Pencak Silat Must Evolve
Author: Steve Hanafi (Silat Sharaf Practitioner, Malaysia)
Evolve or Die.
In the age of advancing technologies, weapons industries, artificial intelligence, autonomous robots, is Pencak Silat still as relevant and as lethal as it was? An artform used by warriors for centuries to fight wars passed from one generation to another through rigorous selection, practice, and training, one that was feared by colonists and local enemies alike, that so lethal and vicious it was called a "cheating art". A truly superior art of war. It was a tool to gain leverage, a tool to lie and deceive the enemy, a tool used to survive, used to maim and kill effectively, and definitely, a tool to protect one's Maruah (Dignity) and Tanah Air (Homeland).
Can it still be counted on for self-protection? What are the odds of using Pencak Silat and winning against killer robots or enhanced human beings? While we may be a few years (or decades or centuries away) from Terminator-like A.I, we have to ask ourselves, is this art evolving as it should? In an age where everything is evolving rapidly, Pencak Silat MUST EVOLVE, as it evolved to include firearms, canon, and other new technologies over the millennia of its existence.
Either the art evolves, or it dies. And you'll die along with it.
Why the need to evolve?
Because anything that refuses to do so perishes. Look at how Nokia crumbled when Apple released iPhone. Nokia refused to change their marketing strategy, to improvise and evolve its technology. In just a year, they lost billions. Blockbuster lost to Netflix when they refused to change their approach where Netflix delivers the shows to the end customer instead of having them come to their store. In no time, Blockbuster went bankrupt. Weapon and arms manufacturers worldwide are competing to develop autonomous weapon systems (AWS), making killer robots that can think on their own, using artificial intelligence (AI) to hack into networks, just to stay ahead in the game. Starting to see the pattern here?
No doubt that Pencak Silat has seen its glory days during the Malaccan Sultanate era, but if the practitioner wants the art to grow again, then improvements must be made.
History has proven, anything, regardless of how strong or glorious it was in the past when it refuses to make relevant changes, accept new ideas and innovations, and evolve, it dies. Make no mistake, Pencak Silat was and still is one of the most famous martial arts not only for the beauty in the art but for how effective it is. If anything is to survive a harsh condition, that particular thing must first be of high quality and value. Pencak Silat has survived numerous clashes, battles, wars, and colonialization, which proves that it has superior quality and value. But somewhere along the line, even the people of the Nusantara slowly prioritized other forms of martial arts over Pencak Silat, what went wrong?
"Companies that don't make changes either lose the game or disappear"
Against other traditional martial arts, Silat has failed to stand out. People look to MMA if they want to learn fighting skills. People who want to wrestle look to catch wrestling, sambo, or jiujitsu. Those who want to learn the bladed arts look to Filipino Martial Arts – Kali, Eskrima, Arnis you name it. That leaves only people who don't necessarily train for fighting or combat sport and many other martial arts are competing for the same demographic.
The majority of people in the Pencak Silat community have failed to market the art correctly, staying stagnant within their small circles. Not to mention those who do not want to innovate and improvise upon techniques in fear of "breaking" the technique. What more of those who think that Pencak Silat should be reserved for a small ethnic group only, not allowing those outside of their "circle" to learn Silat and teach it to others.
Pencak silat is a martial art that is almost a thousand years old. It has seen numerous changes since its birth, the revolutionary era and the modern era. But let's admit it, Pencak Silat has to evolve. It must evolve. In this age of constant improvement and innovation, the one thing that you would not want to be is stagnant.
"Innovation is the key to success"
How can Silat evolve?
i. Educate the mind, make savage the body
The first improvement that needs to be made is in the teaching methodology. The teaching needs to focus more on conceptual and real-life applications, not just fully relying on techniques. Techniques are good to learn, they are original form and symbol of the art, but memorizing techniques will just get one killed. The problem that exists in most Silat schools nowadays is that they put too much emphasis on finishing the syllabus, and just memorizing techniques. Not saying that technique has less importance, but solely focusing on the technique itself isn't going to cut it. There's a saying that says if you want to move forward, you have to take lessons from the past. In the past, large-scale Silat schools or Gelanggang (training ground) weren't available, the classes were of a small size where the students were those who really pour their heart and blood into learning from the Guru (Silat teacher).
