Guru Ingram's Autobiography
I was born in Cheribon, Indonesia
in 1930 of Dutch-Indonesian parents, also called "Indos." My father worked for
the police and was transferred from
Cheribon to Batavia (Jakarta), where we lived in Kramat
(Nieuwe Laan). I started my martial arts training in 1937
when I was introduced to a man (a Djago) named William Loreo
who was well-known as a skilled fighter. He lived in Kweetang
and later moved to Tanah Tinggi. Besides the Kweetang system,
he had learned the Tjimande system and Pukulan Kemajoran. In
those days, he controlled his own area as a "Djago" - a protector.
I had to learn silat because of
the trouble that I got into after school. I was a daredevil
and challenged dares. Most of the time, when fathers were
policemen or preachers, kids would rebel and not follow their
fathers' footsteps.
Most of the silat systems at the
time were named after city suburbs, rivers, or animals.
There were no titles but teachers were called Oom (Uncle) or
Guru. During that time, we seldom used the words "Pentjak
Silat." We called it "Main" in Indonesian or "Spel" in Dutch.
In addition to training in silat, there were a lot of Indos
who trained in boxing that became champions. Pentjak Silat
was first organized in 1947 in Jogyakarta and later became
a union called "IPSI"-Ikatan Pencak Silat Indonesia. In those
days, I was not too concerned in the history of the art, I
was only concerned about learning self-defense. But I do
remember my teacher telling me that the Kweetang system came
from two creators.
The former East Indies where I
grew up had been a Dutch colony for three and a half
centuries, but became Indonesia when the country received
independence in 1949 from the Dutch. In 1956, we left for
Holland, where Frits Vermaessen and myself trained and taught
people in the basement of our apartment building. He did his
own system and I did mine. We were the first to start
teaching silat in Amsterdam. In addition, I learned Pukulan
Japara from my father. I also learned "Gelut" (also called
"Gulat" or wrestling) and Vitamaen stick fighting from the
Mollucans.
In the 1960's, we left for the
United States. After we arrived and settled in Washington
State, I started teaching from my garage. Every year, I go
to Holland to learn more from the pioneers. I'll always be
a learner for the rest of my life, because if you think that
you know everything, that is when the learning stops!
Through the years, I have
modified and developed new techniques. For the rest of my
life, I will dedicate my training and teaching to the most
unique forms of self-defense. I have learned a lot of
systems and adapted them into my own techniques. No one
style contains all the answers or magic that go into
creating one human fighting machine. What I did was revise
the old to satisfy the new. To avoid misunderstanding and
conflict, I have changed the name of my system to Amerindo
Self-Defense System. In the United States, martial artists
sometimes call me Pendekar or Guru Besar. I don't care much about titles,
but it's their way of showing respect and acknowledgement.
I was never a founder of a system and have never stated that
I was.
Although we Indos never got the
recognition, we were the forerunners that brought our culture
, dance, cooking and martial arts to countries all over
the world. We are rich in culture because of European background from the
father's side and Indonesian background from the mother's side. My respect
goes to all the Dutch-Indonesian pioneers that brought the fighting art and
culture from Indonesia to the United States and the rest of the world.
Hormat,
Jim Ingram