Maenpo Kari-Cikaret
Striking Skills that Kill

Kari Cikaret doesn’t acknowledge within its method the practice of hitting hard objects.

Blam! An open palm slap to the cheek resonates clearly. One can tell from the sound that it was a heavy slap and it would’ve hurt. It’s not surprising therefore, that the recipient of the strike makes desperate and panicked efforts to scurry out of the way.
Laughter emanates from a group of people watching the episode. “You can laugh!” says Mamai plaintively sounding a little nervous, “I’ve had my fill of his hits. He only has to touch me and I get the goose-bumps”.

Mamai is one of the students of the Kari Cikaret style of pencak silat. The individual who struck him is the guru, Dudun Abdullah. It’s completely understandable that those practicing might be nervous. There’s be no doubt that the display of jurus showcasing a virtuosity of incredibly hard and fast strikes ellicits the twin sensations of fear and awe in those who witness it .

Wak Dudun (as the guru is normally known), is the son of a pioneer of this style, Aa Toha (who passed away in 1972). The word Kari from the name of Kari Cikaret, is representative of the link with Bang Kari, the silat guru native to Kampung Benteng in Tangerang who was the originator of the style.Not much is known about Bang Kari except that he is one of the teachers of R. H Ibrahim who was the founder of Cikalong. However according to R. Memet, an elder of Maenpo Cianjur, Ibrahim initially sought knowledge from Bang Madi, who came from Kampung Tengah in Tanah Abang, Batavia. There came a time during his tutelage with Bang Madi, that his teacher requested he (Ibrahim) seek to expand his skill s from Bang Kari in Tangerang . Bang Kari himself was a famous figure in the world of pencak silat who was a master of the striking game ( pukulan, peupeuhan).

Upon arriving and meeting with him, Ibrahim expressed his desire and commitment to learn silat. At first Bang Kari wouldn’t take him as a student, however when Ibrahim explained that he was there at the behest of Bang Madi, Bang Kari knew that it was Bang Madi’s way of politely asking him to test his pupil and then to teach him his skills.

Ibrahim was then told to assume his stance, upon which Bang Kari immediately launched multiple attacks; however Ibrahim was skillfully able to avoid all of them. On the other hand, Ibrahim himself was not able to fell Bang Kari. All he could do was to circle and dodge, unable to find any opportunity to initiate his own attack on Bang Kari.

Once while Bang Kari attacked by attempting to stamp Ibrahim’s foot he managed to elude, however the floorboards in the house shattered due to the impact of Bang Kari’s stamp. Eventually Bang Kari ceased his attacks while saying, “Raden (prince), you have achieved sufficient skill in your silat, there is no one left who can defeat you”. However Ibrahim continued to plead that he be received as a student so that Bang Kari relented and agreed to pass on his skills.

It is from R. H Ibrahim and his pupils, who also studied the Sabandar style from Muhammad Kosim, that the striking skills of Bang Kari were inherited by Aa Toha.
The characteristic of Kari Cikaret is that it emphasises attacking with the arms and hands using closed fists or open palms, the back of the palms, elbows including other parts of the hand/arm. It is unique to other styles of silat in that the knuckle of the index finger protrudes slightly when the fist is formed. “If this type of fist strikes and connects with sensitive body parts, such as the adam’s apple or neck, it can cause death”, says Wak Dudun. In addition to that the attacks happen relentlessly and with speed.

Unlike other hard styles of self defence, the thing that differentiates this style is that Kari Cikaret does not follow the conditioning practice of hitting hard objects. “To hit a static object is easy, it is challenging however to hit a person because of course a person isn’t going to stay still if they’re expecting to be hit”, he said.

Another difference is that through the direct influence from the Cikalong and Sabandar styles, Kari Cikaret also includes the sensitivity sparring practices of sticking hands in its training repertoire, the purpose of which is to raise ‘ awareness’ or ‘feel’, which in turn inculcates the ability to detect the intention of the opponent.
Unlike sparring training, a reaction to an attack will precipitate a hard strike to the neck, a kick to the genitals, clawing of the face and breaking of the adversary’s fingers.

Because of the fatal nature of these silat techniques, one of Wak Dudun’s students had once killed another person in a fight. “Because he was fighting in self-defence, he only served a 2 year prison sentence”, he said.

We can all empathise and understand why Mamai scurried away from the display of a single jurus from this guru, because it should now be obvious that to be on the receiving end of Maenpo Kari Cikaret truly can be fatal.

Authored By: Amal Ihsan
Translated By: Krisno Prysusilo