MAY 1ST

Unfortunately most people remember this date only as May Day, but May 1st is also Holocaust Remembrance Day.

I'm glad that there is a day set aside to remember and honor those who suffered and died during those horrible years. However, as far as I'm concerned, every day is a day to remember the Holocaust. To me, "Never forget" means don't ever forget. Ever.

To anyone who ever lost relatives in the Shoah, I salute you.

Lest We Forget...

WARSAW (AFP) - The last commander of the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising, Marek Edelman, on Saturday honoured the memory of his comrades who died fighting Nazi Germany in the doomed Jewish stand against the Holocaust.

Joined by family members, hundreds of bystanders and city officials, Edelman marked the 65th anniversary of the revolt at the imposing monument to the ghetto fighters, unveiled in 1948.

Braving driving rain, the silent participants first laid flowers at the monument.

The frail Edelman, 85, was then pushed in his wheelchair to the site of the bunker where the leader of the revolt, 24-year-old Mordechaj Anielewicz, and 80 comrades had committed suicide as Nazi forces closed in.

The crowd then walked to the site of the "Umschlagplatz", the railway siding from which the Nazis sent more than 300,000 Jews to the Treblinka death camp in northeastern Poland.

Edelman, who took command after Anielewicz's death, rarely attends high-profile official ceremonies, preferring to remember his comrades in a lower-key fashion on April 19, the day the revolt actually began.

This year's official event was held on Tuesday, in the presence of Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and Israel's Shimon Peres.

That ceremony had been brought forward because the actual anniversary fell on a Saturday, which is the Jewish Sabbath.

On the eve of World War II, Poland was Europe's Jewish heartland.

It was home to 3.5 million Jews, and Warsaw alone had a community of around 400,000.

After invading Poland in 1939, Nazi Germany set up ghettos nationwide to isolate the country's Jews and facilitate the "Final Solution" -- half of the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust were Polish.

At its height, more than 450,000 were crammed into the walled Warsaw ghetto.

About 100,000 died inside from starvation, disease and in summary executions. Most of the rest were sent to Treblinka in mass deportations which began in 1942.

In the ghetto, a handful of Jewish paramilitary groups, mostly made up of young people -- Edelman was just 20 -- coalesced into a poorly-armed force of around 1,000.

The banner of one group was a blue Star of David on a white background, which caused Nazi ire when it was hoisted during the revolt. It became the flag of Israel.

On Saturday, youths handed out paper armbands emblazoned with the symbol, which participants wore as they formed a human chain around the monument while sirens wailed and a Polish army honour guard fired a salute.

The ghetto fighters first clashed with the Nazis on January 18-22, 1943, managing to hinder the deportations.

On April 19, 1943, they took up arms again, as the Nazis moved to wipe out the remaining 60,000 ghetto dwellers.

"We knew perfectly well that there was no way we could win," Edelman told AFP in a recent interview.

"It was a symbol of the fight for freedom. A symbol of standing up to Nazism, and of not giving in," he said.

The fighters held out as 3,000 Nazi troops razed the ghetto with explosives and fire.

Following Anielewicz's suicide on May 8, Edelman and several dozen comrades escaped through the sewers. The Nazis marked their "victory over the Jews" by blowing up Warsaw's main synagogue on May 16.

Around 7,000 Jews died in the revolt, most of them burned alive, and more than 50,000 were sent to Treblinka.

Besides denting the Nazis' sense of superiority, the fighters managed to inflict some damage, killing and injuring a combined 300 troops.

Sporadic clashes continued in the ghetto ruin until the autumn.

Edelman and many other survivors later took part in the Warsaw uprising, launched on August 1, 1944 by the Polish underground.

That failed 63-day revolt and the Germans' brutal response cost the lives of 200,000 civilians and 18,000 resistance members, and saw the near-total destruction of Warsaw by the Nazis.

THE SECRET - according to Tuhon

"The highest form includes everything: the techniques, the strategy of combat, awareness, anticipation, and control of one’s mind. All these come together to form the highest level of the Art.
Meditation becomes the natural tool of the trained fighter. It is the control and calmness of the mind that can make one victorious in combat. I do not consider meditation to be the end all of learning or of martial arts. It is a tool, a medium to be used to achieve the highest levels of skill.
One must combine his physical, mental, and spiritual being to become complete and attain the higher levels of learning. Without spiritual strength, mental and physical strength wane and disappear with age without any trace."


From an interview with Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje Jr. in Masters of Arnis, Kali, & Eskrima by Edgar G. Sulite

For Clarification!

