Bali’s badly behaved, ‘sinful’ tourists push ‘island of the gods’ to debate limiting mountain access
- Balinese Hindus, who make up nearly 90 per cent of the resort island’s population, revere its mountains as the dwelling places of gods and ancestors
- A string of incidents involving foreigners dying, dancing naked and filming themselves having sex could now mean access to the mountains is restricted
It follows a string of fatal accidents and other incidents in recent years involving foreigners filming themselves dancing naked and having sex on Mount Batur, one of the island’s holy mountains.
Balinese Hindus, who make up nearly 90 per cent of the island’s population, revere its mountains as the dwelling places of gods and ancestors, and fear a “curse” will be brought down upon them by tourists behaving disrespectfully.
Last month, Bali Governor Wayan Koster unveiled a new draft regulation to redesignate the island’s mountains as “sacred areas”, citing “out of control” tourists on Mount Batur in particular.
“I think this has gone too far,” he told local lawmakers on January 30, adding that religious leaders had called for the change after deciding that the island’s mountains “should be kept sacred”.