Silat tourney for Brunei students
| Jake Ten |
THE Pencak Silat Tournament for Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and Pre-University Students was officially opened yesterday during a ceremony at the Youth Centre in the capital.
Students from various primary and secondary schools who will be competing during the week-long tournament. – PHOTOS: JAKE TEN
Awang Roslin drawing the kris from its holster to declare the tournament opened |
The Secondary School and Pre-University competitors will be split into two categories; Teenagers (age 14-17) and Adults (17 and above), with all the matches taking place at the Youth Centre.
Present as the guest-of-honour was Awang Roslin bin Suhailee, the Acting Director of the Department of Education Curriculum at the Ministry of Education.
“Pencak silat is considered to be a symbol of personality of our people and has been practised for centuries by the Malay community. Pencak silat is not only practised in Brunei, but also in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and bordering states who have Malay ethnicity. Pencak silat , which was once only popular in the Malay community, has now evolved and spread to the European continent,” said Awang Roslin during his opening remarks.
“Pencak silat consists of two words that each has a meaning of its own. ‘Pencak’ is the performance aspect of the martial art, while ‘Silat’ is the essence of hand fighting and self-defence. The Pencak silat practitioners often say that there is no ‘Silat’ without the ‘Pencak’, but without the ‘Silat’, ‘Pencak’ has no direction,” he continued.
“Through a tournament like this, we will be able to produce athletes with the potential not only to compete at school and district level, but also represent Brunei Darussalam in any Asean or international level competition such as the Asean School Games, SEA Games, Assian Games, Global Martial Arts Competition and International Martial Arts Festival. Such participation can contribute to the course of development taken by the country and introduce our country to the world.”
The tournament, which began two days prior to the opening ceremony, will draw to a close on Saturday (Feb 9).
