The History of Silat Perisai Diri

If you look at the structure of this Silat organisation, KELATNAS PD is an organisation which is based on togetherness - give and take among the students.  All these qualities have made PD strong and this is the same as the characteristics of most Indonesian people.

KELATNAS PD was officially established on the 2nd JULY 1955 in Surabya.  The founder was Raden Mas Soebandiman Dirdjoatmodjo who was called Pak Dirdjo or Pak De by the PD student.  He was born on the eighth of January 1913 in Jogyakarta.  The history of PD and their brotherhood cannot be separated from their founder or guardian Pak Dirdjo.

Pak Dirdjo had mastered Silat at the age of nine and his incredible talent had made him the best student in Keraton (Palace) Pakoe Alaman.  At the age of sixteen he became an ascetical wanderer (One who leads a life of contemplation and self denial especially for religious purposes) in search for more experience and knowledge of Silat and spiritualism.  The spiritual places that he went to get his knowledge were Pondok Pesantren Tebu Ireng in Jombang and Pondok Randu Gunting in Semarang.  All the Silat he had learned were from from Bapak Hasan Basri in Jombang, Bapak Sayit Saab in Surakarta, Bepak Soegito in Semarang (Silat Setia Suadara) and he also learnt Silat in Ciberon and Kuningan.

In Parakan Banyumas he accidentally met YAP KIE SAN, a chinese Shaolin Kung-Fu expert who turned out to be his last teacher.  Yap Kie San was a respected Kung-Fu teacher and Pak Dirdjo learnt Kung-Fu from him for 14 years.  Pak Dirdjo was his best student and when he finished learning Kung-Fu from Yap Kie San he received a very sharp sword as a symbol of their spiritual relationship.

In spiritualism, the teacher he respected most was Jogosurasmo, his own grandfather.  After being highly trained through being tempted by spirits he finally successfully passed his practice of asceticism and he received God's word.

When he felt he had acquired enough knowledge of Silat and spiritual understanding he journeyed back to his fathers' palace in Jogyakarta.  In the palace his uncle, Ki Hadjar Dewentoro, asked him to teach Silat.  At around 1947 - 1948 he was appointed to work in the Department of Education and Culture in the Silat section for the Government.  From working in the Silat section for Government he had the opportunity to talk to all the other Pendekar from different styles of Silat.  They were from Silat Minangkabau, Silat Cimande, Silat Betawi and more.

From the knowledge he already knew in Silat and that gained from the other Pendekar he combined all of these into one Silat which he called Silat Perisai Diri.  Silat Perisai Diri that Pak Dirdjo created was not called Pencak Silat Perisai Diri because Pencak movements are best for display, whereas Silat Perisai Diri is used for fighting and self defence.  Pencak Silat movements, Pak Dirdjo felt were unnecessary and that is why he discarded them.

KELATNAS Perisai Diri was based on the concept that the Silat student must know how to use speed in their movements.  This means PD students have to use a series of techniques in a minimum amount of time (Two moves in one second).

Pak Dirdjo also changed the way of learning Silat.  The most popular JURUS for a pair is Serang Hindar (attack and avoid) and are not taught to a beginner.  (JURUS are a series of attacking moves, avoiding moves and Sikap or stance).  The students are not allowed to change what the instructor tells them to do - they must always obey their instructor.  In this method of Serang Hindar, developed by Pak Dirdjo, both students are straight away trained to attack and avoid each other at the same time from any position, distance and condition.  The good thing with this method is that it is hard for students to hit each other so there is little chance of anyone getting hurt.

This method in Perisai Diri is very popular, as it says in our motto "PANDAI SILAT TANPA CEDERA" (Through Perisai Diri you can achieve good effective techniques easily without injury).

Nowadays KELATNAS Perisai Diri has spread to most cities in Indonesia and overseas.  However there is only one book published internationally.  It is an American book written by Don F Draeger and Quintin Chambers, containing introduction techniques, Serang Hindar and a bit of BelaDiri (Self Defence).  There were only Three books written by Pak Dirdjo and they are for student of Keluarga level (red belt) only and are not in that much detail.  These books contain the original techniques of Jurus Burung Kuntul, Burung Garuda and Harimau.  With their 1976 edition they had sold out very quickly.

The guardian of Keluarga Silat Nasional Indonesian Perisai Diri passed away on the morning of 9 May 1983 in Surabaya.  Hopefully this Silat and the brotherhood of Silat Perisai Diri can continue and spread it's wings and keep away from unresponsible people who will try and damage this organisation.

This is a little bit of History of Keluarga Silat Nasional Indonesia PD and its guardian the lat Bapak R.M.S. Dirdjoatmodjo.

An article published and translated in the late 1980's by an unknown PD follower.