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If you stay a bit longer in Bali - longer than just a few days that is - and plan driving a vehicle like a Scooter or Car here, it’s almost unavoidable that you will be stopped by the police once in a while. If you are wearing your helmet how it should be or are correctly buckled up in your car - that has usually only one reason -> to extort money from you - the “wealthy” foreigner or tourist.
The most common times for routine Police Checks are Monday mornings (the weekend is just over, all money is spent!), Friday early afternoons (the expensive weekend is ahead with lot’s of Arak and Karaoke sessions!) or mid weeks around 11am-1pm (there is nothing more delicious like a free lunch!).
First you will be asked a lot of questions: “where you from”, “what you do for work”, “where you stay”, etc. This isn’t friendly interest, but has the only purpose to determine your ‘wealth’ or ‘worth’, read: how much money they should ask from you.
Their most common and successful scheme is to ask you for your International Driving License, which - if you can’t show one, but only a national one - would cost you some ‘tea money’ of Rp 20.000 if you ride a bike or Rp 50.000 if driving a car (more, if you appear ‘fresh off the boat’, or if you wear gold rings and necklaces all over or Dollar Bills are hanging out of your pockets).
As an alternative you will be “threatened” to come with them to the Police Station or more seriously to go on standing trial in Bali’s capital Denpasar (Both this never happens, as it would mean more work for them and plenty loss of time for extorting money from easier targets).
The collected money will anyway go straight into the pockets of the involved Police Men, there won’t be any receipt or ticket for you to carry home as a souvenir.
Fear not! There are ways out of this dilemma, if you follow the tips below.
While negotiating with the police isn’t a pleasant experience for most people, there is almost always the chance that you can get away with just a warning instead of paying the ’standard fee’ or even more. Just play by their own rules. Here are some things you can do:
- Don’t stop in the first place. Am I kidding you? Not! As the ‘Patroli’ are usually waiting for their prey in not easily visible corners or side pockets of the road; it’s pretty easy to miss them. They don’t use whistles or other signals as well, just a lame hand waive to flag you down. It’s easier when riding a bike - just look in the opposite direction (usually the right side of the road, it also helps if you wear sunglasses). This way you missed them ‘by accident’, don’t worry: they will not follow you - there is much easier prey for them than abandoning their favorite sweet spot to follow one single victim.
If you indeed get stopped or can’t drive past them:
- Stay always calm and friendly - smile a lot. Anger doesn’t lead you nowhere - it makes things more complicated
- Act real sloooowwwww and pretend that you have all the time in the world (even if you don’t and feel like you have ants in your pants), tell them you didn’t know, as it’s not common in most other countries you visited (name all countries in Asia you can recall!)
- Explain that you are only a short-time tourist in beautiful Bali (never say that you live here, even if you do), that you like it sooo much and that you want to tell all your friends back home how nice and friendly all people are here
- Tell them that you learned your lesson now, you feel sorry about your mistake, look very miserable. Ask where you can get an International Driving License in Bali, let them write you down the address, ask them to paint you map. Cooperate as much as you can. Do anything to keep them busy and more and they will let you off with a verbal warning only, just to get rid of you
- If you own your bike or your car, don’t tell them! They will right away find something that is broken, doesn’t work or isn’t installed correctly (mirrors are a hot topic with bikes). If you insist you rented, those things usually don’t matter. Tough luck though, if your name appears in the insurance slip (there are ways to avoid that as well)
- Explain that you are a journalist who is writing an article for an Australian/British/American/Whatever Magazine about Bali and how great the food is here, how friendly the people are here and so on
- Ask the Officer’s name and write it down on a piece of paper in front of him, ask him to help you with the correct spelling. If you don’t have pen and paper - yes, you guessed right, borrow it from them (!)
- If you have a newer European License (the plastic card with the European Flag) you can almost always ‘convince’ them, that this is the new European International Driving License. Just stand firm your ground, say that you don’t understand what you did wrong, repeat it again, 5-10 minutes is all that it takes. Repetition works! The main reason for them asking the International License is that it states usually all classes you are eligible to drive. That is the case with the national European Licenses as well. Show it and explain to them. Hah! Gotcha!
