Thread: Australian and Balinese Arrested for Adultery

An Australian citizen with the initials NE (39) was arrested by the Bangli police in a hotel yesterday at around 7.30am. She was with a man from Denpasar, KM (29). Initially, the couple resisted arrest and refused to be taken to the police station.

According to police, KM claimed to have checked in to the hotel the day before. NE was also there due to her role in a TV ad promotion, which was going to be shot in Penglipuran.

KM claimed to have been dating NE for four months. When asked about his status, he admitted that he is still legally married, but in a process of getting a divorce from his wife. The Head of Public Relations of Bangli police, I Dewa Nyoman Rai, confirmed that they are not a married couple.

The Bangli police had been conducting a sweeping operation in order to monitor and reduce crime and prostitution. NE and KM were caught during the operation.

Australian and Balinese Arrested for Adultery | The Beat Magazine

I thought this kind of arrest would only be in Aceh?? Does anyone know the laws about this in bali?

Not sure about Bali But the law in Indonesia is that adultery is illegal even between consenting adults.
Just depends on the police, I have been told that a few people have been woken up in the middle of the night, to check there papers.

My friends were ok but not a great start to there holidays.
Its classed as adultery if one or both are married to someone else.
It is not illegal for two people to have sex if they are not married.

It was a harrowing experience, I was at the police station for over 10 hours before being escorted back to Denpasar by three of the 7 policeman who attended the raid.
I recorded the event on my iphone ( which I think created more of a problem for me) as I don't believe the police conducted themselves properly even by Indonesia's standards. When I asked them to identify themselves they refused.
The whole thing was recorded by a cameraman and I was not dressed appropriately for my TV debut.

A few things I'd like to mention:

A couple of days after the incident there was an article in one of Bali's newspapers about the Bangli polices' poor treatment of women in relation to dealing with ( or not dealing with) complaints of domestic violence....perhaps that's because they are too busy being moral entrepreneurs!

One of the married policemen who escorted me to Denpasar requested my phone number ( which I gave thinking that it was for official purposes). After escorting me to my room he then requested a kiss! Ten minutes after his departure I received a text ( in Indonesian) which read: "Darling, go and wash now so that your body is fresh". Obviously I didn't respond, but this text was followed up by a phone call asking me what I was doing now.

I was never under the impression that I was ' arrested' as I was told that i hadn't done anything wrong and was free to leave. I didn't leave straight away as KM( who was also my only way of leaving Bangli) was still being interrogated. Additionally, I didn't want to leave him as I felt concerned about his well being. After a couple of hours, the police then changed their mind and told me I had to make a statement. I mentioned the fact that I was at a disadvantage as Indonesian was not my first language....but that seemed irrelevant. In retrospect, i should never have spoken Indonesian...it may have made my situation easier. I made my statement and was given a copy to sign. The statement said that I was a male!!

A week after the incident, one of the policemen involved phoned KM and asked to borrow one million rupiah.

For me, this experience gave me some kind of understanding of how things could go terribly wrong.

Thanks for telling your story Nicole. In a situation like that with many policemen around, you are certainly not in a strong position. Is it OK to ask what happened to KM in the end? Like was he charged with anything?

Yes please Nicole tell us what happened to KM. Before I married my husband and we were at his parents house we shared a room but did not advertise it and if anybody asked (and they did) they were told we had seperate rooms. He is not Balinese and he is Muslim and his family are very understanding.

I think the ex wife is not too happy?

Thankfully this was not picked up by all the rabid news hounds currently here & scavenging on Island offerings, as the 14yr old boy is a slowly digesting meal that is not big enough to go around. To my mind this is way more scary!

Nicole, I can't imagine what an ordeal this would have been to actually go through. Here's hoping in the years to come...you will be able to look back on it and laugh.