Читать книгу Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing - Susan-Jane Beers - Страница 10
ОглавлениеCHAPTER 2
Jamu in Daily Life
DESPITE THE DIVERSE RANGE OF OPINIONS ON THIS SENSITIVE TOPIC, THERE IS ONE COMMON PERCEPTION—THE MOST POPULAR TYPES OF JAMU ENHANCE AND IMPROVE SEXUAL PERFORMANCE.
So, what exactly is jamu? An easy reply to this question is jamu is Indonesian herbal medicine. But the answer is not that simple, particularly as it is widely believed that jamu is nothing more than a powerful aphrodisiac. Mention jamu in Asia and reactions vary from total dismissal and distrust, to amusement, knowing smiles or perhaps a lengthy discourse on its benefits. Even in Indonesia, people cannot agree on a definition. Everyone knows what jamu is, but each person draws the line in a different place between jamu, medicine and cosmetics. Each jamu may be applied in more than one way; its use depends on the complaint or need. It can be a herbal drink taken to prevent sickness, the answer to chronic illness or an infusion, distillation, brew or paste to treat lifeless hair.
Jamu has also been described as homeopathic medicine. Certainly, there are similarities: both are holistic and plant-based. But the similarity ends there; homeopathy’s basic principle of diluting the remedy with upwards of 99 parts alcohol hardly fits with jamu-making techniques or Islamic laws on alcohol. Jamu covers a dazzling array of drinks, pills, capsules and powders said to cure nearly every disease known to man. Indonesian Department of Health officials describes it as “any curing mixture that is taken internally”—certainly a neat definition. Healthcare professionals have their own interpretations, whilst many small-scale producers and even large-scale manufacturers categorize their cosmetics and beauty products as jamu.
Jamu can be used on its own or in conjunction with other healing techniques such as massage. Its advantage is that, if correctly administered, it has no side effects and, according to most Javanese, it is highly effective. Despite the diverse range of opinions on this sensitive topic, there is one common perception—the most popular types of jamu enhance and improve sexual performance.
The Philosophy Behind the Healing
To the outsider, Indonesian herbal medicine appears to be an extremely complex form of healing, combining spiritual, religious, mystical, magical and herbal elements.
Ibu BRA Mooryati Soedibyo, President Director of jamu manufacturer Mustika Ratu and Chairman of the Indonesian Jamu and Traditional Medicine Association tries to summarize it: “Indonesians who believe in God and his powers understand the mythology of jamu in people’s lives. God created human beings and provided for their physical health and welfare. According to ecological concepts, nature is meant to prolong life, and life depends on how people use their senses and instincts. Instincts teach us that if there is darkness there must be light; if there is disease there must be a cure; if there is poison there must be an antidote.”
Islam (and Indonesia has the largest Muslim population of any country in the world) embraces the concept that healing the sick is the highest form of service to God. The Qur’an states: “Nature has been created by God for humankind to exploit and use for its good purposes.... God sent down a treatment for every ailment.” In this way, both religion and the natural world are harnessed for the making of jamu.
However, even before Islam came to Indonesia in the 14th century, the maintenance of inner and outer harmony was considered essential to good health. Thus, when Islam arrived, it simply reinforced these beliefs. Being ill in the spiritual sense is an ailment for which the average Westerner would not take medicine; but, according to both Javanese and Balinese understanding of ‘health’, there are many different ‘cures’ (just as there are many different causes) for such ailments.
THE MOST POPULAR JAMU TYPES
Acnarin, for removing pimples and marks on face; produced by Jamu Indonesia Simona.
Antangin, for the common cold; produced by Deltomed Laboratories.
Busterin, for increasing and beautifying the bust, and for stimulating lactation in breast-feeding mothers; produced by Jamu Indonesia Simona.
em kapsul, for women’s health and pains in menstruation; produced by Jamu Borobudur.
esha, to increase spirits and stamina; produced by Jamu Jago.
galian putri, for women’s all-round health and beauty; produced by Jamu Air Mancur, Nyonya Meneer.
Jamu Temu lawak, a mild antiseptic wash to help prevent food poisoning; produced by Nyonya Meneer (see above).
kurkumino, to protect and help the function of the liver; produced by Jamu Ibu.
masuk Angin, to prevent influenza; produced by Jamu Cap Jago, Jamu Sido Muncul, Nyonya Meneer.
mustika rapet, for good sexual health and performance; produced by Jamu Air Mancur.
pegal linu, for rheumatism; produced by Jamu Cap Jago, Jamu Air Mancur, Nyonya Meneer, Jamu Sido Muncul, Jamu Sari Ayu.
prolipid, for reducing cholesterol; produced by Indofarma.
ralinu, to relieve pain, fatigue and muscle stiffness; produced by Jamu Air Mancur.
Sehat lelaki, for keeping men in prime form; produced by Jamu Sido Muncul.
Susut perut, to firm the tummy; produced by Berial Sumber Medica, Jamu Sari Ayu, Mustika Ratu.
wulandari, a fertility treatment; produced by Jamu Sari Ayu.
