Glancing At Traditional Weapons Called Jamu To Fight COVID-19

Photo illustration (Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - "Now, my guests, morning, noon, and night I give the drink. Not tea, but I replace ginger, ginger, lemongrass, turmeric, mix together."

That was said by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) when he opened The 2nd Asian Agriculture & Food Forum at the Presidential Palace, Friday, March 12. For Jokowi, herbal medicine as a traditional herb is the key to maintaining endurance and increasing immunity, two important factors to ward off COVID-19.

Not just once. Jokowi has promoted herbal medicine as the spearhead to guard against COVID-19 many times. In fact, if we look at the past few days, Jokowi has given the herbal medicine he himself made to three COVID-19 patients who have been declared cured. By the Minister of Health, the herbal medicine was given directly to COVID-19 patients cases 01, 02, and 03.

"Once again, thank the health of our brothers, patients 01, 02, and 03. I came here to bring gifts from the President, in the form of herbs from the President himself," said Terawan at RSPI Sulianti Saroso, Monday, March 16.

Jokowi's efforts to introduce herbal medicine to Indonesian citizens have been successful. The proof is that almost every traditional market or supermarket that sells spices, the basic ingredients of herbal medicine, was attacked by residents. As a result, spices are as scarce as masks and hand sanitizers.

Australian media, abc.net illustrates this condition. "In Australia, toilet paper is the target. However, in Indonesia, the demand for ginger and other spices has suddenly soared amid the COVID-19 outbreak."

Illustration (Don Shin / Unsplash)

"Herb"

Regarding the term herbal medicine, Achmad Sunjayadi in a book entitled (Not) Tabu di Nusantara (2018), explains the term herbal medicine which comes from the abbreviation of two words in Old Javanese, namely "djampi" and "oesodo". Djampi means healing using medicinal ingredients and prayers (ajian). Meanwhile, "oesodo" means health.

Achmad Sunjayadi added, herbal medicine is a traditional herb where all the ingredients are picked directly from nature. "Traditional herbal medicine uses ingredients from natural plants that grow and are found in the archipelago without the use of additives (chemical substances)."

So, even though there is no scientific evidence that herbal medicine is able to ward off COVID-19, the collective memory of the Indonesian people has brought herbal medicine to an important position in the fight against COVID-19 today. However, herbal medicine has become ingrained in the consumption of herbs in Indonesian society. Especially when the use of herbal medicine was exemplified by a president.

The presence of herbal medicine in the archipelago has existed before the colonial era. This is evidenced by the existence of reliefs at Borobudur Temple which are said to have been built in the 9th century. In more detail, the description was written by the founder of the Indonesian Museum, Jaya Suprana in the book "100 Years of the Archipelago" (2000). The story is told in an article entitled Jamu: Present, Past and Future.

Jaya Suprana revealed, if people look carefully at the reliefs in Borobudur Temple, "we can find the Kalpataru tree as a symbol of life. Near the kalpaltaru tree, there is a relief scene of people gathering, pounding, memilis, as the process of preparing herbal concoctions. "

Interestingly, in the same relief group, instructions for the use of herbal medicine for adults and children were also found, as well as recommendations for the regular and continuous use of herbal medicine. The existence of these reliefs is evidence of the longevity of herbal medicine, even before the advent of the modern national herbal industry.

Initially, parents only gave herbal medicine to their children to maintain health. There are also herbs that are given by wives to their husbands which usually have healthy, fit and strong sexual properties.

Besides that, wives also consume herbal medicine for themselves for the sake of freshness, beauty and household sexual happiness. "Initially, herbal medicine was made individually as a do-it-by-yourself product in each household," wrote Jaya Suprana.

Due to the habit of drinking herbal medicine, some European researchers later came and studied herbal medicine. The unique thing is that most of the information related to herbal medicine is obtained from Indo-European women, herbal medicine sellers in the market and traditional healers.

Jamu then became more and more popular when many Europeans intermarried. That's where the mixture of cultures, including modern foreign and local medicine meets. Thus, the Indonesian people's penchant for herbal medicine was contagious, carried over to them by Europeans.

The proof, can be seen in the 17th century, when a VOC doctor in Batavia, Jacobus Bontius, began to pay attention to herbal medicine through the presence of a book entitled De dicina Indorum (1642). There is also Mevrouw JMC Kloppenburg-Versteegh (1862-1948) who likes to record traditional medicines, especially herbal medicine in the 19th century.

He doesn't just store that knowledge in his brain. Mevrouw spawned a famous and best-selling masterpiece of his time; Indische planten en haar geneeskracht (1907).

Even so, not a few also disliked and were even annoyed with the popularity of herbal medicine at that time. The reason, classic, is the racial division between them Europeans and the natives. As a result, most Europeans are reluctant to consume herbal medicine. Therefore, for several decades, herbal medicine was replaced by western medicine.

In fact, herbal medicine and western medicine can actually collaborate or can complement, support and complement each other in order to help people stay healthy. Even at these times, when the threat of spreading COVID-19 is widespread. Could it be, herbal medicine is really the key, as long as the government has the courage to take an action called "research".