Miftah Huljanah showed off his pencak silat skills during a performance at a festival celebrating Betawi martial arts in his neighborhood of Petukangan, Pesanggerahan subdistrict, South Jakarta, on Saturday.

Dressed in pencak silat attire, the 55-year-old’s moves mesmerized hundreds of contestants and spectators, young and old. It was a grand opening for the second annual Pencak Silat Betawi Festival.

“I learned these skills from my grandfather, M. Noer,” Miftah told The Jakarta Post at the event.

His family has a long history with silat beksi, a variation of traditional pencak silat that combines Chinese and Betawi cultures. The martial art was developed in Kampung Dadap, Tangerang, Banten by Lie Cheng Hok, a man of Chinese descent who used to live in the area. Beksi means “defenses of four directions” in Chinese.

His grandfather, M. Noer, was one of the first four masters and a teacher at the Silat Beksi M. Noer Foundation in Petukangan.

Miftah’s opening performance seemed to fire up the contestants, who were mostly students. Thirty-six Silat Beksi schools participated in the festival, with most of the fighters between 7 and 20 years old.

In groups and individually, the participants enthusiastically showed off their skills as if trying to brush off the stigma that traditional martial arts were not as popular among younger generations.

All acts were presented along with traditional Betawi music played on traditional percussion instruments such as gendang, saron and gongs. Fighters were also allowed to bring in their own recorded music to match their movements.

Rafli Nurdiansyah, 16, one of Miftah’s students, was happy to show off his skills at the festival after practicing beksi for more than a year.

“I attended the same festival last year. This time it’s more crowded. I’m excited for that,” he said.

For Rafli, practicing beksi has done more than boost for his confidence and discipline.

“For me, taking lessons also means that I help preserve Betawi culture. It is part of our duty,” said the Betawi native.

Former chairman of the Indonesia Pencak Silat Association (IPSI) and former Jakarta deputy governor Eddie Marzuki Nalapraya, who was at the event, looked excited as he took the stage to give a speech.

He expressed his excitement for all beksi martial artists taking part in the festival. As a Betawi man himself, he also called on Betawi youth to promote silat beksi.

“Betawi traditional silat teaches you to be a noble men. I’m so happy to be here because I can see my successors,” he said.

He lauded the event, saying that it should be a regular festival supported by the Jakarta administration to help propel the popularity of traditional martial arts.

Meanwhile, Rafli and Miftah also expressed the hope that the city administration would develop their neighborhood to become a silat beksi tourism village as most people in the area practiced it.

Miftah said he and representatives of four other foundations in the neighborhood had previously submitted a proposal to the city administration regarding the project.

“We want to have a venue for beksi just like the one at TMII,” he said, referring to a pencak silat center at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah cultural park in East Jakarta.

Miftah argued that an official center would encourage beksi martial artists to help promote Petukangan as a tourist destination where people could learn about the traditional martial arts.

“[The project] would boost the economy in the neighborhood as well,” he said.

In response, South Jakarta Mayor Marullah Matali, who opened the festival, said he had received the community's proposal around five months ago. As his administration was still discussing it, he stressed that creating a tourism village was not an easy feat. It would require consistency and commitment from the community.

“The community must continue to hold events despite the small number of visitors. That will prove their seriousness,” he said.

The administration, Marullah said, would build a venue for silat beksi in the neighborhood after the community established relevant programs, including routine event schedules.

“If they can consistently hold events and performances, we will definitely build [the venue],” he told reporters. (das)

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