Rumah Asal Raja Bilah

Rumah Asal Raja Bilah (18 June, 2011)


Rumah Asal Raja Bilah (GPS: 4.51551, 101.01278) is the home of Raja Bilah, a Mandailing nobleman who was a leader of the Mandailing community in Perak. It is located next to Rumah Besar, the clan house of the Mandailing community in Papan. Raja Bilah was the nephew of Raja Asal, the first Mandailing leader and founder of the Mandailing settlement in Papan.

Rumah Asal was built in 1882. It is different from the typical Perak Malay house (compare with the traditional houses in Taman Mini Malaysia). According to Namora Sende Loebis, the representative of the Mandailing All Clans Assembly for Malaysia and Singapore, the house was built to resemble a Raja's house in the Mandailing homeland. Perak Malays refer to such houses without front verandahs as "Rumah Mendeling".

The back portion of Rumah Asal is raised over a tobat, a pond with running water where fish is bred for the consumption of the household. This is a typical feature of houses in the Mandailing homeland.

Today an elderly descendant of Raja Bilah is still staying at the house. It is connected to the Rumah Besar by a flight of stairs. A short distance away is Masjid Kampung Papan.

The Rumah Asal, as seen next to the Rumah Besar (18 June, 2011)

Rumah Asal Raja Bilah is on the Map of Papan

Acknowledgement

I express my thanks to Law Siak Hong for helping visiting this house, and Namora Sende Loebis for graciously reviewing and commenting on the information provided in this article.

List of Historic Buildings in Papan, Historic Buildings in Perak and Historic Buildings in Malaysia

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