Ok, the crime and public safety situation here has gotten way out of hand. Its time for this: TRAVEL WARNINGS. Im sad to say this, but its time. Europe, USA, Australia, UK, Canada, NZ, and many other countries compile information and disseminate travel warnings to their citizens. With so much crime in Bali, and so much of it now involving violence, injury and death, its time to punch the panic button. Thats what our foreign services, consulates and embassies are there for. Governments around the world use information/reports from their consulates and embassies overseas to compile travel hazards information and issue alerts and warnings via many channels, formal and informal. Its time that we all write to, email, and/or telephone our respective consulates and embassies here to inform them of the now significant dangers to life, limb, and personal property of foreign visitors and residents in Bali. Contact your local consulate in Bali, AND your embassy in Jakarta now. Be clear about your concerns. Include weblinks, written reports, and media articles about the rising crime wave in Bali. Many of these are available here on this group page, also on other group pages (Bali Crime Reports, Ubud Community, Safer Bali, etc). The incidents do not need to involve a citizen of your home country. The tragic attack on the two young Korean women is not a Korea-specific incident. It is an incident that underlines the serious crime risks in Bali for people of all nationalities. I think this is perhaps the very most effective action we can take right now. And it WILL make a difference. The international foreign service circles in Bali and Jakarta are regularly in contact with each other, and discuss issues (like this one, and others) that affect their respective citizens in Indonesia or planning a visit to Indonesia. They do NOT want to get a call in the middle of the night when one of their citizens is injured, attacked, robbed, or on the way to the morgue at Sanglah. They hate that. They really do. Additionally, the Indonesian Government has just lifted restrictions on foreign investment in the tourism sector, now allowing foreign investors to hold 100% of tourism-related enterprises in Indonesia (with some conditions). Tourism and foreign investment are being taken very seriously in this country, and problems that affect them will not be taken lightly. There is a lot at stake, economically. WRITE, PHONE, FAX, EMAIL NOW. Lists of contact information for your respective consulates and embassies are available online in many locations, as well as in guidebooks and magazines here in Bali. Do it now. In your own words. You do not want to read about one of your fellow countrymen/women being involved in a tragic incident of violent crime here. Do it for Valeria, Kimmy and her friend, Paul Latourell, and for everyone else that has been, or may be, a victim of violent crime in Bali. Start now. Right now. Before you finish your lunch! The database/map of incidents will come in the next wave of communication to public agencies and media. Even ten or twenty or thirty personal written expressions of concern delivered to international foreign service personnel in Indonesia will cause change to begin, will send ripples over the surface that reach all the way to world capital cities, and the desks of Indonesian government ministers in Jakarta . . .
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 05:34:08 +0000