Malaysia National Silat Association (Pesaka) president, Mohd Ali Rustam urged all silat practitioners to be more careful when holding martial arts demonstrations to avoid any untoward incident.

This advice came following the death of Mohd Amil Zulkarnain Jafar, 17, who was accidentally stabbed on the chest by his teenage cousin with a keris (Malay dagger) during a wedding ceremony in Kampung Patau-Patau, Labuan, last Saturday.

“I convey my condolences to the victim’s family. Such an incident very rarely happened,” Mohd Ali said in Kuala Lumpur today.

He, however, added that Pesaka did not intend to prevent the use of weapons during silat demonstrations as it was an age-old tradition.

According to him, using the keris was only disallowed for silat demonstrations and training sessions in schools.

Meanwhile, crime analyst Kamal Affendi Hashim said anyone wishing to perform a silat demonstration should wear a safety vest and be watched closely by the trainer.

“Wearing of a protective vest should be imposed to prevent such a tragic incident from recurring.

“Besides that, the trainer must ensure that those performing the demonstration have the experience of using a sharp weapon and be closely monitored during the show,” he added.

- Bernama