood in the manufacture of traditional houses is used for house walls, floors, blend for the manufacture of ladders, poles liaison between the wall and door and window frames. The existence of this entenam wood is scarce and as an endangered species and protected. Besemah has a protected forest that is still overgrown with wood, and the local government has protected its existence. The traditional institutions Besemah Chairman pointed out that: “entenam wood can still be found in the protected forest in Besemah Libagh, but its existence is only small in number and the government has protected the species of wood so it should not be cut down”.

Ghimau is a designation for surian wood, which is commonly mentioned by the Besemah community as having a height of 34 m, with a clear bole stem of 10–25 m. The diameter of this plant could reach 85 cm height, and the width of the buttresses of each is 0.6–0.9 m. The outer skin of wood is grey or red, not grooved. The heartwood is flesh-red to an almost-dark brown red with a slightly coarse or slightly fine texture, roughly bordered by a circle of plants.

The direction of the wood fibre is straight and wavy, usually somewhat combined. The impression of touch from wood varies greatly from rough to smooth. The durability class of wood surian is categorised in II–III and Strength Class IV–V. The durability against dry wood termites is classified to the Class IV, while resistance to wood rot is classified in Class IV–V. The durability of surian wood is a medium class, the process of drying wood is easy and fast without experiencing cracks and breaks or significant wood defects (Martawijaya et al., 1989). The surian grows and spreads in several regions, such as Sumatra, except Jambi, Java, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Maluku, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara and Irian Jaya.

The existence of this species has decreased due to population reduction of between 30 and 50% in the last three generations. In Malaysia and Singapore, these species are considered threatened with extinction (Chua et al. 2010). The presence of these species in South Sumatra, especially in Besemah, is still somewhat significant, but other than serving as a resource for the manufacture of traditional houses, the wood is also in use for the manufacture of handles and gloves for sharp weapons and Besemah’s regional specialties. The existence of the species is already endangered, it is recommended to protect species and the harvest should be monitored and restricted.

The cemaghe wood that people commonly refer to as rasamala wood belongs to the family of Hamamelidaceae and has the name botanist Altingia excelsa Noronha. Rasamala is classified as a hardwood species that has a specific gravity of 0.81 (0.61 to 0.90) and is a Strength Class II and Durability Class II. The height of this tree is up to 50 m with a clear bole stem of 15–40 m. The diameter of this tree could reach 150 cm, with roots and the outer bark are light brown or greyred. The heartwood is between flesh-red, red-brown and dark brown. The sapwood is younger in colour and has no clear boundaries with patio wood.

This delicate texture of wood with straight grain direction is often twisted so that an integrated and sometimes choppy. Wood touch impression is slippery or somewhat slippery, has a somewhat shiny wood surface until glossy and has a fresh and sour smell. The durability of rasamala wood is categorised to the Class II–III with the durability of the wood is classified to the medium class. Based on the trial, the durability is classified to the Class I. Rasamala wood distribution areas are found in North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Bengkulu and West Java (Martawijaya et al. 1989).

This wood preservation is easy to do by mixing diesel oil with creosol (HB et al., 2015). This wood is used in making traditional houses as a combination with mersawa wood, which is used as traditional house poles, connecting pillars between walls and floors as well as the doors. The existence of this wood has been protected due to the existence, which is already rare.

The loss of wood habitats have a high commercial value that is due to the role of humans who exploit the presence of wood in excess; this is also caused by the deforestation to expand the agricultural land. The timber has a high quality and is also used and traded for having hardwood and being commercially valuable. The remaining habitats of this third timber species should be identified and protected.

The protection of endangered commercial tree species requires assistance from the government to carry out a policy on population. The loss of timber species is also due to the absence of the wood species breeding effort, no attempt was made to process the wood rejuvenation. The traditional house preservation efforts must also be followed by improvements to the existing traditional houses so that the existence is not damaged further and lead to the extinction.

