Silat melayu



Silat Melayu is a general term for the types of silat created in peninsular Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei and Singapore. The term is most often used to differentiate Malaysian styles from Indonesian pencak silat. Silat Melayu is sometimes mistakenly called bersilat but this is actually a verbal form of the noun silat.

Etymology

The etymological root of the word silat is uncertain and most hypotheses link it to any similar-sounding word. It may come from Si Elat which means someone who confuses, deceives or bluffs. A similar term, ilat, means an accident, misfortune or a calamity.Another theory is that it comes from silap meaning wrong or error. Some styles contain a set of techniques called Langkah Silap designed to lead the opponent into making a mistake.
The word Melayu means Malay and originated from a river with name Melayu River near to Batang Hari River of today's Muara Jambi in Sumatra, where a kingdom also named Melayu was centered. From the record of Yi Jing (a Tang Dynasty Buddhist monk) and archaeological research of Jambi, large numbers of ancient artifacts and ancient architectures of the Melayu Kingdom have been found with photo evidence. Silat is sometimes called gayung or gayong in the northern Malay Peninsula. In other regions the word gayung refers to the spiritual practices in silat.

History

Origins

Hang Tuah training with his friends
The first martial skills in the Malay Peninsula were those of the orang asal (indigenous tribes) who would use hunting implements like spears, machetes, blowpipes and bows and arrows in raids against enemy tribes. Certain tribes were well-known warriors and pirates such as the Iban and the Tringgus of Borneo. Aboriginal populations on the peninsula were mostly replaced by Deutero-Malays from Sumatra and Borneo and Chamic peoples from Thailand. These settlers were rice-farmers from whom modern Malays are directly descended. Sumatra is the birthplace of much of what constitutes Malay culture, particularly Silat and the Malay language.
It was during the period of sumatran-based empire Srivijaya that silat was first formulised. One Malaysian variant of an Indonesian story explains that the first complete system of silat was created by a woman who was carrying a basket of food on her head when birds tried to steal the food from her. She dodged the birds coming from all directions while at the same time attempting to chase them away with her hands. She arrived home late and was scolded by her husband who had no food to eat. He tried to beat the woman but she avoided all his attacks and was completely untouched. Her husband had grown tired and after listening to her explanation for being late, asked his wife to teach him what she had learned. Together they created the rudiments of silat. From the 7th century it had had already spread throughout the Malay Peninsula. Centuries of tribal warfare and civil wars led to immigrations of people from Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi to Malay peninsula and other islands. They brought the Malay culture and the art of silat. The art passed down to their descendants and developed into more various and unique styles.
The styles created on the peninsula are now called silat Melayu or seni silat to differentiate them from the pencak silat of Indonesia. Tradition credits Silat Pattani as the first system of silat Melayu to have been founded on the peninsula.
The Malays had established regular contact with both India and China before the 1st century as evidenced by Kedah's 5th century Bujang Valley civilisation which housed various Indian weapons including an ornate trisula. Their influence resulted in the founding of other Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms throughout the region. The oldest among them was Funan, a Cambodia-based empire that ruled over an area including what is now northern Malaysia, Thailand and Laos. Another was Gangga Negara (lit. Ganges country) that was founded in present-day Beruas by the Khmer prince Raja Ganji Sarjuna.and served as an important trading port before being destroyed by Raja Chola Rajendran of Tamil Nadu. Today most Malaysian Indians are Tamils, who influenced several Southeast Asian martial arts through silambam. This staff-based fighting style was already being practiced by the region's Indian community when Melaka was founded at the beginning of the 1400s. During the 1700s silambam became more prevalent in the Malay Peninsula than in India, where it was banned by the British government.] The bamboo staff is still one of silat's most fundamental weapons.
In south-central Vietnam the Cham Malays founded their own kingdom of Champa, which remained independent from the Chinese who controlled Vietnam's north. In its refusal to submit, the kingdom of Champa frequently waged wars against China.Commanders of Champa are known to have been held in high esteem by the Malay kings for their knowledge in silat and for being highly skilled in the art of war, as shown in the Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) where it is told that Sultan Muhammad Shah had chosen a ChamChams possessed skill and knowledge in the administration of the kingdom. official as the right hand or senior officer because the
King bestowing Hang Tuah with the rank of Laksamana (admiral)
Over time, silat was refined into the specialized property of royalty, pendekar, and generals. Kings encouraged princes and children of dignitaries to learn silat and any other form of knowledge related to the necessities of combat. Prominent fighters were elevated to head war troops and received ranks or bestowals from the raja. One of these was the famous 15th-century Melakan warrior Hang Tuah. He learned martial arts together with his four compatriates - Hang Jebat, Hang Lekir, Hang Kasturi and Hang Lekiu - from two of the most renowned silat guru of the era. In Malaysia today, Hang Tuah is called the "father of silat" which has led to the misconception that he created silat. However, Hang Tuah is more likely to have been one of the art's disseminators rather than its originator since silat is known to have been practiced long before the founding of Melaka.

Colonial period

In the 16th century, conquistadors from Portugal attacked Melaka in an attempt to monopolise the spice trade. The Malay warriors managed to hold back the better-equipped Europeans for many days before Melaka was eventually defeated. The Portuguese hunted and killed anyone with knowledge of martial arts so that the remaining practitioners fled to more isolated areas. Even today, the best silat masters are said to come from areas that have had the least contact with outsiders. For the next few hundred years, the Malay Archipelago would remain under a string of foreign rulers, namely the Portuguese, Dutch, and finally the British. The 1600s saw an influx of Minangkabau and Bugis people into Melaka from Sumatra and south Sulawesi respectively. Bugis sailors were particularly famous for their martial prowess and were feared even by the European colonists. In the 18th century both groups were engaged with the Dutch in a triangular contest for control of the Melaka Straits. By the 1780s the Bugis had control of Johor and established a kingdom in Selangor. The Minangkabau formed their own federation of nine states called Negeri Sembilan in the hinterland. Today, many of Malaysia's silat schools can trace their lineage directly back to the Minang and Bugis settlers of this period.
After Malaysia achieved independence, Tuan Haji Anuar bin Haji Abd. Wahab was given the responsibility of developing Malaysia's national silat curriculum which would be taught to secondary and primary school students all over the country. On 28 March 2002, his Seni Silat Malaysia was recognised by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, the Ministry of Education and PESAKA as Malaysia's national silat. Since its disassociation with the palace, silat did not develop in the national defence institution and returned to the countryside. It is now conveyed to the community by means of the gelanggang bangsal meaning the martial arts training institution carried out by silat instructors.





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