The Russian Luiza Kosykh was deported a few days ago from Bali for posting some photos, on her Instagram account, posing nude next to a tree that is sacred to Hindus on the most famous tropical island in Indonesia. The woman, who shared with her 8,000 followers several snapshots embracing a 700-year-old banyan, argued that the images were not recent, but that she uploaded them during a previous trip, a couple of years ago, and that she did not know what it was. of a sacred tree. She apologized. But the excuse did not convince immigration officials. They arrested her and sent her back to Russia.
A couple of weeks earlier, the authorities had already deported another Russian citizen, a blogger named Yuri Chilikin, for posing with his pants down for a photo from the top of Agung: a volcano that, in addition to being the highest point on the island, is also considered a sacred mount. With the latest cases of Luiza and Yuri, there are already almost 60 Russians who have been deported from Bali since 2022.
After Moscow launched the invasion of Ukraine, and more specifically after Vladimir Putin announced the famous “partial mobilization” that paved the way for the massive recruitment of citizens, many Russians took refuge on the beaches of Bali, becoming this year in the second visitors to the island behind only Australians.
Before the pandemic, the Russians did not even appear among the top five nationalities that visited Bali. But the relative ease of obtaining visas – Indonesia has dodged joining Western sanctions against Moscow – as well as the obvious appeal of the destination, meant that in the last five months of 2022 more than 80,000 Russians arrived on the island.
The problem is that, especially in the first half of the year, these tourists do not stop making news for what the always warm Balinese describe as “indecent behaviour”. Even the island’s governor, Wayan Koster, has recently claimed that he has proposed to Jakarta’s central government to revoke the visa program for travelers from Russia, and also from Ukraine, who have been arriving in greater numbers since the start of the invasion. .
Earlier this year, a Russian man was charged with hooliganism after painting an anti-war slogan on the wall of a home. “Because they are at war, [Russians and Ukrainians] flocked to Bali, including those who sought solace or came to work here. But the violations by its citizens were more significant than by others,” Koster said.
But the problem in Bali, one of the world’s top holiday destinations, is not just with the Russians. Ever since this paradise of vast rice paddies and golden sand stretching down to turquoise water reopened and lifted pandemic restrictions last year, the local population’s animosity towards foreigners has grown steadily. The pandemic brought calm -and also ruin to those who live from this tourism-, and many can no longer stand the limits that the prototype of white traveler with money exceeds who arrives at these destinations thinking that it is the country that has to adapt to it, and not the other way around.
The island’s natives, with a predominantly Hindu population in a Muslim-majority nation, are fed up with tourists flouting moral and legal norms, staging repeated scandals that fill the pages of the local press: sex on the beaches , drug trafficking, traffic accidents and immigration violations cheating with visas.
Some visitors, with a tourist visa -or directly with the entry permit that they give at the airport upon arrival, which usually does not exceed 60 days-, take the opportunity to get money with some informal work, such as tour guides or meditation classes, yoga or surfing. Many local employees, trying to get by after the shock the pandemic has brought to their businesses, understand that these illegal workers are taking their jobs. On Instagram, an Instagram account (@moscow_cabang_bali) became popular among residents in March, sharing photos of some foreigners -especially Russians- who work illegally on the island.
The civility campaign launched by the authorities has already pointed to a possible ban on motorcycle rentals, the usual, and cheap, way in which tourists usually move around the island. Governor Koster proposes that the agencies include a driver with a car in their travel packages. “They go on a motorcycle without a shirt, without a helmet and even without a license. Some tourists also use false license plates,” Koster denounced this month at a press conference.
Hit economically by pandemic lockdowns, Bali is now trying to balance the need to resuscitate its tourism industry with welcoming responsible tourism. Authorities have forecast international arrivals this year to reach 4.5 million from 2.3 million visitors in 2022.
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