KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 — Underneath the formal attire and performing his duties as the country’s top diplomat to Cambodia, who would have thought that Malaysia’s ambassador to that country, Eldeen Husaini Mohd Hashim is an accomplished silat exponent
His hidden talent only surfaced after a video of him performing a silat dance performance during the National Day celebrations at the embassy in Phnom Penh recently became viral on the social media which caught the attention of netizens and won praises as well.
The video of Eldeen Husaini wearing the traditional baju Melayu in black together with a sampin and tengkolok (a headgear) while performing the silat to date has garnered more than 200,000 views.
A netizen, Johanda Jarili wrote “This is good, the Malays will not wither in the world. It would be nice if the Malay silat is performed at official events”.
Another netizen, Hamran Sarif also commented, “This is what we want. We are great. No matter where you go, culture and traditions will follow”.
When contacted, Eldeen Husaini said the performance was merely to create a difference when celebrating the National Day apart from showcasing the Malay culture. It has been a while since it was performed among the Malays especially those living overseas.
“Each year, it is a tradition to celebrate the National Day starting with the raising of the Malaysian flag, singing the Negaraku song, speeches, prayers and meals. But this time, I want to do something different so that guests can feel the excitement of the celebrations.
“It is even more relevant now. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, big events involving the assembly of people are no longer allowed because it is a risk to health,” he said adding that the National Day celebrations was done according the standard operating procedure (SOP) to prevent the spread of COVID-19 with the number of guests limited to just 50 people.
Eldeen Husaini said he was appointed ambassador to Cambodia since April 1 2019. Initially, even his staff did not know he was a good silat exponent until the National Day rehearsal was carried out.
“During the rehearsal, after singing the Negaraku, the raising of Jalur Gemilang should follow but I made a request to the organiser play the “gendang silat” and I began my silat movements. There were those who asked whether the ambassador himself should perform. It has never been done before but I said I wanted to surprise everybody and I asked them to keep it a secret.
“On the actual day, I again reminded the master of ceremony to just mention a special performance from an invited guest. All those who attended began guessing who that person was.
“When my staff came to hand over the tengkolok to me, I began to perform the silat dance and that surprised the guests. Only then did they realised that the ambassador was performing the silat himself. The situation became a lot more fun, especially for those watching it for the first time,” he said.
Born in Kampung Baru, he admitted that he was quite nervous initially because he was worried that the ‘gimmick’ he planned might not work because its has been a while since he performed the silat. In fact, he had never performed in public except for his family members.
“I started learning Silat Gayung Fatani at the age of 14 until I became a trainer at the age of 19. After that, I stopped to further my studies overseas. During that time, I trained by myself so that I don’t forget the moves.
“There are those who asked if I had trained long and hard for the National Day performance but I said no. I just rehearse. I believe other silat exponents would understand especially when you have trained long enough, the art becomes part of you. So when the silat song is played, you can do it,” he said.
The former St John Secondary School student said after doing the performance, he received feedback from Cambodians and foreign guests who said that they were interested in silat and wanted to learn the moves.
“Most of them had never seen silat and they thought silat was just like other traditional dances, but I told them silat is a form of Malay art of self-defence and the traditional Malay dance is a just branch which is the basis to silat movements,” said Eldeen Husaini who plans to invite silat associations in Malaysia to perform and expose the Malay art in Cambodia in the future.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency