Medicine Man of Lambir - Part 1

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Centenarian Haji Suni Bijak is a traditional Malay medicine man who specialises in curing broken bones, eye ailments (jaundice), snake bites, heart problems and even budak nakal (hyperactive children).

And he does all these with a brew, made from a special tree bark, obtained from the jungles, and concocted with traditional medicinal knowledge passed down the generations.

Haji Suni said while he learned the ropes from his ancestors, they, in turn, learned their “healing skills” by watching a mother bird tending to an injured chick.

The mother bird brought twigs and leaves to the nest and pecked on the twigs. It then mixed the pulp of the twig with its saliva and dressed the chick’s wound.

He said his ancestors kept a close watch on the chick and found it was able to hop about after a few days.

With this kind of handed-down ethnobotanical knowledge and a keen mind to research on healing plants over the past 80 years, Haji Suni has amassed a great wealth of knowledge on traditional medicine.

He pointed out that many jungle plants in Sarawak are known to his ancestors as “healing plants.”

“These plants can be used to cure many ailments. They can be plucked in the jungles right behind our kampungs,” the venerable medicine man added.

At 100 years and four months old, Haji Suni still runs a small stall, selling traditional Malay medicine at Tamu Kedaya in Lambir, Miri.

A Malay traditional medicine practitioner since the Brooke days, he had trodden down many paths to Lutong, Miri and even Brunei during his younger days to help the sick.

And along the way, this true barefoot doctor from Sarawak was always welcomed in the kampungs — and many of his patients awaited his return.

Back then, Haji Suni was young and energetic and often went into the jungles to collect “medicinal” plants.

His help was especially sought after during the Japanese Occupation. Those were times when people were scared to go to Miri. And to avoid the Japanese occupiers, Haji Suni had to venture deep into the jungles to prepare his medicine.

On several occasions, he and his wife had saved people who were at death’s door. Men and women — already given up for dead — were given some bark medicine and they recovered.

Haji Suni himself went through the same experience. Once, he fainted and remained unconscious for sometime.

The kampung people had started mourning for him but his wife remembered the special bark and immediately used it to prepare the medicine for him. Haji Suni came to after more than six hours later.

This story is often heard and told by people who have come to know him.

During the colonial days, the name of this self-taught traditional Malay medicine practitioner was well known to folks in Marudi, Bintulu and even Trusan.

His home in Lambir was often full of patients. But he had to send them home after 11pm because in those bygone days, he had to give treatment under the flickers of kerosene lamps.

He treated mostly broken limbs from accidents in the jungles and farms, and also snake bites which were quite common during those days.

Haji Suni said life was fraught with dangers for the kampung folks who were mainly farmers, wood cutters and general workers.

When they broke their legs or arms, they did not go to government clinics — which might take a day if they travelled, say, from Bekenu to Miri. They would rather look for Haji Suni who prescribed “the best traditional cure” for broken bones.

Source: The Borneo Post