Cowboys in Paradise Bali

DENPASAR, The BaliTimes,

The maker of a documentary about the goings-on between Indonesian men and foreign women holidaying in Bali is to be summoned to the island via Interpol, Bali Police said.

Director Amit Virmani, who lives in Singapore, neither had a permit to work in Indonesia when he made the film nor required permission to film in the country, violations that could see him jailed for up to a year and fined, police have said.

Bali Police spokesman Gede Sugianyar said late on Friday: “Amit can be charged with violating Law No 8/1992 on Filming and be sentenced to a maximum jail term of one year and a fine of Rp40 million (US$4,430) in lieu of an additional one year in prison.”

The documentary, Cowboys in Paradise, has already seen authorities round up dozens of local men on Bali’s famous Kuta Beach, suspected of being gigolos and harming the island’s important tourism industry.

The men have since been released, after police said they could not prove they were involved in soliciting sex from tourists.

Governor I Made Mangku Pastika said he feared the documentary, segments of which have been uploaded to YouTube, would damage Bali’s global reputation as a place of innate spirituality and natural beauty.

Sugianyar said that as part of Bali Police’s probe into Virmani, six people involved in the film had been questioned and that police were certain the director had broken Indonesia’s laws.

“We have begun coordinating with the National Police Headquarters (in Jakarta) to have Amit summoned for questioning here,” he said.

He added that the lack of an extradition treaty with Singapore might present difficulties in having the director brought to Bali but that Bali Police were not put off.

“This possible hurdle does not prevent us from building our case against the film director,” he said.
Filed under: Headlines



HeraldSun,

INDONESIA has detained 28 "beach boys" accused of selling sex to female tourists on Bali after a documentary on the resort's "gigolos" hit the internet.

"We've rounded up 28 men we suspect might be gigolos. They're young, fit-looking and tanned, mostly surfer beach boys," said I Gusti Ngurah Tresna, the chief of security on Bali's main Kuta beach.

"We're still questioning them. If we have good reason to suspect they may be involved in shady activities we'll hand them over to the police.

"We're always on the beach so we can guess which beach boy may be taking advantage of foreign women."

The arrests followed the release of a documentary, Cowboys in Paradise, by Singapore-based writer and director Amit Virmani at a film festival in South Korea last Wednesday.

Segments of the film, which contains candid interviews with "beach boys" and the foreign women who fall for them, have gone viral on the internet after becoming available on YouTube.

Mr Tresna said the documentary ran counter to the authorities' preferred image of Bali as a world-class destination.

"All this while we've been selling our beautiful waves, sunsets, turtles, culture and nature conservation, and suddenly now we're seen to be selling gigolos? Such films are really harmful to our image," he said.

The official could not explain what charges the "beach boys" could face and admitted it would be hard to prove they were selling sex.

"We apprehended some suspects some time back but we let them off with a stern warning," he said.

"They will approach foreign female tourists, especially Japanese, on the beach, befriend them and the women will pay for their company and food during their stay here. Sex may be involved.

"It's like prostitution, which is hard to prove because the foreign women may be willing partners, too."




TJA Posted at 4:29 PM April 27, 2010

How can this be, in a country were child prostitution is there major source of income. Time that the government of Indonesia cracked down on their children being sold to the parasits of the world. Especialy seeing that you can get life for drug trafficking or the death penalty.

*
Scott of Armadale Posted at 4:17 PM April 27, 2010

Japanese women? Yep, weird in every way.

*
Olivia of Melbourne Posted at 4:16 PM April 27, 2010

Even sadder is that there's slutty women who buy their services. Truly, get a life of your own. You all should be ashamed of yourselves.



The Bali Times, KUTA

Dozens of Kuta ‘Beach Cowboys’ Rounded Up
Authorities at Bali’s famous Kuta Beach have rounded up and detained 28 “beach boys” accused of selling sex to female tourists after a documentary on the island’s “gigolos” was posted on the internet.

“We’ve rounded up 28 men we suspect might be gigolos. They’re young, fit-looking and bronzed, mostly surfer beach boys,” I Gusti Ngurah Tresna, the chief of security at Kuta Beach, said.

“We’re questioning them. If we have good reason to suspect they may be involved in shady activities we’ll hand them over to the police,” he said, adding that raids were ongoing.

“We’re always on the beach so we can guess which beach boy may be taking advantage of foreign women.”

The arrests followed the release of a documentary, Cowboys in Paradise, by Singapore-based writer and director Amit Virmani at a film festival in South Korea last Wednesday.

Segments of the film, which contains candid interviews with “beach boys” and the foreign women who fall for them, have gone viral on the internet after becoming available on YouTube.

Tresna said the documentary ran counter to the authorities’ preferred image of Bali as a world-class destination.

“All this while we’ve been selling our beautiful waves, sunsets, turtles, culture and nature conservation, and suddenly now we’re seen to be selling gigolos? Such films are really harmful to our image,” he said.

The official could not explain what charges the “beach boys” could face and admitted it would be hard to prove they were selling sex.

“We apprehended some suspects some time back but we let them off with a stern warning,” he said.

“They will approach foreign female tourists, especially Japanese, on the beach, befriend them and the women will pay for their company and food during their stay here. Sex may be involved.

“It’s like prostitution, which is hard to prove because the foreign women may be willing partners, too.”

The producers of the film condemned the clampdown on Kuta Beach.

“We are aghast at the recent raids in Kuta. This is not the point of the film,” a statement posted on the film’s website said.

A surfing instructor at Kuta Beach told The Bali Times on Tuesday that the presence of young men seeking foreign women on the beach was nothing new, and not unique to Bali.

“Police take the media too seriously. This has been going on for many years and in many parts of the world. But now, because someone decided to do a documentary, police are asking locals for their ID and asking questions, like what are you doing here,” said the local, who declined to give his name.