The 4R’s of Silat Fitrah

Silat Fitrah is an art based on a number of interrelated principles and attitudes. In this brief

article I’m going to introduce the 4Rs that summarise the attributes and attitudes developed

throughout the training process.

The 4 Rs are:

1. Release.

2. Resiliency.

3. Respect.

4. Relationship.

It’s important to note that this is not a hierarchical list. The four Rs are of equal importance.

Students of the art are required – actually they need to be committed to – understanding,

developing and demonstrating all four. To focus on one R over the others is to ignore their

essential connectivity and will inevitably limit the student’s growth. The starting point is to

understand that the 4Rs are elements within a complex system – and the system I’m

referring to is not Silat Fitrah (or any other martial art), but the complex system of human

interaction and communication.

Bapak Idris named the art Silat Fitrah and also provided the strapline, The Malay Art of

Natural Self Defence; it’s impossible to reference natural without accepting that we, as

individuals, are intimately connected not just to other human beings but also to all other

aspects of nature. We don’t live or operate within a vacuum. No matter how much some

aspects of the media – social and traditional – try to convince us otherwise, we are all part

of a range of complex systems that interact to comprise life on this planet.

Our aim is to use our training in Silat Fitrah to help us understand and develop ourselves, so

that we can use our abilities and insights to become an ever-more positive influence upon

and within the complexities of our life.

Next time I’ll introduce the 4Rs of Silat Fitrah.