Silat is a collective word for a class of indigenous
martial arts from a geo-cultural area of
Southeast Asia encompassing most of the
Nusantara, the
Indonesian Archipelago, the
Malay Archipelago and the entirety of the
Malay Peninsula. Originally developed in what are now
Indonesia,
peninsular Malaysia, south
Thailand, and
Singapore, it is also traditionally practiced in
Brunei,
Vietnam and the southern
Philippines. There are hundreds of different styles (
aliran) and schools (
perguruan) but they tend to focus either on strikes, joint manipulation, throws, bladed weaponry, or some combination thereof. Silat is one of the sports included in the
Southeast Asian Games and other region-wide competitions. Training halls are overseen by separate national organizations in each of the main countries the art is practiced. These are
Ikatan Pencak Silat Indonesia (IPSI) from
Indonesia,
Persekutuan Silat Kebangsaan Malaysia (PESAKA) from
Malaysia,
Persekutuan Silat Brunei Darussalam (PERSIB) from
Brunei and
Persekutuan Silat Singapura (PERSISI) from
Singapore. Practitioners are called
pesilat.