Neighbouring Sumatrans are said to have left the Nias people alone because they were fearless warriors.īalinese warriors armed with kris in the 1880s However, they are culturally similar to the Himalayan Naga tribe. The inhabitants of Nias Island had until the 20th century remained largely untouched by the outside world. The primary weapons of Indonesia's tribal peoples were the single-edge sword, shield and javelin. In the absence of written records, much of its history is known only through myth and archaeological evidence. The pencak silat tradition is mostly oral, having been passed down almost entirely by word of mouth. The word pencak appeared in the Malay language as early as Adat Raja Melayu the text: 1779 manuscripts: 1817, 1873, provenance: text & manuscripts: Melaka. Some believe it may come from the word elat which means to fool or trick. This may have been used to describe a warrior's movements before eventually being shortened to silat. The most prominent origin theory of the word silat is that it derives from sekilat which means "as (fast as) lightning". Some believe that pencak comes from the Sanskrit word pancha meaning five, or from the Chinese pencha meaning avert or deflect. The origin of the words pencak and silat have not been proven. Pencak is the performance aspects of the martial art, while silat is the essence of the fighting and self-defense. In modern usage, pencak and silat are seen as being two aspects of the same practice. Pencak was the term used in central and east Java, while silat was used in Sumatra. It was a compound of the two most commonly used words for martial arts in Indonesia. Pencak silat was chosen in 1948 as a unifying term for the Indonesian fighting styles. The liaison body for international pencak silat is the International Pencak Silat Association or PERSILAT (Persekutuan Pencak Silat Antara Bangsa). The leading organization of pencak silat in Indonesia is IPSI (Ikatan Pencak Silat Indonesia meaning Organization for Indonesian Pencak Silat). Pencak silat (Indonesian pronunciation: also spelled penchak silat or pentjak silat) is an umbrella term for the martial arts created in Indonesia. These are Ikatan Pesilat Indonesia (IPSI) from Indonesia, Persekutuan Silat Kebangsaan Malaysia (PESAKA) from Malaysia, Persekutuan Silat Brunei Darussalam (PERSIB) from Brunei and Persekutuan Silat Singapura (PERSISI) from Singapore. Training halls are overseen by separate national organizations in each of the main countries the art is practiced. Silat is one of the sports included in the Southeast Asian Games and other region-wide competitions. There are hundreds of different styles but they tend to focus either on strikes, joint manipulation, bladed weapons, throws, animal-based techniques, or some combination thereof. The Chinese fusion of silat is known as kuntao. As a result, it is closely related to other Southeast Asian martial arts including krabi krabong and eskrima. Originally developed in what are now Indonesia, peninsular Malaysia, southern Thailand and Singapore, it was also traditionally practiced in Brunei, the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Silat is a collective word for indigenous martial arts of the Malay Archipelago and Malay Peninsula of Southeast Asia.