'Jamu' business started pure and simple

'Jamu' business started pure and simple

JAKARTA (JP): It all started probably with those pretty women
who have been going around town with a basket of bottles tied to
their back for centuries.

It is said that these women are capable of conversing with
trees and plants who whisper back to them numerous secrets
wrapped in leaves, stored in roots and lying hidden in barks. Due
to their closeness to the lush green bounty around them, these
women have always been allowed to occasionally pluck a flower or
two, some fruits and creepers to twist them and turn them, to
dry, powder and store them away.

Later jamu (medicinal drinks) made from these resins and roots
were sold door to door. To this day the first caller of the day
often is the jamu lady at many a home where she is immediately
surrounded by customers in search of drinks that are said to help
them wake up without a headache, cold or general fatigue.

The belief that beauty is nothing but a healthy soul inside a
healthy body has come down from indigenous animistic times and is
still respected here and practiced to this day in its original
form. From village to village and from mother to daughter the
powers of traditional medicine have been passed on for eons. As
present day entrepreneurs combine ancient knowledge of
health and beauty with modern technology, the followers of herbal
medicine too have crossed all national boundaries to become a
global cult, conveniently having blended in with the new age
movement that demands for a return, back to nature.

It is in fact the village woman who generously introduced her
knowledge of the wonders of the healing properties of Nature in
to the royal kitchen, a class that went on to guard the recipes
of health and beauty as if with their very life. For hundreds of
years the bounties of nature became a preserve only of the rich
as the poor villager was forbidden to live life as was taught to
him by his ancestors.

Although the names of Mooryati and Martha Tilaar are
repeatedly mentioned as the two reigning queens of cosmetics
here, it is Nyonya Meneer who is the natural mother of the modern
industry.

Born in Sidoarjo in 1895, she got her name after having craved
for nothing except menir, or the fine residue of grain left after
the husk is thrashed away from rice, during her pregnancy. Later
she used recipes handed down to her from her family to cure her
husband of a chronic illness. Astounded at her own success at
playing doctor, the simple but caring Nyonya started treating
other patients as well.

As her healing hands gained popularity it became impossible
for her to see all of her patients. She founded Jamu Jawa Asli
Cap Portret Nyonya Meneer in Semarang in 1919, a company selling
cures made by herself. The marketing strategy of printing her
photo on every body bottle paid off as buyers felt that the
healer was actually with them as they drank the life
saving brew.

Started by a housewife, the owner today of the large Nyonya
Meneer medical firm is businessman Alvin Lie. It was around 1930
that factory-made traditional medicine spread around the country,
mainly to combat the flood of expensive, imported medicines here.

Today packaged jamu with brand names such as Meneer and
Mustika Ratu are a multimillion rupiah industry. There was
a time when the industry grew unchecked like a creeper, without
regulations, and tempted many quacks to join in to make a quick
buck.

In 1963 the government stepped in to impose restrictions on
what could sell as jamu, defining it as "indigenous Indonesian
medicine" and inspiring manufacturers to outdo each other in
quality and variety. A few years later the government even made
policies to encourage entrepreneurs engaged in the non-oil and
gas export sectors, boosting businesses here.

Today cosmetics are valued as a thriving, economic commodity,
the government having set an annual 20 percent growth rate for
cosmetics manufacture. About 65 percent of the country's cosmetic
producers remain small and medium enterprises, running their
business, often, manually. The remaining 35 percent are larger
companies that have invested in modern technology to produce
their wares, peddling them worldwide, even making it one of the
most enduring survivors of the economic crisis.

Jamu manufacturers from Central Java, the heart of traditional
cosmetics country, are also looking to reap rewards from
exporting their products.

One of the officials from the Central Java Jamu Manufacturers
Association said in January the products were enjoyed by foreign
consumers because they were considered safe and chemical free.

"In anticipation, many jamu producers are producing more
products for the export market, on average almost 35 percent from
total production," Stefanus Handoyo Putro told Bisnis Indonesia.

He added the jamu business survived the prolonged economic
crisis, even though it was at times difficult to source
materials, and production increased annually.

"On average production of jamu in the last two years increased
from 5 percent to 10 percent, with the export market growing with
additional consumers." (Mehru Jaffer)