Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing. Susan-Jane Beers
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”.