In days gone by, martial arts students couldn't pick and choose from various styles and training methods. One was lucky if he or she could find a single instructor in a local village. This century's mass transportation and waves of immigration have given the American student the unprecedented opportunity to select from different styles.
Some students seek spiritual enlightenment.
Still others carry on the perpetual search for the fantasy system, one which will enable them to overcome masses of attackers with seemingly little effort. Indonesia is a melting pot of various cultures from all over Asia. There are over 13,000 islands in the chain, and 250 distinct languages and cultures. Due to this diversity of people and tribes, the people had to develop a martial art which would enable a single individual to overcome multiple attackers, and it has to be an art which could be taught to the young in a relatively short time. The end result of this demand was the collection of various arts known generically as pentjak silat.