B

ali Governor Made Mangku Pastika has asked the Bali Police to closely monitor several specific security threats, including illicit business practices by foreign nationals.

He said that foreign nationals doing business on the island without obeying the law and local regulations were a threat.

Pastika said that as a small island with a strong cultural heritage and a robust tourist industry, Bali faced security threats from both locals and foreigners.

“The police have to closely monitor some specific threats on Bali, such as tax fraud involving foreigners and conflicts as well as clashes involving traditional customary institutions,” Pastika said on Tuesday.

He was briefing scores of the force’s senior officers, including Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Totoy Herawan Indra.

Pastika, a former Bali Police chief who warned against the substantial number of foreigners involved in tax evasion on Bali.

“Many foreigners work in Bali, but it is not clear whether they pay taxes. Many of them enter the island on tourist visas, but then they work here,” he said, adding that such foreigners also took local workers’ jobs.

Pastika pointed out that 98 percent of the island’s star-rated hotels employed foreign workers as their general managers. Foreigners also filled middle and lower level positions, from junior manager to chef.

“The police must take action if these workers do not pay any income tax,” he said.

Another common scheme to evade tax, Pastika disclosed, involved a foreign investor establishing a private corporation in the names of local counterparts.

He said that in several cases, foreigners buy land and build villas with their own money but using the names of local people.

Later, they sell the villas at a high price. Unfortunately, most of the transactions take place outside of Bali.

“Many foreigners do this. Some of them, indeed, marry local people, or simply pretend to marry local people. This is a common practice because both of them, the foreigners and the locals, profit from this scheme,” he said.

“I hope the police pay attention to this practice. Please help save Bali because most of them ignore the development principle of Bali, which should be based on Tri Hita Karana,” Pastika added.

Pastika also reminded that Bali had specific characteristics in terms of traditional institutions.

“Don’t forget that on Bali, we have two kinds of villages. Besides the 706 administrative villages, Bali also has 1,485 customary villages. A customary village is an autonomous traditional institution that wields powerful influence due to its role as the custodian of local traditions, customs and religious activities,”

A customary village is the most powerful traditional institution on Bali. Each village has its own local laws and convention. These regulations differ from one village to another. Balinese generally treat these local laws with respect and obedience.

Conflicts involving customary institutions has increased over the years, with triggers being disputes over village borders, cemetery ownership and caste, particularly when several members of a customary village publicly assume a new, higher caste’s name prefix without the consent of the remaining members