The wood used to repair the damaged houses could be replaced with other wood species that have almost the same quality. The bambang lanang (Magnolia champaca) is a family of Magnoiaceae with a type of producing wood that could be used as a substitute to repair damaged traditional houses (Martin and Premono 2010). This is in accordance with the homeowner who said that:

“to get around the wood raw material that has been hard to find, wood bambang lanang could be used as a kind of timber replacement to repair damaged houses. The wood bambang lanang is also now widely used as a raw material for making houses on stilts, and today many people in Pagaralam City who grows this species in their gardens”.

The bambang lanang tree is a local species in South Sumatra, especially in Pagaralam City, Empat Lawang District, Ogan Komering Ulu District, Ogan Komering Ulu Selatan District, Lahat District, Musi Rawas District and Bengkulu Province. Pudjiono (2017) suggested that bambang lanang, known as manglid, is a native forest plant species in Indonesia. Bambang lanang wood is categorised in Durability Class II and Strength Class III; the wood has a dense structure, shiny, smooth, light and is timber that is easy to work with.

The wood-producing plants range widely on land owned and private forests in South Sumatra Province. This species of wood has long cultivated bambang lanang public on a coffee and rubber plantations in South Sumatra. This timber is used by the community as a construction material to build houses on stilts. The development of private forests is not only related to timber production alone, but also related to the livelihood systems of society, especially in rural areas. Planting activities performed by society is not the odd jobs that are not planned, as well as afforestation or reforestation projects, but it is the realisation of the accumulation, intentions and desires to obtain economic assets. The potential revenue from planting bambang lanang trees would be obtained 15 years later, not deter the people to make bambang lanang as one of their assets due to the increasing demand for wood (Martin and Premono 2010).

Bambang lanang grows more than 50 m height, which is generally a straight rod with a cylindrical stem and the diameter could reach 200 cm width. The tree has no buttresses and the smooth stem surface has a greyish-white colour. Bambang lanang could be developed either in monoculture, mixed or agroforestry patterns. The wood is generally available as a shade of coffee trees as well as other wood crops that could improve the people’s welfare. Herwanti et al. (2019), Salampessy et al. (2017) and Qurniati et al. (2017) suggested that the choice of plants and planting patterns is one way of farming households to manage their land resources contribute to their household income.

The Pagaralam City’s Government is developing a policy in the form of local regulations governing the preservation of ghumah baghi. The aim is to encourage people to maintain and preserve ghumah baghi as part of the local culture. Ghumah baghi’s existence is considered important by the government because it is associated with a regional identity, especially in Pagaralam City. Sari et al. (2017) stated that policy and legal entities are an important factor in regulating the preservation of ghumah baghi.

The Pagaralam’s City Government is making ghumah baghi conservation policy that will be accommodated in the regional budget (Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Daerah/APBD). In addition, Pagaralam’s City Government has also proposed to the central government about receiving funding coming from the national budget (Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Negara/APBN). The policy is a short-term programme that was realised to maintain and preserve the culture; it is known and invigorated by the society. As for the medium-term programme, it is to make ghumah baghi a place to stay or a homestay for tourists who visit Pelang Kenidai Village. The long-term planning is to make the site a tourist village.

The activities have been done by the government in the development of Pagaralam City that is the Pagaralam Heritage Festival. These activities have not been routinely carried out so that the community does not feel the positive impact of these cultural activities, such as those delivered by the informant:

“Once it Pagaralam heritage festival held here ... but not yet scheduled ... so for now these benefits have not been so we feel”.

The existence of ghumah baghi is considered as one of the attractions for both domestic and international tourists. The increase in the number of tourists visiting the community could improve the economy and the development of construction in the region. The activities of support tourism are considered a positive impact on the society that maintains the existence of baghi ghumah. Communities could serve a variety of traditional cuisine and also display its art and culture as a complement to the tourism activities held there. According to Harum et al. (2019), tourist villages are built to encourage people to develop their potential so that they could manage their tourism and make the village more independent.

A’inun et al. (2015) stated that the development of tourist villages requires the support and participation of all communities in the village so that people could jointly reap the benefits of tourism and the existence of tourists in their area. In line with this opinion, Gautam et al. (2019), Soflaei et al. (2017) and Zhang (2016) stated that culture plays an important role in economic development, because the culture is dynamic, so it must continue to be developed to increase social capacity by economic growth while maintaining local wisdom.