Pencak Silat word "pancha" meaning five, or from the Chinese term "pencha" or "pungcha" which implies parrying or deflecting, and striking or pressing. Other terms may be used in particular dialects such as "silek", "penca", "mancak", "maen po" or "main-po". Dutch East Indian newspapers of the colonial era recorded the terms for martial arts under Dutch spellings. These include "silat", "pencak" (spelled in Dutch as "pentjak"), "penca" ("pentjah"), "mancak" ("mentjak"), "manca" ("mentjah"), and "pukulan" ("poekoelan"). In 1881 a magazine calls mancak a Batak fencing game "with long swords, daggers or wood ("mentjah")" These papers described mancak as Malayan ("Maleidsche") suggesting that the
Indonesian martial arts popularity of radio shows featuring pencak silat experts in the old Indonesian kingdoms of Pajajaran and Majapahit circa the 14-15th century. Historical epics such as "Saur Sepuh", "Tutur Tinular" and "Misteri Gunung Merapi" have been adapted both for TV and film. Indonesian cinema differentiates this from modern action films or "laga". The latter may or may not include traditional fighting styles, but the modern setting makes it distinct from the silat genre proper. While Indonesian movies and TV series have always had a large following in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore, it was the 2009 film "Merantau" that brought international attention