HAPPY TUESDAY!!!

I Cheat Death by Enjoying Life.
~Jonathan-Lockwood Huie



GOOD MORNING!!! Well, I said before that Monday is my favorite day of the week... And yesterday turned out to be a great day indeed! Good times are here again!

To dream Is to let the fantasies flow through, To fly through clouds of cotton candy, And to sigh in Love at the end of the day ♥



Anyway, Today's Tuesday, and I have to tell you guys about a MARTIAL ART THAT I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT... And Today, that art is a Malaysian Martial Art named SILAT TUA (Also referred to as Silat Pattani).

BUT FIRST, let's start the day off with DIAMANTE, by ZUCCHERO.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

Now, back to Silat Tua.

Originally from Pattani, Silat Tua has spread throughout the Malaysian peninsula, especially on the island of Penang where guru Zainal Abidin, the master of this school of silat, resides.

Guru Zainal Abidin (co-author of Silat Tua: The Malay Dance of Life) is a martial artist who is lineage holder in several Silat systems, and also a lineage holder in a family system of Classical Thai Martial Arts.

This is an Interview with Zainal Abideen by Salim Badat for the Combat Journal. To go to the original article, Click HERE.

Please tell us of your martial arts background and who were your teachers?
I started MA when I was 15years old with TKD in school with Master khoo Teiik Hin and at the same time started training with My Uncle in the same village in Silat known as Siku 12, his name was Ahmad Hamden..I started MA with the encouragement of my late father who was an amateur Boxer to lose weight as I was overweight and also at that time in the 60s racial strife and riots were common in the state of Poenang, Malaysia and my father wanted us to be able to defend ourseleves. I was very keen on Silat when I was growing up in JB the southern state of Malaysia but had no opportunity to learn then. My father also brought a Teacher from the state of Perak to my home to teach me and my elder brothers the art of Silat Lintar..I was at that time learning at every chance that I got. i was introduced to Moi Thai by visiting freinds from south Thailand and learned formally from a Teacher in Penang who was knowned as Speedy Ahmad...The Silat Gayong Serirama was also introduced to our school and I became a student and eventually a Coach within 2 years most probably due to my other MA training and was requested by my Teacher to teach the Gayung Serirama at a Technical school. I started coolege in 1974 and moved to Kuala lumpur and there i continued learning silat from a Javanese teacher Mohd Judi hj Hassan in the system of Depoowojo and also learned from a Teacher the harimau style aknown as Pendekar Husni. I was lucky in the sense all my Teachers liked me and completed the training and was requested to represent their schools and systems but at that time I was more confident in Moi Thai and Siku 12 then Silat as I felt that iwas good in defence but poor in attack..I continued training in Moi Thai under a Chinese teacher who was also the trainer for the Malaysian Chinese Pugilistic Association a Mr Yong for manymore years until 1984 when I had to work in the Northern East coast state of Kelantan ordering Thailand..I took the opportunity to learn and practiced Moi Thai withWan Yaacob and his brother Wan Anuar of bachok Kelantan and enter Thailand whenever I was free to spar and trained with a boxer named Boon who later introdeuced me to Arjan Khao Kruasatoi of Prae Thailand and entered a competition and won against a Lao Boxer Panya Satee..it was aregional competition nothing big but it gave me the confidence that I was doing it right in Moi Thai..I fell in love with Arjan Khao's sister who were all Buddhists and requested her hand for marriage when the family consentedI brought her back to South Thailand to convert to Islam under the guidance of an Imam Sheikh Abdul Aziz Abdulllah who was also a Silkat teacher. He asked me why I did not do Silat asthat was my heritage, I told him m opinion about Silat and he requested me to play with him and the rest washistory..I relearned everything from him and began to understand Silat as the way it should be..My background in Moi Thai was a plus off course.

What makes the style of silat tua yawi unique?
The Silat Tua Jawi was unique in the sense that we do not depend on our weight class to match an opponent unlike MOI THAI where you fight within your weight class...It was also a case in other Silat where your size and built would put you on an advantage...The sciences of the Art would enable you to face a bigger opponent and the stepping, the Tapak to move out of an attack and to counter are all ancient practice that makes it good..In silat tua we first work with the elements and our body have to change and be the element of EARTH WATER FIRE & WIND and the sub element of STONE WOOD & IRON!!!

