Rumah Betang is the typical traditional house found in various parts of Kalimantan, especially in upstream areas which usually becomes the center of the Dayak tribe settlements, where the river is the main transport pathway for the Dayak to perform a variety of mobility of everyday life like going to work to the fields where Dayak tribe fields are usually far from residential areas, or perform trade activities (the ancient Dayak tribes usually trade using the barter system with the mutual exchange of fields, orchards and livestock).
Special Interest forms and large houses will vary in different places. There are houses that reach lengths of Special Interest 150 meters wide and up to 30 meters. Special Interest Generally houses built in the form of a stage with a height of three to five feet off the ground. Special Interest tall building, I expect to avoid flooding during the rainy season that threatened areas upriver in Borneo. Some residential units can have more than one Special Interest houses hanging fruit the size of the household members of the residential community. Each household (family) occupies the chamber (room) that the barriers of a large house the Special Interest, in addition to the general Dayak tribes also have single houses built temporarily to perform agricultural activities, it is because away distances between fields with the settlement.
More than a building for residential Dayak tribe, Special Interest actual house is the heart of the social structure of the life of the Dayak people. Special Interest culture is a reflection of the togetherness in the daily life of the Dayak people. Special Interest in the house is every individual's life in households and communities are systematically arranged by mutual agreement set forth in the customary law. Common security, both from criminal interference or sharing food, the joys and sorrows as well as mobilization of manpower to work the fields. The main value that stands out in his home life is the value of togetherness Special Interest (communalism) among the citizens who inhabit it, regardless of the differences they have. From here we learn that the Dayak tribe is a tribe that respects difference. Appreciate the differences in ethnic Dayak tribe, religion or social background.
But at present too many outsiders (and even Indonesia's own people) think that the Dayak tribe is closed, individual, rude and barbarous. Actually this is a big lie created by the Dutch colonial time period of Indonesia's independence struggle to divide the unity, especially among the Dayak themselves at that upholds the culture of Special Interest home. And a lie is still considered correct until now by those who do not know the correct Dayaks. For example, writing works of the Dutchman named J. Lameijn called Sunrise, which the article is very degrading the Dayak people. Passages were as follows.
“ …. Setelah habis pertcakapan itu, cukuplah pengetahuan saya tentang orang Dayak. Sebelum itu saya sudah tahu, bahwa orang Dayak itu amat kasar dan biadab tabiatnya. Kalau tiada terpaksa, tiadalah saja berani berjalan sendiri ditanahnya, karena tentulah saja akan kembali tiada berkepala lagi”.
".... Having finished the conversation, suffice my knowledge of the Dayaks. Before that I already knew, that the Dayaks were very rude and savage temperament. If there is no forced, Nor dare to walk alone ditanahnya course, because surely it will come back dead-headed again. "
Bad image of the Dayak community in perparah again with the emergence of ethnic riots that occurred in Kalimantan, which in large-scale exposure to out of the country (mainly via internet) regardless of the actual cause of the riots are only looking at based on the massacre that occurred, such as the riots in West Kalimantan (Sambas) and Central Kalimantan (Palangkaraya and Sampit). I myself was in Sampit city during the riots first broke out on February 18, 2001 and two days later I was in Palangkaraya, when I was a junior high school third grade. Based on my views on the ethnic riots in Sampit and Palangkaraya, where here I am not in favor of any tribe, but I prefer to see actual facts on the ground during my stay in Sampit from my childhood to the outbreak of conflict Sampit. Riots are not the result of intellectual figures who want to disrupt a state or feeling jealous because a particular ethnic Dayak tribe is more successful in earning a living in Borneo, but more to the injury of the Dayak community are buried feelings for years due to not appreciate that their culture Special Interest owned by a particular ethnic, until the pain of the injury can not be arrested again by the Dayak community and ultimately lead to the outbreak of the bloody conflict. Certain ethnic groups are supposed to better understand the proverb "Where dipijak earth, where sky upheld", instead of being arrogant and selfish and do not respect the local culture (cultural house that upholds the value of togetherness Special Interest, equal rights, mutual respect, and tolerance).
Now, the house is a dwelling betang Dayak people gradually disappeared in Borneo. Even if the occupants can still be found to no longer make it as a main house, where the family shelter, grow and share their stories with the community. Special Interest stay a distant memory for most of the Dayak. In some places scattered, the house is maintained as a place of Special Interest for the tourists. Call it, for example in Palangkaraya Special Interest there is a house built in the 1990s but rather seen as a monument that is not inhabited. Younger generation of Dayaks are now no longer living at home and grew up Special Interest (including myself). Special Interest is said to only be found in corners, the interior of Borneo without knowing the exact location. The statement of course implies that the home Special Interest only story of the tradition associated with backwardness and underdevelopment of the modern lifestyle.
