Lightning Fast, Bone Crushing Malay Art of War

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This article by Guru Jak Othman was originally published in his JakOthmanSilat.com website which is now sadly not available on the Internet anymore. The date it was first published is unknown. It was found in a Yahoo! Group called silatindonesia posted on July 25th 2009.

As his student, I think I should repost this article again in this blog so that his writings will not go missing and his students like me can dissect his writings and study them part by part so that we are able to absorb this knowledge about Silat that he parted and understand them thoroughly.

Silat is often misunderstood as the Indonesian Martial Art. May be this is because most styles of Silat that reached the foreign shores are from Indonesia. We have the old styles like Harimau Minangkabau from Sumatra , Cimande from Java. American base Silat body or styles like Serak from the De Thouars family and Mande Muda by the late Guru Herman Suwanda who had taken elements from more then 20 Indonesian Silat styles into his system . We have Maphilindo Silat by Guru Dan Inosanto combining Madjapahit, Indonesia and Philippines Silat styles into his system. The styles mentioned above are among the famous ones outside the countries of origin for Silat.

Looking at the countries of origin for Silat in South East Asia, Indonesia has more than 400 styles of Silat registered with the National Silat Federation (Ikatan Pencak Silat Indonesia) ,more than 250 styles likewise in Malaysia (Persekutuan Silat Kebangsaan Malaysia), 20 styles in Brunei (Persekutuan Silat Brunei) and 25 styles in Singapore (Persekutuan Silat Singapura). There are also Silat governing body in Mindanao, Philippines and Patani , Southern Thailand which can also be categorised as countries of origin. The four National Silat Federation from the countries of origin formed the International Silat Federation (Persekutuan Silat Antarabangsa) or PERSILAT for short. Now Silat bodies from more than 25 countries around the World are affiliated to PERSILAT. Silat is not only Indonesian , but also belong to the Malays in South East Asia . As a matter of fact , Silat is the art of war of the ancient Malay empires.

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The first Malay empire was Kedah which was situated north on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula (West Malaysia). The downfall of this first great Malay empire saw the rise of the Sri Vijaya in Sumatra . Next was the Madjapahit empire in Java . After Madjapahit was Malacca (Melaka) which was also situated on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Madjapahit and Malacca empires were so strong that the ancient nations of Burma , Vietnam ,Cambodia, Philipinnes and southern Thailand were under them. Being the main centre of trade for the old India and China route has made the ancient Malay empires the melting pots of Asian cultures. We have Indian , Chinese , Persians, Okinawa , Japanese and all South East Asian traders coming to the main cities of our ancient empires to trade their goods. Being popular and rich also made the Malay empires constant targets to foreign forces attacks . Malacca fought the Portuguese, Dutch and English for more than 150 years. The Indonesian faced the Dutch until the day of independence. The Southern Philippines fought the Spaniards and Americans in some great wars. These foreign forces were well equipped with sophisticated weapons and vehicles of war. Despite of all these advantages, they had their biggest nightmares when they faced the pendekar (Malay warriors) .The pendekar fought the invaders using the ancient Malay art of war called SILAT !



The deadliest martial art?

Silat is often related to words like deadly , devastating or even savage by some people. But if you refer to history of the ancient Malay empires which were under constant attack by the foreign forces, you will be able to understand why Silat were described using these extreme words ! When foreign forces attack your country , I am sure you will fight all out to defend your family and country honour! And this mean the fight to the death ! AMUK ! (The American army had to use bigger guns in the Philippines !)

The ancient Kedah empire were under constant attack from Siam (Thai).We fought them for more than 200 years. The arrivals of the Chinese and Indian traders brought along their martial arts together with the trading goods. Of course we had a fair amount of combat with these foreigners those days. We might have borrowed some of their fighting elements from them and vice versa . Some Chinese arts were modified with Silat elements to be come South East Asian Arts and today well known as Kuntau or Kuntaw. There are also claims that the Kuntaw is deadlier than Kung Fu !
In Malaysia Kuntaw is usually kown as SILAT KUNTAU. Popular Malaysian Kuntau styles are Kuntau Jawa , Kuntau tekpi and Kuntau Sendeng Silat.

