The crowd’s applause erupted as my partner and I stepped onto the mat. We were in the finals of the Kejuaraan Seni Silat championship. The sound of the gong vibrated throughout the hall, signaling us to begin, and then only war cries and the unmistakable sound of blades clashing together could be heard. When I think back, most of the contest is a blur to me. I was focused only on where my blade should be in accordance to my opponent’s.

As an expat, I have lived almost ten years away from my native home of England, spending most of that time in Asia. Having lived in Japan, the Philippines and Hong Kong, I am now settled in Kuala Lumpur, but I doubt I would be here (or indeed would have discovered any other part of Asia) if not for the influence the martial art known as silat has had on my life.

For most Westerners, the word silat is as foreign to them as it is to live abroad. But to Malaysians, silat is not only known, but respected; looked upon as an ancient warrior fighting system. Silat encompasses the martial arts styles of the Malaysian peninsula and the Indonesian Archipelago and the word itself comes from the term si kilat, which literally means “a person with moves like lightning.”

The origins of silat are lost in the mists of antiquity due to the lack of reliable written records, though it is widely believed that Indonesia, specifically Sumatra, was the cradle of the combat art of silat. The phrase silat Melayu is a blanket term for the various styles of silat created in Southeast Asia’s peninsular, particularly Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. The tradition of silat has deep roots in Malaysian culture, tracing its origin to the dawn of Malay civilization 2,000 years ago.

It is said that silat chooses you as opposed to you choosing it; this is certainly true in my path to this mystical but deadly fighting style. I was – like most teenagers – bored, with little to do and therefore looking for trouble. I liked to fight and although I had learnt the more popular styles of combat – boxing, karate, jujitsu, and kung fu – I was neither satisfied nor disciplined. Then by chance, when walking past a room at my local gym, I found a man practicing silat by himself. He welcomed me into his humble studio, and from that day on, I gave myself to the art of silat and its adat (customs).

Learning this rare fighting style has taken me across the world, studying under famous gurus in America, Africa, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Malaysia has various styles of silat, from its oldest silat Sendeng, to Gayong silat, silat Lincah, and its most popular, silat Cekak. Each of these styles is equally unique and effective but the teacher I sought to study under was Maha Guru Jak Othman.

Guru Jak is a modern legend on the global silat circuit. He was introduced to silat at the age of five by his father and he grew up learning many styles of Malay silat including the bladed Java system known as Harimau Berantai Silat (chained tiger silat). I first heard about Guru Jak when he was living and studying in England. He held sold-out seminars in London before eventually returning to his home in Malaysia where he directed and produced the award winning Malay television series, Maha Guru. Each week Guru Jak would show new silat techniques whilst informing the viewer of the history of the art and evolution behind its application. I moved to KL in 2009 and decided to begin training with Guru Jak.

I located the entrance to his gym in PJ, tucked away between a bakery and pharmacy store and I was instantly greeted by this larger-than-life personality. His friendly smile and loud voice added to his relentless energy, and within moments he handed me a knife and, along with the rest of his students, showed me techniques. His fast pace teaching methods took me a few weeks to get used to, but his silat was very deadly, effective, and realistic.

After almost two years of training with Guru Jak, I found myself – along with his senior student, Aussie expatEd Chards – at the silat championships in Perak. Together we represented his one Malaysian team and after qualifying for the finals against sixteen silat teams from all over Malaysia, we were ready to make history. We demonstrated the famous keris, the long knife that has become a symbol of Malaysia, used in dress attire by sultans, wedding grooms, and during various other ceremonies. We then displayed the parang sword attack and counters. The local Perak audience cheered loudly for us, as no mat sallehs had ever reached the finals before. Once the judges totalled their scores, Ed and I became the first Westerners ever to win the silver at the Kejuaraan Seni Silat Warisan Mahaguru championships.

Today you will find me training twice a week with Guru Jak. The art of silat has opened opportunities for me in work, friendship, love, and life, and is the reason that I became an expat.

For more information on silat, please visit: www.blacktrianglesilat.com.

This article was written by Scoot Mcquaid for The Expat magazine.
Source: The Expat July 2012
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