Indonesia News/Updates

Jackie Pomeroy has a covid 19 group on face book for information on Bali and Indonesia updated daily stats and when you hit on the comments before you get to members personal comments there is a wall of information about current visas needed, borders , who can apply , what’s needed blah blah blah . She is American and ran the mount Agung group as well . Lot’s of good information

Going to be interesting to see if they extend the travel ban on all visas that is set to end on the 28th Jan.

Got my exemption from Summo and roaring to go

Those Expat forums usually have good up to date news / info
Indo no entry extended until 8th Feb Slim thinks
https://www.baliwaves.com/2021/01/bali-surf-weather-report-23rd-january-...
https://www.garda.com/crisis24/news-alerts/432531/indonesia-officials-ex...

Yeah i think its official now extended to the 8th Feb

BTW: Indo's recent system now means even when borders reopen to some extent to some Visa holders you now need to quarantine for 5 days on arrival at a special hotel(similar to Australia)

Before arriving you can choose the hotel from an approved hotel list, or on arrival they choose it for you.

Apparently it's all run very official like with army overlooking things, so you cant just slip out the airport doors, lots of checks and then you are shuttle bussed off to the quarantine hotel of your choice. (believe pricing varies depending on hotel unlike Aust)

After that you are suppose to still suppose to self quarantine for 14 days at your on residence, not sure how or if they even try to enforce this aspect though.

Going to be interesting to see if this 5 day quarantine thing continues in the coming months and for people from places like Aust or NZ with close to no cases, will we be treated the same?

If charter boats or resorts can avoid the 5 day quarantine thing on arrival they are going to be at a big advantage for ticking boxes for the 14 day self quarantine as are basically a self contained bubble already.

@indo d , Any talk on mandatory vaccination in order to enter Indonesia ? Maybe not now but in the time 6-12 months ?

Bali just passed 3000 active cases and deporting Russians
https://thebalisun.com/expat-who-plunged-motorbike-into-the-sea-being-de...

Should be more crackdowns on 'social media celebrities'.

We all know what needs to happen....

Crikey Bali really seems to be attracting a special breed of Drop-Kick these days.

That women that sypkan posted an article about the other day also got deported

Media or her trying to paint her deportation as being about her sexuality, nah got nothing to do with it, deported because her views went viral and upset Indonesias so she was made an example of.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/travel-stories/us-woman-to...

@Supafreak

Sorry dont know.

A step in the right direction:

Indonesia reopened borders to special visa holders (DOES NOT INCLUDE TOURIST VISAS)

However few hurdles to jump once a visa has been secured

a. health certificate in English from health authorities in their country;
b. have been 14 (fourteen) days in regions/countries that are free of the Covid-19 virus;
c. a consent letter to do a self-quarantine for 14 (fourteen) days in a designated place arranged by the government of the Republic of Indonesia.

Then off course quarantine in Aust on way back

View this post on Instagram

https://www.imigrasi.go.id/

Edit: apparently 5 day hotel quarantine has been lifted, so only 14 day self quarantine (pretty crazy) so i assume you could go straight out to a resort or charter boat for 14 days self quarantine...i guess.

@indo , hey mate any idea how much now for family kitas ? I used to pay $600 per year , extra $200 for multiple entry , just wondering if you have any updates on this .

https://imgur.com/g1hgofM

@Supafreak

Sorry no idea.

But this group "Law and regulations in Indonesia"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/400734003434772

Is a good source of info, use the search function before asking a question though.

@indo , Cheers mate , wife’s calling Sydney embassy tomorrow , get the full run down of options , like if we are vaccinated do we need to quarantine ? I will be in group 2 for vax lineup so winter this year could be a possibility , fingers crossed

Im betting you will still need to self quarantine, but i have no idea how they control this.

Its all a bit weird one minute they are closing borders to pretty much all visa holders to try to stop news strains getting into Indo, now they seem to be doing away with the 5 day hotel quarantine and going back to 14 day self quarantine, which would be impossible to police in Indonesia.

But shit rarely makes sense in Indonesia.

And it should be noted that link to immigration instagram post (one Groundswell also shared pics of) has now been deleted.

I wouldn't be surprised if they changed their mind...who knows

Yeah my mate who got in on 23dec just went to his house and surfing next day lol , did the social distancing, always mask , he had been waiting a year to get there and get married .

'But shit rarely makes sense in Indonesia."

yep

"I wouldn't be surprised if they changed their mind...who knows"

and yep

both of above decisions been reveresed / deleted...

ie. no foriegners, 5 day jakarta quaratine back on

it seems imigrasi are a little confused

I wouldn't be booking anything at the mo.

