When Rival Silat Schools Fight

Cobra Kai was one of the most popular series on Netflix in 2020. As a sequel to the popular Karate Kid movies from the eighties, Cobra Kai centers around two rival Karate schools with very different philosophies: Miyagi Do vs. Cobra Kai. Although the series is completely fictional, Americans have maintained their fascination with rival martial art schools for decades. Movies such as Shaolin and Wu Tang and The Magnificent Butcher dramatize feuds between rival Kungfu schools. Many of these stories are inspired by real-life events that occurred throughout the history of martial arts.

The first Silat rivalry I ever heard about was from two American Silat masters that challenged each other in 2018. Dr. Andre KnustGraichen came from a style known as Pentjak Silat Serak. His rival was a younger Jule Sims who came from Silat Bukti Negara (Paul De Thouars). For years, there was bad blood between these two schools. A video was recorded of the fight. (The link to the video was removed out or respect for Dr. Andre and family).

Dr. KnustGraichen passed away 4 hours later after the match due to a heart attack (April 10, 2018). 

For a Pencak Silat practitioner, rivalry and jealousy between schools seem to be the antithesis of what Silat teaches. In contrast to the fictional Cobra Kai whose mantra is  “Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy”,  Pencak Silat teaches unity and peace as its core values. An important tenant in the Pesilat Pledge is: “I, as a silat coach or athlete, am an individual who honors one’s fellow man and loves friendship and peace“. 

The vast majority of Silat schools were founded upon these virtuous principles and actually took names that espouse teachings of morality and camaraderie. One of the oldest and largest Pencak Silat schools (perguruans) in Indonesia is Persaudaraan Setia Hati Terate (PSHT) which literally means “The brotherhood of the faithful heart”. Terate, or lotus flower symbolizes beauty and strength in character and temperament. They even have a heart symbol in their logo.

Today, PSHT has a huge membership across the world (7 million according to some reports) with cash and assets worth millions of dollars. PSHT has produced some of the top athletes including Puspa Arum Sari who won first place in Tunggal at the Asian Games as well as MMA fighter Wardi Suwardi. The famous youtuber Denny Aprisani also is affiliated with PSHT. 

Of course, with money comes problems.

In fact, schools that originate from the same teacher often have the most intense rivalries. The most famous Pencak Silat rivalry is between PSHT and PSH Winongo (full name Persaudaran Setia Hati Tunas Muda Winongo). The leaders of these two Silat schools were both students of Ki Ngabehi Soerodiwijo, commonly known as Eyang Suro, the founder of the Persaudaran Setia Hati which was founded in 1903 in Winongo village, Madiun.

According to many accounts, the rivalry started in the late 1980’s when an individual was beaten up by someone in a black uniform. He accused the perpetrator of being a member of the PSHT. Several weeks later, he and his fellow teachers attacked the PSHT headquarters and destroyed PSHT property.

As a result, there has been reciprocal violence between the two perguruan for decades. These clashes many times have thousands of people involved with numerous casualties each time. One of the biggest wars between the two perguruans in the 1990s took place on the outskirts of Madiun, where more than 20 thousand people were involved, including members from other cities in the southern region of East Java. In 2019, a police officer was hit during one of these clashes, and has remained in a coma for 2 years. 

Due to this friction and constant violence between the two schools, some PSHT branches have developed intense hazing rituals for its members. In order to advance in rank in PSHT, members must go through brutal training and tests, many which resemble boot camp at a military institution. Some of the training was so intense that students were seriously injured and some have died. 

Both PSHT and PSH Winongo had their respective “turf”.  In almost every village in the vicinity of Madiun, Ponorogo, Ngawi, Nganjuk and its surroundings, there were monuments built by members of the respective Silat school that served as territory markers. Violence was usually provoked because of the destruction of these school monuments. Members of one of the rival schools often vandalized it by throwing rocks or paint and even tearing down the monument. 

In order to solve this problem, the government mandated in 2009 that in order for a school monument to be erected, it must also have the rival’s school monument built next to it, so that there is no mutual claim to the territory.

What is fascinating is that at the leadership level, the two perguruans did not have any issues with each other. There has been cooperation by the leadership of the two Silat schools to try to end the violence. Denny Aprisani, the well-known Silat youtuber who is a member of PSHT has spoken out against the violence. However, with membership in the millions, it is many times difficult to stop these local clashes.  

Yet, every year each school still has their respective parade – and every year, members from the rival school tries to sabotage the other group. Many get arrested and someone usually gets injured. In December 2020, three Silat practitioners from Jombang, East Java were left injured.

I personally am not against healthy rivalries between athletes or even schools, as it pushes individuals to train hard in the respective school. Healthy rivalries are exciting, but when people lose control and become nasty, it can be very dangerous (fatal in the case of Dr. Andre KnustGraichen). Rivalries between schools should be settled in a sportive manner, through competition without any risk of serious injury.

Unlike the rivalry between Cobra Kai and Miyagi Do, PSHT and PSHW both have similar philosophies of unity, brotherhood and love – as they originate from the same teacher.

Without doubt, money and politics plays a powerful role in the dynamics and relationships between different organizations. It is important to learn from history and not commit the same mistakes as those before us. We must demand that all those associated with our martial arts organization uphold core principles of dignity, honor and respect for all.

For more information about this topic read VICE and AP articles.

Written by A-Malik Ahmad, a former USA Pencak Silat head coach & international judge, author of Training for Tanding course on Udemy.