Law in Bali is, of course, law in Indonesia. There is a difference, however.
Although Balinese culture and Hindu religion don’t have a significant effect on the law, the hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists who arrive in Bali each year, and the money they bring with them, certainly do.
Most tourists have a wonderful vacation, get some sun, learn something about Bali, meditate in a spa, buy some souvenirs, and return home after a few weeks or months with glowing memories.
But a small percentage of visitors end up tangling with the law.
Some are so enchanted that they decide they would like to live in Bali, invest in a villa, buy some property or start a business. Maybe they fall in love and want to marry in Bali, either to an Indonesian or to another foreign citizen.
An unfortunate few become victims of crime, or involved in an accident, or are themselves arrested under accusation of a crime.
At that point they are under jurisdiction of Indonesian law, and most are entirely unprepared.
Assumptions that are reasonable in their home countries may be completely invalid, especially for those who learned most of their law, like I did, from watching television.
Tourists may be mystified about the laws of Indonesia, which – not surprisingly – are written in Indonesian, a language few visitors can read. The structure and procedure of the legal system itself, based upon European continental law, is alien to visitors familiar with the British law system.
But then there is the deeper mystery common to every country: how does the law actually work or, sometimes, fail to work?
Anyone who looks at Bali should realize that tremendous amounts of money flow through the economy. The days of a happy simple village society are long gone. Investors range from Balinese opening homestays through to major international corporations backing luxury resort projects.
Money has the same corrosive effect in Bali as it does anywhere else, and it can even affect the workings of the law. When it does, Indonesians can find themselves just as blind-sided by the law as foreign visitors.
This site will not give legal advice. But it will be a gathering place for information and resources for those, Indonesian and non-Indonesian alike, who may find in it a useful toolkit for learning about and dealing with the law in Bali and throughout Indonesia.