“Jamu” The Traditional Medicine From Indonesia

Jamu, Madame, Sir!” .That’s how a slim, young woman carrying a heavy basketful of bottles tied up on her back greets her clients from door to door at a Jakarta neighborhood every morning. The lady, wearing the Javanese traditional dress called kebaya and batik sarong, is selling the traditional Indonesian herbal medicine known as jamu. Indonesia has the world’s largest biodiversity with around 140 million hectares of rainforest. Therefore, nature is deeply rooted in the life of the people culturally, socially and economically. Traditional herbalmedicine derived from leaves, fruits, roots, seeds, flowers or tree barks, has been widely used since ancient times.

Thousands of jamu ladies roam Indonesia’s narrow streets and kampongs (hamlets), off ering a glass of freshly prepared herbal medicine, which is usually mixed with raw egg and honey. In addition to the ‘mobile’ jamu ladies, there are also many jamu stalls almost everywhere. In addition to homemade fresh jamu, the jamu vendors also offer herbal medicine produced by jamu manufacturers. At present, one could easily buy ready-made jamu packed in powder form, as pills, capsules, tonics, oil and ointments. Jamu is used to treat a wide variety of ailments ranging from fatigue and headache to malaria. It also supplies the body with vitamin C, cleanses the blood, keeps the body in good shape,and makes the skin smooth.

Jamu consumers come from every class of society, from the poor to the rich, those who live in villages or those who live in the big cities. Indonesians like to consume jamu due to its availability and comparatively cheap price. Jamu is usually consumed in liquid form and in some cases is applied externally such as on the skin or forehead. The traditional methods of making jamu such as by boiling the prepared herbal ingredients still prevail in the country. The popular traditional tools of making jamu by using a clay pot and grater are still available in many families.As part of the national family welfare program, each neighborhood has been encouraged to have a medicinal plants garden to supply residents who need to treat their family members. The garden is also aimed at preserving the medicinal plants.

The traditional knowledge of Jamu making is also passed to the younger generations. Among common herbs used in jamu prescriptions are ginger(Zingiber offi cinale), wild ginger(Curcuma cautkeridza), turmeric(Curcuma domestica), greater galingale (Kaempferia galanga), kumis kucing (Orthosiphon aristatus), bengle (Zingiber bevifalium), secang(Caesalpinia sappan hinn), brotowali(Tiospora rumpii boerl), calamondin(Citrae aurantifalia sivingle),cinnamon (Gijeyzahyza glabra), and

alang-alang (Gramineae).Traditional medicine may be seen as a product of the twofold wealthof Indonesia: its biodiversity andits cultural diversity. With a view to maintaining this diversity and ensuring the long-term future of

the country’s health care system, Indonesia needs to devise a program for the sustainable use of medicinal plants. The authors have identified seven urgent needs. Indonesia is an archipelagocomprising some 17,000 islands.

Although it covers only 1.3% of the earth’s surface, it contains almost 15% of all higher plants, as well as a significant share of the world’s animal diversity. Indonesia is one of the world’s top two mega-centers of biodiversity (alongside Brazil). It is also a country of enormous cultural diversity.

Among its 210 million inhabitants, there are no fewer than 336 diff erent cultures, speaking over 250 languages. The fact that the country is an archipelago has serious implications to the country’s politics, economy and infrastructure. Indonesian governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) foster the use of the rich natural resources that are to be found all over the country, in an eff ort to make it less dependent on imports. For purposes of this article we will focus on the Indonesian flora, specifically those plants which have therapeutic properties.

The Indonesian Country Study on Biodiversity (ICSBD, 1993) puts the number of species of flowering plants in Indonesia at between 25,000 and 30,000. Some 10% of the total fl ora of Indonesia is thought to have medicinal value. Some 40 million Indonesians depend directly on biodiversity, and Indonesian communities make use of around 6,000 plant species, 1,000 animal species and 100 microbe species on the day to day basis (State Ministry for Environment1997; Government of the Republic of Indonesia 1997). Many plants which are useful for medicinal purposes have been imported, together with details of their use. In some cases this has led to the development of new uses, while formerly unknown species are regularly integrated into traditional Indonesian medical systems.