Hi, I'm really impressed with your knowledge about Silat. As a Malay, I find it quite suprising because I did not expect that Silat can be among of the popular Martial Arts like Karate, Taekwondo, Judo, etc. Silat had been in my family for more than a century. My ancestors have passed the knowledge of silat for generations to protect the family and land. I too learned silat but my Uncle who is the Mahaguru (grandmaster) taught me silat just as a sport and not spiritually. You know tenaga dalaman (inner power) because I'm a girl. To learned it spiritually, one must follow strict rules (pantang larang) the do's and the don'ts. This is to avoid one from misused the art and to avoid being one with the 'Darkside'. I hope Silat can be among the popular MAs in the near future. "Silat adalah warisan bangsa." - Anak Melayu
Welcome Intan, Silat isn't really that popular yet outside South East Asia, I actually have to go to the Philippines to learn it.... Sad you didn't learn Tenaga Dalam, I just strarted to learn it last August with my GM... There are different ways to train the inner power, and you have to follow some rules if you want to go far..... girls can learn it, I know a few.... Just curious are you from Continental or Insular Malaysia? Peace.
Well, I wouldn't say that Silat is popular here in America - though it does seem to gain more recognition each year. The Silat community here in America is relatively small and we're all pretty much aware of each other - and many of us know each other personally or online. There might be 300 practitioners of Silat in America - and that's probably a high estimate. And of those 300, I'd estimate that there are less than 100 people teaching Silat in America. Compared to other arts like those you mentioned, Silat is little more than a dust mote on the MA map of America Mike
I live in Borneo Island and not Peninsular Malaysia, Krys. 2\3 of the island are apart of Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah. I live in Sarawak. The other part is Kalimantan, Indonesia. And Pesilat, even though Silat aren't that popular(yet) in America, it's just amazed me that MAP actually has a Silat forum. My instincts told me that Silat had gone global! And that's a very good thing for Silat.
Thanks for answering Intan, Very nice area, you live in a place that is of great interest for me.... I always planned to visit your island and hope to be able to do so in 2005 once I'll live in the area (Philippines).... I am myself interested in the martial arts of Borneo (my GM lived in Sabah and learned two kadazan arts) .... could you tell more about Sarawak's martial culture? Peace.
Well, of course we have Silat. My Uncle's silat is called Silat Spring 12. Actually this Silat had been in my family for like a century(I think). It's just now that my Uncle opened it to the public. My ancestor was one of the Prince of Jawa. He's name was Datu Merpati Jepang. My ancestor leave Jawa because there was some kind of clash in the Royal family and the way the current ruler lead the empire. If I'm not mistaken, he tried to tell his opinion to the current ruler. But unfortunately, the ruler did not listen and this leads to the downfall of Jawa. So, they went away from Jawa by sea(because Jawa had been invaded) and land ashore in the borneo Island. He became one of the earliest leaders and make ties with the Sultan Brunei in Sarawak history. To be honest to you, after my Uncle opened his school of Silat Spring 12, many people copied this true Silat form (which had not been changed) and make their own Silat like Rumpun 12. Rumpun 12 have Spring 12 basics and I was unhappy about it. But our ties as Malay, we hold deep to our culture. So, my Uncle said nothing about it. Malaysia has many race. There are over 100 races. But the most is Malays, Chinese, Indians and the natives. For chinese maybe you know kung fu or wushu but for Indians they too have their own MA. Its called Silambam. Silambam are great practised with woods. It's like you're using a pole of wood (or bamboo stick, I think) to defend yourself. Oh, It's incredible but too bad It's not that popular. I hpe you can visit me in Sarawak. I live in Kuching area. Chao!!!
You think it's that few? What are you calling a practitioner? I could (if pushed) probably name 20 people teaching silat in the US. 6 within 4 hrs of my house and I'm in Tn. Still even if it's 10,000 that's a drop in the bucket for kali/escrima/arnis much less TKD, karate, kung-fu, etc.
No need to argue with Pesilat, Grimel. Maybe he's wrong. You said like its more than 300. How many do you really think, there is more?