Another missing aspect is in educating the mind. The teaching of tactics and strategies to navigate through life, teaching the application of Silat's brutal and cunning mindset to face adversaries, be it business, politics, or personal enemies. This is one of the most important aspects of the art that is completely missing in today's Silat schools. When older Pendekars passed down their Silat knowledge to their disciples, they didn't just teach the techniques, but also the mindset, as students would need it most when working with allies and facing adversaries from other kingdoms, so that they wouldn't be fooled. The mindset would also help them to navigate through life and grow as a complete Pesilat, a complete fighter, physically and mentally.
Silat is a complete system but it is not perfect, no martial art style is. To survive in a real-world altercation, one needs supporting skills. Regardless against a trained fighter or not, supporting skills from other schools or styles is essential. Any teacher or instructor who's reading this; drop your ego. Cooperate and collaborate with other silat school or styles, or other martial art styles to teach more to the students, to give them a wider view and knowledge on the fighting art. Allow the students to go to other schools or learn other styles of martial arts so their fighting potential can grow. Don't worry about them leaving silat once they found other arts, they don't. Birds fly high, but at the end of the day, they'll go back to their branch, to their home.
ii. Training Methods
Nobody cares how “deadly” your techniques are, if you can’t hold your ground and properly execute them in a real-life situation, you’re as good as dead anyway
Most Silat practitioners nowadays aren't training the way the olden people do. There used to be a lot, A LOT of full-contact sparring and pressure testing. They'd spar on bridges, on a log, in the river, and at the beach. The only people who do spar now are those who are training for the competition, and that's with protective gear and also dangerous moves are banned. That's not enough. I recall my Guru once told me that one who goes for silat, does not come home without bruises – if they do, either they are the teacher or they didn't go for training at all.
In the old days, the Guru put a heavy focus on developing the students' minds and bodies. Tough conditioning, brutal and torturous physical fitness work, going Bertapa (a type of meditation) in the wilderness, and constant sparring session, sometimes with the Guru himself (read here why we think martial art teacher should be able to fight their student). The training with a guru was considered so tough that it was said if one went to training, they wouldn't come home without bruises and injuries from training. But it was for a good reason, to condition the mind and body to face violence, it is also to put the learner under stress, for them to see whether they can execute the techniques they've learned during class. Silat practitioners nowadays lack strength training and conditioning. Lifting heavy weights, doing endurance training, definitely cardio. Old people did heavy work, they built muscle through their work. They spent all day chopping wood, working in rice fields, hunting in the jungle, finding herbs, which all required them to be physically strong. Modern warriors can substitute these traditional activities with a good workout and training plan that can be done with weight plates, heavy bags, resistance bands, and countless other tools to build the same level of strength and endurance.
John Machado said, "No sparring, No miracles". If one really wants to learn to fight, then they must be fighting against someone who is fighting back. If the training is solely based on where one person punches and waits for the other to execute their Buah or Jurus, then I'll say that it won't work when the user is pinched against a resisting opponent, an opponent who fights back. No one in their right mind would wait for you to do your ultimate-death-technique on them. Live energy, resisting opponent, is the key. Of course, during the learning process, the resistance is low, it gets higher as the training and learner progresses.
A good initiative has been taken by the Silat Federation in updating the rules of Silat Olahraga which has allowed it to be more flexible for the fighters in the ring. This is a great step forward in promoting Silat and also a move forward in making Silat fighters more prepared and give them a better fighting experience than the previous rules.
iii. Mindset and Internet
No weapon is greater to mankind than the mind. Regardless of how lethal the techniques are, without the right mindset, it's pretty much useless. It is rare to see any silat classes implementing the lethal mindset, on how to weaponize the mind before the body, mostly because they are scared that "people don't like to be violent".
