Let Me Ask Mas Djut
by Chris Gielen
We spent many nights on the mat long after the group classes concluded for the evening, and this was when we were free to practice forms, work on partner drills, and have some laughs.
When our teacher was there, it was a balancing act between trying to have fun while not getting a hormat ticket.
A hormat ticket was an unofficial and non-traditional term used within our organization at that time and was often given for (in no particular order of importance) struggling to attend the second day of the seminars in Las Vegas, engaging with students in other silat groups online or in person, and showing something in a public class that was learned in a private class.
Table of Contents
Dutch-Indonesian Uncles
For those of you not familiar with Dutch-Indonesian Uncles in martial arts land, they are or were from a time of intense struggle, and forced-change in their lives transformed their mindsets about the arts in ways which we continue to try to understand.
For many Uncles pencak silat became enveloped in their daily lives and in so doing the intensity of passion about it expanded and contracted like volatility bands in a stock.
Those of us who were fortunate to spend time with them have stories that we still tell today, and it is important that we keep it light and preserve the memories, as we are now carriers of sorts from times long since passed.
Pak Victor de Thouars or Pak Vic
Pak Victor de Thouars or Pak Vic as he preferred to be called comes from a storied family in pencak silat land in the West.
As the youngest of four brothers and with several cousins practicing the same art of pukulan pencak silat Serak, Pak Vic was exposed to many interpretations of the art.
By interpretations, I mean that given the same five ingredients, each of the de Thouars brothers and their cousins combined those ingredients just a bit differently and had their own ways of showing what they understood from their training.
It may not be for us to say what or who was right or wrong because we weren’t in the room when each of them was given instruction by their Uncles.
What we can say is that the common thread of the Uncles’ vision of Serak and how it ought to be practiced is so much more the same, rather than different.
The Uncles de Vries transferred the art of Serak over time to their sons, nephews, and close students and what we have is a retelling of that story over about 70 years.
Digging deeper with hopes of finding clarity, who was Oom John and Oom Ventje’s teacher and what did he share exactly?
Sempok, dempok, sempak, sepok, dempak, depok
This brings us to one night specifically at the VDT (Victor de Thouars) academy in Bellflower.
There were a few of us gym rats hanging around trying to make sense of the terminology and how it related to specific moves and motions. If memory serves the line of questioning revolved around the spelling and meaning of the terms sempok and dempok.
On the mirror were the terms sempok and dempok along with sempak, sepok, dempak, and depok.
It is probably the case that if you are a silat person, these terms were used interchangeably and “…yes, that’s what it means, and stop asking questions.”
My friend and training partner at the time Ron (RIP), had a particular way of thinking and was adamant about making sure the terms and definitions were just so, as if the law.
Now I was still relatively new, but I was already pretty good at reading Pak Vic’s facial expressions and changes in body language.
Ron really pressed on about which terms we must use and why we are using different terms in the classes.
This is where things got interesting.
Hey Mas Djut, is it sempok, sempak, or sepok?!
Pak Vic was a big guy with large meat hook hands, and the defining feature was the large center knuckle that you saw and felt on your face during the training.
He had moved from the mat to the concrete area between the mat and the restroom and was on his knees punching the floor.
It was eerie as I was watching Pak Vic’s face and listening to the thuds get louder with each successive punch on the concrete.
What we had was a student who was encouraged to ask questions and who was asking those questions in a sharp tone while visually becoming frustrated with each passing minute.
One the other side was the teacher who may have been growing increasingly frustrated with the adat of one of his students.
In an exercise of patience Pak Vic stopped punching the floor, gave the hold-on-one-second finger point, and disappeared behind the side wall.
We heard him literally yell
“hey Mas Djut, is it sempok, sempak, or sepok?!”
An awkward silence was broken when he reappeared and said
“Mas Djut was busy and didn’t answer me.”
I was doing the peanut gallery head turning exercise changing by gaze from Pak Vic over to Ron and back and forth.
