photo from Ustaz Khalid's collection
One of the special art in Silat Seni Gayong is the Sundang Lipas. Many would wonder, how this viking-like sword would become one of the lesson in Gayong. It lies under the fact that the Bugis people, were the warrior-sailors. They were the master of the sea. They conquered the ocean with their huge and war-equipped ship. The Bugis people were always known for their braveness, fighting skill and navigation expertise. For this co-relation, some Gayong people even dare to beleive that Bugis people perhaps came from a clan of viking people who settled down in Celebes island and mixed with the Malay of the Sulu Sultanate. I am perhaps one of those who thinks like that. ;)
Dato' Meor is the great grand child of Bugis prince, the warrior himself who came to "Tanah Melayu" (Malay land) with his other 6 brothers to find a new settlement, after their country in Celebes were lost under the Dutch. But their intention was not only to flee, but they were searching the Malay to recruit them. Recruting the Malay people with the Bugis art of war to fight back the colonisation of British and the Dutch.
The British and Dutch, and even the Japanese, all had gone nowadays. But the spirit of our ancestors is still here.
Everyone of us has a role to be a part of the recruiting process. Whether we are the one who teach or the one who be taught, but the tradition of "recruiting" the warrior must continue! ;)
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