Gordon Barlow

My son's old (former!) girlfriend was harassed in Bali the other week while riding around on her scooter by herself. She put her story on FaceBook and somebody sent it to the Daily Mail - probably the Australian edition, if there is one, since the warning targeted tourists from Australia.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7177963/Warning-Australians-tourist-sexually-assaulted-Bali.html

Kim67

A pile of shirtless, beer swilling bogans from Australia converge on one of a group of islands in a predominantly muslim country, is it any wonder that they are targeted. It's really sad that every tourist in Bali is tainted by those that are disrespectful to the culture of the country they visit and it's sad that there has been such violence and loss of life from those they offend.

A woman alone in a foreign country should always be careful, assaults of any kind, sexual or not, can happen anywhere, any time, in any country.

Amazulu

That's bad - just as it is with shirtless, beer swilling Poms from the UK in Magaluf and shirtless, beer swilling Yanks from the US in Rosarita, but none of that in any way shape or form justifies a sexual assault on a young woman. Being 'disrespectful to the culture' can never be an excuse for that shit. Don't try and use that nonsense as some kind of justification

Kim67

I'm not justifying ANY kind of assault. I was pointing out that any woman alone should be on alert for danger anywhere, anytime. Unfortunately it's a dangerous world for females full stop. If you look at the statistics on The White Ribbon FB page, you'll see how many women in Australia alone lose their life at the hands of men they know and love, never mind complete strangers in another country who don't value females at all.

You've misinterpreted my post....be respectful of a countries culture and as a woman, be careful wherever you are.

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Gordon Barlow

Let me just hasten to say that the girl who was assaulted in Bali would have been fully respectful of the local culture. I know her well. Most (all?) of the bikini photos in the newspaper report would have been taken from her Facebook pages.

Of course Kim's comment is 100% correct: women alone should always be careful in "foreign" places. And even when they're not alone. When my female traveling companion and I backpacked through Turkey back in the '60s, we were careful not to hold hands or show any sign of affection in public. We heard of a Danish couple who had canoodled in public somewhere near Izmir on the west coast, and they were attacked in their tent the same night - the young man killed and the girl raped. I'm sure it's much, much worse now.

Amazulu

Fair enough, I stand corrected. I find the whole Aussies/Brits/Yanks etc behaving badly overseas to sometimes be a bit overdone anyway - it's more of a media construct in order to sell content over reality. If you believed the media, Northbridge, Cardiff, Newcastle etc are anarchic combat zones on a Saturday night, when the reality is very different - bad news sells papers. Unfortunately, the police play the game too in order to justify their actions - and budgets

Kim67

Coming from WA originally, (and having lived in a muslim country) I just cringe at the way a lot of my family and friends over the years have behaved in Bali. It's put me off ever going.

One of my girlfriends from school (she had little kids at the time) about 10 years ago, went to Bali as she did every year, rode a scooter/motorbike without a helmet and came home in a body bag, poor girl. It's just that people forget that while you're on holidays, you still have to go about assessing your everyday safety.

Gordon Barlow

Just on a pedantic point of order, Kim, remember that the predominant religion in Bali is Hindu - almost uniquely in Moslem Indonesia. 83%, Wikipedia says.

Amazulu

While there will always be idiots who take it too far, I still maintain the the incidence of anti-social behaviour in these places is overdone. Also, many holiday destinations - Bali, Spain, Greece, Mexico etc - have businesses and/or areas that market themselves as cheap/excessive drinking outlets - and make a lot of money doing so. So, then saying that heavy drinking and the associated problems is a big issue is a bit rich. In the case of Bali - Indonesia, the island, businesses, individuals do well out of this. A big grey area IMO but at least it gives Today Tonight something to broadcast and the perpetually annoyed something to tut about

Scooters are a big danger issue - more hassle than they are worth too. I just take a taxi. We were in Ubud last year and there was a young Aussie dickhead 'trying' to ride a scooter - and you could see that it was something he'd never done before. He lost control of it, fell off and the bike mounted the pavement, glancing my wife, who was unhurt. Half a metre/second difference and it could have been very messy. Avoid

Kim67

Speaking of media beatups, holidays and trouble. Alf and I were in Zimbabwe in January and the day we arrived trouble started because of petrol prices. There were protests resulting in violience, there was no power, the government blocked the internet and then just social media, and the shops were all on strike. We were going down to Lake Kariba for a week to stay on a houseboat with his family and needed last minute supplies. Fortunately they'd been stocking up on beer for months and months but we needed some eggs and veges etc. The only place to get food was from the little corner guys selling on the side of the road. I had never had sudsa and rape before so when we pulled up to get veges, we go to buy rape and Alf whips out his professional Cannon Camera and starts taking a couple of photos of the rape so that we can identify it's english name and see if we can get it in Australia. Good old Morgan who owned the store thought we were foreign journalists covering the trouble over there and went a little bonkers at us. Alf's brother in law came over to ask what was going on and when Morgan saw him and realised we were just visiting family that lived in the street he calmed down and let us take photos (for $1US or with me in the photo with him). We were told later that last time there was trouble and civil unrest in the country, the local people who had spoken with journalists were taken away and beaten by the police so that's why he was so concerned with us taking photos of his veges.

Kim67

Yeah I know Gordon, that's why they're so liberal on that island, but unfortunately the minority that are offended have reacted with violence. So heartbreaking for the locals and tourists. Fortunately it hasn't stopped tourists going to the island.

spouse of scouse

If we're being pedantic It's Balinese Hinduism, blending Hinduism and Animism.

Gordon Barlow

Well, I'm very glad that things are still going strong, with tourism. I was only in Bali for a few days in the '70s, during a month's holiday in Java and Bali. Of course we loved everywhere we went, and remember Bali with fondness. Monika (the girl in the newspaper report) spent a few days in Rote Island, which I'd never heard of; Christians there, she told me. (I don't know how that came about - close to the Portuguese Timor of earlier times, perhaps.)

Gordon Barlow

I expect Islam is a bit more liberal in the Islands than in other countries, too, Spouse - except maybe up at the top of Sumatra. We have a small community of Indonesians (Moslems, presumably) working here in Cayman alongside Christians and Hindus and what-all. All very laid back, which is nice.

PittwaterPrincess

Yes. Bali can be a very conservative place.

I never personally never had any problems in Bali.

During my travels by myself, I did get harassed in Malaysia and they only left me alone when I told them I was meeting my husband (thereafter I brought myself a cheap fake wedding ring), and I also had a scare when I had to fight off a rapist in Australia.

Things can happen anywhere