New Operation In Bali Will Quash Foreigners’ Lawlessness

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As the high season gets underway in Bali, police in Badung Regency are taking a proactive stance against potentially ‘lawless’ foreigners.

Badung Regency is the most popular area of Bali for tourists, home to resorts like Kuta, Legion, Seminyak, Canggu, and Uluwatu.

Badung Police have announced the launch of a 16-day operation titled ‘Operation Nusa Agung 2023’. The operation, kicking off on the 21st June, is aimed at anticipating ‘potential acts of lawlessness and crimes involving foreigners’.

The move comes after a recent rise in tourists behaving badly in Bali. The series of incidents have involved everything from working illegally to disrespecting holy sites to public nudity and verbal abuse. 

The Badung Police Chief AKBP Teguh Priyo Wasono spoke with reporters about Operation Nusa Agung, what it means for tourists, and why it is needed in the first place.

He said that “In practice, we will prioritize pre-emptive and preventive activities accompanied by law enforcement. The hope is to create community order and conduciveness.”

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He noted that in 2022 just 29 foreigners were involved in serious crime in Badung Regency, but the figures for 2023 already suggest a rise.

AKBP Wasono continued, “Discipline in controlling and taking action is urgently needed so that the regional police operations can run safely and in an orderly manner.”

Tourists can expect to see more security officials in Badung’s busiest tourist destinations.

But it should be impressed that they are there to keep law and order and are first and foremost on hand to help tourists should they need support. 

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He added that his teams will “Coordinate and work well together to achieve operational goals and objectives with maximum results without any counter-productivity.”

The Badung Police teams will work in coordination with the Tourism Task Force to ensure that reports of disrespectful or unlawful behavior by tourists are followed up on immediately. 

In the last few months, Bali’s Provincial government has deployed two different Tourism Task Forces to quash unruly behavior by foreigners on the island.

The first task force focuses on following up on reports of foreigners working illegally in Bali, breaking the conditions of their visas. The second task force focuses on all other kinds of disrespectful and illegal behavior by tourists. 

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The concerted effort from the Badung Police unit to follow up on reports of illegal and unruly behavior will be well received by many local people.

Many communities impacted by the disrespectful behavior of a small minority of tourists on the island felt that the only way to get their voices heard was to use social media.

This subsequently led to an increase in social media vigilantism and a surge in viral videos of tourists breaking the rules in both big and small ways.

Officials have called on local residents in Bali to report a crime or disregardful behavior via the correct channels; to the police, the civil service, immigration, or local village security, known as pecalang. 

But what does Operation Nusa Agung mean for tourists in Bali over the next 16 days? Really…not that much.

The vast majority of holidaymakers in Bali are hugely respectful of local culture and customs and are visiting the island with the view of having fun in the sun, not causing havoc.

All tourists landing at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport will be handed an information card containing the newly outlined rules and regulations for visitors to the island.

The rules include respecting local culture, wearing modest clothing, and communicating with people in a kindly manner. 

While Bali is a vacation destination that allows tourists a lot of freedom, the deeply reverential culture of the island must be respected.

Many of Badung’s busiest destinations, like Canggu and Seminyak, have a thriving nightlife scene, and where there’s alcohol, there’s a risk that things can get messy.

Tourists are encouraged to drink responsibly, respect local people and fellow travelers and adhere to the Do’s and Don’ts as outlined in the good tourist guide given to them on arrival.