The Jawara and Pencak Silat Culture The Sundanesse term Jawara points to central tensions within pencak silat culture between issues of knowledges, power, authority and criminality. In common usage the world jawara has the meaning of a”champion”, an expert at fighting, or indeed anyone who has made a name for themselves in a particular field. In contemporary Sundanese society it is often interchanged with jago, jeger, garong and preman, covering a range of meanings from ‘champion’ and ‘tough’ through to ‘robber’ and ‘ hoodlum’. The Pendekar is the pinnacle of pencak silat culture. Traditionaly it has been an honorific title conferred by society upon a master, not only due to martial skill, but also attributes. More recently the term has become an official title conferred by IPSI (Ikatan Pencak Silat Indonesia). The development of a hierarchical grading system among modern perguruan, modeled largely upon the Japanesse belt system, awards the title to those who have achieved a hig...
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