Cockfight!

In one corner of this city, in the slum area called “Kota Lama” (The Old Town or Oude Stad), in a traditional market between the old Dutch heritage buildings, people gathered, cheering, celebrating a small event: cockfight!

Is it legal? I don’t think so. But as long as I understand, they are here for cocks trading, not merely for cockfighting. Apparently, sometimes their customer want to see the cock’s “performance” before deciding to buy it. The cockfighting it self was done secretly in a small corner of the market and last no longer than 3 minutes. Otherwise the cock will be injured (which will lower the selling price) or they will be caught by the cops (this one rarely happened).

Nice to know that they even names their cocks, especially if the cock have a good quality and physically health. Some prefer to use a western name like Rocky (yes, inspired by the boxer character in the movie), Jagger, Stream, etc. Some eager to choose traditional name which normally deep in meaning, like Bejo and Tole. Bejo [bəʤɒ] in Javanese means lucky, a nice hope actually for a fighter cock. Tole [təʊle] means little boy.. same way the Javanese parents call their little boy.