Unruly foreigners in Bali are laughing in the faces of authorities trying to enforce COVID-19 rules.
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The behaviour is now testing the patience of those tasked to ensure everyone is wearing face masks and obeying coronavirus regulations.
There are even plans to increase the fines for foreigners failing to wear a mask to make sure the penalty hits the hip-pocket.
And restaurants are being urged to refuse service to anyone failing to don a mask.
The head of the public order police in the Badung administration, Suryanegara, told AAP his troops felt like their dignity was being harassed by ignorant foreigners, who act like COVID-19 is not real.
The fine for failing to wear a mask is 100,000 Rupiah or about $10 and Suryanegara said they were now considering increasing it to up to 500,000 Rupiah or about $50.
For those who claim not to have cash on them to pay the fine, authorities have been making them drop to the ground and do push ups. But most foreigners consider this a joke.
"How could I not be annoyed? Sometimes we feel that we have been abused in our country," Suryanegara said of the attitude of some foreigners who had remained in Bali throughout the pandemic.
"They usually laugh when we tell them to do push ups. They do it, but they are laughing. There is no regret shown on their faces. It doesn't work," he said.
He said many shouted and yelled at his officers, asking things like "What do you know about the pandemic", "Do you think the virus is walking around the beach" and "Do you think we can be infected by the virus when we are riding motorbikes."
"They often shout at us. Unfortunately we can't scold them. It's a test of our patience. It seems that most foreigners in Bali don't believe that COVID is real."
He said when his officers were standing at roadside checkpoints, foreigners would deliberately speed up their motorbikes and some even pretended they wanted to run them down.
"Not only do they not wear masks, many foreigners also don't wear helmets, speed up their motorbikes carelessly. It is very unsettling."
Suryanegara said foreigners causing most of the trouble are from eastern Europe, often Russia. He said 80 per cent of those fined for refusing to wear face masks were foreigners.
He said there was also an emerging problem that some foreigners who had remained in Bali throughout the pandemic were now running out of money, had not paid their rent and were becoming homeless.
Australian Associated Press