"@indo , hey mate any idea how much now for family kitas ? I used to pay $600 per year , extra $200 for multiple entry , just wondering if you have any updates on this ."

it's all going online supafreak, you can pretty much do it all yourself, ...assuming you have the right entitlements to go, ...much to the disdain of visa agents...

it seems they are having their last hurrah before the whole corruption of visas thing is finished

bye bye russian instagram stars

(and a few bule 'surf guides')

maybe

doesn't sound all bad...

@sypkan , thanks for that , by online do you mean the Indonesia embassy in Sydney website ?

Imigrasi indo e-visa site

apply langsung, no embassies required apparently ...or agents... (if you're legit...) ...praise the gods!

no tourist visas

Awesome

https://thebalisun.com/indonesian-plans-to-provide-5-year-visa-to-work-a...

"USD $142,300, (2 billion IRD) per individual or USD $178,000 (2.5 billion IRD) for the whole family"

Deposit ? if so about $100 AuD per day

Haha the Jakarta Ministers are at it again

Deposit implies you will get your money back at some stage haha good luck with that one

I can just imagine arriving on a international flight in JKK onwards bound domestic for Bali, Imigrasi going what the fuck is that visa, never heard of it

English dude who killed Bali copper released . https://seminyaktimes.com/nutzo-released-from-kerobokan-and-on-his-way-h...

Yeah saw that...

5 years for murder and she got out in even less.

Hard to know what to make of it all, heard many different views on the incident and the cop etc

I new a lembongan local who got 7 years for murder he got offered his sentence to be halved if he kept amrozi alive in prison until authorities could get information out of him , sure enough he was out in 3 years, life’s cheap for murder but hard if you’re a drug runner.

Yeah kinda, lots of guys involved in drugs also pay their way out or shorter sentences.

But it's a different thinking too, lots of Indonesian view a murder as a murder of one person but drugs taking the lives of lots of people.

The Indo law system is pretty fucked up though, one of the few things i dont like about Indo.

Hard to get your head around it when you hear stuff like that supa. Seems like messed up logic

Drugs are all a game , a good friend his name was Jimmy Cook ( not the captain ) from Sydney was sitting on Kuta beach mid 80s , he had 2 days to go before flying home and was stone motherless broke, a Italian unknown to him walked up and said look at this jimmy put his hand out and the guy placed a small block of hash in his hand. Jimmy thought wtf then the cops pounced . On the way to cop station they repeatedly demanded money and said if they didn’t make a arrangement before they got to police station, then he would be charged. Jimmy was screwed and got sentenced to 7 years in hotel K , he escaped after 3 years got caught at airport and a further 10 years added to his sentence . He was moved to a prison on Madura for 2 years then ended up in Jakarta. When Keating became prime minister he did a deal with indo and got Jimmy and 3 others released. All up jimmy did 7 years, he arrived at our house at 3 in the morning one night and he was messed up in the head . Tried to get him surfing but he was mentally fcked up . 2 years later he was killed in a car accident . I’ve had mates set up before and had their passports taken and given 3 days to come up with $10,000 . It’s all a game .

Supa, thats’s a heavy story about your mate (RIP). Stuff of nightmares.....

Yeah Rabbit 68 , some of the shit he went through in jail was so heavy , after he was caught escaping, each morning for 3 months they would hang him upside down and beat the soles of his feet with bamboo to deter him from running again . One of the guys he was in with was on the tv show banged up abroad and wrote a book. Jimmy was mentioned in the book , they called him chook . When he got back to Australia the press hounded him for his story but he didn’t want to talk to them about that part of his life . I reckon he had PTSD , we were all blown away when we heard he got killed in a car accident R.I.P. Jimmy Cook

I think from memory it was 1984 when hash and pot were put in the narcotic category in Indonesia. My first time there in 1980 it was no big deal and plenty of locals smoked pot . Hash came in from Afghanistan and was really cheap . I remember in the late 80s , some of the Brazilian party’s , they would pay the cops $5000 to stay away , one party the cops turned up and the owner of the villa was screaming we paid you not to come , the reply from cops was , oh but we are sanur police , another $5000 , 1 hour later knock at the door , hello we are Denpasar police lol , $15,000 for a party, the Brazilians really were crazy guys.

Supafreak my 1st trip was "81 and I reckon it was a firing squad offence back then or 10 years. I smoked a wee one on my way home in the customs cleared area in the dunnies at the airport because I was worried about taking it through Melbourne customs, not the brightest move. The toilets were open underneath and above shoulder height with absolutely no way to hide the smoke. That's the problem with being young and having a great time, you slack off.

