Anti-porn bill leads to slow download speed
This anti-porn bill has also led to the internet-download speed being reduced to prevent porn from being downloaded, and resulted in the publisher of Playboy Indonesia being sent to jail, even though the magazine contained no nudity.A funny footnote to this is that one of the proponents of this law, and an important Member of Parliament, was recently photographed looking at porn on his tablet during a parliamentary sitting. I found this incredibly funny in an it-can-only-happen-in-Indonesia kind of way.
Strip clubs in Bali
During my time in Bali two strip clubs opened and both places lasted about six months before they were shut down resulting in the foreign owners of both establishments losing a lot of money. I do not know the circumstances regarding the closure of the first place, but the second strip club was shut down because it became overrun by Indonesian gangs.One practice employed by foreigners owning nightclubs in Bali is to impose cover charges for Indonesians to enter a club - something that is often condemned as being racist. The reasons club owners give for this practice are a) Indonesians do not drink much, b) foreigners do not like to go to clubs and be surrounded by Indonesian men, and c) Indonesian gangs take over the clubs, extort the staff and start trouble with the foreign clientele. The latter is apparently what happened to the second strip club.
The owner thought he had done the right thing by paying the right people, unfortunately he neglected to charge a door fee and within months a gang set up shop in his club. The owner was soon forced out and the gang tried to run the club with little success.
Sexy dancers
Indonesia's solution to its lack of strip clubs is sexy dancers - this phenomenon came to Bali about five years ago and now sexy dancers cam be found in the more popular and upmarket clubs.From the chapter 'Thumbs Up', Bali Raw.
Malcolm have to say just finished your book and totally recomend to everyone. I myself have been going to Bali for the last 8 years and lived there for the past 2 everything you have written is unfortunatly 100% true.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe the playboy publisher went to jail when there were no naked girls. What's the deal?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I like that in your book you tell people how to talk to the bargirls in Bali, and how to work out who's going to expect to be paid. A mate of mine went to Bali last year and met up with this girl and then after a couple of days she wanted money... what the?
ReplyDeleteHi Jimmy Bass
ReplyDeleteSounds like a difficult situation your mate found himself in, but it is quite common.
A lot of the local girls in Bali are working girls, especially the ones hanging around nightclubs and the like.
Of course some are not, there are plenty of rich Indonesians and a lot of them come to Bali for their holidays.
The easiest way, I find, is to be polite but up front. Indonesian ladies are incredibly open and not at all bashful. I would normally bring up the topic in conversation with a question like. “I hear a lot of the girls in Bali nightclubs are working girls, is this true?”
She would understand what I was asking and would normally pose the question back. “Do you think I’m a working girl?”
I would then say I didn’t think she was. But I wasn’t one hundred percent sure.
Most Indonesian girls won’t take offense and they will let you know if they are working or not. If the woman in question is a bar girl, she will probably say something along the lines of. “I’m a business lady.”