|
The Current Situation of Cambodia's
Ancient Fighting Arts
Cambodia is a country with a long and proud history of
culture and empire dating back to the Angkor period, which
precedes many of the civilizations of Southeast Asia. Along
with their ancient history of culture, there is a long tradition
of martial arts. For thousands of years, right on up to
the present, high ranking military and police officers were
expected to be experts in the martial arts and proficient
in individual combat.
Cambodia has a number of martial arts, which are only now
being discovered and catalogued by westerners. The arts
were almost completely eliminated during the Khmer Rouge
period, when many of the masters were killed. The arts were
also prohibited, under pain of death, during the Vietnamese
occupation of Cambodia. After nearly two decades of decay
and destruction many Khmers are working hard to rebuild
this martial tradition. Seila Yuthkun, Vice President of
the Khmer Martial Arts Games Committee, is one of those
who is dedicated to finding the old masters, bringing them
together, and forming federations to teach the arts to the
young people.
This is no easy task in a country which is recovering from
more than 150 years of occupation and colonization, as well
as an auto-genocide, which claimed the lives of nearly a
quarter of the population. A Phnom Penh sports magazine
recently ran a story about an 81-year-old man who is one
of the last remaining people familiar with the oldest of
the Khmer martial arts, Bokator (pronounced
bog-k'tao). The article went on to
say that this man had studied Bokator for only two years,
and that was more than sixty years ago. It also said that
this man had never taught students, because the art was
supposed to remain a secret. With experts being so few and
so old, if two years of training could really be considered
an expert, and with the old tradition of secrecy, it will
be difficult to preserve this ancient heritage.
There is no lack of interest among young people, however.
They all want to learn martial arts. But, in speaking to
Seila and other officials of the Cambodian Martial Arts
Games Committee, the problem seems to be the popularity
of foreign arts, such as tae kwan do, karate, judo, and
Chinese kung fu. These other arts distract young Khmers from learning
their traditional arts. Other issues include the fact that
judo, karate and tae kwan do offer students the opportunity
to earn belts and to compete internationally. Judo has long
been an Olympic sport. Now kung fu has been added to the
Asian Games as well as the Beijing Olympics. Some students
may see studying Khmer martial arts as a lot of hard work,
with no reward at the end.
The one Khmer art which has survived in tact is Pradal Serey (Khmer boxing),
which is the national sport of Cambodia. Khmer boxing is
a kind of kickboxing which utilizes kicks, punches, and
elbow and knee strikes. It is very similar to the Muay Thai
practiced in Thailand. The Khmers claim, and are most likely
right, that they invented Khmer boxing, and the art was
later stolen by the Thais. Although the Khmers seem to take
some consolation in the fact that they invented the sport,
this is a mute point. The reality is that although the art
of Khmer boxing is widely practiced in Cambodia, the real
professional circuit is in Thailand. Top fighters in Cambodia
will rarely earn even $1,000 US. A recent title fight carried
a purse of $70.
Khmers could earn more money and gain more recognition
for their country by joining the Muay Thai Council in Thailand
and competing for the Thai trophies and belts. But racism
on both sides makes this option an unlikely eventuality.
It is generally assumed that the Khmers would never receive
fair treatment in Thailand. At the same time, the Khmers
stubbornly refuse to join a Thai association, to earn a
Thai sanctioned belt, for the art which the Khmers claim
to have invented. Luckily, an acceptable solution has been
proposed by foreigner Paddy Carson, a trainer and fight
promoter from South Africa, recently arrived in Cambodia.
Paddy is arranging for Cambodia to join the ISKA, a world
sanctioning body for professional boxing and kickboxing.
This will give Khmer boxers the opportunity to fight for
internationally recognized titles and larger purses. Since
the organization is based in America, not Thailand, the
Khmers do not see this as a concession.
In addition to the Khmer wu shu (Chinese kung fu) Federation,
there is a federation for Khmer boxing, western wrestling,
Bokator, and for Khmer traditional wrestling. Seila is now
setting up a Muslim Kung Fu Association, which will add
Cambodia to the list of ten member countries, led by Indonesia
and Malaysia. The idea is to bring instructors in the art
of Banja Silat from Indonesia to Cambodia, to teach this
traditional Muslim martial art to the Cham ethnic Muslim
minority in Phnom Penh.
In the past, martial artists in Cambodia were very traditional.
If someone opened a new martial arts school, he would be
paid a visit by all of the other masters who would want
to fight him. My friend Chiva, who is the head instructor
of the Yuthkun Kung Fu club in Phnom Penh told me, "My
brother walked into a new school and challenged the master.
The fight was over in five seconds. My brother used snake
to beat tiger. But very fast! The next day, the school was
closed."
"My brother used snake to beat tiger?" I thought
I had just stepped into a low budget kung fu film. But,
apparently, this was the attitude in Cambodia ten years
ago. As I have recently agreed to fight for Paddy Carson
and become one of Cambodia's first professional boxers,
I have been having nightmares of kung fu masters walking
into the gym and saying in poorly dubbed English: "Your
style is no good! My monkey fist can defeat your inferior
foreign boxing."
Today, thank goodness, the situation is different. Members
of the Yuthkun Kung Fu Club practice Chinese kung fu, as
well as Khmer kung fu. Both arts include high spinning,
jumping kicks, and complex patterns of movements, which
involve leaping as well as falling flat on the ground and
springing back to their feet. The art is perfect for the
movies, and the club provided all of the fighters for the
Khmer film production "Krabei Liak Goan" (Buffalo
Hiding Child). There is hope that providing fighters for
kung fu films in Hong Kong and the USA may be a way of assisting
young Khmers to earn some money and help their families.
Although the Khmers claim that their kung fu developed
independently of Chinese kung fu, the two arts look very
similar and are both based on animal styles, such as monkey,
dragon, horse, and others. As testament to the openness
of the young generation of Khmers, several members of the
club will be leaving to study in Beijing for a period of
one year. The hope is that they can return to Cambodia as
instructors, to help their teammates prepare for international
competitions or maybe even for the Olympics.
by Antonio Graceffo
For more about the author and his travels go to his website
www.speakingadventure.com or contact him directly at
antonio@speakingadventure.com
|