The ancient Malacca empire fought the Portuguese, Dutch and English Armadas. The
Dutch had bad times with the pendekars of Indonesia. Next came the Japanese in 1940's. We fought them in the World War together with the army of the Great British Empire.Unfortunately, fighting is the only way to solve problem does days and the Pendekars had a lot of practise throughout the centuries.

In modern times , we had genuine martial artists like the late Shihan Donn F. Draeger who travelled around the world to do research and write books on Asian martial arts. He came to Indonesia and Malaysia to meet and trained under several Silat Guru. With an impressive records of achievements in Japanese martial arts under his belt, Shihan Draeger considered Silat as one of world's deadliest fighting arts. We also have world famous martial artist like Guru Dan Inosanto making positive comments about Silat. Many are impressed with the nature of combat of this ancient Malay art.

As a practitioner , I believe Silat is one of the world's most complete fighting art. It may not be the most effective martial arts for all, but it is best for me. (I am short , fat and slow).It is a complete art .It is flexible, like air or water. Silat will fit into all combat environments and situations. Silat combat strategies and techniques are all about adaptations. Adapting to the surrounding environment and fight the opponents using concepts and techniques which is unusual or alien (if possible) to him. Using the floor , the walls and whatever existing things around or with you to your opponent's disadvantage. When this happens, it is like having a life shark struggling to breath on land fighting you armed with one of the best weapon ever created by man!

Pentjak , Pencak ,Seni or kali Silat?

The late Bruce Lee once said, ` It is just a name. Don't fuss over it ! ' Don't get mixed up or confused with the four terms used before the word Silat. The word Pentjak and Pencak is the same. Pentjak is the spelling written by Shihan Draegger in his books. The Dutch Indonesian Silat practitioners also used this spelling for writing the name of their styles . Pencak is the actual the spelling used by the Malay language in Indonesia, Malaysia and the rest of the Silat world today. Sometimes you can also find spelling like Penchak in old texts. Pencak , Penchak or Pentjak are the same.I don't blame the shihan at all for his spelling. He was foreigner trying his best to explore the art. I always give him credits for his effort. Pencak can be referred as combat strategies, philosophies , methods or even special tips to do Silat. It could be classified as the way or the art of.

Seni is the art of . Seni Silat is the art of Silat , which carries the same meaning as Pencak Silat. Seni is used by many practitioners in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei to describe their versions of Silat. Pencak Silat is actually Indonesian .However , Pencak and seni reflects the same thing.

Kali is referred to Filipino version of Silat from the island of Mindanao, Philippines by American Martial arts experts. I do not know the meaning of Kali in Filipino language, but in the Malay language Kali means river (flowing like a river). This is unique concept of fighting !To flow like a river when you fight. Remember as mention earlier Silat is like air or water. It will adapt or take shape into whatever container or environment at that particular time and situation. During my last visit to Mindanao, I found out that the native martial arts is called Silat , not Kali silat. When I mentioned Arnis or Eskrima, they know it. Unfortunately, when I mentioned Kali nobody knows ! They call their martial arts Silat . However , it was a very short visit for any quality research .

Another term used by several martial arts writers is Bersilat for Malaysian Silat. Sorry , I must highlight that this is a mini mistake. Bersilat is to do Silat . It can also be used as Berseni silat or berpencak Silat which can roughly be translated as to do the art of Silat ! Please stop using Bersilat to describe Malaysian Silat.

Silat is the combative characteristics of fighting (Malay version of course). There are many theories about the origin of this word. However, I find one most popular among the old gurus which I have been with. Silat is short for SIKILAT or the LIGHTNING ! The Silat practitioner must be bright (smart). Beautiful and graceful movements like the lightning in the sky. His moves must be fast , deadly and elusive like the lightning !You can feel it's presence , but you do not know where it comes from. Lightning is so fast and once struck an object it destroys. Since majority Silat style are taught by Moslem Gurus, the lightning is believe to be the angels weapon to punish the Satan . So Silat is against evil !