Pencak Silat Pamur

This is a re-post of an article I wrote a few years back about Pamur. It is copyrighted.

Written by Guru Stark
Editor: Sean Stark
© 2003 Silat Now! e-zine


In Silat Pamur there are four levels of learning. The most basic is Dasar, which are the basic strikes and kicks of the system. My Pamur teacher didn't consider it to even be the first level per se. The next level is the Huruf level which apparantly means alphabet. On this level a person is introduced to the 12 Jurus Tangan, 12 Jurus Harimau, 12 Jurus Celurit/Pedang, 12 Jurus Tongkat, 12 Masukan and 12 Ales.

However, the 12 Ales are not really 12 but actually more. For instance, the 12 Ales are:
Sata A, B, Dua A, B,
Tiga A, B, C, Empat A, B, C,
Lima A, B, Enam A, B,
Tujuh, A, B, Delepan A, B,
Sembilan, A, B, Sepuluh A, B,
Sebelas, A, B and Dua Belas A, B

These 12 Ales are types of Ales, each having a specific function or method of evasion. Though it appears that there are many more than 12, in actuality there is really only 13 and they are mirrored. So for instance, Satu A, B are mirrored in Dua A, B.

The 12 Masukan are of the Kaki type and relate to specific Ales. The first 8 of the Masukan are really a method of understanding zones of the lower body and the last 4 are continuations. Additionally, these 12 are really only 6 that are mirrored.

Notice that there are no Langkah. I was surprised by that. The only Langkah that my Guru Pamur mentioned are part of the Jurus-jurus. They are not taken out and separately trained. Additionally, the Sikap Pasang are also extracted and extrapolated from the Jurus-jurus tangan as well.

There is also a set of 12 Jurus Pecut, but they are not taught until much later in the system because of the danger of the use of pecut.

Something else that is interesting, is that there are no jurus pisau. I asked a lot of questions of my guru concerning this because some have insisted that Pamur is a big blade art. My Guru Pamur suggests otherwise. He said many pesilat will layer the pisau over the tangan but it is not taught officially as part of Pamur.

The Third level is the Isi level. This is where you begin to learn the applications of the system. There are basically 4 categories: Sambut Pukul, Timbilan, Tangkapan, and Pembasmian. The Sambut Pukul are essentially a combination of jurus tangan pecahan and the Masukan and Ales. Every component from the jurus is applied (as possible) via the Masukan and/or Ales. Primarily the Masukan but you are expected to also go back and perform the pecahan with the Ales as well. There are 138 Sambut Pukul. There are actually many more, but there is a reason that there are only 138 taught. After the initial run through the sambuts the pesilat is expected to develop a certain number of counters to the Sambut Pukul and then eventually, the training partner develops counters to the counters. (I cannot remember what the formal name of that is at the moment...)

Timbilan are throws and takedowns. There are 13 total timbal.

Tangkapan are the locks. There are 12 types of locks, i.e., Neck locks, wrist locks, ankle locks, elbow locks, shoulder locks, etc. What is interesting to note though, is that guru Pamur have there own set of locks they teach. They are not necessarily universal amongst all Pamur teachers.

There are 24 Pembasmian dengan kaki. These are eradication methods. The purpose is to make the attackers initial attack their last. These are not necessarily killing blows but they do incapacitate on some level.

The third level is the Pelengkap level. This is predominately spiritual training. This contains such things as Coba Bunuh.

Of course there is much more to Pamur than even I have mentioned since I am really just a babe in this art.

I hope that you found this interesting.