KOTA BHARU – A fighting rooster or ‘ayam ratu’ named ‘Mongkut’ was crowned the overall champion at the National Ayam Ratu Competition organised by the Kelantan Ayam Ratu Fans Association (Park) defeating 102 other ‘competitors’.
Its owner, Roshairi Izwan Sulaiman, 36, said his beloved Leung Hang Khao (LHK) breed bird had been courted many times by enthusiasts with offers of up to RM18,000.
“Many people are interested in owning Mongkut but I don’t intend to sell because it is very special to me and brings me a lot of luck.
“It’s been four years since I bred Mongkut and we are like friends that I take care of as best as possible. Alhamdulillah, my pet won again,” said here today.
He said this to Bernama at a programme officiated by Kelantan State Culture, Arts and Heritage Tourism Committee chairman Datuk Kamarudin Md Nor, who said the competition was synonymous with the people of Kelantan who loved the hobby.
“I see that this competition has great potential to attract visitors to Kelantan. This hobby has become a tradition of the people of Kelantan in particular and other states. Every year the Ayam Ratu competition is organised by a certain association.
“This event can be developed by the state government considering that it has fans all over the country including from Thailand.”
Kamarudin said the state government planned to organise more Ayam Ratu competitions next year.
“We will spread this programme more widely and maybe we will expand the event to other types of roosters,” he said.
In the meantime, Park president Kamaruzaman Hassan said the support expressed by the state government would help preserve the arts and cultural heritage of Kelantan and allow fans to turn the hobby into an industry that could generate income.
The Ayam Ratu open competition is the biggest event of its kind in Malaysia this year, involving nine categories with fans from all over the country including Johor, Perak, Selangor and Kedah, and judged by a jury from a university in Thailand.
Roshairi Izwan said Mongkut also won first place in the adult LHK category after getting the highest score which was assessed through the beauty of the bones, beak, wings, tail (plume) and legs.
Commenting further, he said that previously Mongkut had been the champion of the same competition held in Thailand several times and was also crowned champion of the country’s Royal Cup.
“Mongkut’s participation in the Ayam Ratu competition is not to chase prizes or rewards, but rather to ‘create a reputation’ to give a more lucrative price to the breed,” he said.
He added that the breed produced by Mongkut had been in high demand with prices starting at RM500 for a two-month-old chick, and even sold to enthusiasts from Kuwait and Indonesia.
According to Roshairi Izwan, he became interested in raising chickens when he was 10 years old by raising Serama chicken, and switched to Ayam Ratu starting in 2016.
He said that so far he had about 40 Ayam Ratu with a total purchase price of more than RM20,000 which are farmed on half an acre of land next to his house. – February 25, 2024