FAQ III
Dear Yasin,
Thanks for inform me about the current situation in Mauritius.
First of all, I would like tp apologize on behalf of Malaysian Silat Seni Gayong Association in which Radwan is one of its instructor.
I've known Radwan ince 1994. Actually he is a good teacher. Although he seems too young to be a master, his abilities in silat is unquestionable. I've been taught by him for almost six years. He is an excellence master. His teachings comprised of old systems plus new improvised methods.
But frankly speaking, I have no knowledge beyond that. I've no idea who's right or wrong here. I've known him more than I've known you, but I can't make justification just by follow that criteria.
Radwan once told me that silat should be in line with other well-known martial arts, such as karate and kung fu. For your information, silat is regarded as Malay heritage and solely taught to muslims only. Most of the silat masters today do not accept students beyond Malay races and muslim by faith. That is why this rare art is unknown to others outside the Malay archipelago.
Radwan told me that he want people to give respect to silat. He, like some of the senior masters, even refused to teach certain aspects of silat to his students unless he'd known enough of their loyalty and their faithful intentions. You cannot expect much silat lessons in certain given time. You should show your respect first and then your loyalty before he can proceed to teach you more lessons. Furthermore,you don't have Malay blood although you are a Muslim. Even Malaysia Chinese and Indian are not fortunate enough to be allowed learning silat.
In your current situation, you should not feel bad when your students turn to Radwan for much silat lessons. He is the silat master, not you. It is your own fault when you agree to bring Radwan to Mauritius for teaching silat. You should knew by then that he who going to teach silat and be the only silat master. Furthermore, what do you expect Radwan to do in 2 weeks time? He can't give you intensive course, even anyone here. We can't teach silat to anyone unless we have tested them for their loyalty dan faithful intention. We don't want this deadliest martial arts fall to the wrong hands like before.
For your information, back in 1978, there was a Tunisian guy who came to Malaysia looking for silat lessons. His name was Mohammed Moncef Abdullah Al-Querghi. He was here for almost a year. He learned silat from the late grandmaster and other senior intructors. He even married to a Malay girl named Normah, who also a silat exponent. What I've heard lately from his ex-students(who seek refuge and resided in London), Moncef is now in prison. He was jailed for 20 years because of his subversive activities. A question for you, what do we get from this kind of person? He disgraced not only his faith but the silat organisation in Malaysia. He used Silat Seni Gayong to tumble the Tunisian government!
Even until now, his students still contacted me and asked me favour to help them establish contact with Silat Seni Gayong master here. I myself had brought the matters to my most senior teacher. She (yes, she is a woman, the daughter of the late Mahaguru). She advised me to ignore that silly query.She don't want silat to be connected with any crime activities and many bad things.
In early 1990's, several Arabs came to Malaysia to further their studies in silat. Most of them were Moncef's students. After they'd learned enough lessons, they went back to their home country and open a new school. Unfortunately, I believed that it was not a silat school. They may invent a new styles which consist of various martial arts including silat. And again, what do we get from this sort of persons? Any person who has differents backgrounds of martial arts have a tendency to open a new new styles! And make money out of it!
That is why I think Radwan asked you to sign certain papers and asked you to follow certain regulations before you were allowed to learn silat. He don't want any traitor who might stab his back when he back home.
Once again, please do forgive me if my reply do not favour you. May Allah bless to the truth seeker of His creations!
Dear Scott,
Thanks for e-mailing me.
First of all, I'd like to make some corrections...machette is called PARANG PANJANG, not just panjang. Mmmm..."Parang" is a Malay word(noun) for a "chopper", while "Panjang" is a Malay word(adjective) for "long". So, parang panjang refer to large knife with a broad blade but not like Chinese knife.
Mmmm...OK...you may call it parang panjang, but pleaseee, do not call panjang, because it looks odd...ha ha...just joking.
Congratulations to you! You have come to the next stage of Silat Seni Gayong lessons, i.e. weaponry. I hope you've learned knife(PISAU) and staff(SIMBAT).
From my experience, to mastering the parang panjang skills, much training should be done. And the most important thing is, TIMING. Practice harder to mastering your TIMING. I meant you should be able to deflect your opponent's blows on time and vice versa. Some tips for you: study your opponent attacks, and ready for counter attacks. Please do remember what's coming next. It teach you how to reflect. Practicing by doing some step by step movements, then when gain confidences, move faster and faster and add some aggresive elements. I believe your skills may improve further on. That's how I practiced here, in Malaysia. Even the world silat champions, Jebat and Zul from Pusaka Gayong learning Pentas Parang Panjang most of their training times.
OK Scott, gtg. See you. Send my regards to Cikgu Sam.
p/s I have found this Dato' picture in internet. Do you know who is the guy with our late Mahaguru here? I think he is an American.
Hi Gene,
Thanks four your invaluable informations about Blaise Loong. I showed the picture to one of my cikgu, and he said that Blaise Loong should be the one's who came to Malaysia somewhere in 1980's to meet the mahaguru. He told me that Blaise Loong is a red indian. Do you think so? My cikgu also told me that Blaise learned nothing with mahaguru in Malaysia. He was brought here by one of Silat Seni Gayong master, who once studied in Canadian university.
