An Old Kudi Madura Monteng Fighting Sickle from Indonesia, also referred to as Calok Monteng is a weapon used in Madurese Martial Arts known as “Pencak Silat”. It is a tool that was initially used by plantation workers to harvest sugar cane and other crops. The blade can be a simple curved blade or a short wavy blade. This tool was adopted for fighting purposes by the revolutionist Sakerah, a Madurese and East Java folk hero who resisted the Dutch colonialist during the early 19th century.
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The fighting sickle became a popular weapon during conflicts between the
Madurese and the ethnic groups of Kalimantan. The practice of Carok is derived from an old Javanese word “Arok” which means chaos, riots, or fighting.
Carok for many people connotes negativity and is usually related to horrible events or actions synonymous with brutal and sadistic killings, life and death duals, gun fights defending one’s honor, or revenge killings still practiced in current times.
Carok has also always aligned with the culture of the Madurese, a tribe that is said to have a tough, temperamental, and arrogant character (though not all of them are). In many cases, for every murder committed by the Madurese, the word Carok will always come to mind.
The word Calok refers to the shape of the blade which is either mounted on a long handle like a spear or with a short handle to fashion a heavy-bladed knife. Generally, calok doesn’t mean calok lancor or monteng, but refers more to a long-bladed sickle.
The weapon ke’ lesap is similar to the Kudi or Calok monteng fighting sickle, it was called “crancang” or “carancang” which means “spine” as in sharp thorn or barb. The word “calok” or “caluk” basically means “sharp weapon” in old Javanese. It is the same in Madurese, a sharp weapon is called calok to distinguish it from common
This paper describes the practice of carok which is still continuously practised by ethnic Madurese in East Java, Indonesia. Carok and masculinity are double-edged swords because they are constructed by Madurese ethnic culture. How culture produces values that must be upheld, maintained, and become sacred and even practised in everyday life. The construction of masculinity inherent in the male gender influences the practice of carok. So that carok is legal and even legitimized by culture.
The visibility of male-dominated cultural and criminal violence on ethnic Madurese is very important to study, explore, and explain using the lens of political sociology gender. The values of masculinity, self-respect, shame and honor are values that are championed by men and are justified by the prevailing culture as social norms. This study uses a qualitative method. Relying on individual in-depth interview data on the perpetrator’s family, the man, and the victim’s family, police officers, and community leaders and using data from the results of focused group discussions (Focus Group Discussion) to collect carok perspectives according to the understanding and experience of the perpetrators and the views of community leaders and the police, as well as observations on the area where carok is located in four districts on Madura Island.
All data were analyzed using interpretive methods by prioritizing carok thematic analysis. The conclusion of this study: there are internal (cultural) forces that encourage the values of hegemonic masculinity to justify acts of violence called carok. This carok hegemony is reproduced by ethnic Madurese and has been transformed into hybrid violence. That is, cultural violence that is in the range of the private (social-cultural) and public/political realms. In this case, carok is not merely cultural violence but is part of the gender construction of the Madurese ethnicity that places the value of masculinity in everyday life.
Therefore, to reduce carok, what needs to be done is to deconstruct the concept and value of masculinity that can be realized in a culture that can function to promote a culture of tolerance and peace.
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