Practice makes perfect: Members of the BEKSI pencak silat martial arts school practice in Ciledug, Tangerang.(JP/Seto Wardhana)

The local traditional martial art pencak silat is often considered not as cool as imported ones like capoeira of Brazil or muay Thai of Thailand, which are more popular among Jakarta’s middle- and upper-income people.

However the popularity of The Raid (2011) and its sequel The Raid 2 (2014) had brought pencak silat to the attention of domestic and international audiences.

The intense and brutal fighting scenes in both movies have landed their main actors Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman —all originally pencak silat athletes and trainers — small roles in several foreign film projects including the mega-popular franchise of Star Wars: the Force Awakens.

A national UK pencak silat team member, Vikram Iyer, during an interview with coachmag.co.uk in 2014, called silat “one of the nastiest, but also best looking martial arts” and said that silat has “a very deliberate grace”.

At home, however, silat lays low at the grassroots level, with it only being performed during inauguration ceremonies, cultural shows and wedding events.

Bachtiar, founder of Sanggar Si Pitung, a Betawi pencak silat group, said that he had been teaching pencak silat for free for the last 21 years. The 45-year-old man said it was his way to contribute to society and preserve the Betawi martial art in the modern times.

The name of his group was taken from a Betawi local hero, Si Pitung, who was born in Rawa Belong in the 19th century.

As other Pencak Silat groups that are established in Rawa Belong, its distinct Silat style is known as cingkrik and has close-range combat and dance-like movements.

“Who else is going to pass down Betawi culture if not a Betawinese? By charging no money to the disciples, many have become interested in learning pencak silat,” he said.

Bachtiar said there were almost 100 students of various ages who participated in the practices at his workshop in Rawa Belong, West Jakarta every Tuesday and Friday night.

“I’d hate to see local children eager to learn muay Thai, tae kwon do, jiu jitsu and wing chun, while pencak silat does not get a similar enthusiasm,” he said.

Besides holding free training sessions, for the past three years Bachtiar also teaches pencak silat at a state-run elementary school in Cilandak, South Jakarta. He hoped that the city administration could ask more schools to have pencak silat as an extracurricular activity.

The cost of running a martial arts group, Bachtiar said, has been covered by performing in various events or renting out Betawinese event equipment, such as giant effigies known as ondel-ondel for which he charged Rp 400,000 (US$30) per day.

Sigit Setyawan, a member of the pencak silat group Sutera Baja, said that silat was only appreciated when complementing a Betawi tradition like palang pintu, a wedding tradition of demonstrating silat to welcome the groom’s entourage.

Outside of the tradition, Sigit acknowledged that the group was losing its members as people were losing interest in learning pencak silat.

Having been established in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, hundreds of years ago, Sutera Baja is one of the oldest pencak silat groups. However, it feels a lack of appreciation as the city administration does not show any concern over the existence of such pencak silat groups.

“We can survive for now, but if we keep losing people I am not sure there would be any people left to teach pencak silat to the younger generation,” he said.

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