Preserving The Conventional Indigenous Postnatal Care: A Case Of Sarawak's Malay Practices

Abstract

In Sarawak’s Malay society, the conventional ways of treating mothers in confinement include the use of Malay traditional herbs of herbal treatments and age-old ways of physical care. However, the underlying philosophies of most do’s and don’ts on traditional confinement care from the perspective of Sarawak’s Malays are not clearly explained by the midwife or elderly, and neither published in any academic publication. Hence, realising the need for the preservation of indigenous knowledge, this paper aims to document and explain the conventional Sarawak Malays’ ways of postnatal care. The conventional practices of postnatal care as discussed in this paper are qualitative in nature, where they are narrated through autoethnographic experiences, based on a self-reflective form of record by the first author. Sarawak’s Malay postnatal care is classified into five care routines for the mother, which include healing, cleansing, heating and toning, energising, and gastronomy. Significantly, the findings would assure that with proper postnatal care, the risk of meruyan (postnatal blues) could be reduced, and to convey two essential benefits of longevity and fertility of the womenfolk. Conservation and preservation of conventional social elements are significant as tutelage for the future generations as well as for establishing a national identity. It is vital to ensure that the indigenous (postpartum care) knowledge is properly documented with the hope that the social identity, especially among Sarawak’s Malays would be preserve.