A JAMU GENDONG IN THE CAPITAL CITY
Thirty-five year old Ibu Jatiatun, or Bu Atun as she is known, is a typical example of a jamu gendong working in a large city. She came originally from a small village near Semarang, an area that is famous for its jamu. Because she did not perform well academically, she dropped out of school when she was 10, something she now bitterly regrets. Fortunately, thanks to an aunt who had a fine reputation as a jamu-maker, Bu Atun acquired the basics of jamu.
“From my 65-year-old grandmother to my youngest daughter—we all drink Beras Kencur and Kunir Asem every day and occasionally one of the bitter recipes, and we are very healthy,” she announces proudly. “But then my jamu is very safe. All raw materials are boiled before grinding.”
“My daughter helps me with the jamu,” explains Bu Atun.“We usually make just two kinds and start preparing the night before because I leave on my first round at about 7 am and I’m normally back by 9 am; it takes about two hours to sell everything.”Bu Atun makes a second batch of jamu in the afternoon ready for her 4–6 pm sales round in another district.
Although Bu Atun says she never accepts special orders, she does occasionally make a bitter brew from papaya leaves, a concoction which she says is good for flu. “However, it’s important to drink lots of water with papaya leaves to counteract the bitterness,” she stresses. She also makes Jamu Sirih to treat white vaginal discharge—a problem that affects many women in the tropics from time to time. It’s simply a matter of adding betel leaves to the basic Beras Kencur recipe.
Other interesting jamu in Bu Atun’s repertoire are Jamu Tujuh Laos, which helps cure rheumatism; Jamu Sehat Wanita recommended for women’s health; as well as jamu for amenorrhoea, and a recipe for coughs. She also makes a mix called Cekok, which is produced from a base of Beras Kencur. Although this tastes terrible, it helps small children get back their appetite after an illness.
People who are overweight or women wishing to tighten their stomachs also seek her help. She prepares concoctions from starfruit (Averrhoa carambola) for lowering high blood pressure, and other brews to raise it. Bu Atun suggests patients should consult a medical doctor if they are seriously ill, but says many people prefer to take the jamu gendong ’s advice for such chronic problems as migraine or white discharge.
Since moving to Jakarta, Bu Atun has been able to earn a better living than she would have done if she had stayed in her village. She also sets aside either Thursday or Sunday to perform massage—her grandmother taught her urut (see page 94)—which brings in extra money. Although most of the massages are not meant specifically for healing, Bu Atun does perform a special massage for women with sagging or painful wombs which she—and many of her patients—consider very effective.
Considering the substantial weight of a fully laden basket of jamu, I asked how long Bu Atun felt she would—and could—continue this work.
“As long as I’m strong enough, I’ll keep going.” was her confident reply.
A Holistic Approach
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. The herbalist’s skill lies in contrasting a hot illness with the appropriate cold medicine and vice versa; hot medicine cures a cold illness and cold medicine is recommended for a hot illness. Jamu prescriptions always follow this rule, which is why there is a catalogue of antonyms: hot and cold; sweet and sour; bitter and sugary; strong and weak. Similarly, if a formula is developed to treat a specific problem in one organ of the body, the effect on the rest of the system must always be taken into consideration. The numerous leaves, roots or barks in a single jamu comprise three categories: the main ingredients, the supporting ingredients and those that are added simply to improve the taste of the jamu. Once mixed and administered, all the ingredients interact together to work on the symptoms.
Jamu has four basic functions. It treats particular illnesses (problems as varied as kidney stones, cervical cancer or diarrhoea); it maintains continuing good health (through the promotion of blood circulation and increased metabolism); it relieves aches and pains (by reducing inflammation or by aiding digestive problems); and it also addresses particular malfunctions in the body (such as lack of fertility or unpleasant body odour). Sometimes it can be multi-functional: for example, a jamu may be a general tonic, but it also acts as an antiseptic to prevent stomach infections.
Jamu is not an overnight remedy. Results can only be achieved with regular use over a period of time. And because the ‘cure’ is gradual, patients do not usually experience any side effects. Some jamu are made from poisonous herbs and if they are not made up and administered correctly, they can be potentially toxic. The herbalist’s art lies in knowing how to neutralize these poisonous elements to produce a powerful and curative medicine. Sometimes, jamu will be taken alongside a course of traditional massage to speed up the healing process.
Who Uses Jamu?
Practically every Javanese wo man and many Javanese men use jamu on a regular basis. Jamu is recommended for anything from making skin soft and glowing, to producing a tight vagina. It removes body odour—ask for a deodorant in Java and you are likely to be handed herbal pills. There is jamu for “ensuring harmonious marriage” and one to enhance any number of female charms. A woman is advised to drink Jamu Kamajaya-Kamaratih (‘God of Love–Goddess of Love’) before marriage in order to “become a housewife loved by her husband”. Judging by one copywriter’s claim for Jamu Indonesia Simona’s Extra Super Venus, no woman should be without it. “It goes without saying that every wife desires her husband’s love and attention. But she should also know that every husband desires to see his wife looking fresh, neat, vivacious, healthy, charming and fascinating, even though blessed with many children. If she knows the secret she will not put off taking Extra Super Venus from this moment!”
