A warning to all foreigners about Bali

I want to leave a warning for all foreigners going to, and especially those thinking about investing in Bali. I want to warn you so you know not to make any mistakes which would end up with your spending time in jail and / or being blackmailed into paying a huge bribe.

First, during my unlawful police detention in December 2002;
1) The police said they wanted to ask me some questions as the police station, a "cross check" as they put it. They have no legal right to demand you go and you should refuse; you should instead ask them to do their cross-check in front of and at your country's consul, not least to ensure there is a good witness to what goes on.
2) When the Balinese police asked to make a copy of my passport, they never returned it. The British embassy in Jakarta had to strongly intervene over 4 days to get it back. Unless you are charged with a crime, which I was not, the police have no right to hold your passport and you should not give it to them under any circumstances. Carry a copy of your passport around with you and give them this if asked.
3) The police used my passport to try and coerce me into signing a statement in Indonesian which I did not understand. They interviewed me in English and yet they wanted me to sign, without translation, a statement in Indonesian. They waved my passport in front of me and said "This statement is nothing, it is what you said, if you sign it we can give you your passport back and you will be free to go". I am very glad I did not sign their statement, despite the fact they got very angry (after having been very friendly) because of it. When they shouted "Are you refusing to sign this statement of what you said? You can go to jail for that!" I replied "I am not refusing to sign it, I simply want an accurate translation into English first." Although this meant coming back the next day as they refused to do it then, I have no doubt I would have been stitched up and in jail if I had signed what they wanted. The next day I came back and they police said the interview had to be held again in front of the translator. When I asked why they could not have the translator simply translate the previous statement they had asked me to sign, the police replied it had been lost! When I said I wanted a copy of it anyway, they got very angry once more and then said it had been destroyed. I have no doubt the original statement was not an accurate record of what I said and would have landed me in jail.
4) After my passport was returned and I was allowed to go, my lawyer at the time asked for a police letter confirming the "pre-investigation" (as the police termed it) was closed. He claimed the police showed him a copy of my villa investment agreement (I had invested in some villas in Bali). I did not believe him at first, as he said he needed a copy of the agreement himself, and I suspected he and the police were up to something. However, some 3 years after, my former business partner in Bali was "summonsed" (not properly / legally) to the police station about me and they showed him they had a copy of our former agreement together. At that time I had already sold / transfered (thank God) my interests in thise villas, but the question is "How did the police get a copy of these documents?". The only answer is that Bali's notaries routinely inform / copy the police all such documents involving foreigners. The thing is, this is illegal and none of the police's business of course, but it goes on and you have to ask yourself why!

Ever since going for the first time to Bali, every experience I have had of the police from driving around Bali, being involved in a road traffic accident (not my fault, someone hit me from behind), from wintessing "road blocks", to this horrible affair has shown me the Balinese police are nothing but extortionists, crooks, mafia and human rights abusing garbage in uniform; they are scum, street dogs. I have watched them stop my hotel driver, who was fully licensed, to say "Business must be good" and then extort money from him. I have had to endure their attempts to get my wristwatch from me after the road accident, as well as negotiate over 2 days how much money I had to pay them so they could donate this to the hospital (yeh right!).

The Balinese police are the garnage of Bali and you should knowm this, and be careful.