I Had a Run In with the Cops in Bali

Today I went and got my international driving permit. Although I don't plan on driving during my stay in Israel I decided it was better to be safe than sorry. Plus, it's kind of cool. I'm now legal to drive in well over 100 countries. I got both my car and motorcycle license transferred to my international license.

All the countries I'm legal to drive in for the next year.

You might have noticed a specific country in the "I" section. No, not Israel. Indonesia. Fun fact: you need a Indonesian drivers license or International driving license to operate a motor vehicle in Indonesia. So, with neither of these in hand, I rented a motor scooter in Bali. And... I had a run in with the cops.

When I began researching whether to rent a scooter in Indonesia I found website after website with comments and chat pages talking about renting in Bali. It was a well discussed fact that cops like to pull over foreigners so that they can make some pocket money off of intimidatingly asking for their licensing. I actually met a man at a coffee shop in Ubud who said he'd been pulled over before and threatened to be detained at the police station and charged for millions of rupiah. Conveniently, the few hundred rupiah of pocket money he and his buddy had allowed them to avoid such a fate. Still, the last thing I wanted was a run in with the police.

I actually wrote an article about my biggest tip for driving in Bali for Pink Pangea. Essentially, I wore clothes. As in, I traveled Bali in jeans and long sleeves. One particular benefit is that as I fly by on the scooter it is much harder to tell I'm foreign if none of my skin is showing. I made it my whole trip without problem. With two hours before I had to return the scooter, I decided to take it a few blocks from my hotel to get dinner. I ashamedly admit I traveled in shorts. 

I parked near the beach and wandered a bit getting food and enjoying the evening before returning to my scooter. There are parking attendants everywhere in Indonesia. So, per usual, the attendant approached me as I began to back out and I mindlessly asked how much the fee was in my Indonesian. The attendant perked up and asked me the typical "where are you from" "how do you know Bahasa" questions as I dug up the cash and started my scooter. All was well. Until it wasn't.

Right as I started to pull onto the street I got flagged down by not one, but two cops. My friend Tanto had warned me that if it happened I should pretend I don't speak a word of the language and play the innocent/clueless foreigner card. So I tried not to panic as they approached me.

Cop 1 (looking stern and speaking in English): "You speak Indonesian?"

Cop 2 (also in English): "We heard you speaking with the attendant." 

The second cop gestured to the parking attendant, who at this point looked just about as nervous as I felt. My mind was racing a mile a minute, particularly with a lot of expletives toward my situation. I somehow managed to pull together a stuttering response (my usual go to) saying that I only spoke a little bit. However, with my one sentence both cops' demeanor completely changed. They grinned and started (friendly) interrogating me in Indonesian: where I was from, how I liked Indonesia, where I'd been, the questions kept coming. I wasn't about to lie to a cop so I answered. However, I knew that I was on a metaphorically sinking ship. There was no way they could think I innocently decided to climb on a scooter. I was going to be reprimanded, I was sure of it. I kept waiting for the next question to be "can we see your license"? Except the first question to throw me off wasn't them asking me for my license, but them asking me if I paid the attendant. I nodded and they called the attendant over. The feeling of dread in my stomach kept getting worse. How long were the cops going to drag this out?

The attendant came over and the cops actually started interrogating him! Except it wasn't normal. I had a hard time understanding all of it (it could have been in Balinese) but there was one part that I caught (I have a feeling they purposely worded it either easily or in Bahasa Indonesia). They asked the attendant 'why he would charge such a beautiful foreign girl who liked Indonesian culture enough to learn the language' the parking fee. Seriously. The dread disappeared. By no means was I comfortable with the situation, but my panic started to morph into amusement. The cops argued with the attendant to have him give me my money back, and when he refused (everyone has to pay, he argued) the cops changed tactics. They turned back to me and started explaining (in a mix of Bahasa and English) how I should only trust Indonesian men without facial hair. It should be noted the attendant had facial hair while the cops didn't. The told me it was because Indonesians with facial hair would... (I lost their meaning here, but it was obviously something negative) ...and Indonesians without mustaches are the best Indonesians, and more attractive.

The. Cops. Were. Flirting. With. Me.

I kid you not. I traveled to the other side of the world, obviously ignored a law, and the cops pulled me over not to reprimand me, but to flirt with me! I never realized America's Unofficial Ambassador's requiring me to take Bahasa Indonesia classes would have effects like this.

So, I was scared (and humored) into realizing that I should get an international license before my trip to Israel. Now I'm prepared for the next time I catch a foreign police officer's fancy.