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Silat: A Traditional Martial Art That Trains Body and Mind
Making Southeast Asian culture known world wide. By Heo Keon-sik Ph.D. Martial Arts Studies

 

Silat training

 

Silat refers to a class of traditional martial arts that is widely practiced in Southeast Asia. Influenced by the cultures of ancient India, China, and Arabia, silat evolved over much of Southeast Asian history into its current form. Because many of its countries share a border or are completely surrounded by an ocean, Southeast Asia has an advanced seafaring culture. Silat played a significant role in expanding the territories of seafaring people, which regularly traveled from one island or coastline to the next, due to its incorporation of various types of weapons.

Most of silat’s motions are inspired by the natural world or the movements of animals. For example, Silat Harimau includes aesthetic motions that imitate the attack skills used by tigers. In the past, village shamans performed silat at holy places where rites were conducted. Training methods that are still practiced today focused on self-defense, healing rituals, and spiritual training.

In silat training, music is the factor that determines the rhythm that a motion will take. Most of the music is played with traditional Southeast Asian instruments that have been used since antiquity for religious ceremonies. Weddings, festivals, and staged performances often feature this music, played on traditional instruments by processions of people wearing traditional clothing.

Silat was not only the subject of epics but also, starting from the 13th century, of martial arts novels on legendary silat heroes and warriors. Today, it appears in many Southeast Asian cartoons, movies, and television series. The bathhouse fight scene in the Korean movie The Man from Nowhere, in which Won Bin uses a small knife, is based on silat techniques.

There are multiple schools of silat in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei Darussalam. The only one that has been converted to sport format is Indonesia’s Pencak Silat. The World Pencak Silat Championships, which were first held in 1982, have grown into a large-scale international sport that was joined by athletes from 40 countries in 2018.
As such, silat has gradually changed in the 20th century into a martial art that emphasizes the artistic over the fighting aspect. It is also a popular sport that is increasingly beloved worldwide. Malaysian silat was registered in 2019 as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. I have no doubt that silat’s long and colorful history will be successfully passed down to the next generation.

Article may not reflect the opinion of the editorial board of the ASEAN Culture House Monthly.