Page 169 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

Today, she is an extremely attractive woman in her early sixties. Those who meet her for the
first time invariably remark on her flawless skin, impeccable grooming, personal style and
magnetism. Her transition from teacher to tycoon began in 1964, when Martha Tilaar married a
fellow teacher. The comfortable life she had previously taken for granted evaporated as the reality of
life married to an academic set in. Although Alex Tilaar soon accepted a prestigious five-year
scholarship in education and philosophy in the States, the financial situation changed little. Martha,
however, began working as a child minder to married students with families. Once she had managed
to save sufficient money, she enrolled in a course at Bloomington’s Academy of Beauty Culture. To
help cover costs, she worked as an Avon lady in her spare time, selling cosmetics door-to-door. It was
a tough learning curve, but when she graduated in 1968, Martha Tilaar had mastered the skills
necessary to start her own beauty business. Jakarta in the 1970s, she felt, was ready for a Western-
style beauty salon.
The salon she created was far removed from Jakarta’s norm. Air conditioning, hot and cold
running water, and an American approach ensured Jakarta’s elite boosted Martha Tilaar’s burgeoning
business. Clearly, she had found her métier. The temptation to expand was irresistible. Beauty is a
volatile market and the fledgling entrepreneur knew if she wanted her business to grow, she would
soon have to review her strategy. For this purpose, she took a trip to Europe where she met Dutch
cosmetologist, Dr Van Der Hoog, who convinced her that the ‘back-to-nature’ movement was the
cosmetic trend of the future. He further pointed out that Indonesia had the finest store of natural
ingredients in the world. Martha realized that the resources, and the markets, were indeed in her own
country.
At the same time, after years of trying for a baby, and having resorted to the use of jamu over a
few years, Martha discovered she was pregnant at last. Where modern gynæcology had been unable
to help, homespun jamu had proven successful. A second child soon followed. As with many other
modern Indonesian women, the new mother began to re-evaluate the medicine of her ancestors, but
was initially thwarted by the stigma attached to it. The prevailing attitude was summed up by a
wealthy society lady: “My driver goes to the shop every morning and buys me a glass of fresh jamu
but I always drink it in the car where no one can see me.”
Martha Tilaar’s problem was how to improve commercial jamu’s image. Steeped in mystery,
celebrated for its culture, mystic traditions, the elegance and legendary beauty of royal women, the
life in Javanese royal courts is still regarded with awe and wonder by Indonesians and foreigners
alike. Martha Tilaar thus realized that if jamu had an association with the ancient palaces of Central
Java, it would gain prestige.
However, the formulæ responsible for royal beauty were closely guarded and kept strictly
within palace walls. Martha Tilaar sought an audience with the Queen of Mangkoenegoro Palace in
Solo to plead her case and became the first person outside royal circles to be entrusted with the much
coveted secret formulæ. After a year of intense experimentation, she was ready to launch the new
range, named Sari Ayu, or Essence of Beauty. Despite her efforts, the product was not an instant
success; preconceptions concerning home-made and budget priced products were among factors that
deterred sales.
Further research took Martha Tilaar to the palace of Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX in
Yogyakarta, where she spent hours poring over ancient Javanese manuscripts. She learned that for
generations Javanese court ladies had followed a total health and beauty regime based on the concept
of Rupasampat Wahya Bhiantara, inner and outer beauty. “In Indonesia beauty is brought out from
the inside. A woman does not have to be born beautiful to be beautiful, but she must know how to
bring out her beauty.” This was the key to repositioning Sari Ayu.
This change proved to be successful and in 1981 Martha Tilaar opened her first factory, today
considered a model for the blossoming industry. Her vision was to re-create tradition but this time by
combining natural ingredients with modern research, production techniques and strict quality control.
Based on these principles, Sari Ayu took Total Beauty straight out of history and presented it to the
women of Indonesia. Brilliant, romantic, magical—no wonder they clamoured for it. Demand