KUANTAN TEST FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP-BOUND EXPONENTS

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysian exponents for the World Silat Championship will be from among those who performed well at the National Silat Tournament in Kuantan on Oct 4-9.

The World Silat Championship will be held at Beduk Sports Hall, Singapore on Dec 12-20.

National Silat Association (Pesaka) assistant secretary Bahrain Ibrahim said 19 teams would be competing in Kuantan.

Speaking to Bernama here today, he said all shortlisted exponents would train at Bukit Jalil National Sports Complex next month.

Malaysia would send 29 competitos to Singapore. Seventeen exponents including six women will compete in silat olahraga while 12 including six women are in silat seni category.

Bahrain said Malaysian silat exponents were capable of winning three to four gold medals at the World Championship.

He said United Kingdom, France, Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia, Belgium, Netherlands and Saudi Arabia were among 31 nations taking part in the Singapore tournament.

Bahrain also said Malaysia won six gold and two silver medals at the Swiss Open Silat Championship last month.

Among the gold medallists were Mohd Azrin Abdul Malik, Mohd Zubir Osman, Emy Latip, Ahmad Sharil Zainuddin and Siti Jameelah Md Japilus, he said.

They also performed well to win four gold medals at the Belgium Open last April and European Invitational Championship in United Kingdom in June.

Sourced from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-13432353_ITM

Fighting to promote silat heritage

THE normally placid ground of Perak Museum in Taiping will see a bustle of "fighting" action.

Beginning Aug 21, visitors will be fascinated by seni silat groups of various disciplines taking turn to show off their skills and promote Malay martial art as a national heritage product for tourism.

"Accomplished silat practitioners are mostly found in rural areas and it is difficult to gather them. We are honoured to have them here in the interest of our heritage," said Zainal Abidin Jamaludin, Central Perak Museum and Antiquities Department director.

The month-long festival was officiated by Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali, recently.

"Besides Japan and Korea with their karate and takwondo, we are one of few countries that have their own form of martial art. Silat is indeed a national treasure which we must preserve," he said.

Silat exponents wage an impressive display of hand-to-hand combat and amaze audiences with their ingenuity in traditional weaponry such as the keris, parang and todak.

For details of schedules, contact 05-8072057.

Sourced from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-13357065_ITM

Students urged to fight for peace

Pencak silat, the traditional Malay martial art, is being promoted at private Islamic schools in a bid to encourage students to spend their time usefully and turn away from unlawful activities.

Several private Islamic schools in Pattani, being closely watched by the army for suspected separatist activities, have changed their image by promoting pencak silat.

Among those schools is Azizsatan Foundation school in Pattani's Khok Pho district. The school, which has drawn the army's attention over the use of foreign funding, has urged male students to learn pencak silat and perhaps become national athletes. Teachers believe the sport protects students from being lured into separatist movements.

In the Malay martial art, an attacker is met with quick and gracefully deceptive movements. Hard contact is avoided.

Some 30 students joined the pencak silat training programme at the school, which hired former national athlete Buslee Sama-ae to train the students.

"Pencak silat training will be held every weekend so students can spend their free time usefully aside from praying five times a day. If they have nothing to do, they may be lured into breaking the law," said Sumet Adin Raksa, 17, who is studying at level 2 of Azizsatan Foundation school, equivalent to Mathayom Suksa 5 or Grade 11.

The school was locally called "pink school" since its buildings were painted pink and its students wore pink

Mr Sumet Adin said he did not want people to have a negative image of private Islamic schools in the deep South after some students were involved in the April 28 violence.

"I don't want people to view most students at private Islamic schools as bandits or separatist members as only a few students made the wrong decision to join the separatist movement," he said.

Prior to the bloody April 28 uprising, several members of a separatist group led by Ustaz Soh Isma-ae Rayalong had persuaded several students at private Islamic schools to join the separatist movement. "Playing sports is better than joining [the separatists] as sport is good for health. Pencak silat teaches us self-defence techniques," he said.

"We also preserve a local martial art. Pencak silat is a Malayu sport and we are Malayu people.

"We hope to become national athletes," said Mr Sumet Adin.

Yakoh Salae, 48, principal of Azizsatan Foundation school, said he had asked teachers to closely monitor students to prevent them from being lured into the separatist movement.

