The art of silat

The Malays say: kawan jadi lawan, lawan jadi kawan. This means friends become enemies and enemies become friends. So you never sleep with both eyes closed when sharing the same pillow with a rakan seperjuang and you never close the door entirely with your enemies. If you burn your bridges with your enemies you will never be able to cross it in the event you need to do so.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The Malays call it seni silat -- seni meaning art and silat being the Malay art of self-defence. 

I remember discussing this one afternoon with the one-time President of MCA, Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik, who was lamenting about his declining political fortunes. It was already four hours and half a bottle of whiskey (or was in brandy?). Anyway, he had already consumed half a bottle of whatever it was he was drinking and I was probably on my fifth bottle of Coke.

This was about 28 years ago back in 1984 around the time that Liong Sik had his skirmish with Neo Yee Pan because he had allied himself to Tan Koon Swan. Anyway, a year later, the MCA ‘Team B’ managed to oust Yee Pan and, another year after that, Liong Sik took over as the MCA President when Koon Swan went to jail in Singapore due to the Pan-El fiasco.

“Tengku, you sure can drink Coke,” said Liong Sik.

“This is nothing,” I replied, “you have finished half of bottle already.”

“Coke is harder to drink than what I'm drinking,” he said.

Anyway, I no longer knew whether Liong Sik was talking or the bottle was talking but the rest of the conversation was quite interesting.

“The trouble with us Chinese,” he said, “is that we are not as skilled in politics as you Malays. We Chinese play politics like kungfu. We just charge and whack. You Malays use silat. You smile and dance and make graceful moves and we don’t know when the keris is going to stab.”

He was of course referring to his predicament at that time. MCA was in such dire straits that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had to step in to save MCA. And Dr Mahathir did this by forcing Yee Pan to resign so that Koon Swan could take over with Liong Sik as his deputy.

So, yes, Dr Mahathir decided who should run MCA and no one dared oppose his wishes. Of course, what Liong Sik did not know then is that just a couple of years down the road Umno too would suffer the same fate as MCA when Umno split into ‘Team A’ and ‘Team B’ and it was MCA’s turn to save Umno when Umno Baru was formed.

Anyway, that is another story and a story I have already told. In short, Liong Sik became the Chairman of Barisan Nasional but he allowed Dr Mahathir to stay on as the Prime Minister although the Chairman or Barisan Nasional, meaning Liong Sik, should have taken over as the new Prime Minister of Malaysia.

In spite of what many may think of Liong Sik, I still regard him as a friend, although I may disagree with his politics. That is what friends are for, is that not so?

The Malays say there are two types of friends. One the Malays call sahabat karib and the other rakan seperjuangan. Sahabat karib you can trust your life with. Rakan seperjuangan are merely comrades-in arms and comrades-in-arms can turn foe as easily as foes can turn comrades-in-arms. 

Silat masters will tell you that you must never teach your students everything. Teach them all the moves except one. And you keep that last move in the event the student turns on you when he thinks he has learned enough and can now makan his master. Then, when he turns on you, you hit him with that one move you never taught him.

Such is the art of silat.

A sahabat karib would be a friend who does not share the same agenda as you. You are just friends, that’s all. A rakan seperjuang would share the same agenda as you and you are comrades-in-arms because of this common agenda. Hence this type of friend must never be taught everything, just like how the silat master never teaches his student everything. 

Rakan seperjuang or comrades-in-arms are tied together by a cause. That’s what makes them rakan seperjuang or comrades-in-arms. But causes can change and when the cause changes then you will have different agendas. And that is when your rakan seperjuang or comrade-in-arms will turn into your most dangerous enemy.

As the prayer goes: God, please save me from my friends, my enemies I can take care myself.

And your rakan seperjuang or comrade-in-arms will turn into your most dangerous enemy because he knows all your secrets. Hence you need to keep some secrets from him and at the same time korek as many secrets as you can from him. And to be able to korek all his secrets you must first share some of your secrets with him to build up his trust in you. But you give him red herrings in the event he tries to use these secrets against you in future. And you try to sieve through the secrets he shares with you to discard the red herrings he is throwing your way.

The Malays say: kawan jadi lawan, lawan jadi kawan. This means friends become enemies and enemies become friends. So you never sleep with both eyes closed when sharing the same pillow with a rakan seperjuang and you never close the door entirely with your enemies. If you burn your bridges with your enemies you will never be able to cross it in the event you need to do so.

In kungfu you fight with scowl on your face and a fierce look in your eyes. In silat you fight with a smile on your face and a dreamy look in your eyes. In kungfu you know your opponent wants to kill you. In silat you give the impression that you are engaging in foreplay before sex.

Hence when the Chinese fight you can read what they intend to do while when Malays fight you are not really sure whether he wants to stab you or make love to you.

And I can see that many Malaysia Today readers who post comments in this site are Chinese. They are fierce, rude, aggressive, and scream for blood. And that makes them so easy to read and easier to manipulate. The Malay readers of Malaysia Today, and we do have many as well, read silently without commenting.

Hence, while we know what the Chinese are thinking, it is harder to know what the Malays are thinking. And while the Chinese treat you either as friend or enemy, you never know whether that smiling Malay who is nodding while he is reading is a friend or an enemy.

And this is what Liong Sik was lamenting about 28 years ago back in 1984 when he downed the contents of that bottle and I got bloated or a six-pack of Coke.

Incidentally, I too am Malay. Hence when I scream you must never assume that it is because I am angry and when I smile you must never assume it is because I am happy. It could just be me playing silat in this very complex game of Malaysian politics. 

I suppose now some of you are going to say: will the real Raja Petra please stand up! Well, as the English say, that’s not cricket, old chap. The Malays will say: that is not silat, saudara. Would the silat master teach you every move? So, why should I then?