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Malay Herbal Medicine
| Article
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15971 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1989 |
4,871 Words |
| Author
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David J. Banks
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In the three decades since Malaysia's independence, Kuala Lumpur has become a major emporium for the sale of herbal medicines, remedies that reflect the rich cultural heritage of Malaya and of the wider region. There are said to be one hundred or more Malay manufacturers of herbal medicines selling products in this rapidly industrializing city, and there are also numerous distributors who import similar products from nearby Indonesia.
These medical products consist of a wide array of local roots, barks, dried leaves, and oils derived from animals, all of which are sold in a number of forms. The Malay word akar kayu, referring to the plant ingredients in these medicines, is rather unspecific and covers plant substances compounded from everything from roots to vines. Malay herbal medicines are used to treat a wide range of illnesses and to improve general vigor of body and mind.
A visitor to this Asian capital cannot help being aware of herbal medicines as he travels about, but he rarely understands what he sees. This is because the business is conducted almost completely in Malay, and packages that attempt English translations do so with sufficient clumsiness to inspire distrust in many potential buyers from the West. The claims are also confusing, but nonetheless, increasing numbers of Western travelers purchase Malay herbal remedies. Some make the journey solely for that purpose.
Malay herbal medicines are found in virtually every area of Kuala Lumpur. They are most easily purchased where there are high concentrations of Malay residents and in the downtown area, just as Chinese residential neighborhoods and in the Petaling Street "Chinatown" near the heart of the city.
In Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, the Malay-oriented area to the southeast of the main street, the herbal medicine trade is centered in the Wisma Yakin, a multistoried Malay shopping and office complex on Jalan Mesjid India (Indian Mosque Street). The Wisma is located opposite the mosque. Its shops display both Malay and Indonesian herbal medicines and beauty products. Prices are low and volume of sales is high, since there is keen competition between shops. Shoppers purchase cloth items, religious texts, and supplies, as well as Malay novels and magazines, in the same shops where they obtain herbal medicines. Roots packaged in bags are displayed in boxes on the elevated walkway in front of the shops.
In the city's malls, shops selling clothing, electrical appliances, and other manufactured items are found next to shops devoted exclusively to herbal medicines. At stalls in the central plazas, medicines are compounded and sold to customers on the spot. The rapidly diminishing semienclosed produce markets called wet markets (such as Chow Kit Market at the northeast end of the main road and Old Town market in the adjoining suburb of Petaling Jaya) sell herbal medicines in their spice shops. These shops supply raw ingredients to manufacturers and anyone wishing to mix his own herbal concoction. Individual sellers also appear in the streets outside these markets. They set themselves up with sound equipment and signs to attract passersby.
At the many night markets--particularly the one on the main street on Saturday evening--numerous medicine hawkers arrange themselves in stalls along the sides of the road. Customers who want to get a more detailed medical
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