Chairman Haji Zabidi bin Ali who has been organising the contest for over a decade said he had recorded the lowest participation in the competition so far, with only eight people taking part.

Haji Zabidi said the exclusion of two popular silat categories had contributed to this low participation.

The Wira Laga (sparring) and Tanding (sports) categories are today’s most popular silat forms and are widely practised among the younger generations in Brunei.

Therefore, it is regretted that the two mentioned categories were not included in this year’s contest due to some complications, he noted.

Haji Zabidi added that there are over 10 silat organisations in the Belait District and it is very much alive in the district.

The pencak silat competition is held annually to promote the Malay cultural heritage, in the hope that the traditional Malay art of self-defence could be preserved from generation to generation.

Yesterday afternoon, eight contestants took part in two Silat categories namely Cakak Asli and Kuntau.

Winners were presented with trophies and prizes by the Assistant Belait District Officer Haji Hamid bin Dato Paduka Haji Abdullah, who was the guest of honour.

Haji Zabadi who is also the Chairman of Pertubuhan Pencak Silat Negara Brunei Darussalam (PERSIB) for the Belait District is inviting martial arts enthusiasts to join any of the silat organisations in the district.

Written by Liza Mohd
Sourced from http://www.email.brudirect.com/index.php/2010071124897/Local-News/lowest-participation-in-belait-pencak-silat-competition-this-year.html

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A silat martial arts expert has created an online video package aimed at teaching beginners how to master the basics of the ancient Malaysian practise within just a few days.

Black-belt Guru Nizam, chief coach for Malaysia’s Pusat Cemerlang Silat (PCS), a silat centre of excellence set up in 2002, claims his step-by-step video training program reveals secrets that have been closely guarded by martial arts exponents down the centuries.

To the outsider, silat martial arts can appear deceptive. It uses sequences of graceful movements yet is a powerful form of self-protection, its origins coming from studies of attack and defence techniques of human geometrical line of movements.

Guru Nizam says it is this connection with the primal forces of nature that gives silat martial arts its core power, allowing practitioners to channel streams of energy into both mind and body.

” SilatForBeginners.com will show step by step how to do it. Unlocking the secrets of silat martial arts is an essential component of this online video coaching program” he said, “and this enables anyone to tap into the very forces of nature that make silat such a powerful force “

The course focuses on the three major ingredients of silat – langkah (the steps), limbai (hand movements) and kekuda (stances). Once beginners have a firm grasp of these basics, they have a solid platform from which to move on to more advanced levels.

Guru Nizam added: “Anyone of any age has an innate ability to become proficient in silat martial arts but it’s vital to get the basics right, and this is the keystone of SilatForBeginners.com. Novices are astounded that it only takes a few days to master these fundamentals”

To find out more about silat martial arts coaching for beginners visit www.SilatForBeginners.com or www.PusatCemerlangSilat.com

Sourced from http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=119751

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Guru Mazlan man stood in a neutral stance, hands at his side, feet side by side, a natural and relaxed stance, which is the starting point of all Silat Kalam movements. I threw a punch at his face. He blocked my punching arm, knocking it skyward. Next, he drove his knee into the tendons at the back of my knee joint. He was only going at a quarter speed, but the pain was incredible. After 50 years of martial art practice, the Guru was perfect. In every movement, I could feel his bones cutting through my flesh and digging into my nerves.

He placed his shin bone against the back of my knee and leaned forward. I had no choice but to fall down, on one knee. Next, he stomped down hard on my calf muscle which was flat on the ground. Then he backhanded me in the face, and I fell backward. My body was completely locked. My own natural skeletal structure had betrayed me. The only way I could stand back up was if the Guru removed his foot from my calf muscle and then reached a hand down, to help me stand.

This was Silat Kalam, an art designed to completely subdue an attacker, but never to be used as an attack.

“I breathe because of God. I drink because of God. I eat because of God. I practice Silat because of God.” This is a portion of the mantra which Guru Mazlan Man had the students recite on a daily basis. He explained his philosophy this way. “We must remember that we only do things because of God. And if we only do things because of God, we will not do bad things. You cannot say, I steal because of God.”

In the west, when people here the word Guru, they associate it with some new age religion or Hindu philosophy. But in Malaysia, the word Guru simply means teacher or master. And it is the name applied to all martial arts teachers.

Everyday, the students met in a community meeting room of a government building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The lead student, Fami, called us to attention, “Kalam sedia!” The students immediately brought their hands up to prayer position and begin reciting their devotions. They give thanks for their health and strength and for the opportunity to practice martial art. Then they remind themselves that they practice martial art because of God.