- Sometimes, they just don’t let you off with a warning only. You have to fill out some form with your particulars, name, place of stay in Bali, sometimes home address. Stay calm. Be creative! Fill out whatever you want there: your first and middle name okay, but write Legian Hotel or Poppies Place and any fantasy address back home. Of course you don’t have your passport with you! It’s with the Travel Agency, in the Hotel Safe or with the wife shopping. Don’t forget to ask his name and write it down carefully, if you have to fill out something. This way they will never check the correctness of your personal details, as they just want to get rid of you quick, you might probably mean trouble for them
- If anything else fails and you talked yourself in a rage, mention the TAC (Tourist Assistance Center) as a last resort, it helps to have a handphone and type in its contact list without showing them much attention. The number of the TAC is 224111, you have to dial +62 361 224111 (0361 is for Denpasar).
You might ask, is it worth the trouble? If you didn’t bring *any licence at all*, didn’t wear a helmet on a bike or weren’t buckled up in your car - probably not. You will have to pay most of the time. But for the International Driving License Scheme - definitely yes!
Remember:
You can either waste your time or your money! But everyone should have at least the 10 minutes it takes to discuss with a police man if he should let you off with a verbal warning or if you really have to part with your hard-earned cash.
Anyway, the official Police Checkpoints usually consist of 3-5 cars with 5-10 cops at a time. You almost always get away with only a warning here, as everything is very official.
So if you are stopped by just 2 or 3 Cops from 1 car on the road side, without having done anything wrong - you know what their goal is. It depends a bit on the situation and the Cop who will talk to you. I tried all the tips above and they work most of the time. In the 10 months living here we were stopped more than a dozen times. We paid only once so far, when my pillion rider ‘forgot’ to wear her helmet, but never because I didn’t have an International Driving License (still don’t have).
What is an International Driving License good for anyway?
The problem with the International Driving License is that it expires fast and is completely useless. It’s actually more a scheme than anything.
- It doesn’t save you from anything: if you are in an accident with a local, you will still pay for all expenses, license or not. If the accident is with a fellow foreigner, the one with a car insurance has to pay or the one who can’t bribe the Cop who is writing the Police Report
- Another problem is, that it expires. European international driving licenses (for driving outside of Europe) are only valid for 3-6 months and costs you anything between Euro 35 to 80, depending on the country. Other countries offer 12 month licenses, but still you have to renew them every once in a while. It’s just easy money for countries.
- The biggest joke is that you can apply for your International Driving License in Bali directly. It’s valid in Bali then, but might not in other countries. You don’t even have to bring a valid license for applying - just hand over the money! Again it’s limited to 1 months, 3 months, 6 months or 1 year. Longer period - more money.
So, if it’s all a scheme, why waste your money?
The money you saved you can much better invest in 2 small Bintang beer or even 3 large ones, if you happen to drive with your rented Suzuki Katana, Toyota Kijang or Daihatsu Feroza. And it’s for sure a great feeling to drive off from the site of your triumph without having paid any direct bribes for nothing.
Yes, no? What do you think?
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bkit walang adobo,?he.he Filipino is the best….
This is a really great post. Its always a funny thing to realize that in developing countries its usually the police who are your most serious threat.
Michael: “Its always a funny thing to realize that in developing countries its usually the police who are your most serious threat”
Uh… true, IF you think a scam tax of 2 beers per month qualifies as “most serious threat”. Most commonly encountered, perhaps; but e.g. someone slipping you a drugged drink & then basically doing what they like to you could be much more serious in terms of consequences (not that I’ve seen that in Bali; but Thailand…)
Still, article was nice to read, thanks Chris
Maybe you can try (or pretend) to speak French, Spanish or Martian language to the cops.
