There are only a few wood species available in the world which are 100% guaranteed termite resistant. These wood species can only be found in Africa and South America, but definitely NOT in Indonesia, however, there are a few Indonesian hardwood wood species which will give some protection.

Termites eat the cellulose from the wood cells. The harder these cells the less interested they are in their dinner. Any tree has a core called heartwood. This is the hardest part of a tree. There are only four wood species in Indonesia which have a core so dense and hard that termites don’t eat it. These species are Bojonegoro Teak, Bangkirai, Merbau and Iron wood. However, as is the case with all trees the outer rings (called sap wood) are soft or softer than the core (heartwood). Termites do not attack heartwood but they attack the juicier and softer sapwood. The solution would be that we only buy heartwood from our suppliers, however, so unfortunate, this is merely a mission impossible, since the suppliers do not want to be left with only a stock of sap wood. As such the suppliers mix the wood in portions of heartwood and sapwood (*). As a result we cannot guarantee that all the wood that we use is not susceptible to termite attacks.

However, there is also good news. When one of the above mentioned wood species is used in combination with a termimesh system you will be 100% safe for many, many years to come. You may read more about this termimesh system <here>

Main conclusion: You shall never believe that a house built from Indonesian hardwood is 100% safe to termite attacks, at least we are not promoting this, unless a termimesh system is applied (mandatory for Hawaii). 

(*) Some suppliers allow us to buy only heartwood, however, against a 30% higher price.