Local and regional newswires have been reporting on an initiative launched by Silmy Karim, Indonesia’s newly appointed Director General of Immigration, called the Bali Becik Foreigner Monitoring Task Force (Satgas) to crack down on disrespectful and illegal activities following a spike in foreigners violating ‘laws and norms’ in Bali and the issuing of a list of do’s and don’ts for foreigners by the Provincial Government of Bali.
An integral part of the operation encourages local people to report foreigners breaking rules and regulations and disrespecting Balinese culture and people. Silmy Karim said that “community participation is certainly very much needed in supervising and taking action against unruly tourists,” and with that in mind there is a dedicated hotline number (081399679966) for reporting foreigners.
Roughly translated ‘Bali Becik’ means returning to a better Bali, and as the name suggests, the formation of the Bali Becik Task Force aims to decrease the number of violations committed by foreigners, some of which have been making headlines across the world, painting a negative picture of Indonesia’s most popular tourist destination.
The Directorate General of Immigration website states that data from the Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kanwil Kemenkumham) has reported that from January to June 23 this year, there have been 163-foreign nationals (WNA) deported for not complying with Indonesia’s laws and regulations.
The Bali Becik Task Force consists of elements from the Directorate General of Immigration, the Immigration Division of the Bali Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, the Ngurah Rai Immigration Office, the Denpasar Immigration Office and the Singaraja Immigration Office and the Denpasar Detention Center.
Every month the Task Force has set targets to carry out 100-immigration control operations in such a way without disrupting the course of tourism and will be in action until December 31, 2023.
Nusa Bali are reporting that Anggiat Napitupulu, Head of the Bali Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights said the Bali Becik Task Force was a large team whose operations were centred in Bali. They will work according to findings of alleged delinquency by foreign tourists based on community reports to the Directorate of Immigration Supervision and Enforcement (Wasdakim). However, not all of the team’s personnel will directly handle these reports as there will also be a team assigned by the Wasdakim Directorate specifically to handle reports from the public, according to the types of violations committed by foreign tourists in Bali.
“For example, there are 25-members (of the Bali Becik Task Force team). Not 25 (personnel) traveling together … and depending on information obtained by the Wasdakim directorate, [details] will be distributed to all members of the Bali Becik Task Force,” said Anggiat, emphasizing that the Bali Becik Task Force team will handle all forms and potential immigration violations. For example, those on tourist visas who make a living in Bali, those who have taken advantage of investor visa loopholes (agents and customers) without actually investing any money, and illegal expatriate property brokers. The Bali Becik Task Force team will even take action against foreign workers who are absent from work.
The Head of the Bali Tourism Office, Tjokorda Bagus Pemayun also welcomed the initiative, saying that the Tourism Management Task Force, which was formed by the Provincial Government of Bali some time ago to oversee the behaviour of foreign tourists and tourism activities in Bali and to accelerate achieving culture-based, quality-focused tourism governance, would also coordinate with the Bali Becik Task Force.
Source: The Directorate General of Immigration website, Nusa Bali, South China Morning Post, Tempo
Image by Michel Stockman on Unsplash