Back to pentas parang panjang, there are many sets of pentas parang panjang. What you've seen was Pusaka Gayong set. Seni Gayong sets seldom use two hands to hold one parang panjang. I've been taught Seni Gayong set, i.e using one hand to hold a parang panjang. For you information, I've learned PARANG DUA(DOUBLE MACHETE). So, for parang dua set, you have to hold parang with both hands - one parang on one hand. PARANG DUA(Dua is a Malay word for "two" or "double")pentas need more practice than PARANG SATU(SINGLE MACHETE) to master, cause your opponent also use two parang and it quite tiresome to finish one pentas.
In my gelanggang, I use parang panjang which is made in BRAZIL. In its blade there is a word "BRASILIA" written on it. The parang is two and half feet long. The real Malay parang panjang is more than a metre long and quite heavy. This kind of parang need two hands to hold. That parang is used for cutting tree, instead of cutting your opponent. But the Malay people in the old days used whatever weapons that they have in order to defence themselves against enemies.
Mmmm...you've completed your silat free hands fighting techniques according to Gayong syllabus. Congratulations! Keep up a good works! For your information, pisau and simbat sup can be used simultaneously. My senior instructor did teach how to used pisau and simbat simultaneously. Right hand holding simbat while left hand holding pisau or vice versa. Seems like Filipino martial arts.
I do hope one day we could meet and exchange opinions and lessons. What do you say?
OK Gene.GTG. Sends my regards to Cikgu Sam.
Pertanyaan....kalau betul di Abdullah Hukum ada PSSGM, dengan siapa saya boleh contact sebab saya berada di Putra Ria dan ingin kembali ke gelanggang.
Terima kasih!
Assalamualaikum,
Kalau tidak silap saya, gelanggang di Abdullah Hukum kini beroperasi di Jalan Ang Seng. Tetapi saya tidak pasti pula siapa yang mengajar di sana. Saya selalu melihat iklan pengambilan ahli baru Gelanggang Abdullah Hukum(Jalan Ang Seng) di tampal merata-rata di sekitar Bangsar dan Pantai Dalam. Insya-Allah nanti saya cuba dapatkan maklumat lanjut.
Sekian, wassalam.
A'kum Salam hormat lagi sekali. Sudah lama saya tak e-mail Cikgu Onn. Saya kerap pergi ke laman Cikgu dan ada sedikit perubahan yang menarik. Saya sedang membina kembali laman saya. Disamping itu saya ada jumpasite lain yang lebih lama sepertihttp://www.clearsilat.com/silat/Seminars/Seminar_980814.htm
http://www.geocities.com/~pendekar/Gallery1/gallery1.htm
http://members.tripod.com/~InDuK/gayung.htm (sudahdi yang atas linkkah dengan hp cikgu?)
(nasihat saya baca sahaja yang ini)www.enteract.com/~weishaar/martial/docs/khalid_khan
gagak emas Waalaikumussalam sdr.Tempena,
Untuk pengetahuan sdr.Tempena, saya pernah melawat laman-laman web yang dinyatakan, kebetulan pada ketika itu saya search"Silat Seni Gayong" dalam search engines, dan terjumpalah pelbagai laman web tentang Gayong. Ada satu tu laman web milik Blaise Loong, seorang apache(red indian) yang pernah datang bertemu Dato' Meor di Taiping. Kalau tidak silap saya, Cikgu Din(Saharuddin Hamid, Kajang)pernah memberitahu saya bahawa dialah yang membawa si Blaise ni datang jumpa Dato'. Cuma yang saya confuse sedikit ialah, dahulu menurut Cikgu Din, Blaise ni dah peluk agama Islam sebab nak belajar Gayong. Tapi dalam laman webnya dia menafikan pulak.
Kisah Blaise Loong boleh dibaca melalui laman webnya:
http://www.blayshalla.com/Blaise/MainFrame/MainFrame.htm
Sesetengah daripada gambar dan cerita tentang dia ada saya masukkan dalam laman web Gayong UM untuk tontonan dan renungan anak-anak Gayong - mengapa agaknya Arwah Dato' ambil dia sebagai anak angkat?
Saya sekarang tengah mencari maklumat tentang Jan de Jong. Dulu saya pernah masuk laman web dia, tetapi sekarang laman web tu dah tak ada lagi. Jan de Jong ni pernah bertemu Dato'Meor di Taiping dan belajar dengan Dato', adalah dua minggu - belajar simbat suk.
Laman web dia dulu beralamat di:
http://www.futuregames.com.au/djintro.htm
Dalam laman web dia dulu, dia dakwa mengajar:
Tsutsumi Hozan Ryu Ju Jitsu Kalau Sdr.Tempena ada apa-apa maklumat yang dapat membantu saya mengemaskinikan laman web Gayong UM, diharap sudi-sudi ler sdr. Tempena e-mail saya lagi...
Suci Hati Pencak Silat
Yoseikan Aikido
Silat Seni Gayong
Shotokan Karate
Kobu jutsu(Kenjutsu, Iai Jutsu, Hijo Jutsu, Bo Jutsu, Jo Jutsu, Tanbo Jutsu,Kusarigama,Manrikigusari, Nunchaku)