Experiences in Indonesia

[Mumtaz]

A/A,

Can I ask some of the Westerners here who have trained Silat in Indonesia to share some of their experiences?

Mumtaz

[Gajah]

Salam Mumtaz,

I am not really at liberty to discuss the actual silat, but I'll tell you a little of my experiences. My experiences may be slightly different from others, as initialy it was almost accidental

It all started with gule kambing, one of my favourite dishes. I was brought up on goat meat. Unusual in the UK, but my parents always kept 8 or so goats. Gule kambing is a type of goat curry simmered gently in spices & coconut milk. Enak sekali .

The Gule had been prepared by Mak Mah, my wives aunt. We were eating with a couple of my wives uncles, both hard working softly spoken men. My wife, much to my embarassment, brought up the fact I'd been studying silat in the UK

Of course this was the most hilarious thing anyone had ever heard 'Karate?'... 'no, silat asli'...Imagine that Everyone was literaly rolling around laughing

So overfed(this will happen a lot) and a few kopi Jawa later I find the whole village has gathered A guy, Pak M, is limbering up, doing the splits, backflips and the like I say to my wife something like, "don't tell me I have to have a lesson in front of all these people?". She says, "No, you have to fight him".

OMG, I wish I could have seen my face

Rules were, "no hitting in the face!" As it turned out I held my own pretty well and the whole episode was good humoured. A very generous 50/50 verdict was agreed upon.

Now, most of the crowd had gone and only a few old fellows smoking kretek remained. Pak M and I had bonded very well and we were now exchanging moves. I eventualy showed him our buah tujuh (gunting, close, takedown-knee to back of neck or spine) and Pak Y who until now had remained silent applauded with a "bagus, silat asli". He then asked me for a lift home-50 yards down the road

Anyway, in the car, just as he was hopping out, he said, "meet me here 7pm tomorrow".

I did. We sat and drank Kopi. Then it was shhhh, "follow me!"
Half a mile later through the padi in the dark we came to a flat area by the river.

"OK, jurus satu......"

And that was my first lesson in Indonesia

[SundaWarrior]

My first trip to Indonesia I was training Pencak Panglipur.  My friend and brother Kang Erwin told me it was time to meet Mami Enny.  Ibu Enny is the first lady of Pencak Silat to make an incredible impact on the Silat community.  Her father Bapak Aba Aleh was the founder of Panglipur and he lived until the age of 120.  That is in no way an overestimate - they have proof.  Anyways, the first time I met Ibu Enny I was expecting to see an elderly lady who had difficulty walking,etc..  As soon as I walked into the room she literally almost jumped out of her seat in excitement.  She was 90 years old at the time and she moved like she was in her 30's.  Any of you who say there is no power in Pencak Silat please go to Garut and visit Ibu Enny.  This is one of many great experiences I had in Indonesia and I hope there will be many more to come.

Salam,

Nicholas   

[pekir]

I had already been Indonesia a few times since 1991 (I was born in Bandung in 1964) In 2000 I went again after my dear father had passsed away and I wanted to fulfil his last wish to bury part of his ashes in a grave next to his great grandfather. This was quite a eye opening happening to me because my father was a roman catholic and much to my positive surprise my family in Cililtan (Jakarta) arranged with the help of the local Imam a buriel according to muslim tradition. I still very much appreciate they respected the man he was first, before his religion.

My father had for some unknown reason never told me before of the existence of these family members. Which was somewhat strange because they were the closed extended family from his side but maybe I just didn't listen at the right moments because my older brother had met them several times.

While talking about each of our lives after the ceremonie I mentioned that I was practicing Silat for (at that time) over 20 years. Much to their surprise and they responded immediatly with: you have to meet this person who is the only living direct student of your great grandfather. After over 20 years of training they told me my great grandfather was a locally respected Pendekar! This resulted in two meetings were they made me demonstrate my silat and they showed theirs, we did some jurus together and the teacher validated what he had seen was asli. He invited me to come over for a longer visit to learn some more of my great grandfathers silat.

At my last visit in 2001 I didn't have the opportunity to fulfil this wish to learn. I've planned to go at the end of this year for a four week period. Not to learn everything in one visit but just to get a good taste.....

Patrick

[Rebo Paing]

Welcome home Patrick  .

Warm Salams,
Krisno

[Josh]

I have only been to Indonesia once for eight months in 1993, but it was a great lesson in how well people can treat a stranger.  At the training center though I was not an honored guest, rather I was a junior untested student.  At first, I thought I was not being trained, but then I noticed that while no senior people would talk to me, they were also always sending students to work with me.  Until that time, being thrown hard without mats tended to give me a headache, but one day after being thrown for 30 minutes or so, I suddenly felt like an egg cracking, and I relaxed, started laughing, and have never had a problem with falling since.  I was never told anything, but it was one of the greatest lessons I have learned. 

Still I was a bit frustrated, because I wanted to be told things, as that is the way I am used to learning.  I finally figured out that when a trainer would show an Indonesian student something, they were also teaching me.  The big hint was that they would speak English or use simple Bahasa when they were talking to another native speaker in my presence.  They were opening the door and it was up to me to enter.
Josh