@Ash , I was 18 in 1980 and first trip overseas , what a eye opener Jakarta was as first destination lol , here’s the history of cannabis laws in indo and yeah looks like 1976 was when it got thrown in as a narcotic. Don’t know why I had 1984 stuck in my head , it all seemed pretty relaxed and no big deal in 1980 , young and dumb but had a ball even if I did end up with typhoid.

any of you market watchers / rupiah watchers care to speculate what happened here when the aud / idr rate blew out above 11 700rp for a breif moment a day or so ago?

went up very quickly, sat there a while, then dropped straight back down, seems rather odd...

https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=ms-android-samsung-gj-rev1...

click on link, then choose 5 day graph, and the jump and fall is pretty pronounced

(I could / should post an image, ...but too bloody hard)

Yeah i was on that sent an indo mate a transfer to send me an Ojek jacket it was rather high so got him a big tip for it. Not sure why it happened but it was a bonus.

Wow thats weird, cant find anything to explain it on google either.

The vaccine rollout has begun maybe its linked?

BTW. Just saw this, you guys will love it, not, personally im happy about it, it means they have a real chance to get things under control.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-19/indonesia-warns-fines-for-refusin...

"Indonesia's capital Jakarta is threatening residents with fines of up to 5 million rupiah ($450) for refusing COVID-19 vaccines, an unusually stiff penalty aimed at ensuring compliance with a new regulation making jabs mandatory."

@indo , here’s a report from last month , when I sent this to a expat he said they better build a bigger jail . https://thebalisun.com/those-who-refuse-vaccine-in-bali-could-face-up-to... Not sure how accurate the report is , your average Indonesian couldn’t possibly pay that fine . Last time I was reading about Indonesia vaccine it was the China one they were trialing and no one was sure who was going to pay for it . Hope Indonesia hasn’t done some crazy deal with China. Anyone know anything ? Edit. That’s weird , when I saw this originally it was 1 year jail and 100milion rp fine ?

good onya groundswell, those ojek jackets look pretty cool ...if you're not in indo...

you styling in a gojek or grab?

I saw those vax fines announced in indo english media, then a few days later, they said... yeh nah, tidak jadi... not sure where they are at now

the indo bule anti-vaxxer / anti masker crew were wigging out, with a joint fb display of defiance

I wouldn't be too keen on the sinovak vaccine either ...like really really not keen...

gonna be interesting developments in the canggu bukit areas if they are made mandatory, could test the resolve of the anti-vaxxers versus the urge to live in plastic paradise...

I think there has been a deal supafreak, it was announced months ago, but I also have heard the phizer vax mentioned too. ...maybe available at a premium... I've also read stories of the vax being already buy-able, ...in that classic indo kind of way...

it's being rolled out to health and essential workers already in stages, nice to see the little people that make up the market crew get included in the rollout (...maybe... depending on your view...) as markets have been s bit of a trouble spot

sadly china has it's tentacles right throughout indo, with a heap of it's unhealthy unfluence having sway. the sinovak thing was sold as a good will gesture (...of course...) but its gotta be the most questionable vax going, especially after the brazil experiment

interesting watching indo news the other day (struggling to understand it, but....). they were chatting about that chinese spy sub that was found up malacca straits way a month or so ago. whilst many australian outlets called it for what it was... (clearly chinese spying) ...the indos went into a huge rambling lengthy discussion between the highly esteemed bapaks, ...as they do.... and not one of them dared mention china... as I said... a heap of unhealthy influence there...

also interesting reading about a possible covid safe contained bubble in the nusa dua area. then later read about benoa being part of a bubble to ship the chinese tourists back in when they're allowed to travel again

I don't wanna be racist, but, ...the thought of this fucking terrifies me, for many reasons...

5 million is still big money for a large percentage of the population.

No i don't know the deal they did, but i do know its only for those i think 18 to 60.

But for those over 60 the Pfizer vaccine is the option but not free Rp450,000 i think.

"you styling in a gojek or grab?"
neither i think. i think its just a standard blue maluk jacket i bought one when i was over there last but left it in a hotel.
Riding down the street past the hairdressers and they all be laughing a bule would wear a motorbike taxi jaket. good pick up technique ;)

Hes chucking in some extra jos, that powder you put in water, i miss that stuff.

Sounds a bit suss. https://seminyaktimes.com/foreign-woman-falls-to-her-death-in-bingin/