Pencak Silat Betawi: The Origin

Pencak Silat Betawi is a registered silat association under the "Rumpun Silat Sarawak" or RSS. It is one of the 13 earliest silat streams to form the "Pertubuhan Seni Silat Bumiputera Sarawak" or PSSBS (now known as Rumpun Silat Sarawak) on 1976. This ancient martial arts had been around for almost 50 years under the leadership of Guru Utama YBhg. Tuan Imam Haji Zainuddin bin Haji Adenan. He was born on 25th December 1930 in a village called Kampung Masjid, Kuching, Sarawak. in 1943, at the age of 13, he started learning Pencak Silat Betawi from a man named Mahli. Besides learning a few Betawi's combat movements, he took the opportunity to learn some of the "Helang Menyambar" movements. During that time, silat was learnt secretly by most of the local people. Silat activities were stopped for about two years until 1945 because of the Japanese raid. Silat was then back on track when the British took over Borneo, but it was still slow and kept secret. In 1960s, Haji Zainuddin moved to a village called Siol Kandis together with 70 other families. Before moving, he managed to learn some of the Silat Hailam Laut techniques from a man named Munir bin Abu, his father's younger brother. Later, he mastered the Silat Cekak Betawi from a man, Mohd. Noor bin Totok. At the age of 30s, he was given full trusts to teach silat to the local people. From that time, a silat stream called Perguruan Seni Silat Betawi was born.