Dictionary of Pencak Silat and other Malaysia-Indonesian Traditional Martial Arts/B

Betawi n (Indonesia) An ethnic group inhabit Jakarta.

There are two opinion how this ethnic group came. The first one conclude Betawi came from a mix between Dutch's slaves from different ethnics while another one believed there had been a group of Melayu living in Jakarta, separated from Sundanese, and they assimilated the other ethnics to their group. The first opinion was popularized by Lance Castle while the latter held by Ridwan Saidi.

Their culture is rich by influenced of other ethnics lived in Jakarta in colonial era, notably Chinese, Arab, India, Portuguese, Dutch, Java and Sunda. Their silat systems also influenced by the fighting systems of those ethnics.