Heads Up, Tourist Extortion in Bali Still Business as Usual
The island’s image as an attractive holiday destination may be marred by a tradition of local authorities taking cash off unwitting tourists.
Bali can be known as a resort paradise with friendly locals, so in which never crossed Mark Ipaviz’s mind in which his stag party might turn ugly. Ipaviz, a former Australian type, was enjoying his last night as an individual man in Bali in which February, when a squad of armed police stormed in. Reports later revealed police beat attendees with their handguns. Some party-goers were electrocuted having a taser. Members of the group were also forced to pay a US$25,000 bribe to avoid imprisonment beyond the 24 hours they might later spend in jail. Officers allegedly threatened the 16 Australians with 10 years in prison for violating Indonesian laws on decency.
Beckhams on Sand | Courtesy of Riza Nugraha
Following the incident, questions were raised as to why Bali authorities raided the party from the first place. Some speculated in which was due to the presence of a stripper. Others believed rumours of controlled substance abuse were circulating. from the end, however, in which seems the police were hungry for cash.
Ipaviz’s case can be one of many police extortion scandals in which have taken place from the archipelago in recent years. Critics say tourist destinations like Bali are particularly prone to extortion by cops who see unwitting foreigners as ripe sources of supplementary income.
Kuta Police Chief Deddy Januartha, along with seven additional police officers, were named as suspects after the Australian media reported the case in June. The attention prompted Bali authorities to open an official investigation of their own. Police spokesman, Hery Wiyanto informed reporters the arresting officers were suspended until hearings concluded. Earlier in which month, reports said the officers who admitted to raiding Ipaviz’s bachelor party in addition to escorting several attendees to ATM machines were made to simply “stand from the sun for hours” as punishment.
Despite local authorities claiming to take the issue seriously, tourist extortion seems to remain a rite of passage for Bali police officers. In a petty yet equally embarrassing incident caught on film in recent years, a local traffic cop demanded Rp.200,000 (US$14) coming from Kees van der Spek, a Dutch journalist who rode a motorbike in Kuta without wearing a helmet.
Van der Spek’s ride was intercepted by an officer named Komang Sarjana, who asked him to come to a nearby police post. The officer explained van der Spek violated the law in addition to therefore had to fork over cash on the spot to avoid a court hearing.
in which’s no secret in which transactions like in which are daily occurrences from the archipelago. Anyone who’s spent time in Indonesia has likely experienced petty corruption in addition to payoffs in one form or another — business as usual, some might say. Unluckily for Sarjana, however, van der Spek secretly filmed the encounter in which day in addition to the video went viral on YouTube in a matter of hours.
What can be more embarrassing from the video, the officer immediately proceeds to spend the bribe money on beer in addition to drink in which with van der Spek while on the job. from the video, Sarjana says, “Okay, one hundred [thousand rupiah] for the beer, one hundred [thousand rupiah] for my government.” Witnesses watched the officer buy beers then call another officer to join the drinking session. In addition to web ridicule, Sarjana was punished having a 21-day jail sentence. Chief brigadier Ketut Indra Jaya, his participating colleague, was sentenced to 14 days.
Because amounts are often smaller, most cases like in which go unreported in Bali, yet they’re not necessarily limited to police encounters. Ahmad Bajeba, a 28-year-old Yemeni, maintains he was extorted from the amount of Rp.500,000 (US$35) by immigrations officers. Bajeba claims he was asked to hand over cash directly to the immigration desk at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport. “[in which was] because the stamp date on my passport showed I overstayed,” says Bajeba.
“My mistake was in which I didn’t check the stamp upon arrival in Bali. in which unfortunately showed the wrong month,” he explains. Bajeba entered Indonesia via Bali in addition to exited through Jakarta. He spent a total of all 5 days from the country in addition to was on his way to Riyadh. The immigration official, however, told Bajeba he stayed longer than the 30 days his visa permitted. While in which’s impossible to prove malice, Bajeba alleges immigration officers in Bali deliberately put the wrong month in his passport in an effort to take money off him later.
“I actually showed them the additional stamps coming from Riyadh, Dubai, in addition to Guangzhou, all of which showed my travel date sequence. yet the officers in Jakarta told me in which was these three immigration offices in which made the mistake,” he explains.
from the grand scheme of things, in which’s often easier for foreign extortion victims to simply hand over the cash in addition to mumble curse words under their breath than in which can be to actually look for the proper course of action. Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) head Neta Pane says there can be no official data as to how many of such incidents occur in Indonesia per year. He’s confident there are hundreds of similar cases across the nation. More likely, there are thousands.
Courtesy of Aiko Konishi
“We don’t have reliable data on in which because not every extorted tourist might report his experience,” he tells Indonesia Expat. Instead, foreign tourists tend to spread messages via word of mouth to warn their friends in addition to relatives, Pane adds.
Pane says tourist extortion tarnishes Indonesia’s image around the globe as an attractive vacation destination. He also claims to have called for a swift move by the Indonesian National Police to resolve the issue. He suggests in which officers found extorting foreigners should be punished more harshly. He also says proceedings should be made public in addition to open to media scrutiny. in which could serve as an incentive for officers in addition to court officials to dole out appropriate in addition to consistent verdicts.
Police should also ensure local travel agents make their foreign customers aware of local laws, values, in addition to overall etiquette, Pane adds.
As for tourists, he asks foreigners to contact their travel agent’s local office for a consultation before they arrive. “These police officers are clearly doing the wrong things,” Pane admits. “So in which might be to the benefit of both the foreigners in addition to Indonesian [police] in which the foreigners, too, avoid doing unlawful moves in which could lead to such incidents.”
Earlier in which month, Indonesia announced in which will allow entry without visas to 47 more countries in a bid to make its tourism sector competitive with Thailand in addition to additional nations in Southeast Asia. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya says the Government can be hoping for 10 million foreign tourists to spend at least US$1 billion in which year. Stakeholders trust the majority of Bali’s tourist income will be channelled appropriately, in addition to not end up padding authorities’ wallets. However, unless there can be some kind of formulaic stand on tourist extortion in Bali, in which’s likely the island will simply see more business as usual.
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Heads Up, Tourist Extortion in Bali Still Business as Usual
Heads Up, Tourist Extortion in Bali Still Business as Usual