One thing that always work for me is to cite the name of high-level official, preferably military or police, and claim it as my relative. Once i mentioned that my mom is president’s doctor and we’re urgently going to meet with presidential health team, and they let me off without paying anything.
great article. brings a big smile to my face.
can i add the method that evolved while i lived in Bali/Indonesia was if you could not just look the other way while they try to wave you down, wave back with a big grin. The response by the police was one of confusion with their hand still flapping. They never followed.
In December, 1996, my buddy Tim and I got stopped by a cop at the stoplight just outside Denpasar, on our way up to Ubud. We were just finding out that our Suzuki mini jeep had terrible brakes, and rolled about a half car-length into the (completely deserted) intersection. Tim was driving, and made the mistake of handing over his licence. The cop waved us over to his police hut at the side of the road, and insisted that we owed him money for our infraction.
However, Tim was *not* going to pay this guy *anything*. We were on vacation, we were in the shade, and we were in no hurry. We probably wasted 30 minutes of the cop’s time, always with a smile on our faces, just kibbitzing around (that’s Tim; I could never do that myself). The cop finally handed back Tim’s licence, and told us we were free to go.
But Tim wasn’t done quite yet. Oh, no.
Before we went, Tim had the cop pose for pictures with us: me and the cop, Tim and the cop, the cop with his hands around Tim’s neck (a la Homer Simpson’s “why you little…!” pose). I think the cop kinda got into it — he was smiling and laughing in almost every picture.
Once we had those shots, we bid the cop a fond farewell, drove off, and enjoyed another week driving around the island, cop-free.
A variation on this scam that I fell victim to in Bangkok, Thailand, went as follows.
I was waiting outside a bank (which had foreign exchange facilities) on Sukkhumvit Road for my parents, who had gone into the bank to change some cash. While I waited, I smoked a cigarette. When I finished the cig, not wanting to throw it on the ground, I saw a bunch of butts in a pot plant, so I put it with all those other butts. I should point out at this stage that Bangkok is one of the filthiest cities in the world, and this particular area was no exception.
Anyway, I waited a full five minutes more, and when my parents emerged and we began to walk off, a cop stopped me, and in Broken English, proceeded to tell me that I had been caught littering - he produced the cigarette butt in his hand as “evidence”, and that now I would have to go to the Police station to pay the fine (not at all cheap - around 3000 baht).
My dad, standing next to me began berating me and the cop, and so as to establish myself as the one the cop dealt with, I shouted at my dad and told him to let me deal with the situation, visibly in front of the cop. The cop shifted his gaze to me instantly and I began the negotiation, in English, about how I was a poor student and we were in a rush, and I couldn’t possibly go to the police station. When this didn’t work, I switched to Thai (Which I speak fluently). He raised an eyebrow and said in Thai “You speak Thai?”..
I continued the poor student line, asked him, wasn’t there some way we could deal with it here, and pay less since I was a poor student and we were in a hurry. He hemmed and hawwed and finally said “Wellll ok, I’m not supposed to but because I’m very busy I will”.. He proceeded to fill out a “reciept” in a phony pocketbook handed to him by an underling and asked for my name. “Fred” I said (obviously not real name)… He wrote “Mr.Fred” on the reciept for an amount of 600 baht. I at this point asked him for his name - to which he looked alarmed and said “What for!?” and I said in Thai very politely “Oh, nothing, just in case there’s a problem ok?”.. So he said “Ok, my name is *thai equivalent of “Fred”* We smiled and I payed him and we went on our way. I apologised to my dad profusely for making him lose face, but he said “It’s ok, I see exactly what you were doing, and it worked”…
Bottom line : I can’t speak for Bali, but In some parts of Asia, bribing the cops is part of the deal. If you treat the situation as a negotiation rather than a confrontation, you will get through with no problems. If I had allowed my dad in that situation to continue a pissing contest, it would have elevated the situation and made it possibly get worse. You have to understand that these guys do have power, and to some extent you have to defer to it, because quite obviously they are not afraid of abusing it - and I know of more than one instance where people have ended up in a police station or paying thousands of dollars to get out of a situation that could have been avoided if they’d simply paid the damn bribe and walked away. Ultimately - if you make the cop lose face in Asia, you’re in uncharted territory.