But not only women swear by jamu: men also worry about their looks and libido, and jamu is widely used to enhance male virility. Indonesian men may well have been amused by the intense publicity given to Viagra, the 1998 ‘wonder drug’ for impotence; they’ve had their own such remedies for generations. The number of men who queue for their daily dose of Jamu Laki Laki (the ‘Man’s Medicine’, said to keep a man in peak condition) make it one of the most popular drinks. There are pills that promise to “create new energy, man becomes more manly”, while another brand professes to change the lives of men who are “sadly lacking in that manly power to perform their part in coitus in spite of the fact that their desires still existed”.
The choice of remedies is enormous. There are creams for increasing the size of an erection along with specific directions concerning the massage techniques a woman should use to apply the cream. One helpful taxi driver from Surabaya cheerfully expanded on this theme to me and explained he personally swore by Kuda-Laut or ‘Seahorse Jamu’. Indonesian men also enthusiastically consume jamu to lose weight or to become healthier. Whilst it specializes in enhancing sexual performance, jamu can also cure bloodshot eyes or stiff limbs, reduce hangover headaches, relieve indigestion, stomach upsets, flu, colds and a host of other problems.
HOW JAMU WORKS
“The method of (jamu) treatment is very different from the conventional Western approach. In Western medicine drugs usually act to kill an infection, while jamu encourages the body to produce its own antibodies. In other words, jamu acts as a catalyst and does not replace the body’s functions. The cure comes from within.” —Part of an interview with Dutch healer, Father Lukman (see page 117).
However delicately (or bluntly) the notion is expressed, many of these lotions, potions and pills were developed to increase or enhance sexual performance. Why did appearance and sexual attraction become an obsession in Indonesia, an Islamic country where traditional values are extremely strong? The answer may lie in the position that Indonesian men hold in the family unit—one that can assume a quasi-godlike status. This attitude is reinforced by Islamic law, a law that allows men to acquire up to four wives provided they can support them adequately. If a man isn’t wealthy (and 80 per cent of the population are not), he will often acquire additional wives before discovering his income cannot cope with the expense. Thus wives can become expendable. In the past, Islam made it relatively easy for men to obtain a divorce and the unlucky wives would be left without a breadwinner, usually with young families to support. Often, the husband simply disappeared to start afresh elsewhere.
Given these circumstances, it’s no wonder a wife works hard to hold her husband’s attention. Since many men, including Indonesians, usually favour younger girls, the chances of discarded, older wives finding other partners are severely limited. In the past, Indonesian women were raised to accept this situation and turn a blind eye if husbands strayed. This way of life often led to early marriage and informal divorce, and it is still common to find women who have had two or three husbands before the age of 30. With the onus on a wife to keep her man by whatever means, jamu is a formidable ally. For centuries, jamu was made almost exclusively by women, often for women; these specialized herbalists catered to their own female needs and focused the jamu on ways to retain youth and beauty. Indonesian custom dictates that female health and beauty are inextricably bound up with a woman’s role as wife and mother, which means sex is a key element in the equation. Naturally, jamu reflects these beliefs and is biased in favour of good health, beauty, marital harmony, sex and large families. Staying attractive was (and often still is) of economic as well as social importance.
TIPS FOR JAMU USERS
Straining the Brew Some jamu mixtures can leave a residue if not filtered. An example is jamu godok, or dried jamu. Instructions normally state that two glasses of water should be added to the dried roots and barks and the mixture boiled till the liquid reduces to one glassful. Then, it should be sieved before it is drunk.
Ibu Hennie’s mother had been cheerfully drinking this kind of jamu for years when she was diagnosed as having a gallstone. The doctor told her it was impossible to grind down raw ingredients finely enough in some jamu godok; consequently anyone drinking large quantities over a long period could face problems. Liquids pass out of the body whereas residue from the powdered leaves and bark in jamu godok remains in the system. In her case the residue had built up and eventually formed a stone.
Refreshing the Mixture for Good Results Home-made jamu can go bad if it’s left lying around too long. To ensure its safety, boil up the mixture again and let the powder sink to the bottom of the saucepan or glass before drinking it.
Like herbal medicine in other countries, jamu is used mainly as a preventative measure rather than as a cure. It is believed that the various herbs promote good health and purify the blood. Even though some people question their ability to cure, most have their favourite recipe.
Regulating the Industry
The fact that jamu has been empirically, not scientifically, proven has led Indonesian doctors, pharmacists and government health officials to advocate a more scientific approach to the manufacture and prescription of jamu. They insist that claims for herbal medicine must be verified using clinical trials. They also urge that tests must be based on sound pharmacological principles which examine the type, effectiveness, kinetic absorption, metabolism, excretion and the working mechanism of the product, as well as a medicine’s therapeutic use. Exhaustive scientific studies are necessary because no matter how natural their source, jamu medicines are still chemical substances which, doctors constantly remind us, “influence the life process”.
