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 Tiger is Loose!

This article by Guru Jak Othman was originally published in Silat Warrior Magazine. However, 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 to enable us to absorb this knowledge and understand them thoroughly.


The Tiger is Loose! by Guru Jak Othman

A figure stands in the shadows, her hands moving gracefully in slow, smooth dance-like gestures as her light footsteps bring her ever closer to you. Her state of subtle grace hides any trace of danger she might pose to you.

In your mind, you see nothing but beauty in her movements. That is until you realize your eyes are hurting and before you can recover you feel sharp pains all over your body.

(Click to Continue Reading..)