For the past week I have been having a very exciting and informative exchange via email with a Malaysian Silat Kuntau Tekpi Cikgu (teacher) who read my description of SKT in the previous post, and was kind/concerned enough to bring the following points for clarification.

So...everybody take note:

- While Panglima Taib is indeed considered the Pengasas (Founder) of the Art known today as Silat Kuntau Tekpi, it is certain that he did not learn it from Panglima Ismail.

- While it is accepted that three of the main systems comprising ‘Silat Kedah’ - ie Silat Kuntau Tekpi, Silat Kalimah, and Silat Cekak Hanafi - have a common origin, the story varies slightly from school to school. The legend according to Silat Kuntau Tekpi has not been shared with the general public.

- The Senaman Tua that we perform before each class is not part of the traditional Silat Kuntau Tekpi syllabus. It is actually from the Silat Seni Lok Sembilan of Cikgu Azlan Ghanie. Cikgu Azlan taught it to my teacher, Cikgu Omar Hakim, who passed it on to us. We consider it part of our broader Silat Melyu practice.

- Senaman Tekpi refers to striking/parrying/twirling techniques and exercises with single and double tekpi.

- Silat Pulut is a artform unto itself with deep cultural significance. We here in Michigan have “adapted” a method of Silat Pulut that we (like to) think is true to function, if not strictly adhering to the classical form of the traditional method. Plus we have a lot of fun doing it!

I thank my friend for taking the time and energy to share these and other aspects of his noble cultural heritage with us. We are grateful.

What We Teach

We Proudly represent the following Martial Arts Organizations:

* PEKITI-TIRSIA KALI PITBULLS

* PERTUBUHAN SENI SILAT KUNTAU TEKPI USA

* PERSATUAN PENDEKAR PERSILATAN SENI BUDAYA BANTEN INDONESIA

We teach the following Arts:

PEKITI-TIRSIA KALI
The legendary Visayan full-combat Art of the Tortal family, as taught by the undisputed heir of the system, Supreme Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje Jr. This is our main system, and the foundation of all we do! We teach all aspects of the Art as directly imparted to us by Grandmaster Gaje. Areas of study include:

- Single and Double Stick (Tri-V, Contra Tirsia Dubla Doz)
- Sword and Dagger
- Staff (Malayu Sibat)
- Knife (Kol Demama Daga, Dagaso Tirsia)
- Combat Grappling (Dumog)
- Empty Hand Striking (Pangamut)
- Firearms (pistol and long gun)

“VIENTENUEVE BATANGUENO”
A highly unorthodox, unpredictable and lethal style of edged weapons and firearms tactics born and bred in the infamous Batangas region of the Philippines. The Batangueno knife/gun fighter develops an intensely personal expression of the Art through mastery of an essential template sequence of 29 (vientenueve) basic cutting techniques applied with strategic footwork. This style was passed to us by Manong Leon “Tito Jun” Saludo - one of the original surviving members of the group that “codified” this knowledge. Tito Jun is among the last generation of BATANGUENO
blademasters who truly LIVED his craft.

NOTE: This is NOT a public class! Instruction will be made available to select students only.

SILAT KUNTAU TEKPI
Seni Silat Kuntau Tekpi was founded by Panglima Taib (General Taib Bin Wan Hussein) in the Kedah region of Malaysia around 1890.

Panglima Taib learned various forms of Silat Kedah (Silat from the Kedah region), including the Silat from Panglima Ismail, which is the root of Silat Cekak and Silat Kalimah.

Panglima Taib organized his original syllabus into 360 Buah, which taught and covered all of the basic principles and pecahan (variations) of the Silat system. He taught his daughter (Siti Aminah) and passed the system on to her. She taught her son (Pak Guru) who taught his son, Cikgu Sani.

The modern syllabus was organized by Cikgu Sani as follows:

Level One:
- 21 Buah (Basic) - Teaches fundamental footwork, entries, throws and locks

Level Two:
- 21 Buah (Intermediate) - More "direct" combative Buah that draw upon the lessons and mastery of the first level

Level Three:
- Senaman Tekpi - Tekpi exercises for conditioning and combat
- Counters for all 42 Buah (from Level One & Level Two)
- Seven Buah Pukulan - Counter-offensive striking responses to an attack
- Five Buah - These are five advanced Buah only taught to Level Three students
- 21 Buah Tekpi - These are the Buah that teach how to strike and fight with the Tekpi

CIMANDE MACAN GULING and TERUMBU GAJAH PUTIH
Macan Guling (Rolling Tiger) is a well known school of the Cimande system of Pencak Silat from Serang, West Java. This style is under the authority of the PPPSBBI (Persatuan Pendekar Persilatan Seni Budaya Banten Indonesia) an old and highly respected organization of 500,000 Silat players in West Java from 90 different styles.

