Page 47 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

Cancer is a fast-growing disease in Indonesia with over 190,000 new patients recorded each year.
Twenty-eight year old Risma Abednego was told she had cancer, a fist-sized tumour in her womb,
and her only chance was an operation—one she rejected. She was encouraged to seek out Bapak
Soetijono Darsosentono, a traditional healer in Yogyakarta, who specialized in curing cancer.
He gave her traditional medicine consisting of dried benalu (Loranthes sp.) and tapak dara
(rosy or Madagascar periwinkle; Catharanthus roseus) leaves. He told her to clean the leaves, boil
them and drink the water. She was to repeat the process with betel nut leaves. Smoking, drinking, and
the consumption of preserved, instant, spicy and sour foods, as well as lamb and seafood, were all
banned. For nine months, Risma consumed large amounts of soya in the form of tempe or tofu,
before returning to her doctor for a check-up. He noticed a great improvement. Eighteen months later
he pronounced her completely cured.
Patients treated by Bapak Soetijono Darsosentono are urged to continue taking the medicine
every day for five years. Risma developed cancer over 10 years ago but still drinks the healing brew
as an insurance policy and everyone in the house follows her healthy diet. Not surprisingly, she has
become an enthusiastic supporter of traditional medicine.

This ruling requires that commercial producers reduce complicated formulæ
for every curing jamu to five essential ingredients in order to simplify testing. It
also requires producers to standardize the active substance in each ingredient.
However, a lack of information as to how traditional herbs were originally
prepared hinders clarification. The government directive also states that clinical
trials for both medical drugs and traditional medicine must be conducted to the
same criteria; these are costly at the best of times, all the more so for jamu
products which have a comparatively low retail price.

As a concession to this expense, the government has announced that clinical
trials may be carried out at Sentra P3T (the Research Centre for the
Development and Application of Traditional Treatments) which has the authority
to legally authenticate any claims proven during official tests. Although fees for
trials here are less expensive than medical drug clinical trials, the cost of this
service is still considered beyond most budgets. Results from clinical trials that
have been undertaken highlight another important factor of jamu: its versatility.
Any one ingredient can be a base ingredient for a formula that addresses a wide
range of complaints.