First sorry for my bad English..
I am an Indonesian and don’t know what I must say about your writing but it’s actually happen everyday in every city at Indonesia. And the police or police oknum (”oknum” means one or some bad people from institutions) not only target the tourist but almost everyone they can get. For every Indonesia citizen this matter only one part of daily life.
There also a lot of “oknum” in any organizations or institutions especially in government. Yeah Indonesia today is not about honest & humble people anymore, they become more capitalist. In our daily life we need a lot of money everything must go smooth if you have money doesn’t matter if you are a criminal.
Man, I usually love your stories, but I am not sure I agree with your priorities on this one.
If avoiding giving a guy who makes as much in a few months as we spend on an night in a nice hotel a few lousy bucks is really something to worry about, then maybe the third world isn’t the place to be travelling.
I bought a fake Int’l drivers license in Bangkok for about 5 quid. It worked a treat. One cop actually commented on how nice my DL was.
I suggest the “i don’t speak your language” methode. Ok, it is easy for me being German, but perhaps…
A Peruvian customs officer tried to rip me off. $10 or so to enter the country.
I switched into German language mode and acted randomly. Saying “Ahhh!” and “Ohhhh”, “passport” and other random stuff. Acted friendly and helpfull. But totally not understanding, what he wanted. Grabed my pen and a piece of paper, wrote my name on that piece of paper. Signing, stepping to his papers and trying to sign something… Made a lot of loud mess so everyone and his sister notices that there was something going on.
After some time he simply gave up.
Oh yeah, that’s right - third-world laws are for the locals only. I hope you don’t travel in my country with that attitude and no brakes.
In Jakarta, a cop pulled my wife and I over. He tried to insist that a stop sign had been missed. When we showed him that the stopsign had been stolen, he insisted that we should have stopped anyways.
However, funny anecdotes aside, ya can rent a taxi and driver for next to nothing in Bali. Unless driving in chaos is your goal in life, why not just hire someone? Your stuff is safe, you have a guide, no parking hassles (especially if he’s got a cell phone), etc. You’re also giving a fellow a job doing something he does well.
There is a policeman in Bali with my license right now.
Basically, I just bailed.
Here’s the story:
Kuta 1991
Had a rented motorcycle, and since it was my last day, decided to wake up extra early for a dawn surf session at Uluwatu.
Problem is, I don’t do mornings well, and I forgot my plastic helmet that I was required to wear. Seriously, this helmet was a children’s toy that would have caused more damage to me in a wreck than if I wasn’t wearing it - but thats the rule.
A cop was standing beside the road and waved me down. I did not have an “international license” or anything else, besides my US drivers license - not that anyone asked at the bike rental place. I opted for the ignorant defense - and just kept pointing to my motorcycle endorsement on my license, smiling, and insisting that all was good.
He decided I had to pay a fine - surprise. I didn’t had any money with me, so he told me to come back with the cash. He put my license in his pocket.
I left, but decided I wasn’t going to miss my surf session, so I went on. Later I got some money, and went to the police station, and tried to pay my fine - HA! They actually laughed at me for trying - first the guy at the counter, then they started passing the story along until the whole station was laughing. About that time it dawned on me that this wasn’t an “official” fine. Duh.
Then it sunk in, that the fine was likely to be more than it would cost to replace the license. And it was obviously off the books, if they even have books. So I never went back for it. No worries. No troubles. Fugitive Internationale.
Every once in a while I get a kick out of wondering if my license is pinned up somewhere, waiting.
this is just hilarious in a socially incorrect kind of way. ;)
Oops, so many comments on just this one post. Thanks a lot! Guess somehow it hit the nerve of a few people out there. I’m happy that not everyone sees it the same way!
