Mangestuti Agil, Exploring the Richness of Indonesian Herbs

Soelastri Soekirno

· 6 minutes read

Indonesia is rich in medicinal plants. Ironically, it is other nations that preserve the richness. It is foreigners who publish books about the efficacy of Indonesian medicinal plants, even display them at museums. This has saddened Mangestuti Agil, a professor of pharmacy botany in the school of pharmacy at Airlangga University, Surabaya, East Java. She wants this heritage to be preserved by the nation itself.

In April, Mangestuti will turn 69 years old, but she is still active. Every day, she drives her own car and climbs up the stairs to the third floor to reach her office in the school of pharmacy at Airlangga University. She also still diligently assists students in the university’s traditional medicine vocational program as they practice making various herbal remedies in the laboratory.

Her excellent stamina is thanks to the healthy life she has lived for decades. Every day she does yoga or gymnastics and drinks traditional medicinal herbs and empon-empon stew (turmeric, ginger, Javanese ginger) or a concoction of leaves that are efficacious as antioxidants.

“I am not tired of asking people to go back to the kitchen. Make your own concoctions from herbal ingredients from Indonesian plants that have many properties to prevent disease. Various leaves, roots and tubers can be made into herbal remedies or stews to make our bodies healthy,” Mangestuti said in Surabaya on Wednesday, Jan. 30.

Mangestuti’s love of traditional medicine is not without reason. Long before examining the efficacy of various medicinal plants, when she was a student in 1968, she used to consume kunyit asam (a drink made from turmeric and tamarind) and sirih kunci (a mix of galangal and betel). She also drinks galian putri herbal extracts for smooth menstruation and eliminating unpleasant body odors.

When Mangestuti gave birth to her first child in 1977, her grandmother, RA Darimah Hardjosubroto, made a concoction known as jamu wejah to increase the quality of her breast milk. She also consumes a postpartum artificial herbal package to speed up the recovery of her health. The herbal medicine is produced by a traditional Indonesian herbal medicine factory.

She was amazed by the benefits of the various herbs she consumed. “I use all the herbs in the package, including tapel (cream) for the stomach. The results are amazing. My abdominal quickly returned to normal so the doctor who examined me was surprised,” she said.

Since then, she has sought to learn the ins and outs of traditional herbal medicine. She conducted preliminary research on katuk leaves, known as the ingredient to improve the quality of breast milk, when she was still an undergraduate student and later when she entered graduate and postgraduate programs. Her steps continued when she became a lecturer by researching traditional medicine, both through field surveys and literature studies.

Madura herbal medicine

Mangestuti’s curiosity about the efficacy of traditional medicine finally led her to the famous Madura herbal medicine from the Sumenep Palace. She tried to research the Madura herbal medicine. However, it was not easy because the herbal medicine experts, who are also relatives of the Sumenep Palace, were not willing to tell.

“Frankly I am interested in everything about Madura herbal medicine because the understanding of the community about herbal medicine is

enormous. Madura people have a range of herbs for women since childhood to adolescents and postpartum. That’s amazing. Madura men are confused if their wife doesn’t drink herbs,” she said, laughing.

To get their herbal recipes, Mangestuti often goes to Sumenep, which is on the tip of Madura Island. She has continued to establish relationships with herbal experts who are already old. Her efforts were not in vain. In 2015, after 10 visits, a herbalist expert from the Sumenep Palace entrusted her with the herbal recipes.

“It’s great because it means the herbal recipe will not die out. I have preserved the recipe because it is part of the heritage of the Sumenep Palace and the Indonesian people. I will not make it available for commercial purposes,” she said.

Primbon book

Her efforts did not stop there. In between routine teaching and research, the lecturer also likes embroidery and translating Primbon books (old texts) and ancient manuscripts about traditional herbal medicine. “I used to be ignorant of Primbon which is seen as something old-school. Apparently, the assumption was wrong. Primbon also contains knowledge about complete traditional medicine.”

She also hunted ancient books and manuscripts at the Jakarta National Museum, Solo’s Radya Pustaka Library Museum, and other places. Although all the books are written in the Javanese language, some even speak in Kawi (ancient) Javanese, she is not afraid.

“I am not good at kromo [high level] Javanese language, but I try to translate it myself. If I’m stuck, I just ask the Javanese manuscript experts,” said the Javanese woman.

In her search she found books about herbal medicine by foreign writers. She was shocked, but the findings made her even more excited about learning about traditional medicine. She even learned about aromatherapy, which is used as a sedative for massage and is also a part of traditional medicine.

Mangestuti’s perseverance took her to Japan to compile the manuscript and information about Indonesian herbal medicine, which was exhibited at the Museum of Materia Medica, the Institute of Natural Medicine, Toyama University. Toyama University and Mangestuti made an agreement; the text must not be commercialized. Thanks to the services of Mangestuti, traditional herbal medicine and the Indonesian flag bedecked the museum.

As a scientist, she doesn\'t want to keep her knowledge only for herself. From 2004 until now, Mangestuti has actively promoted traditional medicine through her two columns in the Nyata weekly tabloid. She has also assisted residents in Surabaya whom she teaches to use family medicinal plants for daily needs.

Later, the pharmacist who helped the late physician, Arijanto, established the Indonesian Traditional Medicine Clinic at Dr Sutomo Hospital, Surabaya, focused more on researching various natural ingredients and potions for women’s health, especially when entering menopause. She discovered that clover leaves turned out to be an anti-osteoporosis and protector of brain nerve cells to prevent Alzheimer\'s.

Mangestuti Agil

Born: Jakarta, April 1950

Children: Rizal Adi Dharma and Tatum Syarifah

Adiningrum

Education:

- S-1 Faculty of Pharmacy, Airlangga University

- S-2 Basic Medical Science, Airlangga University

- S-3 Mathematic and Natural Science, Airlangga University

Jobs: Lecturer in Pharmacy Botany and Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Airlangga University

Books:

- Medicinal Plants of Lombok Ethnic Group (2010)

- Crude Drugs Used in Indonesian Traditional Medicine (2010)

- Essential Oil in The Pharmacognosy (2014)

- Semanggi (Water Ferns) and Osteoporosis (2016)

Editor:

kompascetak