Millennia of mutual exchange has at times blurred the line between kuntao and
silat. Some schools may use the terms almost interchangeably as in
Bali. Others incorporate both words in their name, as with Silat Kuntau Tekpi. In the most extreme cases, a particular lineage is passed down within the indigenous Southeast Asian community until it loses any outward Chinese reference. This has sometimes been intentional, particularly after the
Chinese Communist Revolution. Between 1949 and the mid-80s, some schools were rebranded as silat to distance themselves from Maoist China. Additionally, the establishment of Indonesia's silat governing body IPSI in 1948 was a motivating factor for martial arts schools to be recognized by the association if they're considered silat. The rise of
racism in more recent decades has further resulted in alterations to oral traditions and histories, de-emphasising their inception as the product of Chinese culture. The following are examples of such revision. All are characteristically Chinese in their techniques, tactics, and medicinal practices.
Cingkrik From the
Betawi word
jingkrik meaning agile, legend traces
Cingkrik to a monkey style of kuntao created by a woman who based the techniques on a group of monkeys she witnessed fighting. In the early 1900s this kuntao eventually reached a man in Rawa Belong named Kong Maing who further developed it after a monkey stole his walking stick and evaded all his attempts at retrieval. The modern revision credits Kong Maing entirely, ignoring its kuntao background.
Beksi Beksi was created in the 1800s by a
Tionghoa Peranakan named Lie Cheng Hok, who took both Chinese and native Indonesians as disciples. His successor was a
Betawi and it has been passed down in
Tangerang ever since. According to the revision, Lie Cheng Hok himself was a student of a mysterious cave-dwelling hermit named Ki Jidan, who is now widely considered the progenitor.
Kwitang Unlike most recent revisions, the dispute over
Mustika Kwitang has existed for several decades. All agree that it began with a sparring match between a
Tionghoa martial artist named Kwee Tang Kiam and a (traditionally unnamed)
Betawi herbalist in the 17th century. The loser would become the winner's student, but who won is a topic of contention. Some say Kwee Tang Kiam was the logical victor as the style still carries his name. Others say he lost and married the local man's daughter. As the art was passed down within the family, they continued to use the Kwitang name.
Bangau Putih A white crane system founded in
Bogor, West Java by Subur Rahardja in 1952. As a young child Subur Rahardja learned martial arts from several teachers, as well as his father and other family members. He was the acknowledged inheritor of five masters from different lineages. Most notably among these was his paternal uncle Liem Kim Bouw, other teachers included Mpe Sutur, the founder of the Cimande Pencak Silat school, Asuk Yak Long, and Gusti Djelantik. https://www.silat.de/flashback_of_pgb_en.html
Lian Yunan A family of about 22 styles centered mainly in
Johor, Malaysia. They are remarkably similar to
Wing Chun with which they share a common origin in
Yunnan, China during the 1700s. The most prominent style is
Lian Padukan, itself a derivative of Buah Pukul from the Mersing district of Johor. It is said to have been introduced by a
Hui man who made a name for himself fighting in the docklands of 1920s Singapore and Johor. Confusion over the Hui identity has led to revisionists replacing the founder's Chinese heritage with an Arab one.
Kuntaw Its arrival in the Philippines is unclear for even among the Mindanao people there is no research dedicated to tracing the lineage or the importer of the martial art or when was the first recorded reference of this martial art, and if there is, a question of authenticity arises. The same could be said of
silat practiced culturally in the
southernmost parts of the archipelago. It is safe to say, that is until a new paper is published about retracing its history in the islands, that this fighting method only started to "come out" in the country in the mid-20th century. It is written as
kuntaw in the Philippines, the Chinese origin of kuntao is rarely denied, but it has often become associated with the
Filipino Muslim usually among
Maguindanaons,
Maranaos and
Tausugs but it is also associated with the Filipino Muslim community of Indonesian or Borneo descent, given that the southern Filipinos are more culturally linked to
Malays than those Filipinos from
Luzon and
Visayas. The term is sometimes mistakenly translated as "sacred strike" from
kunsagrado hataw. ==Weapons==