Background checks of some 160 teachers following the April 28 attack uncovered no links to the separatist movement.

Sourced from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-13326769_ITM

Silat in Los Angeles

12 Sept 2004, USA, California - September 2004 was the inaugural date of the first seminars of EastWestStudios system of Pencak Silat in the USA. At the joint invitation of Guru Dan Inosanto and Guru Cliff Stewart, Guru Steven Benitez took his team out to formally introduce Traditional Pencak Silat to the martial arts capital of America. Guru Dan Inosanto is the legendary Torch-bearer of Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do system and Guru Cliff Stewart is a legend in the world of personal protection and martial science. These two men have nearly a century of martial arts experience behind them so one can understand what an honour it was for Guru Steven to be invited to share his teachings with them.

On Thursday September 16th 2004 Steven Benitez along with his Chief Assistant Alvin Guinanao & apprentice instructors Mark Wilenkin and Tony Felix arrived in the usual warm southern Californian heat looking forward to an interesting week ahead. On the agenda was a combination of private classes and seminars for both groups.

Steven had previously met Guru Dan when they were co-instructors at a seminar for the UK’s Martial Arts Illustrated magazine. Guru Dan had since gone on to say that Steven Benitez is probably one of the best Silat Teachers in the world and that he is ‘The man to learn Silat from’. Tony Felix had already been a guest instructor at Cliff Stewart’s Lost Art Silat Masters Camp earlier in the year-Tony had assisted Cliff when he was Wesley Snipes’ bodyguard-and the introductory workshop Tony conducted on traditional Silat had led to great curiosity about the Silat practiced at EWS. Steven was then contacted by Cliff and he had already maintained contact with Guru Dan. So it was great to see these two icons cooperating and jointly hosting the EWS seminar team.

The teachings began with private group classes for Cliff Stewart’s LA Pencak Silat group. Guru Cliff Stewart has been studying martial arts for 47 years and studying Silat for nearly 20 years but was looking to further his studies in the more traditional aspects of the art. It is so refreshing that such a well respected and highly regarded teacher-of-teachers was willing to look further into the art that he loves. His previous teachers had not really emphasized the traditional aspects of Silat so he was happy for the opportunity to continue his evolution in a more complete manner. He had been impressed with the rounded approach to Silat at EWS. He noted the syllabus contained the traditional footwork-langkah, handwork-jurus, training methods and usage of weapons. He particularly smiled when he found out EWS had their yoga and conditioning.

Cliff Stewart’s Lost Art Silat group were aware of the ground-fighting aspects of the Art-traditionally Silat players may spend up to 2 years ‘on the ground’ building the foundation. In fact they had been feverishly preparing for Guru Steven’s visit, not wanting to seem out of sorts with the ground systems. The system the group previously trained in did not contain the Silat ground-fighting systems.

Guru Inosanto requested 2 private classes for his personal small group and 2 larger open seminars at his Inosanto Academy at Marina Del Rey. The small group were his long term instructors and more experienced training partners. The open seminar attendees were a broad mixture of students from the various classes held at the Academy. A large number of these were Grapplers generously urged by Guru Dan to attend the seminars.

Guru Steven believes in not deviating from the traditional methods taught to him by Guru Ma Prem so as always all the sessions began with the traditional conditioning. Many people see the positions of Pencak Silat and laugh - that is until they try the postures and feel the strength they build. The conditioning of Silat is unique in the fact that the warm up postures are the self-same postures used for the application but done much slower. Guru Ma teaches that all Silat is ‘One’ and you begin to understand this concept after going through the traditional conditioning. Many people there including grapplers and some yoga practitioners commented on the connectivity of these postures-through the warming up and later on during the application phases.

Let’s say they were pleasantly surprised at the non-sports approach to fighting on that ground that Silat has. It was interesting for them to not be able to ‘rest’ in the guard position and not be looking for ‘pin’ and ‘control’ positions. A few of them kept asking about various scenarios for ground fighting. They also welcomed the concept of multiple-opponent awareness by training in groups of three.

