Cempaka Culture and Tourism: Pencak Silat Links Indonesia to Athletes Around the World

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Pencak Silat Links Indonesia to Athletes Around the World

Jakarta Globe, Ami Afriatni & Jennifer Jett | December 19, 2010

Jakarta. The common way of introducing Indonesian culture to foreigners is serving them the delicious nasi goreng or sop buntut.

Harriet Zuidland of the Netherlands, right, fights Tran Thi
Luyen of Vietnam during her finals match at the Pencak Silat
World Championships on Friday. (JG Photo/Jurnasyanto
Sukarno)

Or sharing with them stories of how beautiful Bali is or how majestic the Borobodur temples are.

Dutch national Patrick Pronk took quite a different approach in discovering Indonesia.

He got into the martial arts of pencak silat.

“Pencak silat means almost everything to me,” he said.

“When I don’t practice, I don’t know what to do.

“I just sit at home.”

Pronk’s passion for the game led him to Jakarta last week, when he competed in his maiden World Pencak Silat Championships.

He was one of only two Europeans to land a berth in the final, before he lost 5-0 to Indonesian pesilat Sapto Purnomo in the men’s D class (60 to 65 kilograms).

A second Dutch pesilat, Harriet Zuidland, bagged the silver in the women’s 70-75kg.

“I’m happy because I got into the final, but I’m not happy because I didn’t fight my best,” Pronk said.

“I was thinking too much. I almost knew that I was going to meet an Indonesian in the final.”

Pronk got into pencak silat in 2005, when his father took him to the martial arts club Bongkot Friesland in the city of Leeuwarden.

While most of his friends were into football, Pronk said pencak silat appealed to him almost immediately.

“I just love the culture in pencak silat, the people I meet. They’re generally nice and supportive. It’s not just fighting, it’s the style that goes with it.”

Pronk has competed in a number of European events, and his most notable accomplishment so far is his third-place finish in the European championship. He, however, wants more exposure.

“At this moment, the competition in Europe is not very big. We only have five tournaments in Europe the whole year,” he said.

“We’ve been trying to set up more events in the Netherlands. I hope the Netherlands can be the center of pencak silat development in Europe.”

Pencak silat was introduced in Europe in the 1960s by Henri de Thomis, who brought the pencak silat style of Bongkot Harimau to the Netherlands.

Raoul de Thomis, Henri’s son, said that promoting the sport was challenging.

“Kids nowadays are more interested in Internet games. They’re not much into sports anymore,” Raoul said.

To find new talent, Pronk and his fellow Netherlands-based athletes go from school to school to educate the youth about pencak silat, adding it’s not unusual for them to be asked by kids, “What is pencak silat?”

“Of course, it’s not as big as football in the Netherlands,” Pronk said.

“It’s not even as big as kickboxing, because the Dutch are good at kickboxing.”

Even though he considers pencak silat as just a hobby, Pronk, who works as a nurse, says he is focused on improving his skills by training two hours every night five days a week.

“I want to become a world champion, and I’ll try again [at the next world championships] two years from now,” said Pronk, who hopes to one day study under an Indonesian master.

Prabowo Subianto, the recently elected president of the International Pencaksilat Federation (Persilat), said the sport has a solid following in 45 countries.

“It’s such an honor for Indonesia to know that other nations are willing to learn our culture through the sport,” Prabowo said with pride.

“They even want us to send more coaches to these places. Persilat will answer this challenge by holding more coaching clinics in the future.”