Yes, it’s only a few bucks, if at all - and shouldn’t probably ruin your day in an otherwise short holiday. Of course you can see it as a support for someone who earns much less money then you. Interesting other bribery stories from around the world!
I like the idea to hire a driver and support a local guy better this way than bribing the police.
When you live here for a longer while things again start to look different as well, than just on a short holiday. For me it’s still corruption, which is again more common in some countries than others. So how one handles it is up to everyone’s conscience.
And as a German myself i know perfectly well its 3rd-world laws Marc is mentioning.
Just joking…
surprise…
wellcome in INDONESIA…
ha.. ha… ha…
I drive from Singapore to KL (Malaysia) with a few ringgit in behind my drivers licence for ‘fines’. Figure if I want to drive fast, and they are willing to let me ’settle’ on the spot, then it works.
The problem with corruption is that it has a tendency to be bottomless. When I was working in Hong Kong, we refused to pay a bribe to a govt official in Guangzhou. They came in and confiscated our servers in our Guangzhou office, stating that we were doing illegal activities. The ‘fee’ had tripled.
In Penang we hire drivers to take us around (our favourite is Audi - named after his favourite car - if anyone wants his info, you can contact me through my web site).
[...] Chris at Nomad4Ever writes a great piece on how to avoid being scammed by Police in Bali. His principals can be applied to most developing countries. [...]
I read somewhere that the first thing you should do if you are stopped by
the Filththe Police in Asia is take your keys out of the ignition and pocket them. If they have your keys, they have you by the short and curlies.I met one of the chiefs of police in Embargo one night who offered to get me a 60 day visa for 70 bucks! I decided to not hand over my passport!
This has happened to me in Bali - simply suggest that you will report the matter to your embassy - they panic and cancel the “fine”. This has worked for me and it will for you - they hate the thought of international attention.
Well very well written. Those questions where are you from, how long are you here, where do you stay reminds me of Thailand and Vietnam.
That it realy the way how to find out how rich you are and how well you know those locals.
[...] Still paying off corrupt Traffic Cops? Try this instead… [...]
Hey, the original post can sooooooo also be applied to Thailand (especially Phuket) where it’s low season for 6 months of the year. Thus meaning that the people that live hear get checked by the Police far more often, just to keep the figures up! Have your helmet in place, and even have the strap around your chin… they’ll still try it on because you might have some stickers out of place, or out of date. Dont ya just love the Police. Mean while, half of the car drivers at night are driving around drunk! Anyways, no point fighting it… :-)
If you don’t care with ethic you can say money can solve almost every problem in Indonesia especially when you deal with government. BTW I am an Indonesian Government Officer so I really know about the corruption maybe you can surprise there so many method do by the officer to get some money from small amount to very big amount (even in Europe or US standard). But because the policeman is deal directly with people so they get a lot of protest.
And if you don’t do the corruption you will trouble yourself even if you don’t want get involve you must support it (in my opinion it’s corruption too). I don’t know how much long this situation will happen but I think it will take very long time before every people will take effort to fight corruption in serious ways not only just talk.
Good tips, remind me to ‘catch me if you can’. I doubt if they can speak English well. More conversation will make them more confuse. Sometimes they will show you the price list of what you did wrong. Don’t forget to bring the Calculator as what the trader show you the price in ‘pasar ubud’. Then kept Brazilian, Chille, or whatever curency they don’t know in your purse. Show your calculator it’s worth as rupiah in the pricelist and have no more money, but don’t forget to keep smilling. Then you can laugh after it.
I’m a tried and true Indonesian and usually the surefire way to get rid of the “hound” is to bring your own “Traffic UU Books”. It’s not expensive (under Rp20K on some book store) and everytime they stop you and start preaching you with a lot of passage from the “Traffic UU Books”, just kindly show them the book and ask them to pin point exactly which act you’re violating.