In 1981, the government set up eight designated herbal medicine testing centres for the development and application of traditional medicine in Java, Sulawesi, Sumatra and Bali. Their brief was the scientific study of commercially manufactured products, with a view to ascertaining whether their healing claims were valid or not. At present, the centres employ two methods of testing. The first deals with the bioactive screening of crude and fractioned extracts. The second, which is called the chemical approach, includes step-by-step experiments that extract, separate, isolate and purify ingredients; the process is technically described as structural elucidation, theoretical deduction of bioactivity and pharmacological testing. It is believed that such trials will bring scientific credibility to a subject that has—up to now— been cloaked in mystery.
Jamu was given further credibility in the late 1980s when an investigative centre opened in Yogyakarta, home of traditional medicine. In answer to popular requests for research and analysis of jamu, Professor Dr Koesnadi Hardjasoemantri, then Director of Gadjah Mada University, set up the Research Centre for Traditional Medicine at the university. The Centre’s task is to evaluate traditional medicine, produce experimental batches, train jamu technical staff and develop raw materials. In addition, it now includes massage and acupuncture in its brief. The Centre has also adopted an educational role and operates courses on jamu making in villages throughout Central Java to help small producers improve hygiene and quality.
A Fair Trial
Clinical trials have been implemented in Indonesia, but it is a complex, Herculean task. Not only can a jamu formula consist of 40 or more ingredients, but each may contain a dozen or more chemical components. In addition to the active ingredients, there are secondary, inactive items, used to render the medicine palatable or to mask unpleasant odours. And, as Professor Sutarjadi, founder of Post-Graduate Studies at the University of Airlangga in Surabaya, points out, ingredients from different parts of Java will probably have different properties as soil, climate and altitude differ radically from one area to another.
In terms of manpower and economic resources, the task of analysing and qualifying jamu ingredients and formulæ is colossal. Detractors argue that the industry should not be burdened with such extra requirements when most Indonesians have accepted jamu at face value for centuries. To simplify research, the Indonesian Ministry of Health introduced a new ruling in the late 1990s under the heading ‘Phytopharmaca’, which loosely translates as ‘Active Plant Ingredients’.
IBU RISMA AND THE ROSY PERIWINKLE
Cancer is a fast-growing disease in Indonesia with over 190,000 new patients recorded each year. Twenty-eight year old Risma Abednego was told she had cancer, a fist-sized tumour in her womb, and her only chance was an operation—one she rejected. She was encouraged to seek out Bapak Soetijono Darsosentono, a traditional healer in Yogyakarta, who specialized in curing cancer.
He gave her traditional medicine consisting of dried benalu (Loranthes sp.) and tapak dara (rosy or Madagascar periwinkle; Catharanthus roseus) leaves. He told her to clean the leaves, boil them and drink the water. She was to repeat the process with betel nut leaves. Smoking, drinking, and the consumption of preserved, instant, spicy and sour foods, as well as lamb and seafood, were all banned. For nine months, Risma consumed large amounts of soya in the form of tempe or tofu, before returning to her doctor for a check-up. He noticed a great improvement. Eighteen months later he pronounced her completely cured.
Patients treated by Bapak Soetijono Darsosentono are urged to continue taking the medicine every day for five years. Risma developed cancer over 10 years ago but still drinks the healing brew as an insurance policy and everyone in the house follows her healthy diet. Not surprisingly, she has become an enthusiastic supporter of traditional medicine.
This ruling requires that commercial producers reduce complicated formulæ for every curing jamu to five essential ingredients in order to simplify testing. It also requires producers to standardize the active substance in each ingredient. However, a lack of information as to how traditional herbs were originally prepared hinders clarification. The government directive also states that clinical trials for both medical drugs and traditional medicine must be conducted to the same criteria; these are costly at the best of times, all the more so for jamu products which have a comparatively low retail price.
As a concession to this expense, the government has announced that clinical trials may be carried out at Sentra P3T (the Research Centre for the Development and Application of Traditional Treatments) which has the authority to legally authenticate any claims proven during official tests. Although fees for trials here are less expensive than medical drug clinical trials, the cost of this service is still considered beyond most budgets. Results from clinical trials that have been undertaken highlight another important factor of jamu: its versatility. Any one ingredient can be a base ingredient for a formula that addresses a wide range of complaints.
Doctors at Sentra P3T have conducted a number of preliminary clinical trials on selected remedies. The list includes garlic (bawang putih; Allium sativum) for hypertension; caricature plant (handeuleum; graptophyllum pictum) for haemorrhoids; guava leaves (jambu biji; psidium guajava) for diarrhoea; round turmeric (temu lawak; curcuma xanthorrhiza) for chronic hepatitis and osteoarthritis; cashew nut fruit (kacang mede; Anacardium occidentale) to reduce pain in acute toothache; and pare fruit or bitter gourd (momordica charantia) to treat diabetes mellitus.
