Quote:
Originally posted by Hakoko
I know this is FMA's forum, but being that FMA's and Silat are closely somewhat similar, I thought I'd ask the question here. Can anybody tell me anything about Maha Guru Victor de Thouars' Silat Serak? Is there and if so, what is the difference between the other de Thouars' systems (William, Paul, Victor)? I'm more interested in Vic's style. He is close by me, but am interested in finding more out first.
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There are actually 4 brothers still alive ... Pak Maurice, the eldest, lives in the Netherlands. All the brothers have trained in Serak. I don't know much of anything of what Pak Maurice teaches (or even if he currently does).
The other three, though:
Pak Paul developed a system called "Bukti Negara" from Serak. He hasn't taught very many people Serak and, to my knowledge, the only student of his who is actively teaching Serak is Guru Stevan Plinck (who, I might add, is awesome).
Pak Willem ("Uncle Bill") fell in love with the Chinese Kun Tao at an early age. So while he was exposed to Silat Serak and while he has certainly trained in Serak ... his first love is Kun Tao and that is where he is focused. There are certainly elements of Serak in the system he has developed "Kun Tao Silat de Thouars" ... but he doesn't teach Serak.
Pak Vic has developed a couple of systems from his knowledge of Serak. One is called "Tongkat." Tongkat is pulled 60% from Serak, 20% from Pamoer Silat, and 20% from Soempat Silat (the system with the curved stick that you've probably seen in his IKF articles). The other is called "O.D.F." (Offensive-Defensive Force) and was developed specifically for law enforcement. I'm not sure if Pak Vic is actively teaching O.D.F. at his school (though I know he's taught it privately to some of his students there). I think (could be wrong) that he does teach a Tongkat class, there, though. His focus at his school, though, is on Silat Serak and he is excellent. If you're near him, I'd highly recommend going and training with him.
Regards, Mike