Traditional cures get a boost due to crisis

By A. Ariobimo Nusantara

JAKARTA (JP): More people are turning to traditional medicines to cure what ails them as prices of generic and patented drugs soar.

Traditional drugs are not only more inexpensive than their modern, chemical cousins, but can be just as effective.

It should not just be a temporary measure for the duration of the crisis, but for the long term because the country enjoys a wealth of ingredients for traditional medicines. Lack of knowledge, information and promotion of their benefits often lead people to opt for chemical drugs.

It must be admitted that promotion has fallen short of the optimum, evidence by the fact that the bulk of expensive modern medicines are imported.

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Prominent jamu (herbal medicine) businesswoman Martha Tilaar has affirmed that the country is second only to Brazil in its abundance of natural materials for medicines. While our ancestors knew the benefits of spices and wild plants as material for medicine, much of this knowledge has been lost by a modernizing world population which has turned to chemical drugs to heal any ailments.

For generations, our ancestors tried to distinguish the characteristics of each plant they encountered. The application of traditional medicine has gone through a trial-and-error process requiring patience and accuracy as all parts of medicinal plants can be used for different purposes.

Part of a plant can be used on its own or mixed with other ingredients to create a healing agent. It is said that the Dayak Kenyah people of Central Kalimantan know some 200 species of medicinal and poisonous plants, out of 165 genres and 77 families.

Many dukun (healers) have extensive botanical and medical knowledge. Without technical records and analyses, they reference various signs and phenomena to determine the therapy for ailments.

Sri Purnomowati and Ambar Yoganingrum, researchers from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), recently studied the property, chemical content, botanical aspects and processing of temulawak (a kind of wild ginger).

They found that temulawak has anti-bacterial, anti-fungus, anti-diabetic, anti-diarrhea, anti-inflammation, anti- hepatotoxic, anti-oxydant and anti-tumor qualities. It also is an analgesic, depressant, diuretic, hypothermic, hypolipidemic and an insecticide. It has many other qualities as well.

Ubi jalar (sweet potatoes) are used to treat jaundice, weight problems, hypertension, diabetes, uric acid, constipation, eczema, sprains and is both an external and internal medication. Prof. Hembing Wijayakusuma, an expert in traditional medicine, says that "ubi jalar are low in calories, have a lot of water and are high in fiber. They can prevent the accumulation of fat in the blood and they are high in protein."

The medical potential of Indonesian flora is indeed well known throughout the world. It is not surprising that Dutch colonial records make frequent references to the archipelago's spices as attractive commodities for foreign traders. Dutch and other Western merchants targeted Maluku, Sulawesi and Sumatra for hundreds of years because the areas were known to be rich in spices.

'Jamu'

Knowledge of medicinal plants in Indonesia has been handed down from generation to generation. Medicinal plants can complement modern medications prescribed in the formal health sector. Indonesians refer to traditional medicine as jamu.

Jamu is sold in sidewalk tents and by roaming vendors, most of whom are women. Prices are affordable. With Rp 500 to Rp 1,000, a client can get medicine supposedly able to cure his or her ailment. Jamu vendors determine a suitable type of jamu to be used for headaches, muscle pains, constipation, etc. The herbal medicine is sometimes mixed with the yolk of a raw egg.

The various kinds of jamu are generally made by the vendors themselves based on their knowledge of medicinal plants which can be easily cultivated or bought in the market. Ingredients of various types of jamu include galingale, wine, ginger, sweet potatoes and other inexpensive material. With a small working capital, roaming jamu vendors can earn between Rp 30,000 and Rp 40,000 a day, depending on the number of raw eggs they must use.

Jamu vendors usually start work at 4:30 a.m. They peel and grind the raw materials for their treatments and then mix the various ingredients. Roaming vendors usually hawk their merchandise in residential areas, construction projects, markets and other busy places.

Jamu gendong, refers to jamu sold by women carrying their medicines on their back with a sling. These herbal medicines are a typical product of the Javanese community. It is said that initially the jamu was made according to a secret recipe of kraton (palace court) women in the 17th century to maintain health and beauty. The recipe was handed down only by word of mouth. Since the 1930s, however, this jamu has been produced commercially.

Jamu tenda, the jamu sold in sidewalk tents, is different. The vendors can be found on corners throughout metropolitan Jakarta waiting for their customers. Some of them set up huge tents with neon lights and loudspeakers to attract clients. These vendors usually have a bigger capital and are able to turn over more sales.

Sidewalk tent merchants often offer greater variety than roaming vendors. The ingredients are in packets produced by jamu factories and can be readily mixed with hot water. Benari, Kuku Bima, Ra Linu, Esha and BenKwat are trademarks constituting the avant garde of jamu traders.

The visitors of these jamu tents are generally men from the middle and lower classes of Jakarta. Some spend hours sitting in a tent, not unlike yuppies who relax in cafes. Jamu traders often lend a willing ear to the complaints of their clients before deciding on a solution to their problems.

Opportunity

The economic crisis may provide commercial opportunities to traditional medicine vendors. The head of the Directorate of Traditional Medicine Supervision at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Johny Ria Hutapea, told a seminar on traditional medicine in Semarang, Central Java, that there were nine types of traditional medicine that have been prioritized to complement modern drugs. The nine types of jamu are treatments for muscle pains, diarrhea, anemia, worms, diabetes, malaria, urolitiasis (bladder stones), hepatoprotector (liver problems) and hyperlipidemia (lipid content in hypertension).

In another seminar, Hadi S. Alikodra, an assistant to the minister of environment, recommended that scientists carry out research on medicinal plants in order to boost public confidence in traditional medicines. Scientists and scholars are needed to lend prominence to not only chemical drugs, but also traditional medicine, Hadi said.

The "back to nature" phenomenon is like a blessing in disguise for us. So far, Indonesians -- mainly the modern communities in big cities -- tend to look askance at the usefulness of traditional medicine and prefer to use relatively expensive modern drugs. Now that the economic crisis is raging and drugs are hard to afford, public awareness of traditional medicine is finally coming to the surface.

Scientific recognition of jamu would boost the possibility of obtaining significant foreign exchange through the export of traditional medicine. Apparently, we still have a lot to learn from China in this respect.