“UU” = “Undang-undang”
[...] And while we’re abroad, we’ll finish with Chris who has advice for those driving in Bali: Still paying off corrupt Traffic Cops? Try this instead. [...]
hmm, google took me here. Can you obtain an indonesian driver’s licence if you have a tourist visa ? I need one, I am in thailand where you cannot get it on that kind of visa
Why would you want a local driving license anyway?
I’m not sure if that’s possible at all, but then - as in Thailand - the right amount of money should be able to fulfill your desire.
[...] Still paying off corrupt Traffic Cops? Try this instead… brought a lot of traffic from Boing Boing. It really seems that Boing Boing is more for satirical or funny posts, so if you write a blog and often post something funny or off the beaten track - don’t forget to let Boing Boing know about it. The potential clicks coming from there are of much better value than those from digg.com or reddit.com. Close to 30 readers shared their stories with Traffic Cops during their travels and offered tips and tricks as well. [...]
[...] and much more to improve their otherwise meager wages. This starts with simple extortion from motorists, but doesn’t end there at all. Indonesians have a saying “When you lose a chicken, go [...]
On my fiorst visit to Bali i was stopped and fined 50-000 rp for no helmet and 50-000 for no license so 100-000 total , Either this or threatned with jail and knowing how serious this would be back in the uk i paid up and i was let on my way.
My first trip to Bali i met a girl and we stayed in touch until i returned and eventually formed a relationship ,
oN my second trip first incident i was stopped again and charged 20-000 rp and paid up
next instance i left my helmet in mcdonalds and whilst travelling through a one way system to get it back i was stopped by the police, i told them i forgot my helmet in mcdonalds and i was going back, when i got back the helmet was gone, i had just been to the bank and withdrawn several million rp and the police said i must pay fine , i said i was tired of there bribery and i wasnt paying, they would not return my bike and i had to call my girlfriend/wife to help me out, she came out late and eventually persuaded me to pay 20.000 for the release of my bike and i was on my way.
A few weeks later i was stopped by the road again and asked to pay a fine, again i spoke with the police officer for so long and jokingly asked him for his police badge from his shirt, he said 100,000 rp so i said ok and was on my way.
Another inciedent i was rideing from kintamani to denpasar with my girlfriend/wife and was stopped by the police, he again asked for 20,000 i refused and said i would go to court i said i had been stopped so many times i now owned a indonesian police badge just like him, he let us go i said here just take the money but my wife said we were free to go and better just go so that was free.
Another incident, yes another i was stopped on a main road with many others and checked by young police trainee, more official, i was taken over to a desk and asked to sign all this paperwork i pleaded stupidity, i called my father in law and the police officer said if i didnt sign it he would,. he gave me a fine and said i had to take it to the court to pay, i was worried about this and thought i may have to stay in bali until my court date,
i was handed a note by the police to say my bikes documents had been kept by the court .
a few days later i was stopped again and asked for documents, i showed tyhem the nbote from the police saying i was already pending court, they smiled at me and let me go
My father in law plays badminton which is popular amongst the more wealthy police, court judges, lawyers etc so my people spoke to the court people and my fine was gone and paperwork returned,
Tired of all the problems i eventually decided i better get the international license after waiting over a hour to see the police for the police to take the rest of the day off i didnt bother and returned home a short while later .
dodgy stoo, I can feel your pain!
While over the last couple of months, police activity was quite low, it’s now catching up fast again (due to high season) and you have the above Police Check Points every day along the beach road and at some typical road sides.
They now usually ask foreigners for Rp. 100.000-200.000, if you don’t have the right papers, don’t wear a helmet or else! I saw plenty of foreigners pay right away without any discussion. Okay!
Although I find it nowadays wayyyyyyyy easier to avoid paying at all. Just say no! Tell them to give you a warning, that you are here only 3-4 days and ask their full name, so you can send it to the Bali Post. Or don’t speak at all or only in your local dialect (non-english of course). I’m now off normally under 5 minutes of discussion. There is much easier prey for them with plenty of banknotes hanging out of their pockets.
God bless the high season!