On March 3rd 2020, founding members of the International Pencak Silat Federation (PERSILAT) conducted a meeting to develop new rules regarding sport Silat. Leaders from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei discussed rules and systems to be used as well as new ranking systems, with the goal to develop better competitions for Pencak Silat.
Rule updates are not uncommon in competitive martial arts. For example, the World Taekwondo organiztaion updated their rules as recently as 2018. IBJJF also updated their rule set in 2018 for Brazilian Jujistu tournaments. However, the new Silat rules are drastic allowing many more techniques, including some that look dangerous.
In a recent interview with the President of the Asian Pencak Silat Federation on the YouTube channel SilatFanTV, Dr. Sheik Alau’ddin discussed the reasons for some of these rule changes. “The media always will have something [bad] to say about Silat”, Dr. Alau’ddin stated. “Silat is too slow, too dance-y, why it takes so long.” The former champion and PERSILAT founding member expressed the concerns of the local and international media that sport Pencak Silat is not interesting enough to cover. Yet on YouTube, Pencak Silat videos get millions of views. These videos, however, are usually more fast-paced with the slower parts edited out.
Media outlets are confronting a new appetite for fast-paced and bloody combat sports presented by UFC and ONE Championship mixed martial arts matches. However with combat sports like MMA and boxing, there are regulations on how often a fighter can compete and put their body through that type of abuse for safety reasons. Indonesia has its own local form of cage fighting called Pencak Dor which is actually more dangerous-looking than MMA. Young men, many of whom are inexperienced fighters, gather in a bamboo ring and slug it out bare-knuckle. And yes, these videos get millions of YouTube views.
But for the growth of a sport, which is more important – excitement or safety?
Those who express concerns for safety with these new Silat rules have a strong case. Flying elbows, downward elbow strikes to the back, hard body drops, calf stomps, standing arm bars are some of the techniques now permissible in sport Pencak Silat. See video below for list of legal techniques:
Proponents for the rules see them as “tough love”. They claim techniques that target the back and spine will actually teach proper fighting technique, namely not turning your back to your opponent. The body slams and throws are no different than those allowed in Greco-Roman wrestling or Russian Sambo, and those moves are the ones that usually make the highlight reels.
However, there is no direct correlation between the popularity of a sport and how dangerous it is. Soccer (or football to the rest of the word) is one of the most popular sports in the world and it is much safer (and slower) than less popular sports such as Rugby or even ice hockey. Many claim that the reason soccer is so popular is that anyone can easily and safely play soccer/football with very little expense. In order for the younger generation to connect with a sport, it must have a certain level of excitement, ease of entry and safety associated with it.
Pencak Silat has always had to vie with other sports for attention from their native people of Southeast Asia. The hope is that with these new rules will attract martial artists from other disciplines. Since there is no stoppage after 6 consecutive techniques (as in the previous rules), there will be a greater reliance on stamina and physical fitness. Athletes that have a wrestling background will like new rules as it includes moves such as double-leg takedown (after a punch). Muay Thai practitioners will appreciate the thigh kicks (must be followed by another kick). BJJ practitioners will appreciate the multiple ground sweeps and arm locks now allowed. Judo competitors will like that you can now grab the chest gear to throw your opponent. There are still no head shots allowed. Sorry boxers and Taekwondo practitioners.
Many of these other competitive martial arts also include potentially dangerous techniques. For example, Taekwondo has high concussion rate due to the head kicks. In a study by Dr. Reidar P. Lystad from Macquarie University, he found that “concussion incidence rate in Taekwondo is greater than in other contact sports (e.g., basketball and soccer) and collision sports (e.g., American football and ice hockey), but smaller than in boxing”. However, in many Taekwondo, Judo and Brazilian Jujistu competitions there are novice divisions. This allows less experienced fighters to be paired up with other fighters with similar experience. If Pencak Silat keeps the more dangerous techniques, having novice divisions, particularly for the younger ages and local tournaments would be pragmatic.
But in all fairness, out of the dozens of newly introduced Silat techniques, only a handful have serious safety concerns. Also, many these new moves may become obsolete because of impracticality. For example, flying side kick, flying back kick, and 360 roundhouse kick will not get used much because you can easily dodge it, catch and slam the person to the ground. High level competitors will not attempt a flying elbow to the chest, as it can be countered easily with a good side kick.
So as long as the judges remain vigilant and instructors train their competitors properly (like not turning your back to the opponent) there may not be an increase in injuries with these new rules. We will just have to wait and see.
Written by A-Malik Ahmad, a former USA Pencak Silat head coach & international judge, author of Training for Tanding course on Udemy.
