KAPIT is considered a very safe and peaceful town and not often associated with incidences of crime or violence.

However, a group of youths there believe that just because the situation is good at the moment, does not mean that the people of Kapit should be complacent about their personal safety and security.
That is why a group called Tangkas Perkasa is planning to set up an outfit to promote the art of self-defence in Kapit.

However, instead of offering self-defence training to everyone, Tangkas Perkasa wants to focus solely on women.

Tangkas Perkasa is one of the groups under the Youths Engaged in Social Innovation, Service, Education and Enterprise (YES I SEE) project, which is organised by Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam) Sarawak.

According to group leader Pitty Barboza Akau, Tangkas Perkasa’s vision is to equip women with the necessary skills to defend themselves against criminal acts such as rape, snatch thefts, molest, abuse and domestic violence.

“Our aim is to set up Tangkas Perkasa as an association that promotes the art of self-defence to help train women to defend themselves. We also want to teach women how to avoid becoming victims of crime,” she said.

Pitty, 20, leads the group consisting of her brother Romio Akau, 18; Evelyne Ilam Beriak, 18; Tan Tien Seng, 22; and Welsong Baruk, 22.

Pitty explained that the idea for their project was inspired by Romio, a Silat exponent who has also represented Kapit in several tournaments.

“Our main goal is to reduce the number of crimes committed against women, by arming them with the necessary skills to defend themselves.

“Tangkas Perkasa also hopes to educate women on how to obtain assistance or how to offer assistance to victims of crime; to create greater awareness among women on how to help themselves and on how to help others,” she said.

The group believes that even though Kapit is a relatively safe place to live and work in, the people there must prepare themselves for some of the negative aspects of urbanisation.

“When Kapit is developed, we want the people here to be ready – ready in terms of their own personal safety and security,” explained Pitty.

To promote their programme for women, Tangkas Perkasa plans to work closely with the police, schools in Kapit and the Ministry of Social Development and Urbanisation.

“We believe our idea is special because our focus is mainly on women and our training will be different because it will cater specifically to women.

“We want them to be ready to avoid crimes such as snatch thefts or what to do in situations of domestic violence.”

For the group, the biggest challenge was thinking of ways to effectively spread the word about their programme, especially since none of them had ever tried to do something like it before.

 

“For us, this project has been a great learning experience. We appreciate the contributions from our mentor and we also owe a lot to our parents and family who have allowed us to come home late to have meetings to discuss our project,” said Pitty, who added that Sarawak State Sports Council, Kapit Division has given them tremendous support, especially in providing a place to have their meetings.

TANGKAS PERKASA (KAPIT)