The Research Centre for Traditional Medicine in Yogyakarta has also completed the first phase of a study to evaluate the effect of cashew nut leaves in treating rheumatoid arthritis and hypertension. Similar work is being carried out on turmeric (kunir; curcuma domestica) and its potential to cure ulcers, and to confirm whether the juice of bitter gourd can help diabetes sufferers. In addition, the research programme is studying dosages, especially as regards Westerners, who may need smaller quantities than people who have taken herbal medicines from birth.
In the early 1990s, the Toray Foundation in Bandung carried out a scientific study to find out whether the very popular product, Pegal Linu (see page 10) had any positive effect on the health of becak (trishaw) drivers whose complaints included aches, pains, rheumatics and fatigue. Pegal Linu is composed of, amongst other things, turmeric, ginger, galangal and pepper. The investigating team concluded that it made a substantial difference to the drivers, as it restored energy and reduced muscular pain significantly.
Assuming scientists manage, despite all the obstacles, to complete their experiments and publish their findings, they are more than likely to face a barrage of abuse from the various jamu companies who protest that competitors will steal the formulæ if results list chemical components. Yet, notwithstanding all these difficulties, the government continues with its testing programmes, owing to an increasing awareness of the export potential of the country’s myriad jamu products.
The Professional Viewpoint
For Indonesians, Western medicine is a recent and expensive phenomenon. Not only are allopathic drugs and ointments well beyond the pocket of the average Indonesian, but they are not a tempting alternative to jamu which has been used successfully for generations.
Although there are detractors who consider herbal medicine ineffective, jamu is gaining ground. There is no doubt that jamu mixtures are full of active, natural ingredients such as vitamins A, C and E, all of which contribute to overall well-being. Indeed many of the barks, leaves, roots, stems, flowers, seeds and minerals used come straight from the country’s tropical rainforests, where there is no pollution or pesticides and hence are at their purest and most potent.
The accusation that jamu is ‘not scientifically proven’ is still often made by the medical profession. Perhaps it is not proven in the same terms as we expect from Western medicine, but the results speak for themselves. The medical profession should note that without the benefit of expensive modern products, Javanese women are amazingly well preserved despite having given birth to large families. Unlike their Western counterparts, who often remain overweight after giving birth, Indonesian mothers soon regain their pre-pregnancy form. They take a course of jamu, after-birth massage and binding, and will use up to ten different jamu formulæ internally and externally for 40 days to cleanse the body, contract the muscles, lose weight, or—as instructions on one after-birth jamu pack state—“restore vigour and reinforce sex appeal”. Six weeks later, these women are back in pre-pregnancy shape. How many Western women can say the same after the birth of a child?
As we have noted, the Indonesian Government has been instrumental in persuading the medical profession to consider jamu seriously and research the range of products. Among these professionals, there are many doctors, both Western and Indonesian-trained, who never go without their daily potion of jamu. Admitting it is another matter. Many consume herbal drinks in secret because they feel that endorsing jamu does not sit well with their image as modern, medical practitioners. Modern-thinking patients might lose faith in their doctor if they had the slightest notion he believed in jamu. There are doctors, however, that recognize the efficacy of traditional medicine and prescribe jamu herbs without disclosing that fact to their patients. These pills are not supplied by recognized jamu makers but made on prescription at the local pharmacy; these concoctions include popular and successful jamu ingredients (such as turmeric or ginger).
Acceptance by Westerners
Until recently, most Westerners have been cautious about using jamu. Some are afraid that medicines produced in a developing country may not be safe or hygienic. Up to now such details as methods, dosage and active ingredients have been irrelevant to villagers who have used jamu for centuries: jamu cures—that is all they need to know. But the producers of jamu want to go beyond the villages, and even beyond the borders of the country.
Now that the government has imposed clinical trials and has set up research centres, it is believed that attitudes to traditional medicine will change. After all, any inexpensive system of medicine that purports to solve any problem, from curing arthritis or frigidity, hypertension or cancer, to improving fertility or regulating the appetite, improving the hair and helping a teenage girl adjust to puberty, is worth investigating on all levels. Jamu’s reputation has already turned it into an important export to the Netherlands, but figures have only touched on what is destined to become a vast industry. It is no accident that the herbs used in Indonesian preparations frequently form the basis of many Western medicines, and it is no coincidence that Anita Roddick, founder of Bodyshop, spent many years researching for her health and beauty products in Indonesia.
Choosing Ingredients
Traditionally Indonesian jamu was made on a daily basis by the women of the house. This was essential before refrigeration and the habit has stuck. The quality of the ingredients plays as important a part in producing effective jamu as their freshness. Even today, an Indonesian housewife may take a quick stroll round her garden to collect the extra jamu ingredients she cannot find in the market or the ones she needs in minuscule amounts. She believes home-made is best, insisting that many sellers cut cost by skimping on expensive, active ingredients like the rhizome of kencur (resurrection lily; Kaempferia galanga).
Whether her recipes are passed down through the family or are derived from books, there is a degree of elasticity in all the formulæ and measuring ingredients can vary. Some recipes state the number of ons (equivalent to 100 g); another method is to state the amount in terms of ‘fingers, a thumb or a handful’; yet others state quantities by price (Rp 200 betel leaf, Rp 100 sugar and so on). This is fairly haphazard unless you know the price of herbs when the book was written, and particularly so since the drastic devaluation of the currency in 1997/98. However, most Indonesians are familiar with the vagaries of the terminology and have learned through experience.
