Traditional Medicine in Asia

used as bobak perut n for postnatal care.
After the bobok has been applied, the
abdomen should be twisted with a
bengkung. o The mother pays and leaves.
Shortly afterwards, a young mother in
modern dress comes to buy jamu for body
odour. The jamu seller takes out beluntas
leaves, turmeric, tamarind leaves and some
red sugar and asks the lady to boil these at
home. Many other buyers who purchase
jamu materials without asking for
compounding can also be seen.
Chinese herbalist (sin she)
A sin she is a Chinese herbalist skilled in
compounding jamu, as well as performing
acupuncture and acupressure. Usually he
compounds his jamu on his own, or asks
the patient to make the jamu according to
his recipes. A sin she does not always
provide the jamu himself; instead, he often
jots down some in Chinese on a piece of
paper, like a medical prescription. The
customer has to buy the material from a
Chinese drug store. The following is a
detailed account of how a sin she practises.
A sin she’s practice is relatively more
formal. His name and hours are written on
a board outside his clinic. Sin she‘s practise
mostly in big cities. The room in which a
sin she practises is like a physician’s clinic,
complete with a waiting room and an
examination room. An attendant admits
patients and is in charge of the administrative
procedures. Examination is
conducted according to traditional
Chinese medicine methods, i.e., by
anamnesis (asking about the patient’s
complaints and symptoms), and checking
the pulse at both wrists while continuing
with the anamnesis. Many patients are
treated with acupuncture or acupressure.
n Bobok perut consist of abdominal lubricants.
o Bengkung is a long cloth, about five metres long and 15 cm wide.
Traditional system of medicine in Indonesia
For this, the patient has to lie down on a
bed in a manner that facilitates the process
of puncturing the abdomen, back, legs
and hands.
For the sale of compound jamu, a sin
she charges a fee based on the price of
the ingredients. This charge is higher than
that of other traditional healers, as some
materials are imported from China.
Jamu based on Raw Material
Indonesia is a tropical country with forests
containing thousands of small and large
plants, and several species of animals. The
country’s natural resources, as well as its
cultural and ethnic variety, have had an
influence on the way traditional medicines
are prepared. Plants (herbal medicine),
animals and minerals are all used in the
preparation of traditional medicines.
Jamu from plants (herbal medicine)
Nearly all kinds of jamu produced by big
jamu industries, small-scale home
industries and herbalists are made from
medicinal plants (herbs). There are about
940 plant species that have therapeutic
effects, but the jamu industry uses only
about 200 species. In general, the plant
species used as jamu in different parts of
Indonesia are the same. However, some
areas have their own specifications in this
regard, e.g., kayu pasak bumi (earth
wooden pike) is used only in Kalimantan.
The jamu made by both industries and
herbalists usually utilizes a number of plant
species; rarely is just a single plant used.
The number of plant species used for a
particular kind of jamu usually ranges from
5–10. Certain jamus contain 30–40
species. Home-made jamu contains just
two to three plant species. 3, 4, 6
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