A good mindset implementation is not necessarily just about beating people up or killing people (although a part of it is true), it is about using tactics to avoid conflicts, to navigate through daily life, strategies to become a better fighter and a better protector. How can a Guru expect the student to be proficient in protecting themselves if the right mindset is not taught during training and after the class has ended?
"but in the olden days, people didn't need to publicize or advertise their style and still get students coming to learn"
Look. Until a few decades ago, there was no such thing called the Internet. The exposure to other fighting arts was not as it is now. No competitions were fighting for the same demographic. Lack of promotion leads to people not knowing about silat, misunderstanding about silat, and people being uninterested in learning the art. Even in the age of autonomous robots, high-speed internet, there are still very few promotions regarding silat.
The creation of the internet, the existence of social media, blogs, and the ability to create websites and groups have enabled educators alike to share their knowledge in a world without boundaries. Silat Gurus MUST take this advantage to spread their knowledge and share the information in this borderless platform where the information and knowledge will exist for as long as the server exists.
Put out educational content, deliver valuable knowledge, tell stories, the tales of warriors of the past, tales of Pesilat and Pendekars alike, so that it would spark the interest of the new generations to learn more about Silat and its heritage. And also to further ignite the spirit of those who are already practicing Silat. The only limit on what kind of content you can put out is your imagination and how determined you are to put the knowledge out there for people to learn and attract them to come search for Silat.
Everything begins with education. Use whatever tools and medium you can find on the internet to further spread the knowledge and information on Silat.
vii. Adaptation of contemporary weapons
Special Operation Units are those who have merged the use of firearms in their Silat training. Pictured Malaysia’s Very Able Trooper (VAT 69) performing their Gayung Perang (War Dance).
The saying "Don't get into a gunfight with a knife" is particularly true in this one. You don't know what your enemy is carrying or have with them, and it is much better to have a better weapon than to need one. Just having a gun or a blade without proper training will not suffice. There's no wrong in teaching how to use a traditional weapon for the sake of the art, but if we're really going to focus on self-protection, the adaptation of contemporary weapons in training is essential.
There have been numerous modern interpretations and innovations of traditional close-quarter weapons such as the Karambit, the Badik, the Parang, all have seen numerous improvements since the industrial revolution and even more so in the past decade. They have been built with better sheaths, Kydex sheaths to be specific, which are more durable and slim profiled, have better attachments and carry options (read our guide to knife carry), and are even more versatile for the modern warrior. Hence, we believe that it is a loss and a dumb mistake to not integrate Silat lessons with contemporary weapons.
Integrate your training with edged weapons and firearms. They are the essentials.
This brings me to another point, guns. Pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, rifles. If you can acquire these, then hell yes! you should be practicing and integrating Silat with these weapons. Weapons are but tools, and Silat has been a weaponized form of art for centuries. The manipulation of weapons in close quarters is what Silat excels at. Which makes it disappointing that some Law Enforcement Units are not using Silat, but other martial arts that weren't weaponized arts in the first place. Not saying that these arts are not good, but Silat is superior when it comes to manipulating weapons since that is what has been done by warriors for centuries. A good example is looking at the SOCP (Special Operations Combative Program) where weapons use and manipulation is highly prioritized in the syllabus, one that really should be taken into consideration if instructors want to see Silat evolve and remain significant in the future.
Weapons that can be carry concealed (according to your state laws) should be trained during silat classes. The majority of silat techniques are timeless – where contemporary weapons can be integrated into the techniques making them more lethal. Drones, robots are just new technologies integrated into older technologies.
Conclusion?
Look at martial arts that have grown worldwide, Wing Chun, Brazilian Jiujitsu, if the people who made the bold move and improvised didn't make the move in the first place, would those arts be as popular as they are today? Looking back, people weren't afraid to make changes to suit their times, to suit the war that they were fighting.
Why are we so afraid of change then?