On the Indonesian island of Bali, a team from the Denpasar Immigration Office and a team from the Indonesian Ministry of Justice and Human Rights’ Bali Department raided PARQ Ubud apartments, known as the “Russian village”. Russian Anton Zanimonets, who lives on the island, told socialbites.ca that foreigners are afraid because of the attention of the immigration office and that the raids do not bring peace. According to him, local residents take pictures of strangers on the phone, and also comment on their behavior on social networks.
“In general, there was an atmosphere of acceptance, freedom, goodwill on the island. Now that events and conferences have gone underground, they are not publicly announced, many are slipping into the legal realm, which takes time and money. Many foreigners are afraid of the actions of the immigration service precisely because it is not always possible to comply with 100% legality and not violate the law. Even a hired law firm may not know how to do this right. Such raids do not add confidence or peace to expats. According to the conversations in the community, people are afraid, many do not believe that the problem is legalization – Indonesian law does not welcome small and medium-sized businesses. You’re either a tourist or an investor, it’s hard for the rest to get it right. Now there are scandals again with the Russians – one of them got on a motorcycle “wrongly” – stood on it without equipment on the road with people, right in the city, the other took a topless photo shoot near a sacred tree. Even though we know it’s definitely possible to go topless in Balinese traditions. Now, apparently, it is not possible. Now locals are already shooting almost everyone who jokes on the phone, such a sharp reaction went to almost everything, and in the comments the crowd mocks, insults, writes how, in their opinion, a WNA should behave – a stranger. They even came up with such a word to dehumanize it a bit, WNA,” he said.
Zanimonets also said that he accidentally participated in the raid in the “Russian village”. According to him, the police checked the restaurant and various buildings, but did not notice the increased interest from visitors during the inspection.
“A full raid was carried out on the immigrants, including the head of the department, his deputy and about 20 officers. When I asked what they were doing here they wanted me not to worry, they said they were only looking at one restaurant and a few businesses. There was almost no one, everyone dispersed. There were only a few people in the hall, and my friend and I usually sat alone, surrounded by officers, from nine to ten. Usually there are more people. As I understand it, they were controlling buildings, not people. In other words, I did not receive any attention from the people sitting in the common area for an hour. The Indonesian staff felt relieved and for some reason took pictures. It turned out that the rumors about the “compact life of the Russians” and the “Russian village” were not confirmed. Everyone can live in the park, half of the residents are not Russian. “As far as I know, nothing like this has happened before,” he said.
As before knowledgeable Indonesian portal Tribun Bali said the raid on the PARQ Ubud apartment complex, known as the “Russian village”, was associated with a large concentration of migrants, citing Tedi Riyandi, Denpasar Immigration Bureau Chief. Riyandi noted that about 90 apartments were checked, 50 percent of the residents were Russians, the rest of the visitors came from Kazakhstan, Germany and Indonesia. He also added that he never claimed that the “Russian village” was only for Russian citizens.