Do you know how rich Indonesia is with its biodiversity? Remarkably, three-quarters of the plant species in the world are live in Indonesia. The heritage of traditional medicine made from natural ingredients or popularly known as ‘jamu‘ in Indonesia is becoming a preserved culture.

To maintain the nation’s wealth and for Indonesia’s healthy culture to be recognized internationally, jamu has been initiated to be a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage nomination since 2013. Jamu was successfully designated as Indonesia’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2017 and this year, there is Jamupedia involved in the nomination process of jamu to be the world’s Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.

Jamupedia is an inspired educational platform to support modern medicine with the archiving of traditional medicine. The ancestral heritage in the forgotten husada book is defended by Jamupedia by archiving it and displaying it in an open repository. The books of ancestral heritage in Indonesia continue to be archived, translated, and shared by Jamupedia on jamupedia.com. Jamupedia also introduce traditional medicine that can be done at home to Indonesian millennials.

Jamupedia General Leader, Erwin Skripsiadi said that “there are Serat Centhini, Serat Jampi Jawi, and a lot of books that completely tell how rich Indonesia is, how extraordinary our ancestors left a legacy.”

Erwin sees the current trend, that Indonesian society has returned to a healthy culture, organic products began to develop, and a natural lifestyle from nature supports the existence of herbal medicine in Indonesia and this is the right time for jamu to go into the world.

Through long research, creating documentaries, academic scripts, through the process of compiling documents, to the collection of archaeological evidence, all effort is continually striving to prove the authenticity and origin of jamu from Indonesia. The efforts carried out will be brought to the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture as the nomination of the world’s Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Ministry will then select one of the nominations to be submitted to UNESCO to be legally designated as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2024.

Every two years, UNESCO only accepts one submission from one country to be the world’s intangible cultural heritage. This year, along with other Indonesian cultural heritages, such as Tempe, Reog Ponorogo, Ulos, Tenun Ikat Sumba Timur, dan Kolintang, Healthy Culture of Jamu will go through the selection process by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia.

“Everything is Indonesian culture that we must support, and this is the domain of the Ministry of Education and Culture for who will be selected and will be submitted to UNESCO,” said Erwin.

In supporting jamu in this nomination, Jamupedia is not alone. Together with a Joint Entrepreneurs called GP (Gabungan Pengusaha) Jamu, Acaraki, other jamu entrepreneurs, Sukoharjo Regency Government, Jogjakarta City Government, and others.

Jamupedia raises the concern of Indonesian to support this campaign with Twibbonize. With the Twibbonize frame below, Jamupedia invites you to support the determination of Healthy Culture Jamu as the World Intangible Cultural Heritage at UNESCO by sharing your photo in this frame.

Jamu Goes to UNESCO – oleh Jamupedia

Link: twb.nz/budayasehatjamu

More than 16 thousand people use the Twibbonize frame is supported by the use of tags #jamubudayakita and #budayasehatjamu, as well as mention the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, and even the President of the Republic of Indonesia in their social media posts. With that being said, Jamupedia managed to lure the existing crowd for Jamu.

The impact of the crowd brings a lot of attention to jamu and Jamupedia. Not only from the community, but the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia, Presidential Consideration Council, Head of BPOM RI, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Cooperatives, and SMEs, and other jamu stakeholders.

“Imagine if jamu successfully determined by UNESCO as the world’s intangible cultural heritage, SMEs that sell jamu will be more confident with their product as it has been recognized internationally, and they become more enthusiastic.”

From the crowd to the media coverage. The nomination of Healthy Culture of Jamu as the World’s Intangible Cultural Heritage is expected to drive public opinion and reach the decision-makers for this nomination.

All kinds of good things for the nation’s heritage will provide benefits in maintaining the sustainability of the nation’s culture. So, don’t stop “the spirit to continue to preserve can not be extinguished by failure” as Erwin said.