After IPSI was established and united hundreds of silat schools under one national organization, pencak silat entered a new, much more organized chapter. This article explores how pencak silat stepped from being merely a cultural heritage into a modern competitive sport, until it was finally recognized as a human heritage by the international community.
Stepping onto the International Sports Stage
After decades of developing as a cultural heritage and performing art, pencak silat finally gained recognition as an official sport contested in international multi-event competitions. That historic moment occurred at the 14th SEA Games in 1987 held in Jakarta, when pencak silat was introduced to the world for the first time as an official competitive sport.
Since then, pencak silat has consistently been one of Indonesia’s mainstay events at the SEA Games, where Indonesian athletes frequently contribute the most gold medals. This success also paved the way for pencak silat to step further, eventually being contested at the Asian Games—the second-largest multi-sport competition in the world after the Olympics. At the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta-Palembang, for example, pencak silat became an official sport with various competition categories, including the sparring (tanding) category based on weight classes, as well as the artistic (seni or jurus) category which judges the beauty and precision of movements.
The development of pencak silat as a modern competitive sport also birthed a more structured scoring system. In the sparring category, pencak silat is judged on punches, kicks, sweeps (takedowns), and throws, with the main targets being specific body parts of the opponent. Each match is judged independently by five judges, and the final score is taken from the accumulated assessment of all five judges—a system designed to maintain objectivity in scoring at the international competition level.
World Organization and Global Spread
As pencak silat became increasingly known in the international arena, the need for a worldwide umbrella organization became more urgent. The International Pencak Silat Federation, better known by its acronym Persilat, was formed to accommodate the development of pencak silat in various countries, not only within the Malay-Nusantara diaspora but also in countries that previously had no silat tradition whatsoever.
Thanks to the efforts of organizations like Persilat, pencak silat has now spread far beyond its original geographic borders in Southeast Asia. National pencak silat federations now stand in various countries across Europe, the Americas, and Australia, with thousands of practitioners learning it not as an ancestral cultural heritage, but as a modern martial art that offers unique physical discipline, mental conditioning, and a philosophy of life.
This spread is also inseparable from the role of the entertainment industry. A number of Indonesian action actors and choreographers, such as Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, and Cecep Arif Rahman, have successfully introduced both the beauty and effectiveness of pencak silat techniques to global audiences through international action films. These dynamic, fast-paced silat movements, full of varied locks and grapples, have proven to be highly appealing cinematically, thereby boosting the popularity and curiosity of the global public toward this authentic Indonesian martial art.
Pencak Silat Receives the Highest Recognition from UNESCO
The pinnacle of international recognition for pencak silat came at the end of 2019. UNESCO officially designated it as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Indonesia. This historic designation took place during the 14th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, held in Bogota, Colombia, on December 9–14, 2019.
This UNESCO recognition is not just a standard international ceremony. Its status affirms that this martial art possesses cultural, historical, and philosophical values worthy of being protected and preserved as part of the global human heritage—on par with other Indonesian intangible cultural heritages such as batik, wayang, and the keris. This designation also brings positive consequences in the form of greater encouragement for the government and the pencak silat community to continue preserving its authenticity, documenting traditional schools that are becoming rare, and ensuring the regeneration of young warriors across various silat schools throughout Indonesia.
Interestingly, this recognition also provides a new push for local traditional silat communities—including regional styles such as Beksi and Cingkrik in Betawi, which have recently also begun to receive recognition as intangible cultural heritages at the regional level, a topic that will be discussed more deeply in the fifth article of this series.
Pencak Silat in the Contemporary Era
Entering the 21st century, this martial art continues to adapt without losing its traditional roots. On one hand, traditional silat schools with their distinct spiritual philosophies and pencak movements remain preserved in various schools and padepokans (training centers) across Indonesia—many of which are still passed down from generation to generation from teacher to student, exactly as they were hundreds of years ago. On the other hand, the competitive sports version of pencak silat continues to evolve with increasingly modern competition standards, sports science-based training, and ongoing efforts to make it an official Olympic sport in the future.
Major schools affiliated with IPSI, such as Persaudaraan Setia Hati Terate, Perisai Diri, Merpati Putih, and Tapak Suci, have now even opened branches abroad, with thousands of members spread from Europe to East Asia. One example is the IKSPI Kera Sakti school, whose movements are inspired by Chinese Kung Fu; it now has active branches in Timor Leste, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, South Korea, and even Ireland—clear proof that pencak silat has truly become a global phenomenon, no longer merely a local cultural heritage.
Pencak silat now stands at a unique crossroads: as a spiritual heritage of the Nusantara ancestors that is over a thousand years old, and simultaneously as a modern competitive sport that continues to develop in accordance with international standards. It is this long journey that proves pencak silat is not just a fighting technique, but a living heritage—one of the few martial arts in the world that has successfully maintained its original soul while remaining relevant to this day.
The Six Pillar Schools Behind This Modern Development
All the modern achievements of this martial art discussed above are intertwined with the standardization of competition techniques, IPSI membership, and international spread. Its existence is inseparable from the role of the six major schools that serve as the backbone of this organization: Persaudaraan Setia Hati Terate (PSHT), Perisai Diri, Pagar Nusa, Tapak Suci Putera Muhammadiyah, Merpati Putih, and Cimande. These six not only survive as cultural heritage, but are also active in producing competitive athletes, opening branches in various countries, and continually passing down their distinct philosophies and moves to new generations.
However, the grand national journey of this martial art is essentially a combination of hundreds of smaller stories at the level of individual schools and styles, each with its own founders, legends, and philosophies. The next six articles in this series will delve deeper into the stories of these six schools one by one.
