Police in Bali have disclosed the details of the sheer volume of reports they are receiving about the behavior of some tourists on the island.
The news comes as officials on the Island of the Gods are cracking down on lawless and disrespectful behavior by foreigners on holiday.
Speaking at a press conference in Denpasar, the Head of Immigration Technology, Information and Communication (TIKIM) at the Ngurah Rai Immigration Office, Sandro Bobby Raymon Limbong, shared details of his team’s work over the last few months.
Data revealed that Ngurah Rai Immigration has received 4,366 formal complaints against foreigners in the first quarter of 2023 alone.
This resulted in 85 foreign nationals being deported.
Of those who were deported during the first quarter of 2023, 36 were due to violations of law, order, or cultural disrespect, and the other 49 people were deported due to overstaying their visas. In terms of a demographic breakdown, there were 26 Russian nationals deported from Bali, 12 US passport holders, 11 people from France, and 8 Australians.
Limbong explained, “In addition to providing immigration administrative measures in the form of deportation to 85 foreigners, and we also carried out detentions (restrictions on movement) to 61 foreigners.”
“In addition, throughout Q1 of 2023, Ngurah Rai Immigration has carried out pro-Justicia in 2 cases, namely the alleged use of fake passports.”
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When asked about the impact of the island-wide effort to crack down on illegal activity on the island, Limbong suggested that the tides are turning.
He noted that arrivals from Russia have dropped to the tenth most frequent arrivals, with travelers from Australia still claiming the top spot.
He added, “Currently, the trend of increasing visits is from Indian foreigners. The character of these citizens is almost similar to ASEAN countries. They usually take a week’s vacation, and it’s really a pure holiday. They very rarely create problems.”
While there have been just under 100 deportations related to this current campaign by Ngurah Rai Immigration, there were still thousands of potential violations reported.
Data does show that 2,033 complaints about foreigners were made via Instagram media, 1,392 via call center, 745 via WhatsApp, 93 via Google Review, 31 via Twitter, 2 via SP4N Lapor, 35 via Facebook, 30 via Email, and 5 via immigration counters.
According to Limbong, the number of formal complaints against tourists has risen by 18% compared to the same period in 2022.
Earlier this year, at what felt like the height of the backlash against tourists, especially on social media, officials called on local residents to report violations by the correct channels.
It was getting to a point where many Bali residents felt that their complaints and observations of unruly tourists were not being taken seriously by officials.
This led to a surge in social media ‘vigilantism’ whereby residents were sharing videos online of tourists behaving badly so that the content would go viral and catch the attention of officials.
Eventually, officials were able to calm the situation. They released a statement to encourage residents to stop sharing videos of potentially criminal activity online and created a ‘no wrong door’ policy whereby residents could file formal reports at every level of island governance, whether at a village level, through to municipal and regency level and ultimately to the provincial authorities.
In light of the 18% increase in reportedly bad behavior by tourists in Bali, officials have implemented a series of educational and awareness campaigns to help stop bad behavior from happening in the first place.
This includes new rules and regulations information that is required reading for all international arrivals in Bali. Tourists must now scan a QR code on arrival.
The link takes tourists to an infographic containing the new famous do’s and don’ts of Bali, as outlined by Governor Koster.
It must be remembered that while there has been an 18% increase in reported bad behavior by tourists, this makes up a tiny fraction of the huge number of respectful and well-behaved tourists that arrive on the island every single day.
Currently, Bali Airpot is serving over 65,000 passengers every day, and the island is well on track to not only hitting but surpassing ambitious tourism targets for 2023.
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Randy
Thursday 20th of July 2023
An interesting article in the Washington post about the Balinese influencer Niluh Djelantik , bless her heart. Whether she may be in Bali or abroad, she is always ready to mediate between the locals and foreigners when the sheet hits the fan. She can find the time to repost bad behavior, spread awareness and update with the local law enforcement and Immigration officials.
In the post, a paragraph about recent examples of insidious behavior from entitled foreigners on Bali include a Danish woman exposing herself from the back of a motorcycle, an American man who bashed a police car and the worst of all behavior an Australian man who spat on someone at a mosque. This Aussie has perpetrated a hate crime, he would be arrested and appear in front of a judge to be sentenced in Australia but since this happened in Bali, this loser probably got deported without a trial. And what the hell was he doing in a Mosque in Bali anyway. Any foreigner need to refrain from creating animosity between ethnic groups or religions that are well recognized in the Indonesian Constitution.
Educated foreigners who have the means to travel should be able to behave in a foreign sovereign nation. If they cannot behave like grown up adults then stay home, your money is definitely not worth the trip to have traveled this far to Indonesia.
Exp
Friday 21st of July 2023
@Randy, I have seen some of her posts. Often unnecessary uncouth language I must say with the aim to polarize instead of calming things down.
Yuoku
Wednesday 19th of July 2023
Circus.
Corrupt and lawless people, reporting foreigners, most of whom don't even do anything wrong (nr of reports vs deportations).
Why don't you report and govern your own people? Or teach some manners to the kids who behave like monkeys, completely out of control. You are too weak and cowardly, that's why. Only daring to target foreigners because they have 0 protection under your deeply corrupt system. Even the bad behaving foreigners have more personal integrity and courage than the Bali locals combined. Shame. Of course you don't feel any shame because you don't have any standards for yourselves.
Paul Morris
Saturday 22nd of July 2023
@Randy, and what are you going to do if Yuoku is badmouthing in Bali , Jack shit your the only one with a big mouth . Time to spend your energy on stopping Trump getting back in power.
Eric
Thursday 20th of July 2023
@Yuoku,
This is the real state of affairs.
Randy
Thursday 20th of July 2023
@Yuoku, hope you are not in Bali but badmouthing from afar as always.
Firechef
Thursday 20th of July 2023
@Yuoku, Well said, but will fall on deaf ears.
Al
Wednesday 19th of July 2023
Eventually, officials were able to calm the situation. They released a statement to encourage residents to stop sharing videos of potentially criminal activity online and created a ‘no wrong door’ policy whereby residents could file formal reports at every level of island governance, whether at a village level, through to municipal and regency level and ultimately to the provincial authorities.
Is there also a website to report corruption from locals? Surely it's a two way street that one? I think the complaints from visitors would be 10 fold the 4000 reported.
Exp
Thursday 20th of July 2023
@Al, This site accepts a lot of different complaints: pengaduan.denpasarkota.go.id/id/Home Contact admin via email if no user account.
Firechef
Thursday 20th of July 2023
@Al, Don't hold your breath, corruption on every level is the norm and will be tolerated for natives.
Paul Wilkinson
Wednesday 19th of July 2023
Anyone who disrespects the culture and way of life in Bali should not be allowed to stay !!
Randy
Thursday 20th of July 2023
@Paul Wilkinson, how about in the whole of Indonesia. Besides that, the Javanese culture, way of life and Balinese culture may be different but they are certainly united in diversity.
Exp
Wednesday 19th of July 2023
"Ngurah Rai Immigration has received 4,366 formal complaints against foreigners in the first quarter of 2023". And this resulted in 146 deportations & detentions, i.e. a small percentage of total.
So what happen to the other several thousand foreigners that were not sanctioned? Baseless complaints? Just rude? Not well liked? Reported as revenge for some dispute?