Tourism-starved Bali seeks a balance as foreigners skirt its Covid-19 rules

In public, the holiday island has strict measures that include US$70 fines for foreigners found not wearing masks, while it deported Russian social media influencer Leia Se for a Covid-19 stunt

But in private, some nightclubs turn a blind eye to mask rules and shops still serve maskless visitors. After all, as one enforcer puts it, the economy still needs to run

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Russian influencer Leia Se was deported from Bali after painting a coronavirus mask onto her face.

Published: 9:30am, 30 May 2021Updated: 9:51am, 30 May 2021

For the foreigners riding out the Covid-19 pandemic on Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali, the beaches of Seminyak and Canggu offer a lifestyle from 2019 – a time before social distancing and mask-wearing were the norm.

In nightclubs on the south coast – a popular destination for surfers and digital nomads embracing the “hustle culture” of working anywhere, anytime – women in glitzy costumes dance to loud music and partygoers drink the nights away with both friends and strangers.

Mask wearing and social distancing are not enforced at these venues, though they do check the temperatures of patrons and provide hand sanitiser. There is just one rule: phones must be surrendered on entry so that no photos of this pre-Covid lifestyle find their way to social media.

Yet in public, Bali is making concerted efforts to ensure its 4.3 million residents observe strict Covid-19 protocols.

In Ubud recently, police were stopping motorcyclists not wearing face masks – but not those without helmets. Meanwhile, recently introduced regulations mean foreigners – an estimated 30,000 have remained in Bali during the pandemic – can be fined 1 million rupiah (US$70) if they are caught not wearing a face mask in public, while locals have to pay just 100,000 rupiah.

A man receives a Covid-19 jab at a drive-through vaccination centre in Kuta, Bali. Photo: EPA

Dewa Nyoman Rai Darmadi, head of Bali’s Public Order Enforcers authority, said nearly 500 foreigners and about 20,000 locals had been fined for the violation.