Pencak Silat Beksi
The Betawi silat of Tangerang joining Chinese kuntao and local silat; the name points back to the horse stance.
Quick Facts
IndonesiaCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Pencak Silat Beksi
About Pencak Silat Beksi
Beksi is one of the most widespread silat styles of the Betawi, the original population of Jakarta and its surroundings. It came into being as a joining of two traditions: Chinese kuntao and local silat. It was created by Lie Tjeng Hok, a Peranakan Chinese farmer from the village of Kampung Dadap in the Kosambi district of what is now Tangerang, who merged his family's Chinese martial art with what he learned from the Betawi masters Ki Jidan and Ki Miah. The name of the style points to that origin: according to the researcher G. J. Nawi it comes from the Hokkien expression bhe si, the horse stance, which is at the same time the technical foundation of the school. Teaching rests on twelve basic sets called jurus and on their advanced variations; across the lines the key elements beksi, gedig and tancep stay the same. Technically it is a close-range style with a firm low stance, forearm work and fast straight strikes driven from the body's axis; characteristic is the work on the spot, where the practitioner does not give ground but holds position and shifts weight instead. The sources give no year of origin and this page therefore states none. From its base at Tangerang beksi spread to the Jakarta district of Petukangan and to Batujaya, and today at least a hundred and twenty clubs operate in greater Jakarta.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.