Indonesia's distinguished legacy of traditional medicines

By Kafil Yamin

BANDUNG (JP): Public access to "proper" medical services is reducing day by day due to the prolonged economic crisis. Not only is people's purchasing power diminishing, but also medicine stocks, which are mostly imported, have dried up.

Those who think that access to modern and scientific medical services means access to health and healing find that being well is costly. And so a drop in income is distressing.

Kesehatan itu mahal (health is expensive), an Indonesian popular expression, indicates anything but commerce-based medical values prescribed by many.

"The better-off prefer to be treated in European hospitals when they suffer from a disease, even when local hospitals, let alone traditional medicine, are still able to treat the disease," said Dr. Bulan Tresna, who is a member of the Independent Volunteers Network (Jari), a not-for-profit medical aid organization.

This situation has placed traditional medicine in an second- rate position. "We are fascinated with what comes from the West, while the West itself is switching to alternative medicines," Bulan added.

She drew attention to the Home Yopie traditional medicines, which sell better than western-style medicines in Germany. This is because the country's traditional medicine developed at the same time as modern curative treatments.

Indonesia is not inferior to Germany in its sources of traditional medicines, Bulan asserted. The difference is that both the government and the community here look down on the wealth of traditional medicinal treatments and do not develop them properly.

According to Taufik Razen, another Jari activist, traditional medicine has developed in positive ways over time. The introduction of many foreign elements in the past have enriched its existence.

Pictures of various examples of old medical botany were on display last week at the Savoy Homan Hotel, Bandung. Not only are the pictures extraordinary representations of various species of medical botany, they are also splendid works of art. The paintings were created from 1710 to 1810.

The paintings were taken from public medical books in Europe, which at that time, were in daily use.

During this period -- when scientific research started replacing superstition-based medical assumptions -- medical botany books drew attention to several species of trees from Asia, including Indonesia.

There is an illustration of a species Cinchona Official, taken from Woodville's Medical Botany (1805-1810), which was published in Britain. It is easy to place this Indonesian species. This tree is still popular today; locals call it Pohon Kina.

And then there are kunyit (turmeric), mawar kuning (yellow rose), bunga matahari (sunflower) and bunga terling (poppy). The latter species have turned out not be European-derived species, as originally thought.

Kunyit has long been used as an effective medicine for gastric and digestion problems in various parts of the country. Parts of the sunflower, meanwhile, have proved effective for heart-related illnesses.

It was not immediately clear when these spices and seeds migrated to the distant continent. Bulan Trisna predicts it took place during the 16th century, when European scientists traveled to Asia, including Indonesia. English scholar John Raffles, who belonged to this generation, is said to be one of the researchers who brought Indonesian species to Europe.

Razen disclosed that the old European scholars had only discovered a few species of Indonesia's abundant medical botany specimens. Numerous highly valued spices remain unexplored.

"Ironically, we have been unaware of their advantages until today. We are extremely slow to research (their properties), not because of incapacity, but due to unwillingness. We are lazy," Razen said.

He drew attention to Kalimantan, which is home to countless examples of medical botany as well as the traditional medics of its indigenous Dayak people. "They (the Dayaks) have extraordinary healing methods," Razen, who recently concluded his research in the area, asserted.

His research claimed the Dayak people possess a type of tree that can heal sufferers of the Acquired Immunological Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

The Dayak have since ancient times been able to treat malaria and diarrhea. "You've never heard them being attacked by the epidemic, even though they live in the jungle, but you've never learned from them," Razen added.

According to Razen, research must be intensified, because "we are not well aware of our own treasures".

More intensive research should also be applied to the already- developed traditional medicines like jamu.

Tresna said the development of jamu was relatively encouraging, but that standardization was urgently needed.

She said the packing and storage of most jamu failed to be carried out properly according to scientific principles. As a consequence, the traditional medicine is vulnerable to "aflatoxin" -- a fungus that is said to cause cancer.

Standardization is also urgent for street jamu; water used for suffusing the medicine is often not boiled.