Khmer Martial Arts: The Current Situation of Cambodia's Ancient Fighting Arts
continuedKhmers could earn more money, and gain more recognition for their country by joining the Muay Thai Council in Thailand and then by 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 Su (Chinese Kung Fu) Federation, there is a federation for Khmer boxing, western wrestling, Bogotao, and 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, 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 United States 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 from 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 team mates prepare for international competitions or maybe even for the Olympics.
There are currently plans to create instructional books and videos to help preserve the Khmer arts and to make them available to overseas Khmers and foreigners who may wish to practice Khmer Kung Fu.
To contact the author, email Antonio at Antonio_graceffo@hotmail.com.
To study traditional Khmer Martial Arts, email seilayuthkun@yahoo.com
To find out about professional boxing or kickboxing in Cambodia, email
paddycarson1@hotmail.com.