The Academy was treated to another traditional aspect of Silat when Alvin & Tony Felix did a knife-fight within the circle of people training. The catch was that they were only allowed to stay on the ground and not come to their feet. Then later Alvin was told to remain on the floor unarmed while Tony was allowed to get to his feet and continue ‘trying’ to attack him with the knife. Alvin’s performance during this exercise is a testament to how well he studied and been trained by Steven. The gathered southern Californians were suitably impressed. The ending of all the classes held were met by generous applause and warm congratulations for Guru Steven and his team.

A lot of praises are often spoken about Guru Dan Inosanto and you may wonder at how accurate the statements are. But when you meet him, see him train and talk to him you understand why. To spend time with him is truly humbling. He is in his late 60’s and trained along with his students in the open seminars. In fact when the EWS team left he returned to the mats to practice the postures. His knowledge, enthusiasm and love of martial arts is truly something to behold.

Being Hollywood there was naturally some star presence at both sets of seminars. With famed fight choreographer and stuntman Jeff Imada at the Inosanto academy and with Cliff taking the group to meet Judge Joe Brown at the taping of his top-rated TV show. In fact the Judge came to visit the EWS team at Cliff’s house and stayed chatting until the early hours. He is now keenly practicing the ground aspects of EWS Silat.

So the trip ended memorably with smiles all around and with both groups setting up dates for EWS Silat seminars next year. Since the return there have already been congratulatory e-mails for the team. There are now smiles on both sides of the Atlantic and the path has been made for the spread of the little seen traditional Pencak Silat.

By UNKNOWN
Sourced from http://www.reelcombat.com/news.htm

Silat Kegayungan Acheh Helang Putih

FOR a man who can cause a lot of damage with his bare hands, Raja Abdul Aziz Mohd Ali certainly has an unassuming air about him. He’s even uncomfortable being called a mahaguru, or grandmaster, of the silat style he teaches.

“‘Maha’ means godlike, and I am not like that!” said the 56-year-old in his affable manner during a chat at his house in Kampung Dusun Tua in Hulu Langat, Selangor.

Friends said the man had squirmed sheepishly when meeting them after they had read a magazine article that had bestowed the title on him. But the article wasn’t too far off the mark. Raja Aziz has, almost single-handedly, formalised and spread the teachings of Silat Kegayongan Acheh Helang Putih, an ancient style of fighting that belongs to his family. His is one of the most popular silat organisations in the country with a membership of about 35,000. Currently, there are Silat Helang Putih organisations in 10 states in Malaysia and one each in France and Canada.

In 2001, Raja Aziz was invited, along with 21 other grandmasters, to the residence of the then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Wisma Perdana, Putrajaya, to give a pledge of loyalty to the Government.

That moment on March 10 when he took the pledge has spurred Raja Aziz to work even harder to propagate Silat Helang Putih. Not that he needs much encouragement. He’s been almost obsessed with taking this ancient “way of the warrior” nationwide and even worldwide. So focused has he been since he took up the art when he was 12 years old that his 10 older siblings all prophesied that he would angkat sampah (“carry garbage” – become a garbage collector) when he grew up!

According to legends handed down within the family, Silat Helang Putih was taught to an ancestor by a celestial warrior who, after committing an impropriety, had been cursed into taking the form of an eagle. The ancient form of Silat Helang Putih was a killing art, said Raja Aziz. The modern version is more moderate and can be safely demonstrated to the public. Students practice stylistic moves, and piercing shouts, screams and shrieks that are reminiscent of an eagle.

Raja Aziz himself has reportedly taken the form of an eagle. He is supposed to have demonstrated to a sceptical Caucasian martial artist the “internal” (kebatinan) aspects of silat, in the process transforming himself into a giant white eagle simply by mouthing incantations. Displaying typical modesty, Raja Aziz didn’t want to talk about the incident as it is “not good form to flaunt one’s ability”.

Not that Raja Aziz was always this modest. It seems that when he was in his 20s, he was rather taken with his own abilities. He was studying under an elderly silat master in Johor when he decided to issue a challenge – but the master knocked the young man’s lights out with a deft gesture even Raja Aziz “the young terror” didn’t know!

It’s not surprising, though, that the young man was a little overconfident. After all, he was still in his teens when he was instructed by his then master to begin teaching the art. Still training under different masters himself, Raja Aziz had only a handful of students, but he went ahead and opened a gelanggang (silat school) where his parents were living in Kampung Pandan, Selangor.

