Review: Silat Suffian Bela Diri
This July, CREST MMA attended a five day intensive course in Silat Suffian Bela Diri - a family Silat system originating from Brunei focusing largely on bladed combat.
Under the expert instruction of Guru Maul Mornie, this course taught a number of skills which prove extremely useful in any combat situation. The first three days of this course primarily looked at two main drills (Pelampas and Sambut Sambut) which incorporated the three Jurus and Langkah of the Suffian system. The final days looked far more at incorporating these drills into "techniques" which are easily applied and highly effective.
Having become familiar with the drills, they were then practiced in a more spontaneous way, with students expected to walk randomly around the training hall, then immediately start practicing the drills on command. Although this was quite demanding, it importantly forced these skills to become automatic and remembered by the body - not just the mind.
Whereas most martial arts will spend a lot of time learning multiple entries and techniques for each attack, Silat Suffian's effectiveness comes from the fact that it only uses a couple of base entries (trained through these drills) which maintains the essential simplicity required for effective and spontaneous self defence.
Silat Suffian truly offers some of the best blade training available in a very open and honest way. In addition to this, the informal and family like atmosphere of the training is brilliant for building friendships with training partners - especially due to the trust and mutual respect required in any blade training.
We look forward to Guru Maul's visit to Scotland some time in 2009, and in the meantime shall continue to train with a whole new perspective brought about through this truly unique system.
