lieved to follow in the wake of Sufi enlightenment would prove an asset to
the practice of silat. Although the connections between pentjak silat and
Sufism are based primarily on oral traditions at this point, the esoteric mar-
tial system appears to have originated in a milieu that saw the rise of a re-
ligious tradition that had as at least one of its goals the generation of mys-
tical power. Especially in the light of other esoteric martial traditions, the
subsequent incorporation of magical elements of silat into the final strug-
gle against Dutch colonialism (1945–1949) was predictable. Moreover, the
fact that some Javanese claim the Dutch were ousted because of the magi-
cal superiority of silat over European technological warfare suggests that
the martial tradition as a whole, as distinct from any individual technical
aspects of it, bolstered ethnic and national pride. Accordingly, we see not
merely a connection to a colonial rebellion, but to incipient Indonesian na-
tionalism as well.
From neighboring Malaysia, James Scott reports compelling evidence
of a bond between millenarianism and esoteric martial traditions when the
eruption of Malaysian urban race riots in 1969 brought attention to the
Red Sash Society (Pertubohan Selendang Merah), whose membership in-
cluded not only politicians and religious figures but silat masters as well.
The ties between ethnicity, nationalism, religion, and martial esotericism
are clear in the Red Sash Society’s dedication to defending the race and re-
ligion and its relationship to UMNO (United Malay Nationalists’ Organi-438 Political Conflict and the Martial Arts
A photo of the Ghost Dance of the Arapaho Indians, who believed the ritual would make them invincible, ca. 1900.
(Corbis)