Indonesian martial arts to those practised by the Tionghoa community of the Indonesian archipelago. Kuntao has a long history in the region dating back to ancient times. Such has been the influence between kuntao and pencak silat that the terms are used interchangeably in some regions. Every Chinese community in Indonesia either has or historically had some style of kuntao, but they were not taught openly until the latter half of the 20th century. Northern and southern Chinese martial arts are represented in kuntao, both from the external and internal schools. Some systems were directly imported from China and underwent little or no
Pencak Silat independence, some schools have adapted themselves in the context of modern religion. Among the most popular modern styles is the Muslim-directed Tapak Suci. An evasive long-range system, it requires constant movement as the practitioner rotates on their own axis every few seconds. Similarly the Setia Hati school is Christian-organised. Rooted in silek Minangkabau of the Padang area, it relies on kicks and footwork while the hands are mainly used defensively for blocking and parrying. Java's western region was the first area from which pencak silat spread out of Sumatra. The Sundanese pencak silat of West Java may be called "silat