So, you have seen The Raid or The Raid 2: Redemption and want to learn the deadly weapon-based martial art of Pencak Silat (pen-cha’ see-lot). Or, you have found videos of cool takedowns and techniques from one of the many silat teachers on YouTube. Now, you want to find a teacher near you or… better yet… visit Indonesia, Malaysia, or Borneo to train with the masters.
A quick internet search reveals… nothing… no schools anywhere near you and a bunch of websites in a foreign language. How do you find a silat teacher in the first place? How can you know if they are authentic and experienced, and how can you get in touch to train with a gym or trainer in Indonesia, like the other authors on Milk.Blitz.Street.Bomb. have been able to do in Thailand with Muay Thai?
Finding a trainer (Guru) or gym (Padepokan) in Indonesia to learn authentic silat can be a bit difficult, mostly because pencak silat is a relatively new and unknown martial art outside of Indonesia. In the United States, I would describe pencak silat as colonial, with Gurus arriving in the United States, gathering students and founding schools. Examples of this would include Herman Suwanda, the DeThouars family, Tharyana Sastranegara, and my teacher Daniel Prasetya.
Most American instructors are only a few generations removed from the gurus that founded their lineage so they can help you in finding a teacher in Indonesia. Schools will also host training camps in Indonesia that will assist you in finding a guru to train you. These camps and contacts are very important for a number of reasons delineated below:
- Silat is very rare outside of Indonesia, so when finding a local school you usually don’t have many choices and are lucky if you do have one. For example, there are only 5 silat teachers in New York that I am aware of and only 2 on Long Island. Colorado has approximately 4.
- If a guru is approached directly, odds are they won’t teach you if they don’t know you. I have been lucky to have a guru vouch for me, so that I could train with other silat teachers. In one case, even though I had met the guru personally beforehand, he would not even talk about practicing with me until his student (my guru) formally introduced me. Many trainers of pencak silat are secret, only teaching to their tribe or family and requiring secrecy from their students. Finding and training with those gurus is extremely difficult.
- Groups may tend to refer you vertically, to their gurus who they bring to the US to give seminars. So as a silat student in America, you may not even know there are 600 styles in Indonesia and other teachers in the area because silat is a) so rare and b) schools don’t talk to each other all that much.
- Traditional silat schools are really hard to find in Indonesia if you don’t know where to look. Silat teachers don’t advertise publicly, recruiting through their community or in schools, or most just teaching within their family.
- Most silat teachers in the US are Americans who are 1-3 generations removed from the original source. Hopefully they can direct you up the lineage if you want to train at the source through seminars or training camps. Introductions are key.
The organizations I belong to; UTAMA and Inti Ombak Pencak Silat are trying to make silat more open to the public by having camps open to everyone and helping to organize a huge event in Jogjakarta every year with seminars, performances, and a big parade with 5-7,000 silat players (more info here). The training camps in Indonesia are, in my opinion, the best bet for finding a guru because the instructors are collected for you and you have a de facto introduction as part of a group.
From that foundation, you can start negotiating for more training opportunities in the home or school of those teachers. Also, pencak silat can be highly technical, so having an introduction to the style as well as the guru can be very beneficial towards helping you pick up skills more quickly.
I have been fortunate to train with gurus in the United States and Indonesia through this process. I began studying from an Indonesian, Guru Daniel, in Colorado and from there was introduced to many other teachers during our first training camp in 2008. Using the training camps as a springboard, I was able to get private training with other teachers; notably Ki Poleng Sudamala and Pak Kardi in Jogjakarta and Mas Mochamad Amien who is based in Surabaya.
If you would like to train with these teachers, they are accepting foreign students and can be contacted through FaceBook or by inquiring with UTAMA International. I will be writing more about my training experiences with these teachers in future posts and I hope you will enjoy meeting them soon!
XXX
Charles Brandon Stauft has been training in Silat since 2006 and teaching for the past 4 years. He is the head instructor for Inner Wave Pencak Silat New York where he teaches occasional seminars in New York City, a number of private students, and a class at Stony Brook University in Pencak Silat basics. He has mainly trained under Guru Daniel Prasetya and also with instructors in other Filipino and Indonesian martial arts both in the United States and Indonesia. He has been lucky enough to go to intensive camps in Bali and Java as well as a number of seminars in the United States. Recently he has also taken up historical European martial arts (HEMA), specifically German longsword fencing in the Lichtenauer tradition.