He ruffled quite a number of feathers with that move. One 80-year-old master of a different style of silat confronted Raja Aziz and insisted the young man pass a test or accept the master as his teacher. The old master wanted the young upstart to escape from his infamous “death lock” hold. Though Raja Aziz politely declined, the old man, a Javanese master with many gelanggangs in the area, kept insisting on the test. Finally, with his father’s blessings, Raja Aziz accepted the challenge.

“The master approached me and I allowed him to apply his lock on me. After he had done so, I asked him to confirm whether he had completed applying his lock as I did not feel uncomfortable at all. The man became angry and dared me to free myself if I could after I queried him for the third time.

“With a few swift movements, I easily freed myself. He applied three different locks on me but I easily escaped from each.

“Many of the master’s schools closed when word (about the test) got around,” Raja Aziz added.

In those early days, Raja Aziz struggled not only to teach his art but also to learn other styles of silat as well as other martial arts – and to do all this while holding down a regular job to support his wife and, eventually, 11 children! He studied Silat Sheikh Baginda Ali, Silat Harimau and Silat Sendeng Kuno in Johor and in Indonesia, juggling his silat with work in an electronics firm in Brunei and then a period of study at an electronics institute in Finland while in his early 20s.

Returning from Finland, Raja Aziz gave up his job in Brunei and moved to Kuala Lumpur where, among other jobs he held, he moonlighted as a cleaner at a sports club in Jalan Hicks. There, he had the opportunity to watch judo and tai chi classes. Of course, with his background in silat, it wasn’t long before he was interested enough to try out the movements he had seen after everyone was gone.

One day, the Japanese master, one Mr Hirakawa, caught Raja Aziz practicing judo moves and was so impressed that he ordered the young man to attend classes – for free and with a uniform thrown in, too! Raja Aziz went on to win medals at tournaments and achieve the rank of second dan in judo. He also fared well at tai chi and received a teacher’s certificate.

“Yes, I studied other arts but I have decided to focus on silat since it is from my own culture. I also find silat stances superior in strengthening the waist and other relevant muscles.

“Silat incorporates all the fighting distances with wide use of the hands for gripping, chopping, hitting and blocking,” he said.

But among Malays, silat is not faring very well, reckoned Raja Aziz: “ Malays are slow to take up silat as they look down on their own culture and favour imported arts.”

As for the art’s sometimes unsavoury reputation, Raja Aziz said that silat practitioners have only themselves to blame: ”Many young practitioners can’t wait to teach silat although their skills are below par, and some practice black magic while others impose unreasonable conditions.

“If foreigners can appreciate silat, I do not see why we cannot make silat known to the world,” he said, referring to the two foreign students he has taught, Joseph J. Vanrooy and Ta’am Kamal, who are now teaching the art in Canada and France respectively.

“It is up to the Malays to take up silat to popularise their own culture as promotion efforts for the art is almost negligible,” said Raja Aziz ruefully.

He’s certainly doing his bit for silat despite suffering all sorts of set backs over the years – from teachers who don’t pay him to teach his art to students who learn from him and then “steal” his techniques and claim them for their own.

Since he set up his organisation in 1967 when he was only 19, Raja Aziz has performed for Prime Ministers and royalty as well as ordinary folk all over the country and produced a book, Teknik Bela Diri Helang Putih (Siri 2), and a VCD of the same name in his bid to popularise this art.

For all that he has done for silat, especially in his home state of Selangor, he was given the title of Raja Aziz Laksamana Hojak Andak by the late Tengku Khalid, the Orang Kaya Maha Wijaya of Selangor in the 1980s.

Not bad for the kid they said would become a garbage collector when he grew up!

For enquiries about Silat Helang Putih and to order Raja Abdul Aziz Mohd Ali’s book (RM30) and VCD (RM20), contact him at 013-668 2523 / 03-9021 2714 / No. 589, Batu 15 1/2, Dusun Tua, 43100 Hulu Langat, Selangor.

Sourced from http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2004/8/8/features/8490103&sec=features

Victim broke off with suspect months ago

KAJANG: An economics graduate under investigation for the murder of medical researcher Norzi Ayu Md Noor, had told the victim's father that he had been intimate with her.