Who was going to win this one, and why was he talking to Mas Djut?
A few more attempts from Ron to get the questions answered and find some resolution was met with a long deep breath, an inversion of the brow line, and the following phrase spoken in a slow and low tone:
“You just don’t f*ing get it, and you need to be careful.”
Pak Vic gave his patented 15 rep flicker of his eyes, gathered his belongings, instructed us to lock the door on the way out, and left for the evening leaving us to think about the events that transpired.
A different training world
You see, the old way of learning silat in Indonesia was very different to how we do things in the West.
All of the Uncles trained hard and spent their lives dealing with inner demons and loving the art of Serak.
They may have had opportunities to ask questions when they were learning but from what I understood, during class whatever the teacher says, is.
That’s it.
No more and no less.
That concept is foreign to the younger generation as students wish their questions to be answered, especially in a public school.
Pak Vic was teaching about silat although we weren’t picking up on it.
He was sharing about culture and what it means to be a pencak silat student, and we were focused on the minutiae on the mirror.
About an hour later we all just called it a night and I reflected on the evening on my long drive home up the 605 freeway.
Conclusion and Fireworks
If you are waiting for fireworks about the next sequence in the story, I am sorry to disappoint you.
There were certainly some fiery moments between the two over the years, but those stories are for me.
For now, what did I take away from that evening and why do I have vivid memories of it?
First, Indonesian languages are many, and within a region there are dialects, slang, and lingua franca used in business, sport, and martial arts.
One person’s pronunciation of a word doesn’t change the meaning in that person’s mind.
Tomato tomato, am I right?
Pak Vic undoubtedly heard different pronunciations of sempok and assigned his own meanings to the term and its variations.
Does it really matter if the spelling is just so?
How often do we change the way we pronounce things when making a point?
I believe Pak Vic was trying to convey many ideas in the moment and struggled to find the best way to express them in English.
Second, I saw our teacher balance inner rage with outward patience and used humor to try to bring the tone back to neutral.
Pak Vic used body language, demonstrative “speaking” with is concrete punching, and a joke that we smiled at but had no idea of the deeper meaning.
Finally, I saw an intensity from Pak Vic that was new to me at the time.
He was serious, dead serious.
Serak was part of his DNA, and thou shall not question the teachings.
Geez, I thought I was just here to play pool Fats!
I am still learning from that experience and what I can do is evolve and carry forward Pak Vic’s teachings about the art of Serak and evolve with our current culture.
Yes, we should take our training very seriously.
Yes, we should be very respectful to our teachers and training partners.
Yes, we are here to learn.
Say that last world again and say it out loud.
“LEARN.”
The physical part of martial arts training will take care of itself over time.
Work hard, play hard, and you will improve.
The mental part of the art will drive you nuts!
Drills, terms on other languages, philosophy, religious influences, your teacher’s teachers’ teacher’s way of doing it, music, food, and culture.
Where does it end?
Lastly, the emotional roller coaster that comes with being on the journey of pencak silat can go from mild to wild with one bunder kick.
Remember this, a pencak silat player has the responsibility to engage with the art and sometimes, we have to learn painful lessons as this is the way.
If you ever need help with finding out why Oom Maurice’s jurus look that way and Oom Paul’s jurus look that way, just ask Mas Djut….and if he answers,
You better tell me!
Christopher David Gielen
Group Leader and Instructor
Naga Kuning Institute
Terms:
*Note – I capitalize “Uncle” as a sign of respect as I am referring to them indirectly by their names. It may not be grammatically correct but that’s ok.
Hormat – the respect that you show to other people, an idea, or philosophy.
Pencak Silat – the collection of Indigenous martial arts across the Indonesian archipelago.
Pukulan – the art of striking.
Oom – Uncle
Sempok – when the moving leg crosses behind the planted leg.
Dempok – when the moving leg moves in front of the planted leg.
Adat – how you carry yourself.
Lingua franca – think of this is the “use” and utility of language to serve a purpose.
