THE UNIQUESNESS AND WISDOM OF LOCAL MALAY COMMUNITIES IN USING FRUITS IN MEDICAL STUDIES

This study that pertains to medical studies which is a Malay heritage from their ancestors in the field of culture. This is because the community is also known as a society that is rich with knowledge such as a method of making medicine, treating, preparing materials, acquiring knowledge from the range up to the cultivation of plants for medicinal purposes. Thus, the objective of this study is to identify and discuss the uniqueness and wisdom of local fruits in Malay medical studies. This study will use Medical Anthropology introduced by Hashim Awang A.R. (1990) which has three main sub namely medical ecnopsynology, ethno psychiatrics and ethno medical as the strengthening of this study. The findings have shown that there are fruits used by the Malay community to help in curing diseases and some also use them for business purposes. Besides that, it is found that the most widely used limes treats the disease in Kitab Tib Muzium Terengganu. These fruits are indeed easily acquired due to planting in the housing environment. The use of fruits for the purpose of repetition in the text of medical knowledge is influenced by a number of factors such as belief in animism, custom and culture besides the physical form of fruits often associated with nature and human life. Accordingly, this study is hoped to benefit anthropologists and medical practitioners, to deepen the knowledge of Malay medicine by studying and incorporating modern and traditional medicine in the field of medicine.