The 23-year-old suspect, who works in a bank in Serdang, had visited Norzi Ayu at her family home in Taman Maznah in Klang two weeks ago where he had "vowed" to marry her, despite her refusal to have anything to do with him.

This was revealed to The Malay Mail yesterday by Norzi Ayu's father, Md Noor Dahari, 52, as he waited to claim her remains at the Kajang Hospital mortuary.

Md Noor, a sea traffic controller attached to North Port, said the suspect, believed to be a Kelantanese, was adamant about marrying Norzi Ayu.

"He even had the gall to tell me that he slept with my daughter on several occasions and that gave him the right to marry her," the father said.

"Of course, I did not believe him.

I asked my daughter and she vehemently denied the allegations." Md Noor said he knew the suspect had a crush on his daughter but she broke off the relationship several months ago.

"She was seeing someone else, one of her colleagues and they had planned to get engaged soon," Md Noor said.

Norzi Ayu, 27, is the eldest of five children.

She was pursuing her Masters in genetic research at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

She was also an officer with the Insitute for Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur.

She had been renting a unit at the Sri Tanjung Apartments in Section 7, Bandar Baru Bangi with three housemates.

Norzi Ayu was attacked while she was alone in her flat on Monday afternoon.

She is believed to have been stabbed twice in the abdomen.

She died several hours later at the Kajang Hospital.

Selangor CID chief Senior Assistant Commissioner II Abu Bakar Mustafa confirmed that a suspect was in custody and that he was arrested at 8.30pm on Monday when he went to the Kajang Hospital to visit Norzi Ayu.

He said the suspect will be remanded for two weeks to help in investigations.

The Malay Mail learnt that the suspect entered Norzi Ayu's apartment about 3pm and that there was a loud argument before she was stabbed.

Norzi Ayu is believed to have put up a struggle.

She even managed to send an SMS to her silat instructor, to whom she was close.

Investigations also showed that the victim had scribbled a note on a piece of paper, saying that she was in danger.

She also urged the reader to contact the silat instructor whose cell phone number was written in the note.

The note was thrown out of a window on her first floor unit.

It is also learnt that someone picked up the note and immediately contacted the silat instructor.

It is further learnt that the silat instructor had confronted the assailant, who was holding Norzi Ayu hostage (see accompanying story).

But despite the silat instructor's efforts to "calm" him, the assailant stabbed Norzi Ayu twice in the abdomen before escaping on foot.

The silat instructor took her to the hospital.

Yesterday, the silat instructor was at the Kajang Hospital morgue with Norzi Ayu's family members.

He was seen accompanying Norzi Ayu's remains to the Klang Muslim cemetery where she was buried.

Written by MUZLIZA MUSTAFA
Sourced from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-12786954_ITM

Norzi Ayu and attacker were both silat exponents

KAJANG: Despite being a silat gayung (martial arts) exponent, murder victim Norzi Ayu Md Noor was no match for her assailant who was bigger.

Her silat instructor, identified only as Man, who rushed to her apartment after hearing that she was in trouble, saw the assailant grab Norzi Ayu from behind, holding a knife to her side.

"I tried to talk him into releasing her but he would not listen.

He was shouting and kept warning me not to come any closer," he said.

"He then pulled her into a room and that was when she was stabbed.

He then walked out and I rushed in to see if she was allright." Man, a silat gayung instructor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, refused to say anything more except that he was close to her and he knew her family as well.

It is learnt that the suspect and Norzi Ayu were Man's students.

Norzi Ayu's neighbour at the Sri Tanjung apartments, Ibrahim Rifqi, in his 30s, said he was at home taking a nap when he was awakened by shouts from Norzi's unit.

"I got curious when the argument went on for almost 30 minutes," Ibrahim said.

When he opened his front door, he saw the victim sitting at her doorway and she was being attended by a man who told him that she had been stabbed.

"He pointed out the assailant to me.

The assailant was wearing a white shirt and a crash helmet.

He was walking down the corridor," he said.

Ibrahim gave a chase but the suspect managed to escape.

It is learnt that the suspect went to a stream 2km away where he was believed to have disposed of the murder weapon.

Yesterday, the suspect led police to the river where he had allegedly thrown the murder weapon.

Scuba divers from the Putrajaya Fire and Rescue Department searched the river for almost two hours for the murder weapon but could not find it.

Sourced from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-12786955_ITM