the image of the island as an attractive holiday destination may be marred by a tradition of local authorities taking cash out of oblivious tourists.
Bali is known as a vacation paradise with friendly locals, so it never crossed the mind of Mark Ipaviz his stag party would be wrong. Ipaviz, a former Australian model enjoyed his last night as a single man in Bali in February, when a squad of armed police stormed in. The reports revealed later police beat participants with their handguns. Some revelers were shocked with a taser. Group members have also been forced to pay a bribe of $ 25,000 to avoid imprisonment beyond 24 hours, they would later go to prison. The officers reportedly threatened the 16 Australians with 10 years in prison for violating Indonesian laws on decency.
Beckham on the sand | Courtesy of Riza Nugraha
Following the incident, questions were raised as to why the Bali authorities raided the first party. Some speculated that it was due to the presence of a stripper. Others believed rumors of abuse of controlled substance circulating. Ultimately, however, it seems that the police had hunger money.
The case of Ipaviz is one of many police extortion scandals that have occurred in the archipelago in recent years. Critics say the tourist destinations like Bali are especially prone to extortion by cops who see foreigners as unwitting sources of ripe additional revenue.
Kuta Chief Deddy Januartha police and seven other police officers were named as suspects after Australian media reported on the case in June. Attention has prompted authorities to Bali to open a formal investigation of their own. The police spokesman Hery Wiyanto briefed reporters on the arrest of officers have been suspended until the hearings are completed. Earlier this month, reports said the officers who admitted raiding party bachelor Ipaviz and escort several participants ATMs were made simply "stay in the sun for hours" as punishment.
The towerDespite local authorities who claim to take the issue seriously, tourist extortion seems to remain a rite of passage for the police in Bali. In a small but equally embarrassing incident filmed in recent years, a local traffic officer demanded Rp.200,000 (US $ 14) Kees van der Spek, a Dutch journalist who was riding a motorcycle without a helmet Kuta .
Van der Spek was stopped by an officer named Komang Sarjana, who asked him to come to a police station nearby. The officer explained van der Spek violated the law and therefore had to pay cash on the spot to avoid a court hearing.
There is no secret that these types of transactions occur daily in the archipelago. Anyone who has spent time in Indonesia has probably experienced petty corruption and payments in one form or another - as usual, some would say. Unfortunately for Sarjana, however, van der Spek secretly filmed the encounter that day and the video went viral on YouTube within hours.
What is most troublesome in the video, the officer shall immediately spend the money of corruption on beer and drinks with van der Spek on the job. In the video, Sarjana said, "Okay, a hundred [thousand rupiah] for beer, a hundred [thousand rupiah] for my government." The witnesses watched the officer buy beers then call another officer to join the drinking session. In addition to web ridiculous, Sarjana was punished with a prison sentence of 21 days. Brigadier chief Ketut Indra Jaya, his colleague participant, was sentenced to 14 days.
Because the amounts are often small, most cases like this are not reported in Bali, but are not necessarily limited to police encounters. Bajeba Ahmad, a Yemeni, 28, maintains that he was extorted in the amount of Rp.500,000 (US $ 35) by immigration officers. Bajeba claims he was asked to give the money directly to the immigration office at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta. "[It was] because the date stamp on my passport showed that I overstayed," said Bajeba.
"My mistake was that I did not check the stamp on arrival in Bali. It has shown, unfortunately, bad month," he explains. Bajeba entered Indonesia via Bali and was released by Jakarta. He spent a . of five days in the country and was on his way to Riyadh. The immigration official, however, said Bajeba he stayed longer than 30 days of its authorized visa. Although it is impossible to prove malice, Bajeba alleges immigration officials at Bali deliberately put the wrong month in his passport in an effort to take money out of it later.
"In fact, I showed them the other stamps in Riyadh, Dubai and Guangzhou, which showed my travel date sequence. But the officers in Jakarta told me he was three offices immigration who made the mistake, "he says.
In the grand scheme of things, it is often easier for victims to simply hand over foreign extortion money and curse words mumble under their breath than actually get the proper conduct of 'action. Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) Neta Pane head said that there is no official data on the number of these incidents occur in Indonesia each year. He is confident there are hundreds of similar cases across the country. More likely, there are thousands.
Courtesy Aiko Konishi
"We do not have reliable data on this because not all extorted tourists would account for his experience, "he said Indonesia Expat . Instead, foreign tourists tend to spread messages via word of mouth to warn their friends and relatives, Pane said.
Pane said the tourism extortion tarnish Indonesia's image in the world as an attractive holiday destination. He also claims to have called for a quick move by the Indonesian National Police to solve the problem. He suggests that officers found extorting foreigners should be punished more severely. He also said the proceedings should be public and open to media control. This could serve as an incentive for agents and court officials to distribute appropriate and consistent verdicts.
The police should also ensure that local travel agents make their global customers aware of local laws, values and etiquette in all, the component adds.
As for tourists, he asks foreigners to contact the local office of their travel agent for a consultation before their arrival. "These police officers are clearly doing bad things," admits Pane. "So it would be to the advantage of both foreign and Indonesian [police] foreigners, too, avoid illegal movements that could lead to such incidents. "
earlier this month, Indonesia has announced it will allow visa-free entry to 47 other countries in order to make its competitive tourism with Thailand and other countries of Southeast Asia. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the government hopes 10 million foreign tourists spend at least US $ 1 billion this year. the stakeholders hope that the majority of Bali's tourism revenue will be channeled appropriately, and not end up portfolios padding authorities. However, unless there is some sort of position of extortion tourist packages to Bali, it is likely that the island will simply see more business as usual.