Temples restrict tourist access over disrespectful behaviour in Bali

BALI: The Bali administration is preparing a new regulation that will ban tourists from entering the main and most sacred parts of temples across the island after a series of incidents where boorish tourists desecrated Bali’s holy sites.

Balinese Hindus were shocked when a photo of a foreigner sitting on top of a shrine at the Luhur Batukaru temple in Tabanan regency went viral on Instagram and spread to other social media platforms earlier this month.

The tourist was identified as 36-year-old Tony Kristian Jarvi from Finland after he went to Sanur police station following a motorcycle accident, and he confessed that it was him in the photo. The Sanur police later took him to the Penebel police station, and he was asked to perform a cleansing ritual at the temple.

He has since deleted his photo on Instagram and apologised to Balinese residents. He also posted a video of him performing the cleansing ritual at the temple.

Jarvi’s case was not the only one that has offended Balinese Hindus. In April, a European tourist posted a photo on his Instagram account of him sitting on top of a shrine in the Besakih temple. In July, two foreign tourists posted a similar photo of a temple in Nusa Lembongan.

The head of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Hindu Religious Council, I Gusti Ngurah Sudiana, said that he was very offended by the tourists’ actions, because the temples were sacred places for Hindus.

“I’m angry about what they did. Everyone should respect every place of worship of any religion, not just temples,” he said on Wednesday.

He also urged the government to take action to prevent such incidents from happening again.