Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Indonesia's Ancient
System of Herbal Healing
Better Known?
By Ian Lloyd Neubauer |Wednesday, Feb. 29,
2012
don't
meet
standards.
That
hasn't
stopped
entrepreneurs from buying raw herbal
materials in Indonesia, processing them in
India and Malaysia and selling them in the
U.K. a market Indonesian-made jamu
products can't access. That's a double
whammy for Indonesia, which loses out on
value added by third parties and the chance
to promote the jamu brand name abroad.
It's impossible to say when, or even if,
jamu painkillers will be stocked at
supermarkets and convenience stores in
countries like the U.K. Yet inroads are
already being made by small businesses
like the Origin Spa in Melbourne. There,
highly skilled practitioners apply massage
techniques developed by 16th century
Indonesian royalty the founders of
modern jamu using creams and oils
containing turmeric, betel leaves and
crushed eggshells. There's a minimum
two-month waiting list for Origin's fiveday post-pregnancy treatment that is said
to help women regain their figures quickly,
improve lactation and dispel wind,
dizziness and aches and pains.
"It's surprisingly popular with the Asian
mums throughout Australia," says partner
Jessica Koh. "But it's still unfamiliar to
most of the locals."
With reporting by Theo Manday /
Ngadas
A problematic approach
Widodos tough approach does not only
apply to drug traffickers. The Indonesian
government, through its anti-drug agency,
the National Narcotics Board (BNN), is
pushing compulsory treatment for people
with drug dependence. This coercive
approach is jeopardising health gains made
by existing harm reduction programs and
is fertile ground for corruption and abuse.
Forced
rehabilitation of
drug users in
Indonesia not
a solution
to
be
rehabilitated
incarcerated.
rather
than
Alternatives
treatment
to
compulsory
Indonesia's
framework
problematic
legal
Waseso's proposal to amend the antinarcotics law and penalize drug users was
also countered by government officials
such as the justice minister as well as the
former head of BNN, Anang Iskandar.
However, following the institutional
changes,
Indonesian
drug
policy
organizations such as PKNI, can only hope
that they will not have to start their
political efforts all over, especially
considering the strong influence of
draconian
drug
policies
in
the
neighbouring ASEAN countries.