In Malaysia, there are almost 400 different disciplines of silat under the patronage of Persekutuan Silat Kebangsaan Malaysia (PESAKA) which four of the schools and its grandmasters are recognized as the founding members of PESAKA Malaysia. They are:
1. Seni Gayung Fatani Malaysia (Grandmaster Tn. Hj. Anuar Abd Wahab A.M.N)
2. Silat Seni Gayong Malaysia (Grandmaster Dato’ Meor Abd. Rahman)
3. Silat Lincah (Grandmaster Dato’ Hj Omar Sin Mauju)
4. Silat Cekak Malaysia (Grandmaster Ustaz Hanafi Ahmad).
While, the other disciplines of silat are members of PESAKA Negeri (State members).? As there are many types of this martial art in Malaysia, the disciplines of Silat in Malaysia can be categorized into three major disciplines.
The first is known as Silat Melayu, the local traditional silat in the Peninsula that are from the same source. They are called Silat Pulut or Gayung Pulut. The Malay Peninsula traditional art has been practiced hundred of years ago in the Malay society especially in villages. The martial art had its origin from the Malay art of war that had strengthened the Malay Champa empire, Kedah Tua empire, Silat Bunga, Seri Patani, Silat Melayu Asli, Silat Kedah, Seni Gayung Fatani and there are also other forms of traditional silat that recognized as word bersilat or bergayung. These schools trying hard to maintain the original practice of martial art covering the art, self-defense, sports, music, culture and Islamic spiritualism.
The second would be Pencak Silat, a form of self defense that was brought by the early immigration of Indonesia society. Pencak Silat had been recognized as the indigenous Indonesian Art of Self Defense. On the 24th and 25th September 1979, the first meeting organized by Ikatan Pencak Silat Indonesia (IPSI) in conjunction with other countries in an effort to develop Pencak Silat internationally. On March 1980, Persekutuan Pencak Silat Antarabangsa (PERSILAT) was officially founded in Jakarta, Indonesia as its headquarters. Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore were recognized as the founding members of PERSILAT.
In an effort to develop pencak, Malaysia founded Persekutuan Silat Kebangsaan Malaysia (PESAKA Malaysia) on the 24th of September 1983 and was successfully registered on the 21st Mei 1986 to substitute the former proposal to form Majlis Seni Silat Malaysia on the 3rd of February 1978 (Minutes of meeting of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports 1978).
Finally, the third would be disciplines that were developed or created based on experiences, inspirations, guidance, mixture or consolidation of a few different disciplines of silat, pencak silat, art of self defence, or other martial arts from overseas, for example Silat Sekebun, Embun Putih, Kuntau Sendeng, Minang Jawa Kedah, Seri Minangkabau Tapak Suci and Gayung Cekak Sendeng. These schools grown from day to day as there are many experts that wanted to uniform their own martial art schools rather than stick to any one of the martial art school due to many reasons.
On the 4th of December 2006, the Malaysian Government recognized Silat as the Malaysia official art of self-defense and was gazette in the Akta Warisan Negara (National Heritage Act) (Silat Convention 3rd-4th, December 2006).
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