| Still
fresh in my memory are Bruce Lee's films entitled
"Enter the Dragon"
and "First of Fury",
which caused my sister and I to go home regretfully
due to the fact that there were no more tickets
left (and we are strong fans of Bruce Lee). He
also introduced the flying kick and popularized
Double Stick (Nanchuca) and Jeet Kune Do: the
concepts, techniques, training and fighting methods
of Bruce Lee. Self-defense art themes in Japanese
and Chinese films are very dominant and add to
the development of these arts. I have had the
opportunity to train in Judo, Kyokushinkai and
Kung Fu and learned how to make use of Double
Stick (as consequence of which, I have had an
experience of getting injured on my head -- hit
by the rebound I made, myself).
| At
the same time, if people talk about Pencak
Silat (a traditional self-defense
art which constitutes the authentic Indonesian
one), no one would be proud of it. What they
are thinking of is just protection, awkward
and unpopular. Moreover, there is a joke saying
that a traditional Silat athlete can only
compete if he is accompanied by a drum. It
is indeed true that drums are being utilized
to accompany postures used in dances within
this traditional self-defense art. However,
it is only part of the art's movement and
usually conducted only for demonstration purposes
before an audience, whereas drums are actually
not used at all at contest activities. |
 |
Suddenly,
in early 1987, one of the most popular sports
media in Indonesia issued an editorial entitled
"This is Tai Chi from Depok" as a joke
title, since every body knew that Tai Chi originated
from China while Depok was a remote spot and far
from city bustle. However, what
is interesting is that the cover picture showed
an old man throwing his opponent without touching
him and an old woman throwing her opponent, a
young boy, to his back as if by enormous power.
Afterwards,
all the fans of self-defense arts who had read
the above mentioned story were surprised and doubtful
- it was pretty unbelievable - including me, since
logically it is impossible that one can throw
his enemy without touching him. It was even said
that one could make a blow from a long distance.
The Editorial Section of the sport weekly was
overwhelmed to receive phone calls everyday for
several months to verify the reality of the news
published, and the
reply certainly confirmed that all the facts presented
were authentic ones without deceit or camera tricks.
This was the initial introduction of inner power
traditional self-defense art in Indonesia, never
having been published openly beforehand. Inner
Power in Indonesia called Tenaga Dalam.
The
enormous wave of fans of inner power self defense
suddenly exploded. "Sin
Lam Ba Inner Power Self Defense Institution",
which became the news focus, has been overwhelmed
by followers. Hundreds or even thousands of people
in great numbers witness with their own eyes the
reality of this inner power. Sport fans and even
those who previously were not interested in self-defense
art finally followed the training, since it is
useful against attack by enemies as well as someone's
bad intentions like pick pocketing, robbery, raping
etc., and at that time, no days passed without
inner power discussion.
Various
discussions and inner power self-defense institutions
which had previously not been in the public eye
suddenly took part in producing articles in newspapers
and magazines. Even journalists from foreign printing
and television media were also hunting for discussions
regarding inner power. It was really amazing.
At that time, few inner power institutions were
well known until today, such as Merpati Putih,
Satria Nusantara, Panca Daya, Tapak Diri, Pusaka
Jakarta, Bunga Karang etc. They became famous
and a primary topic of discussion for the defense
sport fans as well as common self-defense arts
not utilizing inner power.
At
that time, a relationship was been established,
which seldom existed, in which one of the AIKIDO
institutions invited an inner power self-defense
institution to show a demonstration, since they
did not believe the existence of inner power (
tenaga dalam ) which purely originated from Indonesia.
The demo showed how an enemy is hit from a certain
distance, an attacker thrown down from the front
(or back as well), to break hard objects, to break
tiles, to pull a car with the neck, to stand against
fire, to throw a lot of opponents, etc.
Eventually,
in the middle of April 1988, a sport weekly tabloid,
having participated in introducing this inner
power, published a special edition regarding this
subject, although their typical focus was football,
tennis and badminton news. In this special edition,
inner power, how an opponent can be thrown away
without being touched, and a lot of other questions
were asked. Unfortunately, however, the question
of the now popular inner power couldn't be totally
explained. One inner power professor only declared
that inner power is made up of eight, mysterious
radiances. Some commented that inner power is
mystical, and one of the chairman of the Indonesian
Traditional Self-Defense Association advised,
"It may happen, to feel greatly and then
forget the Lord". The tabloid also published
the experience of a women feeling more confident
after mastering inner power science in order to
anticipate crimes (which had become increasingly
violent and unpredictable). She had also recovered
from an illness and her stamina had drastically
improved.
The
what, why and how of inner power was the topic
in that special issue, and it seemed only to reach
a dead end before finding the answers, owing to
the level of science and perception at that particular
time. If some dared to inquire in detail, the
teacher usually answered in a negative way and
covered the facts. Some seminars and the interest
of some State Ministers really has increased the
popularity of this traditional self-defense which
previously has been ignored. The fact that inner
power has not yet been explained completely, and
the precise explanations as to such things as
enemies being hit without being touched.... This
is still a big question mark to me, personally.
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