The Cimande Macan Guling syllabus encompasses:
- Upper body striking (Juru)
- Footwork patterns (Langkah)
- Timing/fluidity/conditioning exercises (Kelidan)
- Machete (Golok)
- Knife (Pisau)
- Staff (Toya)
- Flexible weapons (Sarong)

Yoruba Martial Arts

My good friend Asis - Blacksmith and Martial Artist

I took a serious interest in the culture of the Yoruba people of Southwest Nigeria in the late 80's. Throughout the 1990's I was fortunate to be able to study under some very knowledgeable Elders such as Medahochi Kofi Omowale Zannu, Chief Adebolu Fatunmise, and Dr. Afolabi Epega. I made my first “pilgrimage” to Yorubaland in 2001, and have returned every year since with a new group of select, intrepid students for continuing education.

The Yoruba have an indigenous martial arts tradition that is largely unknown outside of West Africa. Interestingly enough, their arts appear quite different that the Muslim-influenced martial traditions typically found in the North. A close parallel to the Filipino Martial Arts is that the Yoruba styles are essentially the same theme with variations from village to village. I have observed these fighting styles in Ode Remo, Sagamu, Ile Ife, Ibadan, Abeokuta, as well as in ethnically Yoruba enclaves found “next door” in the Republic of Benin.*

The Yoruba word for warrior is Akin (literally “A Brave Person”). Akin can refer to a prolific military leader or even a distinguished hunter (Ode). In traditional culture, hunters exist on the very fringes of society, and have an extensive awo (secret knowledge) pertaining to fighting and combat, yet are not what we would think of as “martial artists” in our common usage of the word. Some of the terms used to describe martial arts practitioners as we would think of them are: Oniijakadi, Alonilowogba, and Eleeke.

The umbrella term for the martial art of the Yoruba is “Gidigbo”. If this word has an exact translation, I am unaware of it. Gidigbo encompasses various sub-disciplines such as wrestling (catch-as-catch-can), punching, and kicking - similar to the neighboring Hausa martial arts of Dembe, Ishakafa, and Kukawa - as well as fighting with machetes. Gidigbo matches are sometimes organized around important social functions, although regional tournaments just for the sake of sport are also common throughout the year. The bout typically begins with both opponents facing off, hands crossed (Enter the Dragon style) and quickly closes to all-out grappling - with elbows and head-butts added for good measure. When one of the wrestlers is thrown or otherwise knocked to the ground the match is concluded. Its all in good fun, but take it from me they do it with great gusto and it is very easy to be injured. Broken fingers, dislocated elbows/shoulders and torn knees are quite common.

The savvy Oniijakadi does not rely on mere physical strength alone, but brings all manner of strange charms (juju), incantations (awure) and paraphernalia obtained from a trusted Onisegun (medicine man) to the fight in order to gain an edge over the competition. This is very similar the concept of orasion (prayers) and anting-anting (amulets) in Filipino martial culture.

Whenever I go back to Nigeria and Benin, I have a number of teachers and sparring partners that I hook up with to learn new techniques or to rekindle old rivalries (strictly in a friendly way!) Of course, I spring for the refreshments afterwards, and I also reciprocate by teaching them some Kali in return (there is no problem finding sticks). On our most recent trip to Ijebuland, I had the teenagers collect old pillowcases, rags, and sandals and with some duct tape that I had brought we had a perfectly functional outdoor boxing gym - complete with heavy bag and focus mitts - and were soon working on punching drills. Being that I neglected to introduce the concept of a mouthguard, I hope those kids still have their teeth by the time I go back next year.

* I am in the process of editing footage of West African Martial Arts including matches, festivals, interviews with fighters and teachers, and other cool surprises that I have filmed during my travels. Stay tuned.

Al Fatihah

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of, Allahyarhamah Che Puan binti Matdin, the wife of Allahyarham (late) Pak Guru Zainol Abidin Endut and mother of Pak Guru Sani Zainol Abidin of Silat Kuntau Tekpi on March 30, 2008.

She was the pillar that supported two generations of masters and she will continue to be so in our hearts. The Tekpi family will miss her greatly.

The students and members of Silat Kuntau Tekpi Michigan send our most sincere
condolences to our family in Malaysia.