JP/5/cock

JP/5/cock

Balinese riot after police raid cockfight

Wahyoe Boediwardhana
The Jakarta Post
Denpasar, Bali

Hundreds of members of the Desa Adat (traditional customary
village) Yangbatu in downtown Denpasar, Bali, barricaded the main
road near their village on Friday afternoon to vent their anger
over a police raid on a cockfight held in a temple.

Claiming that the police officers had not only used excessive
force in the raid but also desecrated the temple through
violence, the protesters felled several trees and used them as
roadblocks on Jl. Letda Tantular. They also burned tires.

Almost 100 riot police launched a raid on the cockfight at
around 12:35 p.m., some two hours after the fight began. It was
led by Comr. Agus Sugianto of the Denpasar Police.

The cockfight was conducted in an open hall in the outer yard
of Yangbatu's Dalem Temple. The hall is a regular venue for this
popular gambling activity locally known as Tajen.

"Without prior warning, the police fired three shots before
storming into the hall, screaming loudly while beating and
kicking everybody," an unnamed eyewitness said.

The ensuing violence reportedly injured dozens of gamblers.
One of them was identified as Made Suryana, who sustained
multiple fractures to the neck and right arm.

Some spectators accused the police of taking advantage of the
raid by seizing the gamblers' money and cellular phones.

One villager managed to scale the temple's tower and sound the
alarm or kulkul, triggering members of three other different
banjar (traditional neighborhoods) in the vicinity of the temple
to leave their homes.

In no time at all, hundreds of villagers surrounded the temple
and started throwing stones at police officers. Frightened by the
villagers' response, the police jumped onto their vehicles and
hurriedly left the scene with at least 28 confiscated cocks.

Later village chief Made Sura and four truckloads of villagers
visited the Denpasar Police Headquarters to demand an explanation
from its chief Sr. Comr. Komang Udayana.

Udayana admitted ordering the raid, arguing that the cockfight
was held for gambling purposes, instead of a religious ritual.

"My officers took them (the cellular phones and money), so we
would have evidence of the gambling," he said.

However, he promised to help cover the medical costs of those
injured in the clash.

Certain Balinese Hindu ceremonies require a blood sacrifice
obtained by conducting a ritualistic cockfight known as Tabuh
Rah. However, local gamblers often reportedly use the ritual as a
pretext to organize a a large-scale cockfight called Tajen.

"Our temple has already been desecrated by the violence. Human
blood has violated its sanctity. Who will be responsible to
conduct the necessary purification ceremonies?," Sura asked.

Cockfighting is illegal in Indonesia but many people in the
provinces of Bali, Papua, Maluku and several other eastern areas
often hold such matches as part of their tradition.