Silat Suffian Bela Diri (SSBD) is not a competitive martial art, but rather a highly effective self defense art. It originated in Brunei (an Islamic country bordering on Borneo), in a time when individuals and communities were often responsible for their own protection. Brunei is largely covered by jungle and therefore the most common weapons used were jungle tools, the machete and the knife. For this reason SSBD is primarily a blade art, preparing the practitioner for attacks by single or multiple armed attackers. Practise blades are used extensively during practise. This has the advantage of sharpening the senses and reflexes of the practitioner. The underlying philosophy of blade training is that if one is prepared for a knife attack, then an unarmed attack is easy to deal with by comparison.
SSBD training is drill-based rather than form-based. This means that the techniques and principals are conveyed through cyclic two person drills, and not through pre-arranged forms (kata or taolu) as in most other martial arts.
The techniques and strategies of SSBD are aimed at disabling an attacker as quickly as possible, because the assumption is that there are multiple attackers. If the defender gets caught in a struggle with one attacker, the others will surround him and close in. For this reason SSBD deals with attacks in a severe and decisive manner, leaving the attacker unable or unwilling to attack again.
Technically SSBD is a very complete martial art using a range of strikes and kicks, pressure point strikes, joints attacks, locks, pins, strangle holds and grappling. Weapons include rigid weapons (sticks and clubs), edged weapons (sword, machete and knife) and flexable weapons (serong, ropes and chains, etc).
Background
At present Maul Mornie is the only person who teaches Silat Suffian Bela Diri. He is the sole inheritor of this family art that was passed down to him by his grandfather and great-grandfather. Maul Mornie received intensive teaching from these elders since he was a child.
Silat Suffian Bela Diri literally means “the art that was taught to Suffian”. Suffian means “dust in the wind” and it is a traditional warrior name that was given to Maul by his teachers. Originally the art had no name as it was passed down in great confidentiality within the family. This is how things were done in the old days. Maul Mornie named the art when he got permission from his grandfather to teach the family art openly.
At present Maul Mornie is teaching SSBD in workshops all over the world. He is based in Whales and Brunei. For more information check out the SSBD website: http://silat-suffian.blogspot.com/
Lunch time at the Holland SSBD seminar
Recommendation
There are three reasons why I would recommend SSBD training with Maul Mornie to any sincere martial artists wishing to expand their boundaries:
1. Firstly, Maul has great technical skill. He demonstrated it to me at his house on the day I met him. He passed me a practise knife and invited me to attack him in any way I chose to. Every time I attacked him I was instantly disarmed, unbalanced and put in an awkward position with my joints locked up and vulnerable to strikes. All this was done without force on his part, but rather with correct body mechanics, placement (footwork) and expert timing.
2. Secondly, Maul is a gifted teacher. He has a great way of structuring his knowledge and conveying it to students. He has a background in engineering and one can see that in the systematic structure of his teaching method. Also, he does not hold back on teaching like some martial art instructors do. You come away from a lesson with as much as you can handle.
3. …And lastly, Maul is a very friendly man. He is open and approachable. There is no stress or problematic ego at his workshops. He creates a training environment that is serious-minded but relaxed at the same time. There is allot of laughter at training time and this shows that people are enjoying themselves.
Training with Maul Mornie has been a very rich experience and it has enhanced my understanding of martial arts, both technically and philosophically.
Silat (SSBD) 