Is there a spiritual dimension to the art that you practice?
There is spiritual dimension in our silat as we do zikir and do breathing with reciting the ISMA as well as Standing Muroqabah, Seating Muroqabah, Moving Muroqabah as some term it as Meditation. We also acknowledge the other dimension and learn to communicate with spiritual or invisible beings. We also learn poison not in the chemical sense but of the spiritual sense . All this will be thought subject to talking an oath of being a service to God & mankind and faithful to the lineage of our system. The objective is to come to the stage of realisation of the presence of GOD!

What is your forte in silat ?
My forte in Silat? Its more of the law of physics in applications of locks & throws and also the speed of blows in our Kuntao...this is with TARI and ANIMISTIC KUNTAO FORMS!

What is the progression in learning in silat tua yawi?
The progression of learning Silat Tua/Jawi depends on the understanding of the concepts and applications by the students..Like I mentioned, we start with the elements, the langkah the tapak, the blows, the locks the throws , Tari ....etc..on the average for beginners it would take more or less 3 years but for those that have martial at experience it is less. The time frame mentioned is just to be comfortable and to be able to apply the concepts effectively in any circumstances..

What is your favourite weapon of choice?
My weapon of choice is the BELATI or the WALI, these are knives and I am also at ease with the Keris...Some of the weapons that we trained with are different to the more common ones, our KARAMBIT is bigger and we trained with a pair and it is called GENGAM RABIT...WE TRAINED WITH BOTH HANDS to be ready for any eventualities as we hope to be equally good with both hands as far as weapons are concern.

What is your teaching methodology.
I follow the same system as My Teacher in so far as methodology..repeating each new technique again and again and we go by numbers and hours..test and retest our students on their capablity of the techniques...and sometimes gave them a surprise test with students of different forms..

How has your personal silat developed over the years?
Alhamdulillah...I am happy with what I am now and still feel that I am developing the understanding of the art in a deeper sense! Where are you based?
I am based in Georgetown, Pulau Pinang, malaysia..

Is there a connection between attaining mastery of a martial arts and social obligation?
Personally I believe it is separate but being of service to the community does develop humility and peaceful co-existance.

If foreigners wish to train with you how would they contact you?
If foreigners wish to train with me I am on facebook and also can be contacted through email....akusilah@yahoo.com MY H/p No is 014-3441299 Malaysia..

Do you do seminars abroad and are you open to the idea of doing seminars abroad if people wish to host you?
I have done seminars overseas before hosted by Zhong Ding in UK and did one seminar at BOB BREEN"s academy among a few in UK in 2007..and will be happy if being called or hosted to seminars anywhere

What are you future plans?
My future plans is to try and make known the system as much as possible as I believe it's a valuable heritage for mankind...I will be doing a seminar in Singapore in December and hope to go to the US middle of next year and hopefully UK too.



Now, here's a video of Guru Zainal performing with his students. And below the video, You will also see some students of Silat Tua in action:



MALAYSIA-PENANG-SILAT TUA - TARI Silat

MALAYSIA-PENANG-SILAT TUA-Friendly Sparring - Locking style

MALAYSIA-Penang-Silat Tua-Demo Sparring Locking

MALAYSIA-PENANG - SILAT TUA- Friendy Sparring Silat and KungFu

If you want to know more about Guru Zainal, or THE PENANG SILAT TUA, please CLICK HERE to go to their website.





Now, I have another video for you. This video was posted by my Facebook friend Dr. Ahmses Maat. I'll let the description below the video explain what it's about. If you want to know more about Dr Ahmses Maat, check out his websites at www.TaMeriInc.com, and www.DocMaat.com



Video description from You Tube:

Due to the recent mass killings and gun attacks in instances such as Columbine, Sikh Temple, The Dark Knight Rises and recently Newport, I interviewed several martial artist and officers today that just couldn't answer the distance gun point question. Sooooooooo, I posted this video to offer a possible solution. The situation should be simulated in drills to develop instinctive response.
,br> These days women and children must do these drills to prevent becoming a victim of domestic violence or public insanity...
Freezing in one place, begging for mercy is one of the worst things to do. If ever an attacker comes within arms reach, there are multiple tactics using variable intensity levels possible for self defense.

Please pass this video on to others and make it viral. The lessons in it may help saves lives... Please share your comments.





Make a list of everything that you feel attached to, including people, things, events, feelings, agreements, and beliefs. How much energy do you spend trying to resist change or transformation?
~don Miguel Ruiz




Thoughts and prayers go out to all the little children and their families in Connecticut that just experienced such a horrible act of violence.