August 25 2023 – August 29 Silk Road Taekwondo Friendship Tour Pt. 18 – In Beautiful Malaysia – The Rise, Phenomenal Successes and Dream of Malaysia GTF Grandmaster Dato’Amir Md. Noor
This was in some ways one of the more interesting, easiest, and fun interviews I’ve ever done. It started easily as GM Dato Amir anticipated many of my questions and gave me written answers to those questions via WhatsApp before we met. His journey from beginning Taekwon-Do, to his current status of Legend of GTF/ITF is colorful and a “who’s who” of the Taekwondo world starting the same year I did, 1969. It was fun because when I visited his club, I got to do a little sparring at least with one of his rising superstars preparing for Kyorugi (Taekwondo Sparring) competition in Seoul, the world Capital of TKD. To get the whole story, subscribe to Totally Taekwondo Magazine. This article will probably be published about February, 2024.
Sunday August 21, 2023 ITF World Championships 2023 Flag-off Ceremony held at Majlis Sukan Negara, interviews with officials and some young superstars
It was an all-star cast of ITF Malaysia’s top athletes, officials and even Yang Berhormat Menteri – The Honorable Minister Hannah Yeoh – Minister of Youth and Sports of Malaysia at the ITF World Championships 2023 Flag-off Ceremony held Sunday August 21, 2023 at Majlis Sukan Negara to cheer on and wish Malaysia’s national ITF team “Good Luck!” at the upcoming ITF World Championships 2023 in Tampere, Finland, to be held September 4 to 10, 2023. I was invited to attend via correspondence and a phone call with ITF Malaysia President Master Najmi Abdullah, 8th Degree Black Belt.
At that auspicious event I had the rare opportunity to interview many of the top Federation officials in Malaysia ITF, and get a couple of personal stories from competitive athletes. For the whole story, subscribe to Totally Taekwondo Magazine! It will probably be published January 2024, as they publish one article of this series per month.Sunday, August 6 – Ancient Roots of Asian Martial Arts: SILAMBAM
What are the roots of Taekwondo? Does anybody know? That’s difficult or impossible to answer really, however no doubt the roots are as old as human kind itself, and one tributary river must have been Silambam. It’s the oldest still surviving traditional weapons-based art of India, and possibly the world.
Link to the video on YouTube is here. The class was so good I made it a regular Sunday morning thing. With roots in Tamil Nadu, the southernmost part of India, it has 5,000 years of history. The word Silambam refers to the bamboo or other wooded stick that is the primary training weapon of this art; and yet it is only a part of a larger war art indigenous to that region of India. For the whole story, subscribe to Totally Taekwondo Magazine, the new Venue for the Silk Road Taekwondo Friendship Tour!
World Taekwondo Malaysia!
July 25, 2023 Silk Road Taekwondo Friendship Tour Part 15 Interviews with Malaysia’s World Taekwondo National Team Coaches and Some Rising Star Competitors
Visit to the national team training center and interviews with Taekwondo Malaysia (TM) National Taekwondo team coaches and three rising star TM competition athletes.
July 12, 2023 Silk Road Taekwondo Friendship Tour Part 14 – Interview with WT – Taekwondo Malaysia’s Secretary General, 8th Dan Grandmaster Dhanaraj Rassiah
Getting the interview was easily done with a letter of introduction and request for interview, as the Executive Secretary to WT Grandmaster Dhanaraj was very prompt and efficient getting back to me.
I arrived at the Olympic Council Malaysia (OCM) about 20 minutes early. It’s an impressive modern building that only recently became the headquarters for Taekwondo Malaysia…
Super summary: in addition to being a grandmaster of WT, he has worked very hard to evolve fairer systems for belt promotions and referee licensing in Malaysia, as well as international competition, for all who enter upon the path of World Taekwondo.
I spent several weeks getting to know and explore the world of World Taekwondo in Malaysia. It started with my jogging nearby the Airbnb where I was staying, where I met a Master Wong. He was very kind to invite me to an inter-school tournament the following week from which I recommenced my former “Silk Road Taekwondo Quest” series of articles, as The Silk Road Taekwondo Friendship Tour, part 13.
then visited the national training center, and so there are three articles about WT in Malaysia. I was and remain very impressed with their organization, skills, friendliness and and all-around good nature. And, yep! It started with jogging! 😊
Background – Beautiful Malaysia!
I arrived in Malaysia June 14 of this year 2023. For those not familiar with Malaysia – a little background.
Malaysia has a very diverse collection of cultures.
Percentages by Ethnic Group*
69.7% Bumiputera with 57.3% of them being Malay, and 12.4% the indigenous groups of Sabah, Sarawak and Orang Asli
22.9% Chinese
6.6% Indian
0.8% other
Percentages by Religion*
63.5% Sunni Islam (official)
18.7% Buddhism
9.1% Christianity
6.1% Hinduism
0.9% other
1.8% unknown
* Statistics from Malaysian Department of Statistics, 2020/2021.
These two countries are remarkably similar.
They are both culturally very diverse, love cars, motorcycles, and Taekwondo!
Silk Road Taekwondo Friendship Tour 