Traditional Medicine as a Government-Fostered National Symbol: Indonesia and Vietnam in the 1950s

In the 1950s, several newly independent nations in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Indonesia, faced severe health conditions due to the difficulties of developing their modern national healthcare systems and the abolition of the colonial medical system. During this time, traditional medicine began to transform from being looked down on as a healthcare practice to a post-colonial tool actively supporting the goal of maintaining and improving population health. After gaining their independence, Vietnam and Indonesia faced a shortage of medical resources and worked to promote traditional treatments in their respective countries. In Indonesian, the jamu, considered a part of traditional Indonesian medicine, has developed into an important national identifying symbol. One of the big reasons for this is because of its accepted link to Indonesian ‘traditions.’ In the case of Vietnam, Vietnamese traditional medicine was commonly seen as outdated after years of French colonial government efforts to eradicate it. However, the country’s national government launched a campaign to reintroduce it to address the lack of medical supplies. In the 1950s, the people in charge of the health sector used traditional medicine to begin the effort to construct nation-building strategies. In this paper, we will examine the techniques used by these two countries to support the growth of traditional medicine and create these national symbols in the post-colonial period. The paper also highlights the parallels and variations in Vietnam’s and Indonesia’s national construction strategies based on traditional medicine.