Incorporation and legal structure
Sumatra Pasak Bumi was founded by Antonius Sembiring and his brother Bartholomeus Sembiring, who began trading Tongkat Ali from the Karo highlands of North Sumatra in 1998. The sourcing geogrphy, extraction methods, and supply chain that exist today were established from the start.
The business operated as a privately-owned trading enterprise until 2014, when it was formally incorporated as PT Sumatra Pasak Bumi — a Perseroan Terbatas, which is the standard Indonesian limited liability corporate structure. Incorporation decree: AHU-10.05914.PENDIRIAN-PT.2014.
Formal incorporation changed the paperwork, not the operation. The extraction methods, the supply chain, and the sourcing geography were all already in place. What incorporation added was the legal framework needed to supply pharmaceutical manufacturers and international distributors who require a formal corporate counterpart.
Regulatory authorization
Our products and production facility are authorized under the Indonesian National Agency of Drug and Food Control, known as BPOM. This covers our status as a traditional medicine (Jamu) producer and our authorization to export. The relevant license category for any Indonesian Tongkat Ali product sold as medicine or traditional medicine is the Nomor Depkes — a specific registration code.
Testing and quality control
We work with the academic laboratories of Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) in Medan for botanical identification and phytochemical profiling. Third-party ISO-accredited international laboratories handle heavy metal screening, pesticide residue testing, and microbiological analysis. Results are published and available on request.
The standardization figures — 2% eurycomanone for standard root extract, up to 10% for leaf extract — are targets verified by lab analysis. The extraction process for a genuine 1:200 concentrate is time-consuming and cannot be replicated cheaply. It involves multiple cycles of soaking, simmering, sterilization, and evaporation over roughly two weeks.
Operations
Processing and packaging take place at our facility in Deli Serdang, outside Medan. Raw shredded root and finished standardized extracts are exported via Belawan port. We supply both in bulk — for manufacturers and distributors who need raw input material — and in retail-ready capsule form through our own sales channels.
In 2018 we added Thai Black Ginger (Kaempferia parviflora) and Thai Butea Superba to the product range, sourced through long-standing relationships with Hmong hilltribe people in Northern Thailand. These are tested and documented to the same standard as our Tongkat Ali products.
We are not a clinic. We do not give medical advice and we do not make disease treatment claims. Tongkat Ali research — there are thousands of published peer-reviewed papers accessible through Google Scholar and the NIH public database — is for the reader to evaluate. People who buy from us have generally already done that reading.
Legal & Compliance Disclaimer:
PT Sumatra Pasak Bumi is a supplier of raw botanical materials and standardized extracts. We do not provide medical advice or treatments. Statements regarding the bioactivity of Eurycoma longifolia have not been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. Consult a healthcare professional for clinical guidance.