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Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

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Kelentan silat master Haji Su and his son Mat Noor. (Courtesy of Joe Svinth)<br />

526 Silat<br />

Until relatively late in the twentieth century the styles of silat, even in<br />

Indonesia, were extremely localized, with each village or master teacher<br />

having a distinct style within the general pattern. Draeger and Smith refer<br />

to 157 recorded styles in Indonesia in the 1960s, while others would label<br />

this as a conservative estimate. Given the absence of a standardizing governing<br />

body for this combative art, the real number of styles is actually unknowable.<br />

While most of these styles survive on the island of Java, silat is<br />

preserved not only among Muslims, but in Hindu populations (most notably<br />

in Bali) and Christian communities as well. Noting that there is not a<br />

random distribution of techniques and tactics (e.g., predominance of hand<br />

strikes over kicks), Draeger argues for the development of particular char-

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