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
Pencak Silat taught only to advanced students. Over 150 styles of pencak silat are recognised in Indonesia, although the actual number of existing systems is well beyond that. Older methods are typically identified with specific ethno-cultural groups or particular regions. Much of what constitutes classical Malay culture has its origin in the Riau Archipelago, including the earliest evidence of silat. Referred to as silat Melayu, the regional fighting systems of Riau have influenced nearly the entirety of Indonesian pencak silat, and into neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia. Fighting tactics dating back to the Srivijaya empire persist in Palembang today. Wide stances with the