While the simplicity of jamu-making is often stressed—after all, what is easier than mixing up an effective cure from ingredients growing in the garden—it is, in reality, complex and has many pitfalls. Recipes and ingredients appear deceptively easy to the newcomer, keen to experiment. First-timers would be advised to enlist the aid of either a jamu seller or a herbalist, or simply take the remedies rather than try to make them.
For instance, sugar is an important base ingredient in many healing recipes. Indonesian jamu is made from three types of sugar. gula batu (rock sugar; Saccharum officinarum) is refined white sugar. gula Jawa or gula merah (coconut sugar; cocos nucifera) is made from the sap of young coconut trees and cooked at high temperatures to produce its brown colour. The syrup is left to cool and harden in empty coconut shells and assumes the discus-like shape. The third variety, gula Aren (palm sugar), is the queen of sugars, made from the pure sap of a young Aren tree (Arenga pinnata). Its colour changes from white to brown during cooking and the solid sugar is shaped into small cylinders before it reaches shops and market stalls. This sugar is the most expensive of the three, but many women refuse to settle for anything less, for they say the cheaper types of sugar affect the taste and quality of their jamu. This criticism is sometimes levelled at jamu gendong (herbal tonic street sellers) who often substitute a factory-made synthetic similar to saccharin, which is said to cause coughs.
More problems may arise for the jamu novice with the simplification of common names in Indonesia. For example, the ingredients manis jangan, kayu manis and kayu legi all translate into English as ‘sweet wood’ but each is different botanically. Kayu manis (cinnamomum zeylanicum) and manis jangan (cinnamomum burmanii) are respectively the Indonesian and Javanese names for the sweet-tasting wood we know in the West as cinnamon: both are used in jamu. However, kayu legi is Javanese for a sweet bark that has no flavour, is brown outside, white in the centre and is used for general cooking (Chinese liquorice; glycyrrhiza glabra).
Fresh Jamu
Many Indonesians will drink jamu only in the form of finely chopped herbs, or powder mixed with water, because these are deemed closest to the natural herbal state and therefore more effective. For these adepts, traditional medicine in a pre-packed, ready-to-swallow form holds no attraction. They put up with the inconvenience of making these mixtures and accept their often bitter, unpalatable taste. The reluctant jamu taker will find that adding a pinch of salt to the glass lessens the shock to the tastebuds. A slice of lemon or a little honey is also recommended. Sieving the jamu through muslin gets rid of the indigestible, floating remains. A seasoned jamu drinker will down a glass in one, which reduces exposure to the, frankly, often disgusting taste. Eating a piece of fruit, especially a banana or papaya, is suggested to remove the aftertaste. Fresh and natural are the key words in these preparations.
Commercial growth, however, has meant these old ways are not always practical, especially for city dwellers. To meet the demands of the urban market, larger producers process over 700 tons of ingredients into jamu pills and capsules each month. Modern manufacturing methods enable factories to produce sufficient quantities to make export a possibility. And while reluctance by the old school to share health and beauty secrets with outsiders hampered the industry in its infancy, this problem has now been overcome by the pressures of an expanding economy. The lure of overseas markets is proving stronger than the mysticism that once surrounded jamu. If the end product has a longer shelf life, the horizons for export are limitless.
A GLOSSARY OF COMMON INDONESIAN TERMS
| air • water | kampung • village |
| arang • charcoal | kraton • palace |
| Bapak (or Pak) • polite form of address for an elder man | minyak • oil |
| nasi • cooked rice | |
| daun • leaf | obat • medicine |
| dukun • healer/traditional doctor | pasar • market |
| gula • sugar | pisang • banana |
| Ibu (or Bu) • polite form of address for a woman | pilis • compress |
| jamu gendong • jamu seller | toko • shop |
Choosing and Drinking Jamu
Whatever one’s needs, jamu can almost certainly supply an answer, but it may require experimentation to find the right manufacturer. Pegal Linu, for instance, concocted by one manufacturer to counteract rheumatism and tiredness, may make no difference to symptoms, whilst the same medicine produced by another company could bring instant relief. Experimentation with products from different companies is often necessary. Furthermore, manufacturers warn that jamu works slowly, on the basis of the body’s self-healing capabilities, and it may take up to two months before results are noticed.
Then there is the problem of how to take the potion. Jamu is steeped in folklore that is respected but rarely explained. For example, why is jamu drunk standing up straight with one’s big toes crossed? Few people know the answer: most can only reply that it is tradition. Yet they still do it! One school of thought insists that jamu must be drunk facing the sun. This accords with the principles relating to spiritual energy, where the sun is a symbol of light and divine power, representing the oneness of everything. On a more pragmatic level, the sun warms the body, automatically relaxing the muscles and enabling the body’s systems to absorb the herbs more efficiently.
