Yes, it is frequently noted in the literature that a keris was a weapon of last resort, however, the wedung is not a weapon, the wedung is a badge of rank , symbolising the willingness of the bearer to cut a way through the jungle for his lord. Its wear is restricted to certain classes of people within the keraton hierarchy.
I know of no "traditional" belief in Jawa either at the present time, or appearing in literary works of the past, that requires a keris to draw blood once removed from its wrongko. I have read this in various popular works written by authors based in western societies, but I do not have any idea where this "traditional belief" may have come from. Nor am I aware of any beliefs of a keris "turning on" its owner because of the owner`s failure to draw blood with it. I find it extremely difficult to believe that these stories originated from any source within the Javanese cultural framework.
Amuck means to attack blindly.
The presence of a keris is not necessary for amuck to occur.
I have witnessed several cases of a person running amuck, in one case the person concerned had a bottle as a weapon. This incident occurred in Kuta, in Bali, and was brought on by insults delivered by a couple of young western tourists. The Indonesian man snapped and attacked everybody in sight with what he had in his hand, which was a soft drink bottle. Other Indonesians caught him and held him down until he came out of his rage, and when he had regained his senses he appeared to have no recollection of what had happened.
In another case the person concerned had no weapon at all.
In all cases that I have witnessed, or that I know of, the people were not really conscious of their actions.
Amuk and the phrase "babi buta", and the word "nekad" are not synonymous with "amuk".
Babi buta, or babi membuta means to rage blindly.
Nekad is a variation of nekat which simply means "determined to accomplish something no matter what"
Medical opinion seems to be that the state of amuk is brought as a semi automatic response to social pressures.
There is another form of amuk, where a person dedicates his life--- or perhaps more correctly his death--- to the destruction of enemies, however, although this does have some similarities to that which we would normally term "amuk" I personally do not like the term amuk applied to this self sacrificial action.
My readings of the biographies of several Javanese princes, and of practices within the Javanese keratons in the late colonial period indicate that Javanese princes were educated in European martial and social skills, and Javanese cultural and social skills. I have not read of a Javanese prince being taught silat, however, they were taught dance, and a number of classical dances require the keris to be used.
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