Indonesian martial arts an umbrella term to refer for the martial arts of the Indonesian archipelago. Nevertheless, a number of fighting arts in Indonesia are not included within the category of silat. Western misconception links silat with "jungle tribes" but in actuality, pencak silat was neither created nor traditionally practised by Indonesia's tribal inhabitants, many of whom have unique martial arts of their own. Some of these traditions have been preserved as a complete fighting system, e.g. pencak silat and kuntao. Other methods are either no longer practiced or only exist in a more sportive form such as the spear-throwing of pasola or
Pencak Silat schools often exchange students so cross-training between the styles is common. All Balinese pencak schools traditionally keep sportive contests and performance to a minimum in order to emphasise combat effectiveness. The Bugis ("Ugi") and Makassar people ("Mangkasara") are two related maritime groups from Sulawesi. The Bugis in particular were renowned navigators and shipbuilders, but also feared as corsairs and slave-traders. Both the Bugis and Makassarese were famous for piracy, though this was more common among the former than the latter. As sailors for whom the knife is a vital tool, Bugis and Makassar combatives (known locally as silat) favour blades.