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span class="inline inline-left">JPMany protected traditional buildings and houses in the batik heritage village of Laweyan, Surakarta, Central Java, are in poor condition due to lack of adequate maintenance and mismanagement.

This has raised concern, especially because Laweyan, home of hundreds of traditional houses aged between 50 and 100 years old, has been named as a cultural preserve according to Surakarta Mayor Decree No. 646/1997 on historical sites in the municipality.

“What is concerning is that it has become a renowned tourist destination in Solo [nickname for Surakarta] and has the potential to be further developed,” said Alfa Fabela Priyatmono, chairman of the Laweyan Batik Village development forum.

He said the village had been in existence since the 15th century, during the golden era of the Pajang Kingdom, and was later developed into an area where many rich, large-scale batik merchants lived.

He blamed the poor condition of the protected houses on jealousy among the heirs of the rich batik merchants from the past, few of whom were willing to care for the houses and chose not to maintain them.

As a result, many parts of the houses including the floor tiles, windows, doors and roofing tiles are damaged or missing. Such housing conditions are normally associated with houses belonging to the economically poor. They account for some 30 percent of the existing houses.

This does not mean that the houses belonging to wealthy heirs are free from damage. In some cases, the inherited houses are maintained quite well. Physically, however, they have been changed and have taken on modern appearances.

“They don’t realize that this is not the way a heritage building is maintained,” Alfa said, suggesting that familiarization on the matter was urgent to educate heritage building owners on how to best maintain them.

He also suggested that incentives were needed to be offered to owners who were too poor to maintain their culturally protected properties.

The head of the municipal Spatial Planning Agency’s heritage conservation division, Mufti Raharjo, said that owners of protected heritage buildings had to consult with the authorities when they wanted to alter their houses.

“They are not allowed to physically change the look of the building much,” Mufti said.

He said that when a heritage building belonged to a private owner, the municipal administration did not have the authority to interfere in the maintenance of it. “We respect the ownership status,” he said.

According to the Mayor Decree No. 646/1997, Surakarta has 70 heritage objects comprising buildings, tourist objects, public facilities and regions. Of them, 43 belong to the municipal administration while the rest are privately owned.

He said that for heritage objects belonging to the municipal administration or the palace institution, there was usually no problem with maintenance. Problems, he said, emerged when they belonged to private owners.

“Their maintenance depends very much on the economic status and condition of the respective owners,” he said.