Violate our way of life and we’ll send you home, Bali tells tourists

BADLY behaved visitors to Bali will be sent home or face “purification rituals” for disrespecting sacred sites, officials said yesterday.

The warning came after a Czech couple filmed themselves splashing each other with holy water at a temple on the Indonesian holiday island.

It was the latest in a string of tourist gaffes on the Hindu-dominated island, which has seen an Australian kicking a man off a motorbike and a Russian visitor trying to smuggle out a drugged baby orangutan.

The latest incident caused particular outrage as it took place at a temple in the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud. In a now deleted video by Zdenek Slouka, who has a large following on Instagram, he is shown lifting up the skirt of his girlfriend, Sabina Dolezalova, and splashing water on her bottom.

The video provoked outrage among the Balinese. In response, Wayan Koster, the island’s governor, said that

‘In the future, if tourists behave like that we should just send them home. We will give them this warning’

the local government would step up its role in protecting holy sites.

“In the future, if there are tourists behaving like that we should just send them home, they are being disorderly coming to Bali. We will give them this warning,” he said. The couple tried to make amends on Thursday by apologising for their actions and taking part in a purification ceremony in which they wore traditional clothes and touched their hands to their heads as a show of respect.

“I’m really glad that we had the opportunity to purify this place and now I would like to say thank you to all the Balinese people because they were very kind to us,” Mr Slouka said afterwards.

Arya Wedakarna, a senator on the regional council, suggested the ritual could be made compulsory for future misdemeanours by holidaymakers.

“They made a mistake sullying our island,” he said. “Anyone who violates our traditions must take part in a purification ritual.”