After a brief warm-up and stretching, the students started into the buah, or choreographed sets of movements. Silat Kalam has 28 buah.

Silat Kalam is essentially a grappling art. Because the art is strictly for defense, each of the buah, or series of movements, begins with an opponent attacking you. You block, using one of four basic blocks, and then throw and lock the opponent. The locks put the opponent on the ground, tied up like a pretzel. At the least, the opponent is submitted. But a slight twist or variation in the throw or lock could severely cripple or even kill the opponent.

Unlike submissions in other arts, the locks in Silat Kalam are completely impossible to break out of.

The Guru told me once, “If a man walks into your school and challenges you to a fight, don’t accept him as a student.” A man like that has something to prove, or he isn’t a good person. “If you accept him as a student, remember, that when he throws you and locks you, you will be completely helpless.”

The Guru is over sixty years old, but when he has me in a lock, I am truly incapacitated, completely unable to escape, and as he says, totally helpless.

I was the first non-Muslim to ever be permitted to study Silat Kalam. It was a great honor and also an incredible cultural experience. Each day, I met the Guru for training and also for lessons about the religion. He never asked me to convert, only to learn.

He told me. “We are all children of Adam, children of God. God made us all different, so we can learn from each other and love one another. He does not want us to fight or quarrel among ourselves. If you were a father, would you want your children to kill one another?”

When I reminded him that I am Catholic, not Muslim, he said. “When I teach you, I only talk about God. When we talk about God, everyone is happy. It is only when we talk about religion that people get angry.”

Guru Mazlan Man described Silat Kalam in this manner. “Silat kalam is a martial art where you never use a lot of force or movement. And each movement is based on the position of the prayers, the position of where you pray to God.”

The first eleven buah are based on “Dua” which literally means “to give thanks.” It is the first prayer position, where the hands come up, with the palms facing the sky. This is the first movement of more than one third of the buah. It is fitting that Dua plays so prominently in an art which asks you to remember who gave you your strength and your health.

A man strikes you. You block by bringing your hands up in prayer position, knocking his elbow straight up. Each block is always followed by a strike. Since you have knocked his arm skyward, the rib cage and under arm are vulnerable. You can move in with a knee or elbow strike, or a simple punch. The palm of your hand is making contact with his elbow, so after you strike him, you can grab the elbow and pull in whatever direction you want him to go. The Guru would often grab the elbow, pull the man towards him and then deliver a karate chop to the man’s forearm.

When I was on the receiving end, I was amazed at how painful that chop was. Just like in Brazilian jujitsu where you may strike a man simply to distract him and go for a submission, the same is true in Silat Kalam. When you karate chop a man’s arm, it hurts intensely, but only for a split second. So, that chop is not a fight ending technique. But during that split second of intense pain, the man loses his will to struggle.

You chop his arm, and immediately go for the throw or the lock. In one of the buah, you chop the arm, which knocks it toward the ground. You simultaneously grab the elbow or upper arm and continue to pull the man to the ground, Then you step on his hand. You release that arm and lock his other arm. Now, he is completely helpless, and in incredible pain.

For the full series. You simply lean forward with your knee against his elbow, breaking his arm.

In many forms of Silat that I have seen, once you have the man “where you want him” you go nuts with overkill and devastating force. Picture this buah, the man’s hand is under your foot. You have just broken his arm with your knee. You control his other arm. You place your knee on the back of his neck, and drive his face into the ground. His other arm is now in a very unnatural and vulnerable position, so you break it. Then you finish with any number of locks, grapples, kicks, punches…

And that is just one of the buah.

As violent and potentially lethal as the art is, it is still strictly defensive; all buah begin with a man attacking you, not the reverse.

“The movement of Kalam is art.” Says the Guru. “You will never attack anyone. Practicing Kalam softens your kindness toward human beings. There is no more quarrel. And that is how God teaches us to be all of the time. So, Silat Kalam takes the position to teach people to know each other, love each other, and to learn self defense.”

Guru believes that we should never hate another person for his actions because people are basically good.

“Our enemy is not people, our enemy is satan. Satan always wants to attack us, wants to kill us, fighting each other. So, we must live peacefully. And when we have self-defense, no one can attack us, nobody can harm us, and we will always be a friend to every body.”

Antonio Graceffo is a martial arts and adventure author living in Asia. He is the author of the book, “The Monk from Brooklyn” and the host of the web TV show, “Martial Arts Odyssey,” which traces his ongoing journey through Asia, learning martial arts in various countries.