Aloha Intan ! Aloha ! I have been learning a West Javanese/Sundanese silat system , Mande Muda from the late Pendekar Herman Suwanda for some time. I am visiting INTI Kuching in March and would like to an opportunity to meet you. I have been researching into silat from Indonesia and recently Malaysia and would like to learn about your family's style of silat. Is there a way we can meet ? An email has been sent to you directly as well Mahalo Bernard
Hello Intan, wow a fellow spring practicioner?!? Well I didn't really learn it yet but will when I return to the Philippines.... My GM showed me some spring knive fighting once and I was really impressed... Actually my grandmaster is also a Spring expert.... he learned spring dua (or dua belas? ) and spring muda (I am not really sure about the names) while staying six years in Sabah, also another native art, he was part of the muslim filipino rebellion and MNLF fighters were based there..... The malaysian government helped southern filipinos in fighting the Marcos dictatorship, because M. planed to invade Sabah.... even british SAS gave them instruction..... Our filipino style is called Saudara and it is in the familly for at least 10 generations (we know 10 ancestors but cannot trace it further back...., I am part of the 11th generation).... Is it true that there are 5 spring styles? In Tawau (Sabah) there is a spring system that mimics the movements of a crocodile.... I heard Majapahit princes and followers fled to Borneo after Demak destroyed Majapahit.... javanese styles influenced Borneo's silat but I also think Minang peoples brought their own silat in the area... I was myself in peninsular Malaysia a few times coming down from Thailand.... trained Silat Gayong Patani, in a village close to Kuala Lumpur.... Beside filipino silat I also practice malaysian silat Lincah (former silat Tarah) Yes I've seen Silambam and these peoples are very strong with their staves..... there are also many rare chinese martial arts that are kept alive in Malaysia.... I want to climb the Kinabalu mountain and practice some silat in Borneo too, visit Kalimantan and Sarawak.... the scenery must be great there and I'd like to meet Iban-Kadazan peoples.... may see you there ..... Peace.
Bobbe Yup, I have another trip before the May trip but this is work related with some R & R time hopefully and what a coincidence I may get to meet and learn something new. BC
Where did I argue with him? I asked a question. If it's here in backwater US, I assumed it was relatively available in about any metro area.
That can actually be a large assumption. Silat is becoming a big name in the U.S., and deservedly so. There are several "Distance Programs" available that didn't exist a year ago. I was deeply involved in Kali & Silat fifteen years ago, and I can only think of a handful of people (about four) that were publicly teaching in the U.S. at that time, some of which are dead now. As I look around nowadays, I see that many of the bigwigs either live in "backwater" (Steve Gartin, Stevan Plinck) with a few in metro communities (Seni Gayong in N.Y., DeThouars and Inosanto in L.A.) It's definately not a "One on every corner" art, say like Karate or TKD. Intan is one of several Malay-Indos I have met who cannot believe a Blanda (westerner) has heard of Silat, let alone has any in-depth knowledge of it. Also, it's often taken for granted in the archipelagos, like basketball is here. My point being, you could simply be living in an area that has a saturation of silat teachers/practitioners, but if you look in an unquestionably a huge metropolitan mecca, you may find very little. Bobbe Edmonds
Wow, a lot of you came so far away just to learn Silat. I really really appreciate your will to learn. Hey,Krys if you're coming here in Sarawak, post me soon ok! I live in Kuching. Bernie said he'll be coming in March. Maybe you would like to join him? What do you say Bernie?
Well, I consider a "practitioner" to be someone who trains specifically in a Silat system. There are a lot of JKD guys who do some Silat training - but that's a different thing from training specifically in a Silat system. Where are you in TN - I'm probably within 4 hours of you, too, so that might make 7 who teach within 4 hours of you However, a 4 hour radius covers a lot of ground. You're talking about a minimum of 180,000 square miles. 6 or 7 instructors in 180,000 square miles isn't very many. Given that the entire United States (which is what I meant by America), including Alaska and Hawaii, is 3.6 million square miles, taking a direct mathematical calcuation to get an estimate you're only looking at 120 - 150 instructors. So I was a little low if that's anywhere near accurate. I know you've got areas like Los Angeles that have a denser population of Silat instructors. But you've also got vast stretches of land in Alaska and the deserts of the southwest where there is no one at all - much less anyone teaching Silat There might be more than 300 practitioners - that might have been a bit more of an underestimate. There might even be 2000 practitioners (assuming each instructor has 10 - 15 students) but I think that'd be a bit of an overestimate. The short version, though, is that when you're looking at a population of nearly 300 million people, a couple of thousand practitioners is still nothing that can be considered "popular" by any stretch of the imagination Mike
