Bring coconut oil when you see a `dukun'
Bring coconut oil when you see a `dukun'
JAKARTA (JP): Have you ever heard of a dukun patah tulang?
To those not familiar with Bahasa Indonesia, these three words
may sound like a riddle, but they actually denote a medicine man
whose specialty is the therapy of fractured bones.
Although most Indonesians are familiar with the term, not many
of them may know exactly how this kind of therapy is executed.
Complicated handling such as blood transfusions or other
medical injections are not part of a dukun's way of putting
together fractured bones.
Imagine yourself a dukun's patient. He carefully examines your
injuries. Then he asks for some pure coconut oil to be brought
before him. The oil is considered "consecrated" and effective for
curing after the dukun concentrates his mind and says a short
prayer.
Once again he focuses his attention on you, and with another
short prayer the dukun massages the oil into the painful parts of
your body, beginning with the most serious ones, such as a
fractured limb.
He then gives you a list of seven kinds of food which are
taboo to eat during the therapeutic process. He asks you to have
all the painful parts of your body massaged with the oil three
times daily, and to return when the fluid is used up.
This constitutes one round. It may last up to nine days,
depending on the quantity of the vegetable oil you put at the
dukun's disposal for "consecration."
Similar treatment is given the next time you visit the dukun.
When you feel completely cured, then there is no need to go
back to the dukun. This kind of therapy boasts an astonishingly
high cure rate.
Perhaps most striking is that the stages of recovery are much
shorter than relying on modern medical treatment.
Viewed in this light, Indonesia's so-called magical treatment
of fractured bones is not just a step but even several steps
ahead of Western scientific therapeutical practices.
Nevertheless, be warned that not all physicians are of the
same high standard of quality, efficiency, responsibility and
dedication, as is the case with the dukun patah tulang.
--A. Muhardjo