By Antonio Graceffo
Sourced from http://brooklynmonk.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/silat-kalam-islamic-martial-art/

©2010 Make Money Online In Malaysia. All Rights Reserved.

The 15-year old took a brief time-out, then repeated his movements several times to perfect his balance.

Ten men spent Monday night performing pencak silat combinations at the H. Hasbullah Traditional Beksi School of Pencak Silat, one of the city’s oldest pencak silat schools.

“At first, it was difficult to master all of the stances. But because I have kept on practicing for two years, now I can perform 12 routines,” he said.

Ruly admitted preserving local culture was the main motivation that had driven him to take up the martial art.

Wahyudi Tejo S. shared a similar reason for enrolling at the pencak silat school.

“I’d like to develop the Betawi culture. Apart from that, I want to master pencak silat,” the 21-year old man said.

Five years of studying at the school, he said, had helped channel his fighting spirit into a positive force.

“I used to be very naughty and loved drinking. I even failed to graduate from senior high school because of my ill-tempered character. Being a Beksi fighter has helped me to leave behind those bad habits,” he said, referring to the Beksi style of pencak silat.

Muhali Yahya, the chairman of the school, said scores of people, both young and old, had registered at the school’s 27 branches across the capital.

The company has schools in Rawa Belong in West Jakarta, Pancoran in South Jakarta and Kemayoran in Central Jakarta.

Since 2005, the school in Jagakarsa has received about 150 students, 72 of whom were street children, Muhali said.

“Many young people are enthusiastic to learn the style. Therefore, we run classes for children and women in Jagakarsa,” the 43-year old man said.

Beksi, he said, was a style of martial art that originated in Tangerang, Banten, in 1828. It was introduced to Jakartans by Chinese fighter Lee Chenk Oek in the 1950s.

Muhali said that Beksi consisted of four defensive styles. “The style aims to teach how one can defend against attacks from all directions,” he said.

He said Beksi was a “hard” fighting style that required fighters to land quick and strong strikes on their rivals.

Another pencak silat style, called Si Bunder, utilizes mind reading techniques to predict an opponent’s attacks.

“Learning Si Bunder is quite difficult because it teaches fighters to read an opponent’s mind to know which side they will attack from,” said Babe Nung, a senior coach.

Si Bunder, he continued, required “never ending stance development”. “We always come up with new movements and it may take up to five years to master all 17 stances.”

Unlike the Beksi style, there are not many records chronicling Si Bunder’s history. “We do not have any schools or specific training attire. We do not classify our student fighters into beginner, intermediate or advanced. We simply practice in accordance with the necessities,” Babe said.

He said that although hundreds of students had dabbled in Si Bunder, few had chosen to pursue it to an advanced level, preferring instead to learn the basics and incorporate them into other styles.

“Most of them leave the style once they have gotten what they really need. They do not want to develop and preserve it,” he said.

The 50-year old man said he was selective in choosing his students.

“Now I have 30 pupils, all of whom are devoted to continuing to develop Si Bunder,” he said.

He holds practices four times a week in Kuningan, South Jakarta, and in Menteng Park, Central Jakarta.

For Babe, pencak silat serves not only as a means of self-protection but also as a source of personal pride and confidence. “It is possible for a fighter to quit altogether if he loses a fight simply because his pride has been damaged,” he said.

According to the City Culture and Tourism Agency, the city has about 300 traditional pencak silat styles, including Bayang Gerak Lodaya, Sabeni, Sipecut, Bandrong and Syah Bandar.

Some are recognized by the Indonesian Pencak Silat Association and the Indonesia Traditional Silat Conservers and Lovers Forum.

Written by Eny Wulandari
Sourced from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/06/17/pencak-silat-benefitting-increased-popularity.html

©2010 Make Money Online In Malaysia. All Rights Reserved.

It was organised by the Brunei Darussalam Pencak Silat Association (PERSIB).

A silat presentation was performed by invited youths from `Pesilatan Terjurus Sembilan’ from Limbang and was headed by their leader, Affendi Haji Suhaili, who further enlivened the competition by performing the Silat Helang Putih’.

Omar Ali Aziz Haji Ismail won the champion for the Pencak Silat Cekak category while Khairul Fitri Abd Wahab won the Silat Kuntau category. Nurul Amal Mazidah emerged as the young champion for the Silat Kuntau category.

