Brunei’s Master of Silat Suffian Bela Diri

Maul Mornie is from the nation of Brunei, located on Malaysia’s island of Borneo. He imparts the martial arts techniques of Silat Suffian Bela Diri. But it’s not your typical martial art. This self defense system was created by his family four generations back, as a matter of survival in hostile times.

Today in Melbourne, he’s teaching core aspects of the system.

[Maul Mornie, SSBD Master]:
"Basically what I'm teaching everybody is to teach knife defense, knife awareness, and a little bit of cultural side of martial arts."

The knife defense techniques of Silat Suffian Bela Diri have attracted world wide interest since being made public in 2007. Maul welcomes the martial arts academies and law enforcement agencies seeking his personal teachings. But says certain other groups need not apply.

[Maul Mornie, SSBD Master]:
"I'm not looking for violent people or thugs, because what I teach is self defense, not how to fight."That’s not to say his teaching methods lack impact. Or that the term ‘knife awareness’ is just a mental concept."

[Stuart Holdsworth, Six Harmonies Kung Fu Academy]:
“If someone pulls a knife out and goes to attack you straight away, if you hadn’t done anything, you might not know how to react. So it could help you in that respect.”

The event’s organizer, John Schieven, first learnt about Maul Mornie, when searching the Internet for instruction in knife self defense.

[John Schieven, Australian SSBD Host]:
“Not only general people, but also highly regarded martial artists around the world, see his material and just love what he does, the way he does it, just the ease, the practicality, and that’s why he’s so popular.”

An easygoing nature might have something to do with his popularity as well.

[Davie Allen, Construction Sales Rep.]:
“He’s a funny guy, he’s a top bloke, yeah he’s alright.”

[Roy Harding, Company Director]:
“I don’t know when he rests to be honest, he sort of flies in, takes two days, or gives two days, and then flies out.”

And it’s a good thing he sleeps well in flight, since his schedule for this year, includes 47 international weekend seminars.

Robert Apicella, NTD, Melbourne.