Indonesians fond of jamu — the traditional health drink with a strong and sometimes bitter taste — will feel the loss as one of their favorite brands has gone out of circulation.

PT Nyonya Meneer, the oldest jamu manufacturer and one of the most senior local companies, has met its bitter end after the Semarang Commercial Court in Central Java declared the firm bankrupt on Thursday, putting an end to 98 years in business.

The decision comes after one of its suppliers, PT Nata Meridian Investara (NMI), demanded the annulment of a debt postponement petition (PKPU) filed by Nyonya Meneer in May 2015.

NMI’s attorney Eka Windiarto said the annulment had been filed because Nyonya Meneer had not paid Rp 7.4 billion (US$555,680) owed to his client.

“The company promised to pay through a five-year installment plan, but after we accepted that plan, we could not withdraw the cash. This has happened five times now,” Eka said as quoted by kontan.co.id on Friday.

Confirming the news, Nyonya Meneer president director Charles Saerang said he was surprised to learn that the court had declared the company bankrupt, saying it was in a healthy state.

“We are still taking orders,” he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday evening, adding that the company would soon take legal action to resolve the matter.

“We are waiting for the curator’s decision. If it allows us to operate, we will run production as usual, but if not, we will comply with that.”

Contrary to Eka’s claim, Charles said his company had tried to talk about the problem to NMI representatives, who had worked together with Nyonya Meneer for decades, but had received no response.

Nyonya Meneer attorney La Ode Kudus said on a separate occasion that the company management had yet to determine its stance and would wait until the deadline for cassation on August 11 to decide whether to seek further legal action.

Established in 1919 in Semarang by Lau Ping Nio — who later used her nickname Nyonya Meneer and her photograph as a trademark, the company expanded its business to Jakarta in the 1940s and quickly gained fame through its herbal products, which cure many diseases from simple headaches to fever.

The company marketed its products overseas, including in Singapore, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and the United States.

However, the glorious history of the company was tainted by constant feuds between the descendants over control of the company.

Nyonya Meneer has suffered several periods of financial hardship and saw strike action by unpaid workers in the early 2000s and in 2016.

The Indonesian Herbal and Traditional Medicine Association’s (GP Jamu) chairwoman Dwi Ranny Pertiwi Zarman expressed surprise and regret about the verdict, saying Nyonya Meneer’s domestic sales and exports had performed well.

She lauded Nyonya Meneer as one of the country’s jamu icons, but also expressed concern about several regulations in the past few years.

“The government set out a lot of rules to improve jamu standards, and that is good. Unfortunately, they ended up burdening producers, who then had no other choice but to close their businesses,” she said.

She added that the tightening of rules greatly affected the jamu industry, since there were as many as 1,200 jamu manufacturers in 2014, of which only about 900 were left now.

“In the end, many of them opted to become distributors instead of manufacturers.”

However, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) economist Latif Adam pointed out that a lack of innovation and efforts to keep up with consumer trends were probably the main problems affecting Nyonya Meneer.

“The company ended up facing tough competition, not just against fellow jamu manufacturers, but also against other health drink producers,” said Latif.

Compared to other health drinks available in the market today that can be consumed directly, jamu was a lot less practical, as it had to be brewed first, while other producers could offer instant beverages to be consumed on the go.

Aside from issues of practicality, consumers would rather choose health beverages with a better taste than jamu, he added.

According to the Industry Ministry, Indonesia’s jamu industry is a labor-intensive sector that employs 15 million people in 986 factories. The ministry expects to see 10 percent growth in the industry, which recorded revenue of Rp 20 trillion in 2016. (dea)

— Linda Yulisman contributed to the story

Popular

Kadin urges stability after Constitutional Court ruling

Jokowi says transition to new government to begi

BCA loan disbursement surges 17.1 percent yoy in first quarter