The guest of honour, Haji Afero Eswandi Haji Mohammad in his capacity as the Acting Assistant Temburong District Officer, was on hand to present prizes to the winners.

Written by Hj Md Said Arshad
Sourced from http://brudirect.com/index.php/2010061523162/Local-News/pencak-silat-competition-in-temburong.html

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National Silat Federation of Malaysia (PESAKA) coordinator Osman Nok said the competitions in Vietnam would help gauge the performance and capabilities of the silat exponents before facing their opponents in the World Championships.

The main task of the Malaysian team would be to retain the five gold medals won at the last World Championships which was also held in Indonesia, he told Bernama here Wednesday.

He added that though Malaysia are ranked second in the world behind Vietnam, it would not guarantee a safe passage in the quest for gold medals.

Sourced from http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=504661

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The course held at two venues -Lecture Theatre Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium and Hassanal Bolkiah National Indoor Stadium – was officiated by the Acting Director of Youth and Sports Department, Haji Muhd Zamri Dato Paduka Haji Hamdani yesterday.

In his speech, the guest-of-honour said he hoped a disciplined, quality and systematic coach will be produced after attending the course, organised by the Youth and Sports Department and Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and Brunei Darussalam National Pencak Silat Federation (Persib).

“It is hoped that the participants will not only hold a recognized certificate but also to be a very qualified coach. The participants must remember that they need a sustained strength and intelligence in this pencak silat course,” highlighted Haji Muhd Zamri.

He also hoped that the course facilitators would show and teach participants from a basic technique to a sophisticated and up-to-date pencak silat movement.

“It is important for the participants to give full attention during the course as pencak silat has its meaning and certain purpose,” Haji Muhd Zamri added.

Out of the 41 pencak silat course participants, 17 are taking class III and 24 in class II. The 8-day coaching course will end on May 24 with a certificate presentation.

Written by SAHROL DAUD
Sourced from http://www.brudirect.com/index.php/2010051821481/Sports-News/silat-coaching-course.html

©2010 Make Money Online In Malaysia. All Rights Reserved.

Finally back in intensive training, the national silat team are eyeing the 2010 Southeast Asian Pencak Silat Championship to be held in the central province of Thanh Hoa in Vietnam from May 28 to June 4.

The team’s last international outing was the 25th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Laos last December when Hj Md Khairul Bahrin Hj Duraman bagged the only gold medal for the Sultanate by winning the men’s tunggal event.

However, this time around Suhartono, the national silat coach, is taking the Vietnam trip to provide experience and exposure for the junior exponents that have moved up the ranks.

“We are looking to compete in Vietnam since this will be a good chance for the junior athletes that have been promoted to the national squad to get exposure. This is also a very good chance for them to prove themselves that they belong in the elite team,” said Suhartono, in an interview with The Brunei Times, during a training session at the Indoor Stadium of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas yesterday.

Being held for the second time, the inaugural edition two years ago saw Brunei return home with one gold, three silver and five bronze medals and Suhartono is hoping to improve on that medal haul but knows that it will be a difficult task.

“We’re aiming for more gold medals this time around. I want the athletes to put up a good performance and make a name for themselves,” said Suhartono.

“But it is going to be tough especially with the competition coming from the defending champions (Vietnam). I believe they prepared early, but we’re also expecting tough opposition from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia,” added the Indonesian.

Unlike the junior team that started training back in December to prepare for the Malaysia Games (Sukma), the senior squad only returned to full training about a month ago.

“Some had been training since returning from the SEA Games, but then those from the army (Royal Brunei Armed Forces) only just got released from their work commitments to return to training,” said the national coach.

In addition, Suhartono highlighted that they are hoping to get an early selection done to prepare for next year’s SEA Games as well.

The tournament will be used by the coach as a curtain raiser for the World Pencak Silat Championship from July 25-31 at Samarinda, Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the Brunei Darussalam National Pencak Silat Association (BDNPSA) will be holding a Pencak Silat coaching course on May 17 at 10.30am at the lecture theatre of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas.

Written by YEE CHUN LEONG
Sourced from http://news.brunei.fm/2010/05/13/brunei-silat-exponents-work-hard-for-sea-meet/

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It is with great sadness that I report the passing of another great master. Mohammed bin Chik, better known as Pak Mat Kedidi, passed on peacefully at his home in Endau, Johor at 1.05am this morning.

Silat Melayu: The Blog, Silat Melayu Community and SMC Innovations wish to convey their deepest condolences to his family, students and those who gained benefit from his knowledge.

Al Fatihah.

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