Boozy boys are letting the side down with their Bali antics

Two recent incidents involving high-profile NRL players in Bali have done nothing to change the global view of our tourists as “Aussie yobs in Bintang singlets”, meaning the good parts of the tropical paradise are becoming harder, writes Mike Colman.

The first time Noosa-based surfer, journalist and former editor of Tracks magazine Phil Jarratt visited Bali was in 1975.

What he encountered was pristine beaches, glassy waves and friendly, innocent locals. He dubbed it, “The Island of the Gods”.

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That trip, including return airfares from Sydney, three weeks’ bed and breakfast and a motorbike thrown in, cost $299.

In the ensuing 44 years, Jarratt has seen the island paradise that has since become a second home change almost beyond recognition.

When he took his family back 10 years after that first visit, he says, “Kuta had a bar on every corner and hordes of Aussie yobs in Bintang singlets.”

By then, the cheap airfares, cheaper drinks and easy lifestyle of Bali were such a magnet to fun-seeking Australian youth that it almost became harder to find someone aged under 25 who hadn’t partied at the nightclub district of Kuta than one who had.

La Favela nightclub - Bali

Travelling to the Indonesian island had become such a part of Australian life that in 1984 Adelaide band Redgum released a chart-topping song, I’ve been to Bali Too. But even that tongue-in-cheek anthem had a certain innocence about it, with lyrics that spoke of mozzie coils, cheap T-shirts and late night puppet shows.

If it was rewritten today it would no doubt have a far darker tone and refer to lack of respect for local customs, binge drinking and drunken brawls in the streets.

Because sadly, highlighted by two recent incidents involving high-profile NRL players, that is the image of Bali that is being portrayed around Australia and the world.

Not that it is only footballers on their end-of-season blowouts who misbehave after taking advantage of Bali’s lax licensing laws.

With bars having no set closing times and no equivalent of Australia’s Safe Service of Alcohol restrictions, local police and security forces are fighting – and losing – an ongoing battle against a constant flow of tourists behaving badly.

Brisbane Broncos star David Fifita was accused of assault. pictured in Bali with Payne Hass.

Over the past month alone:

● Melbourne Storm forward Nelson Aosfa-Solomona was suspended by the NRL after footage emerged of him throwing punches in a wild brawl outside the La Favela nightclub in Seminyak. He claimed he was retaliating after teammate Suliasi Vunivalu had been attacked by another group of tourists.

● Broncos boom youngster David Fifita was locked up for three days after allegedly punching a nightclub security guard. The NRL Integrity Unit is investigating.

● Adelaide tradesman Nicholas Carr was arrested after kicking a local man off his motorcycle following a binge in which he admitted to drinking “20 or 30 vodkas”.

● Sydney man Scott James Harrison, 40, was detained after drinking all day and allegedly attacking three security guards at his Seminyak hotel.

● An Australian filmmaker was locked up after throwing drunken punches following a boozy breakfast at a Kuta
cafe.

● Gold Coast carpenter Matthew Richard Woods, 24, faced up to seven years in jail for alleged bag snatching.

● And, earlier in the year, Sydney man Simon Wilson Menzies, 39, was stabbed in the stomach at the Santa Fe Grill in Seminyak after allegedly attacking an American tourist.

Melbourne Storm player Nelson Asofa-Solomona.

And that’s just the ones that we know about. Under Bali law, many incidences of violence or assault are not reported unless the aggrieved party presses charges.

Even if the case is handled by police, it does not proceed if a “peace agreement” – usually an apology and financial retribution – can be struck.

All of which adds to the problem, with tourists aware they have been given a virtual green light to misbehave.

A recent case where a group of Australian and New Zealand men brawled on a Kuta street, causing damage to a shopfront, was settled when the father of one of the Australians paid the shop owner $450 to repair a
broken window.

David Fifita reportedly paid $30,000 to security guard Dani Irawan in a peace deal that saw him released without charge after three days in the Kuta lock-up.

For Bali authorities the behaviour of unruly tourists has become a very worrying Catch-22.

The island’s economy desperately needs tourist dollars and so they are reluctant to come down too harshly on the young men and women who cannot handle the cheap booze and 24-hour party culture they offer.

Brisbane Broncos David Fifita shakes hand with assualt victim Dani Irawan. Broncos Manager Adam Walsh looks on.

At the same time, recent social media footage of drunken brawls and yobbo behaviour going viral around the world is hardly the ideal promotion of Bali as a family holiday destination.

As a counter measure, Kuta police have beefed up their numbers over the past few weeks, with an extra 50 officers on standby every night.

According to North Kuta police chief Dewa Putu Gede Anom Danujaya: “We are working with Kuta police station and making a combined effort with our security, particularly after seeing the videos of so many fights.

“North Kuta and Kuta police are directly leading a program of increased security and a greater presence on the street.”

Whether that show of force has any effect on the violence and boorish behaviour is debatable, but one thing is for certain.

Bali will never again be the untouched secret that Phil Jarratt and the other early visitors enjoyed and, given that he helped promote it as a holiday destination through his articles, he accepts some of the blame.

Matthew Richard Woods was arrested after snatching the bag of a Canadian tourist in Canggu, North Kuta on June 19, 2019. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

“I was part of that generation that went to Bali in the early days and helped create what it has become,” he says over a coffee at Noosa. “But you either give up on the place or accept that it has become something else and find the good parts.”

The trouble is that due to the appalling behaviour of those “Aussie yobs in Bintang singlets”, the good parts are becoming harder and harder to find.