Herbalists warn never to drink jamu with alcohol because the latter dissolves the jamu, thus cancelling out its benefits. Furthermore, freshly ground roots and powders may sink to the bottom of a glass and end up being washed down the sink: the solution is to stir and drink the mixture immediately. To make jamu more potent, some advise whisking in a fresh chicken or quail egg (but not duck or turtle eggs). This is a popular addition to many powdered jamu and is normally mixed into Jamu Cabe Puyang (an abbreviation of cabe jawa, the fruit of piper retrofractum, a type of pepper, and lempuyang pahit, the rhizome of the bitter ginger, zingiber amaricans). Jamu Cabe Puyang is often prescribed for people who are run down.
The right jamu gendong or seller is the best route to successful jamu taking. It is expected that the jamu gendong will pose a number of questions to ascertain whether an ailment might be related to other complaints, due to pregnancy, vaccinations, and so on, and therefore will have a better idea which jamu is most suitable. A lack of experience can lead to the wrong mixture which, not surprisingly, will not work.
Rituals that Govern Jamu
As with many traditions, jamu has its fair share of superstitions that must be addressed to eliminate potential dangers or to ensure the he aling properties of the medicine. Many of these beliefs stem from practical considerations: some are long since lost, others are easier to recognize. It is not just a question of adding an extra ingredient or the angle you face when taking a potion: it is what might happen if you do not. For instance, it is believed that if a woman breaks her grinding stone, disaster will befall her household. To prevent this, she must then walk around the house, naked, seven times. For the Javanese household, jamu is vital and if a wife breaks her tools, there is no way to protect against ills. Likewise, no self-respecting housewife will leave her pestle and mortar on the doorstep because her husband, coming home after a day’s work in the rice fields, could trip over it, break his neck and be unable to support his family.
Another superstition states that quantities of an ingredient have to be twice “the number of the day when born”. This presents an unusual problem nowadays as the Javanese calendar is based on the five-day week. The normal seven-day week is made to fit into this by simple addition. For example, a Javanese woman would understand that if she was born on Saturday Pahing 9, and the recipe called for twice that amount, she has to add 18 ingredients to a recipe. Conflicting with this is the superstition that ingredients must be of an odd number. Thus you may include one or three handfuls of an ingredient, or one or five cups of liquid, but never two. Some recipes for jamu furthermore require the preparation of the medicine by a girl who has yet to start menstruating—yet another hurdle.
A CAUTIONARY TALE
It is vital to follow instructions when mixing jamu. Barbara Johnson, an American who has lived in Jakarta for many years, discovered this at her own expense. Although Barbara has a fine figure she noticed the beginnings of cellulite on the back of her thighs. Mentioning this to an Indonesian friend, she was amazed when a pack of dried roots and herbs arrived at her house a few days later. “This is for the cellulite,” her friend said. “I’ve used it for years and it works wonders.”
Barbara asked her maids, village girls with experience of jamu, to prepare the drink and promptly forgot about it. She later found a glass of black liquid in the fridge and, enquiring what it was, learned that it was her jamu. Naturally she was keen to see whether this foul-tasting brew was effective and drank it all down only to realize minutes later that she’d made a big mistake.
Barbara was rushed to hospital, having burned her throat, oesophagus and intestines to such an extent that she couldn’t go home for six weeks. She says the only good part of this tale was the result. “When I looked in the mirror I discovered there was not one single ounce of cellulite anywhere on my body. The cure was incredible in more ways than one.”
Why did this happen? Apparently Barbara had consumed about three weeks’ supply of jamu in one draught, because the girls had accidentally made the mixture far too strong.
Other beliefs concern the need for additional ingredients for pregnant women. They are advised to include the powdered egg shells of newly-hatched, healthy chickens and carbonized mouse nests in their jamu. The egg shells are included in the hope that the baby will be equally healthy; they provide additional calcium while the carbon helps absorb toxins. The mouse nests were believed to make birthing as easy as that of a mouse.
Jamu also features in Javanese wedding ceremonies in which the bride’s mother presents a newly married couple with a box or botekan containing various seeds, rhizomes and dried cuttings from traditional medicinal plants and spices. Traditionally, these should be used on the first day of marriage and, more importantly, be planted in the garden of the couple’s new home. This gesture is a mother’s last symbolic effort to provide a healthy life for her daughter.
Old beliefs are not in short supply. Some believed that ingredients had to be ground in the home of the person drinking the jamu. However, if that person did not possess a grinding stone, the jamu maker had to decide whether it was appropriate to make the jamu in his or her own home before delivering it to the client. It was also considered part of the cure for the jamu maker to give the jamu directly to the recipient. If it was a paste, the maker would clean the grinding stone with her hands, and then rub a little of the mixture onto the patient’s skin. If the medicine was to be drunk, the jamu maker would put a little of the ground mixture into the glass of jamu with her fingers before the patient was allowed to take it.
