For Sirun Herman Manan, 72, forests are a haven for medicinal plants. From the forest he looks for and mixes plants into herbal medicines to relieve toothaches, fever, vaginal discharge and heart attacks.
By
DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO
·6 minutes read
KOMPAS/DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO
Sirun Herman Manan
For Sirun Herman Manan, 72, forests are a haven for medicinal plants. From the forest he looks for and mixes plants into herbal medicines to relieve toothaches, fever, vaginal discharge and heart attacks. It does not stop there, he also spreads a "virus" to protect the forest.
Sirun lives in Tambak village, in Pulang Pisau regency, Central Kalimantan. Its distance is 56.9 kilometers from Palangkaraya city, the capital of Central Kalimantan. To reach that village, one has to cross the Kahayan River which is about 10 meters wide. From the pier in Banama Tingang district, the journey continues with a motorized kelotok boat for about 15 minutes.
During the trip on the boat, we will see traditional machines sucking riverbeds in search for gold. Among the illegal miners, many use mercury. The hazardous chemical spills into the river, where the water and fish are consumed by residents around the river, including residents of the village where Sirun lives. This condition becomes an additional threat to the health of the residents.
For a long time, residents around the river have lived in the shadow of diseases. The problem is that health facilities are difficult to reach. Sirun feels it himself. In 1986, he had a heart disease that no one could cure, including his father, who was known as a traditional Dayak healer. "That night, everyone thought I was dead," he recalled when met on Thursday (22/10/2020).
Sirun felt that he had moved to the world of dream. In his dream, he became the guest of Gana, a spirit who inhabits the forest or in the trees, which the Dayak Ngaju people believe. Gana took Sirun into the forest, on foot while talking about Sirun\'s disease. In the heart of the forest which he recognized as his village, Gana showed him a medicinal plant with hanging roots. After Sirun took the root, he awoke from his sleep. He was sweating. His eyes swept across the living room of his house where most of the people in his village had gathered.
When the morning dawn broke, Sirun and his father headed for a forest whose path had never been traversed by humans. He opened a path using a mandau, a Dayak machete. "I found the tree, then I took the hanging roots," he said.
He consumed water from the roots which were called hantuen by the local community. In less than a year, Sirun has recovered from the heart disease until now. "From there I promised to help many people," he said.
Sirun then becomes a healer. Every day, hundreds of patients come to his house which is hiding behind the durian trees. Behind his house there grows various types of plants that he takes from the forest, which is three hours\' journey from his village.
He never sets any tariffs for the services he provides. "Money and materials are not my goal. I just want people know the benefits of forest for health because in the forest there is a paradise for medicine for all diseases," he said.
Sirun truly becomes a place for residents of Tambak village and its surroundings to rely on for health matters. Why not, the health facilities in the village are very minimal. There is indeed a Puskesmas (community health center), but in the last two years no nurses or doctors have visited there. Nurses who live in other villages only show up when people call them.
Now, Sirun and his son are collecting medicinal plants one by one from the forest. He writes in detail, records the complete ingredients and how to mix them. He will write the knowledge in a book so that it can be passed on to his children and the next generation.
Guarding the forest
For several years, the forest, which has become a "dispensary" for residents of Tambak village and its surroundings, has been threatened by illegal gold mining activities. The miners are mostly residents of Tambak village itself. They carried out their activities at the edge of Kahayan River.
In order to protect the forest where he is looking for medicine, Sirun and the Village Forest Management Agency (LPHD) have made a plan to prevent the miners from encroaching the forest. They initiate an area in their village that is rarely explored by humans and becomes the habitat for orangutans as the village forest.
By doing so, the forest will be protected, at least from forest conversion to plantations. It is understandable because Tambak village forest is separated from the oil palm plantation only by a canal no more than 2 meters wide.
DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO
Sirun Herman Manan
The government assisted them by issuing a decree on village forest designation that was issued in 2016. President Djoko “Jokowi” Widodo himself directly gave the decree to the community.
The Tambak village forest covers an area of 590 hectares and is divided into five functions which are managed by five Social Forestry Business Groups (KUPS) that include KUPS in the fields of ecotourism, agroforestry, handicrafts, kelulut honey cultivation, and medicinal plants. Sirun becomes chairman of the KUPS for medicinal plants.
I feel myself at the edge of death and I have been saved by medicinal plants that only exist in the forest
From this division of business, Sirun said further, it can be seen how the Dayaks manage their forest. The management method is carried out by utilizing all the contents of the forest for survival.
"But not indiscriminately. For cutting wood, there is permission from the spirit because we believe that every plant has a spirit, it is God\'s creation too, right?. This forest has provided benefits to many people, not just people in this village. So if this forest is cut down, the benefits are lost, people will get sick again," said Sirun.
To date, in the social forestry scheme a total of 151 management permits have been granted to communities in Central Kalimantan with a total land area of 205,381.95 hectares. Social forestry aims to provide benefits and even the welfare of the surrounding community.
However, for Sirun, the forest has long been a "dispensary" for people who are sick. There the culture of concocting herbal medicines is formed and passed down from generation to generation. "I feel myself at the edge of death and I have been saved by medicinal plants that only exist in the forest."
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