text: si ronda si ronda is a 1930 silent film from the dutch east indies which was directed by lie tek swie and starred bachtiar effendi . based on contemporary betawi oral tradition , it follows the exploits of a bandit , skilled in silat ( traditional malay martial arts ) , known as si ronda . in the lenong stories from which the film was derived , ronda was often depicted as a robin hood type of figure . the production , now thought lost , was one of a series of martial arts films released between 1929 and 1931 . si ronda received little coverage in the media upon its release . a second adaptation of the tale , si ronda macan betawi , was made in 1978 . production si ronda was adapted from a lenong ( a betawi oral tradition similar to a stage play ) popular with ethnic chinese and native audiences of the time . the ronda stories follow the betawi bandit of the same name , who is skilled at silat ( traditional martial arts ) and reputed to take from the rich to give to the poor . the indonesian film scholar misbach yusa biran suggests that ronda was selected for adaptation because of its potential action sequences . in the domestic cinema , such sequences had generally been inspired by american works and been well received by audiences . similar stories to si ronda 's include those of si and si pitung ; these stage plays centred on extraordinary men ( referred to as ) who , though living outside the law , generally fought for the common populace . adaptations of the genre , manifested as bandit films , became popular in domestic cinema following the release of si tjonat by batavia motion picture in 1929 . this release was followed by the wong brothers ' preanger ( also 1929 ) , and an adaptation of the si pitung stories in 1931 . not all films in this genre , which consisted of a quarter of all domestic releases for 1929 – 1931 , maintained the heroic qualities of the central character : the wongs ' adaptation of si pitung , for instance , portrayed him as a simple bandit and not the robin hood figure of stage . si ronda was directed by lie tek swie and produced by tan khoen yauw of tan 's film . the two had previously worked together on the company 's highly profitable njai dasima in 1929 . cinematography was handled by a. . shot in black - and - white , this silent film starred bachtiar effendi , a set decorator with tan 's , in his on - screen debut playing the title role . it also featured momo , an actor who had appeared in the film njai dasima . release and legacy si ronda was released in 1930 ; effendi stated that it was released before tan 's nancy pembalesan ( nancy takes revenge ) , a sequel to njai dasima , began screening in may 1930 . dutch newspapers indicate that it had screened in medan , north sumatra , by 1932 . biran writes that the film received little coverage ; he notes that sinematek indonesia has no news clippings related to si ronda . after si ronda , lie and tan collaborated on three further films . lie left tan 's in 1932 , reportedly as his approach no longer matched tan 's low - class target audience and caused the works to go over budget . effendi continued to work with tan 's until 1932 , when he left to head the cinema magazine doenia film . momo continued acting until 1941 , first with tan 's and later with standard film . the film is likely lost . the american visual anthropologist karl g. heider writes that all indonesian films from before 1950 are lost . however , jb kristanto 's katalog film indonesia ( indonesian film catalogue ) records several as having survived at sinematek indonesia 's archives . another film based on the ronda stories , titled si ronda macan betawi ( ronda the betawi tiger ) , was released in 1978 . directed by fritz g. schadt , it starred dicky in the title role and lenny as his lover . in this adaptation ronda uses his silat skills to fight corrupt land owners and colonial government workers .