Update June 28, 2018
Since writing this post, Charles Brandon Stauft has conducted a number of interviews with authentic Silat teachers in Indonesia. The information he provides in each interview will help guide you towards finding an authentic teacher. Here’s our list:
An Interview with Indonesian Silat Guru Mas Noeryanto Dhipuro
Silat Guru Damank Ahmed El-Benjary on Silat and Kuntau in Borneo
Voices of the Archipelago: Kang Rafijen of Maenpo Peupeuhan Adung Rais
Voices of Nusantara: Madurese Martial Arts with Mas Mochamad Amien
What a joy to find these readings! I’m getting ready to go spend 3 months in Bandung, studying Pencak Silat Garis Paksi 20 hours a week for 12 weeks. My teacher Omar Hakim recommended him and the style as a pukulan system that’s not quite as large and overwhelming as Mande Muda, but combines multiple West Javanese styles similarly. Plus, Guru Gending moves beautifully and teaches well.
Any advice you have to a bule who’s going to be in Indo for the first time? While there, I hope to study Bahasa Indonesia as well. If possible, I’d love to study Cipicut, but we’ll see if time and money permit.
My best advice is to always pay respect to your teachers and the gifts they give you. Indonesian is fairly easy to learn, if you google learningindonesian.com there are some good free audio lessons there.
Selamat jalan!
-Charles
Hello….
You can also meet the gurus at malaysia…come and try first…you will be satisfy…
I’m hoping to find a teacher in Semarang as I’ll be there for one year for school. Any leads/ possibilities would be much appreciated.
Terima kasih
Our international headquarters (Pusaka Sakti Mataram Lakutama) are in Jogjakarta, which is not *too* far away from Semarang. It would be easy enough to rent a car and driver or join in a group already going to Jogja. If you want to get in contact with them, email our parent organization UTAMA at utama.int@gmail.com.
Thank you I have sent them an e-mail this morning.
I wish 2 train under kebatinan silat.
Can u reccomend any guru @ malaysia.
Thnx.
I can’t recommend any malay silat schools, sorry. My teacher Mas Mochamad Amien of Chakra Lima has a branch in Kuala Lumpur, however.
hello
i will teravel to malaysia and i need to find a silat shcool , can you help me that find it ?
Greetings Reza,
Which part of Malaysia are you going to? What type of silat are you looking for? Will tradisional artistic silat do? Will be glad to recomment you to a major silat school in Malaysia.
Regards.
Seni Gayung Fatani Malaysia
Hi I want to go to indonesia and train in the style of panglipur. Any information regarding this will be very thankful for.
I’m sorry, I do not know any teachers in Panglipur. Best of luck!
-Charles
kang cecep a rahmah is from panglipur silat school.
I just moved to Holbrook on Long Island and have been desperately looking to get back into Silat, having been out for over a year since moving from Southern California. I would be very interested in knowing where the 2 schools are on the Island to see if they are close enough (and affordable) to me.
Thank you!
-Cam
Hi am planing to go to indonesia for a month i will love to learn the martial art of silat if you can guide me in anyway i will love the help thank you.
Punglipur Silat , as previously mentioned is taught by Kang Cecep Rahman. My instructor was certified by him to teach and hid name is Kang Kai Lewis here in Houston Texas. He is excellent , very knowledgeable in a number of styles and was personnally taught by Rahman in Indonesia.
Hello, I’m in Boise, ID. After some research, I have a passion to learn minang style of silat harimau. It is something I would love to do with or teach to my kids. My son is 5 and has a lot of chaotic energy that could use a strong focus such as silat harimau. I understand Gurus are near impossible to find and they usually only teach those they know/family. I was wondering if you may have connections to a Guru in Boise, or the area, that would be willing to teach someone whose goal is to teach his family. I am more than willing to be secretive about my training. I have a high respect for teachers and culture.
Thank you for your time.
My best advise is to keep an eye out for a seminar by Edward Lebe. I know MARI in Massachusetts hosts him occasionally.
My teacher, Cikgu Shamsuddin Salim, has been teaching authentic Silat Melayu in Illinois since the mid 90s, surprisingly many in the states don’t know this and even fly in Malay teachers when there is a highly accomplished one here! He has direct lineage to the late Mahaguru in our art. They are here, just not well known
i wish to find a private instructor, can you assist?
Yes! I teach private online classes (www.mysilat.com) and there are a few other teacher in SE Asia giving online classes as well.
Are there any Silat schools near Charlottesville, Virginia I really would like to learn this art.
There is a Satria Silat school in Williamsburg, VA and at least one other somewhere in Virginia (Google tells me that it is in Stirling, VA). I have worked with the school in Williamsburg a few times and they are pretty good.