Kabut pagi di Hutan Desa Mantaren I masih tebal ketika suara parang menebas ranting kering terdengar di kejauhan. “Hati-hati, jangan injak akar ini,” ujar Lampang, LPHD Gohong sambil menunjuk seutas akar yang melilit batang pohon. “Ini bajakah kalalawit. Dulu, orang tua kami selalu bilang, akar ini penyembuh segala penyakit.”
Hasil penggalian data Climate, Community, Biodiversity (CCB) menunjukkan bahwa masyarakat empat hutan desa di Kecamatan Kahayan Hilir Gohong, Buntoi, Kalawa, dan Mantaren I, memiliki keyakinan kuat pada tanda-tanda hidup yang terpancar dari gambut. Kabut yang menggantung rendah setiap pagi dan aroma tanah basah setelah hujan bukan sekadar cuaca; bagi mereka itu adalah napas hutan yang tetap berdenyut.
Tim Patroli Inisiatif Kahayan Hilir memotong batang bajakah digunakan simpanan obat dirumah. Sumber foto: KPSHK.
Pada sela pohon meranti muda, batang-batang bajakah menjalar seperti urat nadi yang menjaga kehidupan tetap mengalir. Tumbuhan itu dikenal sebagai akar kehidupan warisan pengetahuan leluhur tentang obat alamiah yang kini mulai langka seiring menyusutnya tutupan hutan.
Laporan Inventarisasi Keanekaragaman Hayati pada empat Hutan Desa di Kahayan Hilir mencatat keberadaan sejumlah spesies tumbuhan obat penting: akar-akaran bajakah (kalalawit) yang dipercaya bermanfaat untuk obat kanker dan panas dalam; akar kuning untuk penyakit kuning dan malaria; rotan hutan (uei namei) untuk gangguan perut atau diare; serta akar karamunting yang digunakan bagi penyembuhan luka luar.
Bajakah (Uncaria leucadendra) menjadi yang paling terkenal di antara semuanya. Warna batangnya, masyarakat mengenali tiga jenis: bajakah merah, putih, dan kuning. Jenis kalalawit dipercaya ampuh untuk meredakan sakit pinggang dan bahkan mengobati kanker. “Kalau dulu mencari bajakah tidak susah,” kata Pirit, Ketua LPHD Mantaren I sambil tersenyum pahit, “tapi sekarang, harus jalan berjam-jam ke dalam hutan, karena hutan yang tersisa tinggal sedikit.”
Menurut warga, bajakah biasanya tumbuh di bawah naungan pepohonan besar, terutama di hutan sekunder yang lembap dan tidak sering terbakar. Selain bajakah, ada pula kulit kayu halaban untuk sakit perut, teken parei untuk jamu kebugaran, dan jamur hitam yang digunakan untuk mengobati luka dan kanker kulit. Semua bahan obat ini, menurut laporan patroli Tim Penjaga Hutan Mantaren I, “tersebar di dalam dan di luar hutan desa (hutan produksi dan APL).”
Namun, perubahan lanskap membuat pencarian bahan obat semakin sulit. “Dulu kami bisa pulang membawa beberapa ikat bajakah, sekarang satu saja sudah syukur,” ujar Purnawati, warga Kalawa yang masih mempraktikkan pengobatan tradisional. Ia mengeluh belum adanya aturan desa yang melindungi sumber daya alam lokal: “Belum ada perdes, jadi siapa pun bisa ambil dari hutan.”
Padahal, bagi masyarakat Kahayan Hilir, bajakah bukan sekadar tumbuhan obat. Ia adalah simbol hubungan manusia dan hutan pengetahuan yang diwariskan secara turun-temurun. Akar yang menjalar di bawah tanah itu seolah menggambarkan keterikatan antara tubuh manusia dan tubuh bumi.
