ndonesian Coaches Raise Pencak Silat’s Profile

Pencak silat originated in Indonesia, but that fact did little for the country during the 2009 Southeast Asian Games.

Of the 17 gold medals up for grabs in the martial art in Vientiane, Laos, Indonesian competitors managed just two. Vietnam won the most pencak silat golds with six, followed by Malaysia with four.

Indonesia’s slide from the pinnacle of pencak silat can be traced to the progress of the sport in other Southeast Asian countries. That development, in turn, is partly due to Indonesian coaches going abroad to encourage the martial art’s growth.

In order to make the sport better known around the world, the World Pencak Silat Federation (Persilat) asked the Indonesian federation to send its coaches around the globe beginning in the 1980s.

“The sport has been gaining more popularity in Vietnam,” former Vietnam pencak silat coach Suhartono recalled in an interview in Laos. “When I left the country in 2005, there were almost 70,000 people training in pencak silat.”

The work by Suhartono, an Indonesian, was one part of Vietnam’s gold rush during the SEA Games.

He trained Vietnamese athletes from 1995-2005. Asked to introduce pencak silat to Vietnam just before the 1995 SEA Games, his assistance made an immediate impact as he helped the country to three gold medals that year.

Under Suhartono’s guidance, Vietnam won seven golds at the 2001 Games in Malaysia. He left Vietnam to coach the Philippines in 2005 before going on to lead Thailand when it hosted the 2007 Games and Brunei Darussalam in 2009.

“I’m facing a bigger challenge in Brunei. It’s been hard to lure people to the sport there. Sport is only a leisure activity for most of them, so it’s hard to make them an athlete,” said Suhartono, who is contracted with the country until 2011.

Despite the challenges, he believes pencak silat will blossom in Brunei with the government’s full support.

Suriatno is another Indonesian coach enjoying success abroad. He took charge of the Laos team just four months prior to the 2009 Games and led it to one gold medal — its first SEA Games gold in pencak silat — two silvers and four bronzes.

It was his second spell in Laos after coaching it for eight months before the 2007 Games.

“Laos has some potential athletes, but there are obstacles I have to face in improving the athletes’ performances,” Surianto said.

One of the main problems, he continued, was the propensity of Lao people, not just athletes, to drink beer.

“Consuming alcoholic drinks will, of course, affect their performances,” he said. “But in the end, I persuaded them not to drink on training days and it worked.”

Pencak silat’s growth is evident in places other than Asia.

It has gained a foothold in Europe, thanks in part to the efforts of O’ong Maryono. The 54-year-old coach had been developing the sport in Europe since 1989, when he worked with the Sports and Recreation Development Division of the Amsterdam City Government to introduce pencak silat to the Dutch and received a warm welcome.

He later moved to Italy and Croatia before returning to Asia to train in the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

“I found Europeans more interested in pencak silat for its four basic philosophies that makes the sport different from other martial arts,” he said.

“They are interested not only in the martial art, but also the spiritual aspect. The silaturrahim [meeting to strengthen the bond among members] culture in pencak silat really attracts them. That’s why in Europe, the league runs very well. Besides, the sport’s development is also financially supported.”

For his efforts, O’ong received a scholarship from the Ford Foundation to foster the pencak silat culture. He returned to Indonesia in 1993 to begin work on one of his life-long projects, which was released in the form of a book entitled “Pencak Silat Merentang Waktu” (Pencak Silat Across Time) in 1998.

(This article was published on www.thejakartaglobe.com, Dec 25, 2009)