Without a doubt the most serious threat to a foreign visitor's
life and limbs comes from traffic. Even when you are on a
pavement you should not believe yourself safe, as vehicles
frequently abuse and crash into them. If you are driving something
on the road, it gets even worse, especially at night. Lorries
/ trucks which struggle up hill and mountain roads delight
in going as fast as they can downhill. Chickens, dogs, cats,
children, adults, you name it frequently step out onto Bali's
narrow roads without warning. Vehicles capable of 1 mph more
than the vehicle in front of them will do anything to get
in front. The man pushing a cart, "pedal to the floor
but slow right down if they see a prospective passenger bemos"
(van like buses) and cyclists will all make sure they get
in front of faster vehicles wherever they can, normally at
traffic lights and junctions; forcing other drivers into repeating
often dangerous maneuvers to get past them yet again. Villagers
in dark clothes actually sitting on the tiny roads at night
glaring at you to say "this is my road, stop!",
although of course you can not see them because the truck
coming the other way has its lights on full beam and thus
the first you know about it is the split second glimpse of
their eyes you get just before send them to their next life.
Indonesian vehicles are most often unsound with little or
no maintenance being performed upon them and with no requirement
to have them certified as road worthy as with many countries.
It is a fact Indonesia buys old cars deemed not suitable for
the road any longer from neighboring countries such as Singapore.
Unfortunately there is also a pronounced risk from crime
and / or violence, not least because of ineffective policing.
Law enforcement is very often delegated by police officers
to local village vigilante groups called "Pecalangan";
these self styled and seemingly unaccountable law enforcement
"officers" are responsible for many ex-judicial
beatings and even murders on Bali. Behind the smiles, it is
best not get involved in a fracas with a local, as you may
well find you are the victim of a vicious assault either then
or later. Hit men exist in Bali, although the cost for someone
to have a foreigner injured or even killed is likely to be
too prohibitive for most locals, the risk nonetheless exists.
Police on anti-terrorism / security duty have been witnessed
taking bribes to wave vehicles through, Indonesian police
training methods are hardly enough to call Bali's police force
"professional" by western standards, and their well
published petulance for corruption (extorting money, etc.)
clearly brings the question of their due diligence into question,
to say the very least. Although foreign police specialists
come in and train Indonesian police officers, the root cause
and therefore risk of Bali's security problems, corruption,
can not be addressed until there is the political will to
deal with this. It is a fact that experienced terrorists exist
in Indonesia and are sufficiently well equipped to carry out
terrorist attacks. Easy access to Bali therefore creates a
serious safety issue for foreigners. Unfortunately it is advisable
not to frequent public places favoured by western tourists
which have easy off the street access, especially in mass
tourism areas. There seems little doubt the Indonesian terrorist
group Jemaah Islamiah are able to and will carry out further
terrorism acts against western targets in Indonesia. This
is made easier by the fact the Indonesian Government refuses
to outlaw the organization itself and the Balinese police
seem ill equipped to significantly prevent them making such
attacks.
The final safety risk regards your liberty. First, please
make sure when you collect your luggage from the baggage reclaim
conveyor belts in the arrivals area that you are able to ascertain
that your luggage has not been interfered with in any way.
If there is any chance that someone could have opened your
luggage, you should check the contents immediately before
going through customs; not for loss, but for any planted narcotics.
If you are at all unsure, go to the red "something to
declare" area and tell the customs officer you are concerned
about the integrity of your luggage. If narcotics are planted
into your luggage and you get stopped you will almost certainly
be convicted of drug smuggling which can carry the death penalty
in Indonesia.
If for any reason reason you think you may be tempted to
take drugs into Bali or buy drugs while you are there, stay
at home. It is a fairly well recorded fact that drugs dealers
(as well as pimps) work with corrupt police officers. When
you walk down the streets in the tourism areas of Kuta and
Legian you will almost certainly be offered drugs. In a primarily
Islamic country which has very strict laws about narcotics,
the reason these pimps are able to exist and in such large
numbers is fairly obvious, but let BLTF spell it out; it is
likely they are allowed to break the narcotics laws in return
for fingering their customers to cohorting corrupt police
officers who will then be able to extort large sums of money
from their dopey customers, pun intended.
Many tourists also get caught up in too good to be true gambling
rackets, and are then either defrauded, robbed or even kidnapped.
Either con men or off duty corrupt immigration officers are
known to approach tourists with warnings of impending immigration
problems and then carting any unsuspecting foreigners, stupid
enough to agree to go with them in their waiting vehicle,
to be robbed. Finally Bali has had reported problems with
pedophiles, both foreign and Indonesian. Two luxury hotels
in Nusa Dua are reported to have had problems with their own
crèche staff raping and / or performing sexual acts
on a 3 year old girl and 5 year old boy; both instances relate
to alleged acts carried out by male staff. BLTF believes the
problem exists because of poor or no checks being made by
hotels when recruiting staff and a police force that too often
only seems to act as true law enforcement officers when publicity
demands.
To understand more about Bali's corrupt police officers and
what you should do if and when you are faced with extortion,
please see: Bali Police.
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