On the heels of the recent ban on the use of motorbikes by foreign tourists in Bali, the Governor of Bali has now made a request to the central government to disallow the Visa On Arrival to citizens of Russia and Ukraine. VOA is currently available to more than 80 countries around the world. This would mean that Russian and Ukrainian visitors would have to seek approval from the government before coming, while citizens of other countries can simply get on a plane, fly here, and be issued the permit to stay on arrival.
This is being done, according to the governor, because of a long series of troublesome incidents involving the citizens of these countries, ranging from criminal activity such as overstaying the limits of their visit permit, illegally running a business in Indonesia, and ignoring traffic rules, to disrespecting the local culture.
In the past year, citizens from Russia and Ukraine have kind of flooded into Bali as a means of escaping the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, such that Russia now accounts for the second largest tourist population in Bali after Australia (although Australia far exceeds any other country).
I can't say that I'm very surprised by this decision. Russians especially are often in Bali news, and not for any good deeds. It seems that nearly every week I will read about yet another incident involving Russians--Minit Mart holdups, drunken brawls, deportations, porno villas, and so on. Just yesterday a Russian was stopped by the police in Sanur for riding a motorbike without a helmet, without a shirt, without a license, without a registration, and without a legal license plate. The man was fined and the bike was impounded. Stupid, really, because he likely could have avoided any trouble at all had he simply warn a helmet and a shirt. Was he trying to attract the attention of the police or what? Good job, comrade.
Happily for me, there are relatively few Americans in Bali, and we are not in any case widely known for causing trouble.
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