Debunking the myth of Bruce Lee was defeated, mortally wounded by Malay ‘silat’ exponent

Debunking the myth of Bruce Lee was defeated, mortally wounded by Malay ‘silat’ exponent




ENTER the dragon …Or is it “Enter the silat (Malay martial art) master”?


Pro-DAP political commentator Thaqib Shaker (@thaqibshaker) has called into the question the veracity of an oft-repeated tale that the late Bruce Lee was defeated in a fight by a silat master.


In a TikTok video, he asked for proof that this much harped up event ever happened, contending that Bruce Lee was world famous and every fight was documented.


There would have been some mention somewhere if indeed the great Jeet Kun Do exponent and Hollywood legend had been felled by a practitioner of silat.


The media officer to Bukit Bendera MP Syerleena Abdul Rashid went on to expose how such story which is often passed down to children is further embellished by claims that Bruce Lee’s eventual early demise (he died at 32) was due to blows from the silat master.

Therefore, such a story obviously went against medical-acclaimed facts stating that Bruce Lee died from a cerebral edema which was caused by an allergic reaction to headache medication.

The point Thaqib was trying to make was to get people to question origin of things instead of swallowing them hook, line and sinker. By casting a sceptical eye on fables such as this, he argued that it will be less easy to be taken for a fool who could be easily manipulated.

This is when one netizen claimed he had heard this story from current PAS supremo Tan Sri Hadi Awang when he was a child. It was only later that he realised this was a bunch of “lies”.



To which another hilariously commented that perhaps Hadi had mistaken a “Bruce Lim with Bruce Lee”, referencing Kepala Batas MP Dr Siti Mastura Muhammad who famously made confusing claims about “Lims being genealogy-linked to Lees”.



First-term PAS lawmaker Siti Mastura was again referenced when netizens harped on Bruce Lee being “cousins” with various other “Lees”, insinuating the tale was based on erroneous assumptions.



Another netizen sarcastically added different versions of the same tall tale, alluding to the fact that the Malay silat master “has history of defeating the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone”.



Of course, one sought to defend this story, that “Bruce Lee had battled Iskandar Zulkarnain” who is touted as a conqueror, statesman and paragon of sagacity in the Taj al-Salatin or Crown of Kings.



For which he was roundly ridiculed.



The point that the poster (and many netizens) is making is that such fables are designed to further a Ketuanan Melayu a.k.a. Malay supremacy agenda.

This is a superiority complex that can also be seen with academics changing known historical maritime facts.

This include claiming Portuguese vessels in a painting were Malay; all of which are seemingly designed to make a certain race seem better, stronger and just plain invincible to all.



As contended by one netizen, it just makes the Malays look foolish more than anything else. – Jan 21, 2025



Main image credit: TheCollector