“Kalau hutan hilang, bajakah juga hilang,” tutur Lampang sambil menatap batang kalalawit yang melingkar di pohon galam. “Dan kalau bajakah hilang, kita kehilangan bagian dari diri kita sendiri.”
Kini, di tengah upaya restorasi gambut dan penguatan ekonomi lokal, kisah bajakah menjadi pengingat bahwa pengetahuan tradisional dan konservasi harus berjalan beriringan. Sebab di setiap serat akarnya, tersimpan pelajaran lama: hutan bukan hanya tempat hidup, tapi juga sumber penyembuhan bagi tubuh dan bagi bumi.
Penulis: Alma
The morning mist in the Mantaren I Village Forest was still thick when the sound of a machete chopping dry branches was heard in the distance. “Be careful not to step on this root,” said Lampang, head of LPHD Gohong, pointing to a root twining around a tree trunk. “This is bajakah kalalawit. Our elders always said this root is a cure for all diseases.”
The data collected through the Climate, Community, Biodiversity (CCB) assessment indicates that the communities of four village forests in Kahayan Hilir District—Gohong, Buntoi, Kalawa, and Mantaren I—hold a strong belief in the signs of life radiating from the peatlands. The low-hanging mist every morning and the scent of wet earth after the rain are not merely weather; for them, it is the continuing heartbeat of the forest.
The Kahayan Hilir Initiative Patrol Team cutting bajakah stems to be stored as medicine at home. Photo source: KPSHK.
Among the young meranti trees, the bajakah stems creep like veins keeping life flowing. This plant is known as the “root of life”—a legacy of ancestral knowledge about natural medicine that is now becoming scarce as forest cover shrinks.
The Biodiversity Inventory Report for the four Village Forests in Kahayan Hilir notes the presence of several important medicinal plant species: bajakah roots (kalalawit) believed to be beneficial for cancer and “internal heat” (fever/inflammation); yellow root (akar kuning) for jaundice and malaria; forest rattan (uei namei) for stomach problems or diarrhea; and akar karamunting (Melastoma root) used for healing external wounds.
Bajakah (Uncaria leucadendra) is the most famous of all. Based on the color of its stem, the community recognizes three types: red, white, and yellow bajakah. The kalalawit type is believed to be potent for relieving back pain and even treating cancer. “It wasn’t difficult to find bajakah back then,” said Pirit, head of LPHD Mantaren I, with a bitter smile, “but now, you have to walk for hours deep into the forest, because there is very little forest left.”
According to residents, bajakah usually grows under the shade of large trees, especially in damp, non-frequently burned secondary forests. Besides bajakah, there are also halaban bark for stomach aches, teken parei for fitness tonic (jamu kebugaran), and black mushroom used to treat wounds and skin cancer. All these medicinal ingredients, according to the patrol report of the Mantaren I Forest Keeper Team, “are scattered inside and outside the village forest (production forest and APL [Area Penggunaan Lain/Other Use Area]).”
However, landscape changes are making the search for medicinal ingredients increasingly difficult. “We used to return home carrying several bundles of bajakah; now, we are grateful for just one,” said Purnawati, a Kalawa resident who still practices traditional medicine. She complains about the lack of a village regulation to protect local natural resources: “There is no village regulation (perdes), so anyone can take it from the forest.”
Yet, for the people of Kahayan Hilir, bajakah is not just a medicinal plant. It is a symbol of the relationship between humans and the forest—knowledge passed down through generations. The root creeping under the ground seems to reflect the connection between the human body and the body of the earth.
“If the forest is gone, bajakah will be gone too,” said Lampang, gazing at the kalalawit stem circling the galam tree. “And if bajakah is gone, we lose a part of ourselves.”
Now, amidst efforts to restore the peatland and strengthen the local economy, the story of bajakah serves as a reminder that traditional knowledge and conservation must go hand in hand. For in every fiber of its root, an old lesson is stored: the forest is not only a place to live but also a source of healing for the body and the earth.
Author: Alma
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