Youtube Airs Video Of Bali Police Extorting Tourist

[Lite Beer]

YouTube airs video of Bali Police extorting tourist

SEMINYAK: A four and half-minute video showing a Bali police officer asking for money from a Dutch tourist following a minor traffic violation is currently circulating on YouTube, uploaded from an account called “gil4sekali”.

Quite apart from asking for the money, the officer also invites the tourist to an on-duty beer-drinking session, as qoute from Asia News Network.

In the video, the police officer, whose identity is obscured by his yellow vast, is seen stopping the tourist, who says his name is Van Der Spek, near the Lio Square Police post, in Petitenget, Northern Kuta, for not wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle.

The officer at first tells the tourist he must pay a fine of Rp1. 2 million (SGD$156) at Denpasar courthouse. The tourist refuses to pay this amount and asks whether there is an easy way out of the situation.

The police officer then says the tourist could pay him Rp 200,000 (SGD$26) for the ticket. The officer even says that the tourist could just forget his helmet for that day and have fun. When the tourist finally wants to go back to his hotel to have a beer, the officer invites him to have a beer-drinking session with him at the police post.

The policeman and the tourist then drink beer together at the police post. During the drinking session, the police officer discloses that he has already fined three foreign tourists that day with the most generous one paying Rp300,000 (SGD$39).

Commenting on the video, Badung Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Komang Suartana confirmed that the officer in the video was one of his subordinates. He said that the officer was now being questioned over the incident.

Komang said the video was actually recorded around five months ago but only uploaded to YouTube recently.

Link to video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsHCemv3Yys

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/youtube-airs-video-of-bali-police-extorting-tourist-video-38816.php

-- Phuket News 2013-04-21

Related link:

Thaivisa YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thaivisacom

[rwdrwdrwd]

Nice bloke

[JulesMad]

[Fgis]

Later they smoked weed that the Dutch guy brought from Netherlands !

Really a lot more welcoming than Thailand

:-)

[johnnynmonic]

Cop was nice. Don't have to worry about getting ticketed again all day... I think it's the same here, no?

[pacovl46]

The cop saved you roughly 2900 Baht and a trip to the courthouse, for his own selfish reasons of course I might add, and you decided to rat on him? I hope they fully prosecute you next time they catch you riding without a helmet and of course without a drivers license!!!

[SDH]

What a "Bad Tourist" that nice officer does him a favour by letting him go, plus have some beers and the ":Evil Tourist" posts it on YouTube.....

What is this world coming too??

[foxboy]

It always amazes me how tourists are so SURPRISED when they get fined for not wearing a helmet

"but I'm on holiday, surely I can do whatever I want?"

[laobali]

For his own sake, let's hope the menheer has left Bali permanently.

[laobali]

The Dutch tourist has not done himself or anyone else any favours by posting this so publicly. Anyone living in SE Asia knows that this sort of corruption exists and probably always will. It's part of the system. The affable young policeman, happy to drink beer with his 'victim', was only following orders from above. Most of the daily 'spot fines' would go to the station CO – none actually to government coffers. Now the poor guy will be the centre of attention and may even lose his job. No one above him will be affected in any negative way at all.

There are so many worse examples that could be used in order to try and stamp out corruption. I know whose side I am on on this particular one.

[Devlin]

Clearly what the Police officer has done was wrong but in the context of that officers' personal situation in a poor developing country, I firmly believe that Mr Van Der Spek was the unethical one in this case. Not understanding Dutch, I wish I knew what Van Der Spek was saying which might change my views. [English being the universal world language, subtitles are required please] I don't wan't to fall into the trap of sterotypes but to me Mr Van Der Spek looks like yet another annoying society drop-out forigner who looks down on all the locals falsely believing he is better than them! With his weathered skin, alcohol eyes, hair that was in fashion in the 1960s and blatent disregard for road traffic legislation has shown a brazen disregard for the rules. Then feels he has the moral high ground to point out that the Police officer has broken the rules. This is not the USA, this is not Holland. I would enjoy watching a Youtube Post of Mr Van Der Speks interaction with Police in the USA or Holland if the was arrogant enough to ride without a helmet there! But, I guess he would confirm and become a law abiding citizen there.

People visit Bali / Vietnam / Thailand..... etc because they are different from home. Accept it, and enjoy it. Everything in life is an experience. I hope the Police officer and his family do not become homeless and destitute as a result of the selfish actions of Mr Van Der Spek.

Edited April 21, 2013 by Devlin

[dressedingreen]

I totally concur with the general sentiment expressed above. Westerners, in particular, have a habit of leaving their brains at home when they come to this part of the planet. The guy was wrong. He was offered a way out of the full penalty by the officer. And whatever the reasons behind the officer's offer the old adage about not looking a gift horse in the mouth but accepting it with good grace would have been the right reaction. The postponed ethnocentric second thoughts, which seem to have overcome his sense of reason on his return to his idea of civilization were devoid of both common sense and integrity. Perhaps he should restrict his future vacations to places where the full force of the law is brought upon him if he chooses to ignore reasonable precautions.

