In my years of teaching and practicing Pentjak Silat Serak, it has been a blessing and an avenue. With so many great people coming to train from me, friends as well as students it has been a rich and rewarding experience. From my student Kees Boering from forty-two years ago and my friend and brother International Grandmaster Dan Inosanto. Grandmaster Dan has certainly earned the recognition from the VDT Academy as Guru Tua Serak or Senior Serak Instructor. With the Ring of Fire 2002 in Las Vegas Nevada on June 29, 2002 at the gathering he will receive the certificate for full Guru Tua In Pentjak Silat Serak. Certainly this martial arts Icon made silat a household word in the United States. In my own early training days in 1948 from my first teacher Pak Tisari Mardjoeki it has been sometimes an uphill battle in propagating the system, ever since I came here in the United States on May 11, 1960. The internal understanding in Silat Sera/Serak is never given, and many have tried to coach the Guru in giving the system and failed.
But once you have been accepted as a murid or student then information is freely given up to a level. Still many levels and years of trust must be developed to be given all that is required. And many of the sub and “major keys” for each individual Guru is different, on accepting murids. Sometimes times from a month to years. Gut feeling has played a major role in many instances. Why you may ask, why would a Guru go through such a steps, in guarding? Well, one main reason would be that Silat Sera is an extremely violent system. For sure the Guru with many of years of experience has the forethought to preserve, and give the knowledge to levelheaded persons. Another reason could be that the time element in learning the system is lengthy.
