Residents meeting in Seminyak Bali

Latest developments in the neighborhood security situation: A couple of weeks ago, my neighbor from Australia had a bag with 30m rp stolen from his house. We highly suspect the 2 young guys who are employed by the owner, and who reside in the room outside. This Saturday morning, Ika had her cell phone stolen from our house, after leaving for a walk with the front door unlocked.

I was in the house but heard nothing and at first we though she had mislaid it. Talking with our other neighbors, a guy from Australia and a lady from Chile, we decided all to talk with the owner of the houses. Here in Bali its a curious thing, people play the passive-aggressive to the max. Confronting a thief and accusing him / her can lead to that person threatening to use violence at a later date ( ‘Mr you make me angry like that, maybe I make big problem for you or your motorbike’). The owner was very uncomfortable taking responsibilty for her employees because of this. Also sometimes even confronting an owner in this manner could create problems, as hey might take the position ‘You bring problems here, you must go’.

So the Chile lady invites all of us, including the young Aussie guy, to chat with the owner at her house at 10am today. I spoke with the Aussie last night and said “We’re having a meeting with the owner, because my wife’s cell phone was stolen on Saturday morning.” “My phone was also stolen on Saturday morning.” he said. We compared times and it was exactly the same. “I was thinking my friend who went back to the States today might have packed it accidentally.” he said.

He then went on to tell me that he went to a dukun (black magic practitioner), who had no knowledge of anyone here. The dukun told him to write down all the names of the people living and working around here, including me. The dukun then told the guy it was a westerner who stole the money and the phones, and circled a name of one of the previous renters, plus the current gardener. I’m skeptical, but there is another possible answer. The house next to mine has been sub-let about 4 times, starting with the owner, an older Dutch guy, a couple of Indonesians, an American guy and the Australian guy. The Dutch guy lived there for a while, and had numerous Indonesian boyfriends come over. I’ve heard him on the phone at night, giving direcions to the latest one. So basically a stream of people were over at his house, spending time there. Very easy to borrow a key and get a copy.

At the meeting the landlord, she thought we were all having a go at her. I told her I like her, and that she should fire the 2 guys living outside our house. The other night they came knocking asking to borrow a ladder (we don’t have one but there is one in the parking lot next ot their office). Basically when people are planning to rip you off, they often make a call to check who’s home, and to get a look inside the property.

Best thing for us to do is change the locks (the owner keeps a copy of all the keys in their little room, giving them total access), and don’t keep valuable stuff at home. In Bali thieves are looking to turn goods over fast. They want money, cell phones, DVD players, jewelry.

The Aussie guy joked that he doesn’t have anything left to steal, so he’s not really worried. The owner said she would tell the 2 guys if anything else went missing they were history.