Government Regulations
In the interests of safety, the government advises that only those brands of jamu carrying the Indonesian Food and Drug Control Directorate (the DepKes RI number) on the packet should be consumed. (DepKes is the acronym for the Departemen Kesehatan, the Department of Health and RI stands for Republic of Indonesia.) These registration numbers (issued also by the Departemen Kesehatan) must, by law, be printed on every bottle or packet. The number is issued only after the product has been tested by government laboratories and met a stringent set of requirements. If the name or formula of the jamu changes after registration the whole process must be repeated.
The Department of Health regularly buys herbal medicine from retail outlets to verify that products are not sold after their expiry date and then submits these samples for testing by its team of pharmacists to ensure standards of quality control and storage conditions have been met. Some smaller producers, however, simply cannot afford to pay the DepKes registration fees but still make excellent jamu. In this instance a specialist jamu shop should be able to offer advice.
The government now insists every jamu and herbal medicine company employs a qualified pharmacist (or assistant pharmacist) to ensure professional quality control. It has laid down that the word jamu and not obat (which means any type of medicine, either natural, as in jamu, or chemical) must be printed on packages of anything that has not been scientifically and clinically tested. In addition, manufacturers are not allowed to advertise that a certain illness can be cured by a specific manufactured jamu. An example of this policy concerns a Slimming Tea. Not only have customers successfully lost weight using this jamu, but it has been scientifically proven that it reduces cholesterol levels too. However, government regulations prevent manufacturers from publicizing this because the product is categorized as jamu, not obat.
DepKes regulations stipulate pharmaceutical and medical terminology cannot be used to describe the use and effectiveness of jamu. Any claims on behalf of the product must be in simple, everyday language. Generally, an interval of at least one hour, if not four hours, should separate the consumption of more than one type of jamu.
A Question of Authenticity
As a general rule, it is better to stick with reputable brand names unless the person making up the medicine has been recommended as entirely trustworthy. There are extremely good healers who do not have the advantage of scientific staff and machinery, but one needs to be sure they really are experts. There are stories of manufacturers who have added a hefty dose of steroids to the concoction. The result may be effective in the short term but it certainly is not safe. A guarded approach is essential, because it is easy to pick someone who is a charlatan.
Another area for concern is the proliferation of one type of night warung, small stalls that usually stay open all night in Indonesia. Illegal jamu is big business. The sellers are well known to locals in Bali or Yogyakarta and are occasionally found in Jakarta. As their products are illegal, these traders are expert at uprooting themselves and disappearing at the first sign of police. If undisturbed, they make an extremely good living and the benefits outweigh the risks. However, they sell an exceedingly strong jamu that can be highly dangerous. It is similar to a fermented wine or beer and is famous, according to Indonesians, for ‘making men strong’. It is one of the few jamu with side effects. If you notice a group of men reeling and singing around a night stall, chances are they have been working on their virility because the fermented drink makes customers exceedingly drunk. Foreigners do not have to worry about stumbling across these sellers because they would never let a Westerner buy their jamu. They are equally reluctant to sell to an Indonesian woman who arrives on her own, but will serve her if she is with her husband.
There are also more or less legitimate sellers who think they can improve on original recipes. One such vendor in Menteng Dalam, North Jakarta has a reputation for selling exceedingly good jamu made using an electric blender; he attracts huge queues of regular customers in the morning rush hour. What is so unique about this jamu? The seller adds a Bodrex tablet (a trade name for paracetamol) to the blender with every glass of jamu even though it is illegal to mix jamu with chemical drugs. On its own, this is not such a bad thing as many Western doctors recommend a small dosage of paracetamol each day. The real problem is that good jamu is so carefully concocted that if it is tampered with, toxic chemical reactions are liable to occur.
Pharmacists on the staff of Indonesia’s major cosmetic and herbal medicine manufacturers warn against jamu that is not stored properly. When jamu becomes damp, perfect conditions exist for poisonous fungi to develop in the bottle or packet. For this reason, manufacturers seal their packets and bottles thoroughly and instruct retailers not to exceed the sell-by dates.
Currently there is no systematic approach to traditional medicine in Indonesia, which is why manufacturer Martina Berto has set up scientific procedures to standardize jamu at every stage of research and production. Before launching a new product, the research and development staff test the jamu by taking the recommended dose themselves. It will only be launched if no negative physiological effects result. In addition, they carry out efficacy as well as toxicity studies (including acute and sub-acute toxicity studies) and the product is carefully monitored once it enters the marketplace. They are not alone in moving towards more stringent regulations: major competitors such as Nyonya Meneer have also instigated quality controls that inspire confidence. There are charlatans in any country and the Indonesian Jamu Association constantly warns the public against using illegally manufactured products and advises buying exclusively from the 500 brands on its own register.
A CHANGE OF CAREER AND CHANGE IN FORTUNES
An educated woman, Ibu Sri is forty-two years old and has sold jamu for the past five years. She started life as an elementary school teacher but couldn’t manage on such a small salary. After various unsatisfactory jobs, Ibu Sri worked her way through books on jamu making and experimented for over a year until she was satisfied with the results. Because these were cures for serious illness as opposed to recipes to keep the body healthy, she verified the complicated formulæ with her cousin, a doctor, to be sure the mixtures were safe.
