Flux Lounge

For those who didn’t know what ‘silat’ is today must have been cast away on an island far away or you have might been abducted by an alien who invaded planet Earth and take you to Mars or something. Silat is an old Malay form of martial arts and war combating style who is now gaining the world attention by the time I’m writing this article. The History Channel is currently focusing and promoting martial arts topic and practitioner from all over the world to appear in their TV documentary series called ‘Human Weapon’, and this time, they have come to test the Malay ancient martial arts called silat…

For those who know me personally, I’m a proud silat practitioner myself since 1987 and now has become one of the instructors among many others in Malaysia. There are more of five martial arts (including silat) I’ve studied and practising since 1987 but what makes me stick to silat? the answer is simple – I’ve found it to be the most deadliest human weapon it could be. It may look soft and kind in our eye but it is so much deadly once you had a strike. I am dare to say this kind of statement as I’ve test the formula, techniques and etc in real life. So far I have found no one that can handle one deadliest move of silat single handedly. I’m not saying that other martial arts is not good. For me, all martial arts is good and deadliest. It just depends solely on how you tackle it, play around it and what suits you best. As for me I choose silat as it suits me best. And I am proud of it since it’s an ancient Malays martial arts. For more info on my silat history and backgrounds, please click here.

Silat was originaly played among the Royal Sultanate of Malays back in 15th century. It is a secret lesson where no any other ordinary villagers may learn. That’s when silat has been divided in two forms. Permainan Istana (Palace form of silat) and Permainan Kampung (villagers or normal people form of silat). I’m not going to explain everything here as it is kind of deep but once you learn and know exactly what silat is, you will know how to differentiate the two styles. Nowadays, silat has been practiced by people from all over the world. It is not only limited to the Malays anymore. But I’m still sceptical about this issues as I treat silat like an ‘ibadat’ (pray) and it’s secret shouldn’t be open to public. It need deep concentration and honesty to yourself and Islam as the religion to learn the martial arts. But I’m still happy when seeing other races or believers learn silat. They may learn the move, the speed, the steps and some of the weapon such as keris and etc. but the secret behind all of that will forever remain secret… Now that’s the funny parts.

Inshaallah, if God permits me to teach silat to my son and grandson soon, I will do it and I will always carry this kind of martial arts until the very last breath of my life. It just sad that kids and teenagers nowadays especially the Malay itself don’t have any interest of learning this old form of their ancestors martial arts anymore. It is sad but it’s true. But what surprised me is that non-Malays are digging hard enough to learn this weapon. Anyway, here’s a video collection of History Channel – Human Weapon documentary series focusing on silat presented by Jason Chambers, a 16 times winner of the MMA fighting tournament and Bill Duff, a pro football player and a wrestler himself. And hey guess what..? A few of my students was there in the video – Part #5! 😀

According to Jason Chambers, “Centuries after its creation, silat is still one of the world rarest, most diverse and most deadly martial arts…!” – Now what did I say before…? 😀

Although the documentary only select a few silat (Pertubuhan) to be featured in, behind many others it is still worth to watch, listen and learn. Check it out. For more info of the series, please click here.

Part #1

Part #2

Part #3

Part #4

Part #2