Folks Remedy

Before Merdeka when medical facilities in the kampung were non-existance, we had to make do with what ever remedy we could lay hands on every time we were taken ill. The following are some examples.

High Temperature: My mother would take a fistful of leaves from the jambu batu tree and soak them in an earthen pot of cold water. The she would wet my face and hair with the water for about a minute and repeated the process every half hour. It worked!!

Asthma: I used to get asthmatic attack once in a while. My breathing became irregular accompanied by wheezing sound from the throat. My grand mother was an expert in treating this ailment. She would apply kapur sireh in the small depression of my throat. There was a burning sensation like a chili api coming in contact with your skin. It lasted for fifteen minutes. Result: cured after a few hours.

Fever and coughing: This was a job for the professional. A bomoh would be called in. He placed his calloused hand on my forehead and started reciting verses from the Quraan. I could make out words like Allah and Muhammad and nothing else. Immediatly after that he called out the name of a jin. He chastised the poor fellow with verses from the Quraan. Then he took a short break and started chewing betel leaves. After that he sprayed the concoction consisting of betel leaves, gambier, areca nut and chalk paste all over my bare chest. Result: Up and kicking the next day

Cuts: I used to get cuts and bruises especially on the legs. You see we didn't have shoes then. I would chew some leaves of a keluduk tree until it turned into pulp, green in color mixed with saliva. I applied the pulp on the cut: Result: cured after a few days.

Mosquitoes: There was a lot of mosquitoes. We didn't have mosquito net or insect repellants. Grand father had an ingenious way of keeping out the insects. We burned dried cattle dropping with coconut husk. There was plenty of those staff because we kept cattle under the house. The ensuing smoke drove the mosquitoes away - sort of fumingation. Mosquito coils of today smell the same. I suspect they use the same staff.

Modern researchers should take a look at these old remedies