J.C : What does the name Lincah mean?
G.L : Lincah means fast and aggressive: rapid movements. Tarah means to sever. I was also told that the name was changed because to get registered as a style you have to go through a lot of formalities and Tarah was deemed to be too aggressive a name. The name Lincah is more acceptable and over the past thirty years Maha Guru has developed Lincah into a very powerful system and a powerful association.

J.C : How do Malaysian and Indonesian styles differ?
G.L : This depends on the area. Sumatran silat is closer to Malaysian silat than Javanese. The rhythm is comparable. The structure of the syllabus is different as in Malaysian styles there is no Jurus- or solo forms. Malaysian silat works from the Buah- 2 man techniques.

Indonesian silat has spread more quickly because they saw a market and were quick to exploit it. There seems to be a trend towards putting down Malaysian silat as the poor neighbour. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As silat spread supposedly from Indonesia to Malaysia and on to the Philippines I think it changed and developed. As a weapons art I think Arnis is superb- it has developed that side beyond it’s parent arts. An old silat master once told be that Indonesian silat was dead- no life to it. Malaysian silat is called “seni silat”, whereas the Indonesian version is Pencak silat. The Malaysians place the art before the fighting. Pencak is the rehearsal for the fight. So in the Indonesian styles you often find movement for the sake of it, the art is lost, whereas Malaysian silat has a purpose behind all the moves. I then watched the players, and compared it to Malaysian stylists, and could see what he was talking about.

Another main difference is the use of animals. Indonesian silat uses and follows animal movements- they move like the animals. In Malaysia they believe that man has progressed beyond animals and although there are principles to be learned from the movements, they believe that it is better to walk and behave as we were meant to. This rolling around on the floor like a tiger or snake is not natural for humans. Malaysian silat is quite natural.

J.C : Is Lincah one of the more aggressive forms of Silat?
G.L : there are three types of silat; Pukulan Jatohan and Tari. These are striking, throwing and dance. All styles are a combination of these three. The predominant form of fighting dictates the type. Lincah is a Pukulan type, and has a reputation as an extremely effective style. Lincah is definitely one of the more aggressive Malaysian styles, it is very combat orientated and has very little dance. A lot of the Indonesian styles use music, Lincah does not use music because it doesn’t dance, it fights. Interestingly enough Maha Guru and his students actually visited various villages in Indonesia to test the style and Lincah did very well thank you.

J.C : How would you describe the style?
G.L. : One of the great things about Lincah is the simplicity of the techniques. Lincah works off a committed attack -when someone is intending to hurt you, it’s potentially very violent.

J.C : Are weapons included in the system?
G.L : They are incorporated fairly early, Lincah has the Kris, short stick and machete. I also use the Kerambit which some people claim is an Indonesian weapon but it has now been lost from many of these systems and is now basically only found with the Malaysian styles, though it has had a resurgence in clubs who can see its value but dont necessarily know what to do with it...

J.C : You were invited to participate in the World Championships in Malaysia in 1997, what are your thoughts on Silat competition? G.L : Thats right. I was invited to lead out the Lincah squad at the opening ceremony in front of the King of Malaysia. It was quite an honour for a foreigner to lead out their largest silat association in front of their King. That was not done by any other association. Maha Guru said he did it to show people my position and status in Lincah.

I’ve been to most of the major competitions from 1987 through to 1993. A lot of the fighting is poor quality. There are people competing internationally who really do not have the ability, but are there to swell the numbers and have a holiday. The main areas that concerned me though, was the safety of these competitions, and the judging. The rules are changed almost every competition without most people knowing it. I was also upset by the level of favouritism towards certain countries. I think it is very sad for all the competitors to know that the medals are given out to those who are most favoured by the organisers. I’d like to create enough awareness of this situation for this current behaviour to change. I want to see the people who deserve to win the medals actually win the medals. I don’t expect it to change much though.

J.C : In the past you’ve run your own instructor course, what was the purpose of this? G.L : Because there are very few people teaching Silat publicly in Great Britain and there is a lot of misinformation regarding Silat. I want to get people out there doing, basic, good, honest Silat, from a traditional background. To get anywhere near a black belt will take about five or six years , a very slow process. What I have decided to do with this instructor course is to have people with a decent martial arts background come along train and get out and teach Silat, not at a black belt level but at a level where they will be competent to teach.

J.C.: But you stopped that. Why?
G.L : That was for a couple of reasons. A lot of other people saw what we were doing and started their own instructor programs. Quicker or cheaper or whatever. I didn’t feel I wanted to be prostituting what I did by hawking it. I started out of a very real desire to teach silat to as many people who wanted to learn it. When it seemed to be commercial I decided I didn’t want to do that. I also wanted to concentrate on the people I had training with me, and make them better, to take them to the next level and have them raise their game and thus raise mine too. We have done this now for a couple of years, and i want to start them up again.

J.C.: Have there been any problems?
G.L : Not really. The main thing I noticed was the interest shown by the people with a mixed martial arts background. They were good at talking, behaved badly and were very poor in their ability as martial artists. It was a real surprise and disappointment. I expected more from them, but it isn’t necessarily their fault. It is down to their teachers and the principles on which the style is based. These people seem to be intent on taking what they can, rather than absorbing what is useful.

J. C. : What have you learned from this?
G.L : It has shown me the benefits of a traditional training. I heard about a study comparing training in a traditional martial art, a modern martial art, and a team sport, and how it affected aggression levels and behaviour. The modern martial art and team sport both fared badly, either increasing or not affecting aggression, whereas the traditional art reduced this. It seems that the importance of morality and good behaviour are not emphasised to the same degree.

J C : How do you teach your own regular students?
G.L : We have a two hour training session starting off with an athletic warm-up, we then cover 20-30 minutes of footwork which is the core of what we do. I cover basic punching and kicking for about another 20-30 minutes, about 30 minutes of Buah and Pechahan and then some Seni and sparring followed by a static stretch cool-down. I feel that it is very important for martial artists to learn how to train properly. There are a lot of poor training techniques being practised in martial arts classes.

J.C : Is fitness very important?
G.L : Yes. We work off a training cycle which trains power, speed, strength, and technique. Myself and a couple of my students work with a heart rate monitor for cardiovascular training. To have a knowledge of how to train for fitness is very important. I also have a student who is a sports studies undergraduate and we have discussed training methods at great depth, we have tried to make the training traditional but practised scientifically for optimal results.

J.C : In today’s reality based World how does it Silat fit in?
G.L : I teach Silat as a Traditional Art first. Once people have got past the traditional based training, the basics and the structure we start to break it down – grappling, elbows, knees, in-fighting and the particular elements and tactics for each person. I believe every style gets to that point but some have forgotten how.

J.C : A Street Attack is not meant to be a fair fight. How does Silat deal with that? G.L : Silat is designed for small people to overcome larger ones. Classically it is a duelling art so you know the opponent is there and his intentions. However with the pukulan elements we have the technology to deal with sudden surprise attacks.