Pencak Silat body for international pencak silat is the International Pencak Silat Association or PERSILAT ("Persekutuan Pencak Silat Antara Bangsa"). Pencak silat is one of the sports included in the Southeast Asian Games and other region-wide competitions. Pencak silat first made its debut in 1987 Southeast Asian Games and 2018 Asian Games, both were held in Indonesia. "Silat" is a collective word for a class of indigenous martial arts from the geo-cultural area of Southeast Asia, more precisely in the Malay Archipelago, a region known locally as "Nusantara". The origin of the word "silat" is uncertain. The Malay term "silat" is linked
Indonesian martial arts resulted in the development of native edged weapons such as the parang, klewang, mandau, badik, kujang, golok and kris. Chinese straight swords arrived early, and ancient Javanese curved swords show Indian derivation. Contact with India and the forming of ancient kingdoms lead to the transition from tribalism to the golden age that was Indonesia's Dharmic civilization. Pencak silat developed in this era, spreading quickly from Sumatra into nearly the whole of the archipelago. In comparison to the country's tribal fighting systems, pencak silat shows decidedly more influence from the Asian mainland, specifically China and the Indian subcontinent. Pencak silat tied