More Strange Behavior By Tourists In Bali Results In Deportation

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Authorities in Bali have had a busy week cracking down on badly behaved foreigners on the island.

It had started to appear like the tide had turned on unruly tourists on the island, but a few recent incidents have resulted in deportation and police call-outs. 

Earlier this week a video went viral online of a tourist pushing a police officer during a traffic stop.

Although the driver in question was originally let go by police after a verbal warning, for fears that things might escalate, the authorities are now processing the tourist’s deportation orders. 

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The Head of Immigration Information and Communication Technology, Ngurah Rai Putu Suhendra, in Denpasar, told reporters that the foreigner from the UK will be receiving his marching orders in due course.

Suhendra said that an investigation is underway and police are assessing eyewitness testimony and the video to decide whether the tourist was also guilty of disturbing public order. 

The case is being dealt with by Immigration, Bali Police, and the Civil Service.

Speaking separately, the Head of Public Relations of the Bali Regional Police, Commissioner Pol Jansen Avitus Panjaitan, explained that a tourist, known by his initials AAM, was pulled over by traffic officers in Kuta because the passenger on his motorcycle was not wearing a helmet. 

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Reports suggest that AAM was unable to produce licensing documents for the police when requested and became increasingly aggressive during the traffic stop.

Police have said that AAM attempted to drive away before he was given permission to leave. This resulted in him shoving the police officer in question, which was caught on camera by a local resident. 

Commissioner Panjaitan said, “The report was [that he] emotional, got off the motorbike, immediately slapped the victim in the face until the victim’s police hat came off and he fell.”

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He confirmed, “Currently, the actions taken are securing the perpetrator and evidence, giving a ticket to the perpetrator, examining witnesses and the perpetrator, and coordinating with Immigration to carry out the legal process and deportation of the perpetrator.”

In an unrelated incident, local authorities and residents have been left bewildered by another incident involving a foreigner close to Kuta on Friday afternoon.

A now-viral video shows a Caucasian woman wearing a vest top and shorts attempting to climb over the wire fencing that divided the central passage of the road leading to I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport. 

The General Manager of Bali Airport, Handy Heryudhitiawan, confirmed that airport security teams and police officers had attended the scene shortly after the woman was first sighted.

He said, “At the time of the incident, our team was on patrol and saw the person in question climbing the fence, and our team immediately stopped him and directed him to the right path.”

Heryudhitiawan explained that the officers did not have time to enquire as to the woman’s name, where she was from, or where she was trying to get to as after they called her down from the fence and pointed her to a safe walkway, she ran off.

They believe that she had followed Google Maps and ended up way off course. 

He added, “However, he (the tourist) was cooperative and did not fight… So when you are prohibited and directed, go straight and follow the officers’ directions.”

The video quickly went viral on social media, and while most of the comments highlight the bizarre choice of the woman to try and scale the fence, some residents tabled their concerns about how the behavior of tourists on the island just becomes stranger and stranger. 

The Director General of Immigration has developed a new app that will help concerned residents, tourist attractions and accommodation providers keep closer tabs on tourists and directly report any violations to the dedicated Bali Becik Tourism Task Force.