One should never generalize, but I've always liked people I've met from the Netherlands. They've usually shown a level of common sense and openness to experience I've found refreshing. This egoist obviously slipped through the 'I'm OK, you're OK' net.

DIG

[fasteddie]

Judging by the cameras, I'd say this was a set up. The Dutch guy should stay at home and keep his weasely ideas to himself.

[KuhnPaen]

The cop was beyond cool about this. Who gives a poop if he makes a little on the side? Welcome to the real world man. Freaking hippies don't like "the man"...I only wish Mexican cops were this cool when I go to Tijuana. They usually just play with their gun and stick their hand in my face demanding money.

Perfect cop. Wish they were all like this.

Hippie now has a "license" to ride without a helmet all day. What a good deal. I wonder how much this cop would charge for punching that "journalist" in the face at a bar.

[humqdpf]

Actually this video is only of amateurs in the game of getting money from tourists. The customs officers in BALI play a much more serious game to extort much higher amounts of money, which is to claim that there are drugs in your case. You get taken to a room and they let you stew for a while. They claim that their "probe" that they put inside your case has sensed drugs (whatever that means!). Frightened tourist at this stage will pay whatever. If not, they will let him stew for a while, like 6 hours while they "wait for expert" or "wait for equipment" or some other such nonsense. They can always plant some power on you anyway.

A few reminders of what can happen to you if caught in possession of a banned substance is enough to have you agreeing to whatever they want.

They seem to target particular types - mainly Western persons traveling on their own who are unlikely to have contacts in Indonesia and who are therefore helpless.

[Card]

The Dutchman is more corrupt than the policeman as it was he who started off the conversation about alternative payments and actually paid the bribe. He could have accepted the original fine. But of course in the west, it will be all the fault of the policeman without any thought of what the westerner did wrong. He broke the local laws twice - once for not having a helmet and the other for paying a bribe - and maybe drinking and driving depending on how much of that bottle he drank)..

Edited April 21, 2013 by Card

[tingtongfarang]

Police corruption is quite a problem in bali, was once there on an extended stay with balinese friends...i had a rented car, couple of times when i wanted to travel early evenings to ubud to meet other friends they put the fear of god into me about what could happen when traveling back later, regardless i was perfectly legal and consumed no alcohol,

On arrival they took me to the police station to report my driving licence stolen or lost, although it had never happened they explained that on producing this paper most often i would be allowed to go, they told it did,nt matter which international licence i had it would be used as an excuse to empty my wallet.

Edited April 21, 2013 by tingtongfarang

[jacko45k]

Wow, there is police corruption in Malaysia, startling news.

Must be why they haven't stopped the nimble fingered money changers.

[khunbillmex]

Without a doubt the scene played out in this video occurs more or less hundreds of times a day in LOS, here in Mexico and hundreds of other locales around the world - so what's the big deal here? I don't see one but I do see a pure BS video. What the guy drives around and even b4 he gets stopped he's doing a vid? catches himself being pulled over for his infraction? and so on - and then there are the long shots - what the guy has a 'crew' with him too? I would think from the get go if this were real the cop would shall we say 'insist' that no video be taken - or maybe it was a secret helmet cam? Couldn't be that as he wasn't wearing one - and to end all the crap we see Sr. Hollander riding away after his beer - who took that shot?

[fasteddie]

Wow, there is police corruption in Malaysia, startling news.

Must be why they haven't stopped the nimble fingered money changers.

WOW Bali's in Malaysia! now that is startling news, when did the invasion take place?

[wiyada]

Clearly what the Police officer has done was wrong but in the context of that officers' personal situation in a poor developing country, I firmly believe that Mr Van Der Spek was the unethical one in this case. Not understanding Dutch, I wish I knew what Van Der Spek was saying which might change my views. [English being the universal world language, subtitles are required please] I don't wan't to fall into the trap of sterotypes but to me Mr Van Der Spek looks like yet another annoying society drop-out forigner who looks down on all the locals falsely believing he is better than them! With his weathered skin, alcohol eyes, hair that was in fashion in the 1960s and blatent disregard for road traffic legislation has shown a brazen disregard for the rules. Then feels he has the moral high ground to point out that the Police officer has broken the rules. This is not the USA, this is not Holland. I would enjoy watching a Youtube Post of Mr Van Der Speks interaction with Police in the USA or Holland if the was arrogant enough to ride without a helmet there! But, I guess he would confirm and become a law abiding citizen there.

People visit Bali / Vietnam / Thailand..... etc because they are different from home. Accept it, and enjoy it. Everything in life is an experience. I hope the Police officer and his family do not become homeless and destitute as a result of the selfish actions of Mr Van Der Spek.

You don't want to fall into a trap ? seems by deciding from his looks you have prejudged him, I'm sure if he were aware you were going to be watching the video he would have cleaned himself up then you would have been really screwed

[rookball]

wow, i must say they must be pretty friendly

[Travel2003]

Extorting??

So the tourist is not part of the corruption, when he is bribing a police officer?

After all, he broke the law, on 2 accounts, thus should be punished according to the law.

People break the law everywhere, then pay off the authorities or police, and claim the authorities and police are so damn corrupt.