A beginner's guide to Indonesian herbal medicine
Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing; Periplus Editions, 2001; Susan-Jane Beers; 192 pp; US$19.95;
JAKARTA (JP): The world of jamu, Indonesia's traditional herbal medicine, can be a daunting one for foreigners.
Approaching jamu without the benefit of having grown up with the tradition, it can seem a very esoteric world, as indecipherable as a doctor's writing on a prescription pad.
From the petite women walking around carrying baskets almost as large as themselves filled with bottles of thick and mysterious liquids to shops filled with packets and bottles of pills and powders, many foreigners choose to give the whole thing a miss in a case of "better safe than sorry".
But this attitude is beginning to fade as westerners increasingly look for alternatives to conventional medicine and health care, Susan-Jane Beers writes in her new book on Indonesia's healing tradition.
"As the media and the internet contribute towards improving awareness of health and fitness, patients are becoming more knowledgeable. Preventive and holistic medicine is on the rise, the practice of blindly adhering to orthodox drugs has now lost popularity. Medical herbalists are coming back into fashion as people are increasingly disillusioned with orthodox medicine ...."
With the West increasingly looking East for traditional healing practices, there is the problem that in many cases there is a lack of reference material available to westerners on these ancient traditions.
This is certainly the case with jamu, as the author herself discovered shortly after her arrival in Indonesia when she first became interested in this world of herbal healing.
Unable to find an English-language book on the subject, Beers' decided to fill the void. Some 10 years later the result is Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing.
The book is a good reference tool for those approaching the subject without any previous knowledge of the subject, which is to say non-Indonesians.
In plain language, Beers offers an overview of jamu and Indonesian traditional healing practices. She takes the reader from jamu's origins in the archipelago, its role in the daily lives of the people and the future of the industry, as Indonesia's jamu manufacturers begin to eye overseas markets.
Taking the approach that this is a book for those unfamiliar with the subject, many of the tips and explanations in the book are necessarily elementary. "Jamu is a holistic therapy. The concept of harmony -- balance between a person and their environment, or the balance between the hot and cold elements in the body -- means that both illness and medicines are divided into hot and cold categories."
This basic and straightforward approach works well in this case, making the book a bit of a primer on jamu.
Also of interest are the many sidebars interspersed through the book, with stories of real-life experiences with traditional healing practices in Indonesia, most involving foreigners, and profiles of different people involved in jamu, from sellers and practitioners to industry leaders such as Martha Tilaar.
Of particular use is the Appendix, which offers some simple remedies that can be tried at home for such complaints as a cough and an upset stomach, and a list of reputable jamu producers both here in Indonesia and abroad.
Beers has done a great service in compiling this extremely useful introduction to jamu. For those who are curious about this traditional form of healing but have been too afraid to ask, this book will be an invaluable guide to the world of jamu.
-- David Eyerly