Bukti Negara: from the beginning to present day
Bukti Negara is a style of Pencak Silat created and developed by Paul de Thouars starting from 1985. This style that was formed 35 years ago, actually has its roots in ancient tradition and is the result of incredible knowledge and skills acquired by its founder. We feel honored to be students and practitioners of Bukti Negara, a style whose teaching and tradition is carried on through the Naga Kuning Institute.
Bukti Negara literally means “evidence of a continent“. It is therefore the union and the gift that Oom Paul brought from his country of origin, Indonesia, to the nation that had welcomed him, the United States of America, showing and sharing some of the precious knowledge he had brought with him from Holland.
The Evolution
The Style underwent an evolution over time, both technically and didactically. This style had to contain the principles of Serak, but in a shorter and more compact format. It had to be learned by people who had neither the time to train every day, nor possessed the patience and training mentality of Southeast Asia, where the explanations by teachers are few and far between, and the practitioner must often find the answers to their questions by themselves through practice. Bukti Negara meets the needs of the modern man (or perhaps only “Western”) to have answers and principles that can be easily assimilated through exercises and explanations, while maintaining the structure of its origin.
Bukti Negara Reborn
The rebirth of Bukti Negara began in 2011, when Walter van den Broeke, a pupil of the de Vries Family, reunited Oom Paul de Thouars with the remaining heirs of the de Vries family in Holland. This union, commemorated with a signed agreement written by the members of the two families present, led to the creation of a unified curriculum that we now practice and call Pukulan Pentjak Silat Bukti Negara – The Unified Art.
Thus representing the union of the Bukti Negara from Oom Paul de Thouars and Oom John de Vries with the Pukulan from Oom Dolf de Vries and Oom Ventje de Vries, his father.
Coinciding with the birth of the unified curriculum, the institute we proudly belong to was also born: the Naga Kuning Institute. The institute’s mission is promoting and safeguarding the styles of Pentjak Silat and Pukulan that have been transmitted to us by the practitioners who preceded us.
The founder of the institute is Walter van den Broeke, appointed as board member and Technical Advisor by Oom Paul de Thouars and a pukulan practitioner for 40 years, who has collected, trained, and documented various curricula by practicing with many experts in the field for years.
The goal is to create an institute to safeguard the quality of the practice. We raise the level of what nowadays has become a sort of martial arts fast-food: short courses with easy diplomas that satisfy the ego, but that bear little to no resemblance to true martial practice.
The Unified Art
Pukulan Pentjak Silat Bukti Negara – The Unified Art – is the martial art that is publicly trained and promoted, the union of the main sources of teaching and styles practiced by Walter van den Broeke.
With closed door we still train and teach the other original curricula, only to peoples that have been appointed by the Technical Board and the Director of the NKI.
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Institute's Styles
Here you can find the styles and logos at the base of the Pukulan Pentjak Silat Bukti Negara – The Unified Art -.
The Bukti Negara
If you want to find out more about Bukti Negara, its history, and origins, we invite you to read the articles of our blog, where we explore the history, culture, traditions, styles, and fighting techniques of Indonesian martial arts.
