Silat
Silat is a collective word for indigenous martial arts of the Malay Archipelago and Malay Peninsula of Southeast Asia. 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.
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. Silat is one of the sports included in the Southeast Asian Games and other region-wide competitions. Training halls are overseen by separate national organizations in each of the main countries the art is practiced. 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.
The origin of the word silat is unknown. Although one theory states that it comes from the Minang word silek, the etymology of silek itself cannot be traced. Another theory is that it comes from the Tamil word silambam, which has long been practiced by the Indian community of Malaysia. The Tamils also use the word silatguvarisai to define their silambam movement patterns. Other similar-sounding words have been proposed but none have been proven.
Originally the word silat was used as a generic term for any system of fighting. Burmese martial arts, for example, would be called silat Awa. Some Malay-speakers (especially in Indonesia) still use the word as such, as can be seen in the term ilmu silat (knowledge of silat) which can used for any fighting style. Today, the word has a formidable arsenal of terms used to refer to martial arts inSoutheast Asia.[2] It is usually called pencak silat in Indonesia or silek in the Minangkabau language. Some examples of the word's application in Malaysia and Singapore include seni silat (art of silat) and seni bela-diri (art of self-defence).