About Serak International

About Serak International Asia

Serak Asia is a not-for-profit regional affiliate of VDT Serak International (see below) formed in 2015. The purpose of Serak Asia is to promote and advance the study and practice of Pukulan Pentjak Silat Serak in Asia, by forming training groups, and helping to develop training group leaders, coordinators and instructors to teach Serak in their local communities. As more and more training groups form in a particular country, then it is expected that a national affliate will be formed for that country, and that eventually Serak Asia will be more involved in regional coordination to the point where the national affiliates will take on more of the direct responsibility for promoting and developing high quality instructors, schools and training groups in their particular countries.

Though our ambitions are high, we are aware that our resources are limited and that there is a great deal of work to do before we can realize those ambitions. Growth may be slow at first and that can be frustrating, but with good people who are willing to train and study we can grow steadily. We have the full support of Maha Guru Horacio Rodriguez, the head of VDT Serak International and recognized inheritor of Pendekar Victor I.C. De Thouars' lineage. Maha Guru Horacio will hold one or two training camps in Thailand and possibly other South East Asian countries as we expand our sphere of influence beyond the borders of Thailand.

About VDT Serak International

The VDT Academy and Serak International was founded by Pendekar Victor I.C. De Thouars in 1984 and in 2008 Pendekar Victor passed on his Serak lineage, the VDT Academy and Serak International to Maha Guru Horatio Rodriguez. It was Pendekar Victor who opened up the Dutch-Indonesian art of Pukulan Pentjak Serak Silat to the general public. Previously Silat Serak had been a closed-door system and the arts of Tongkat Silat (developed by Pendekar Victor) and Bukti Negara Silat (developed by Pendekar Paul De Thouars) were the only public doorways into the secret training methodology of Pukulan Pentjak Silat Serak. Maha Guru Horacio continues this philosophy of openess to this day, and so students can now train in Silat Serak from day one, without having to first progress through a daughter art, such as Tongkat Silat or Bukhti Negara.

VDT Serak International is headquartered in Bell, California, USA, and has branches and training groups across the United States. There are also new training groups opening in Europe and here in Asia.

About Maha Guru Horacio Rodriguez

Maha Guru Horacio Rodriguez is one of a very small number of people who have completed the entire Pukulan Pentjak Silat Serak curriculum and is a fully qualified Maha Guru (a teacher of teachers or professor). He is the director of VDT Serak International and the Chief Instructor of Serak Asia, and Serak International. He teaches civilians as well as law enforcement professionals in the United States and abroad. Maha Guru Horacio gave his first annual seminar in Bangkok, Thailand in October 2015, to establish an authentic presence of Pukulan Pencak Silat Serak in Asia. Maha Guru Horatio has recently finished filming a series of training DVDs with Budo International that are available for public purchase.

About Guru Nyk Cowham

Guru Nyk began training in Serak Silat as a student of Pendekar Victor De Thouars in the summer of 2006. After graduating at Phase 3 he was issued a teaching certificate by Pak Victor (February 24, 2008) and was awarded the grade of Pembantu Guru (Assistent Instructor - Phase 5) on September 7, 2008. Guru Nyk led a training group in the Washington DC Metro Area (Gaithersburg, MD) teaching civilian students, as well as military personnel. In August of 2009 he relocated from the United States, to Chiang Mai in Thailand. Guru Nyk hosted the first annual Serak seminar in Bangkok, Thailand in October 2015 and was appointed the official representative of Serak International in Asia in 2017, He currently holds the rank of Pembantu Guru Tingkat Dua (Phase 6) and provides training support and instructor training under the supervision of Maha Guru Horacio, via the Serak Asia Training Group Development Program. Guru Nyk continues his own ongoing training as a student and representative under Maha Guru Horacio.