Philosophical Considerations of Pencak Silat
As Applied to Indonesia's need to Improve
The philosophy of Pencak Silat is a major part of the ancient and modern culture of people of the Malay race who are the native inhabitants in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. People in Java commonly use the word Pencak, whereas the people who live in the other regions of Indonesia commonly use the word Silat. The combination of the words Pencak and Silat into a compound word was made for the first time when an organization of the unity of Pencak schools and Silat schools in Indonesia was founded in Surakarta in 1948, which called itself Ikatan Pencak Silat Indonesia (The Indonesian Pencak Silat Association),
abbreviated as IPSI. Since then, Pencak Silat has become the official term in Indonesia (Shapiro, 1994, 62).
The schools in many different countries, which teach Pencak also use this philosophical term, and Silat derived from Indonesia. In the international communities, Pencak Silat has become the official term since the international federation organization was founded in Jakarta in 1980, which was called Persekutuan Pencak Silat Antarabangsa, abbreviated as PERSILAT, (The International Pencak Silat Federation). Nevertheless, it is customary to use the words Pencak and Silat separately as a single word due to the dialectic habit.
As a philosophy, Pencak Silat encompasses many areas of Indonesian life: history, politics, kinds, styles, schools, and pendekar, research and writing, development and dissemination.
The adherent of Pencak Silat believes that the basic needs of any human are security and prosperity. To fulfill those needs, men invent and develop various means (techniques) and equipment (weapons) to survive and prosper. Man's "inventions" regarding the need for security, are physical means ("jurus" or sometimes called martial arts) and equipment to deal with and overcome many kinds of threats, challenges, o...