Indonesia has a very different way of doing things in many respects and one thing you’ll hear constantly about the country is that it is corrupt.

This doesn’t just mean the high-ups in the government it also means many of the people employed in every day positions.

Learning how to navigate this ‘black market’ system takes a while and can be uncomfortable for a westerner who is used to going by the book. There are situations here in Bali where someone will ask you directly to pay money, other times when they hint without saying and other times when you might be better off by initiating a payment. People working for private businesses are no worries at all and will probably look on your offer of a bribe as a good thing. Sometimes the situation will involve a person in uniform working for the police, customs or immigration.

Here are a couple of scenarios:

1) You go through a traffic light as it’s changing and get pulled over. The police officer tells you to get off your bike and come over to his office on the corner of the intersection. This is actually his way of getting out of sight of other passersby. Once inside the office he will tell you what you did and that it was very bad. You must go to court and they will take away your license. Now here comes the punch-line…’but you can pay now if you want’. He will write a ticket, show it to you but not let you keep it. Giving the money means it will go into his pocket and you won’t go to court. Sometimes they will beat about the bush and say you will have to come with them to the station. You really don’t want this as the price will go up. If you want to speed up the process simply slip 20,000rp into your license or discretely pass it to him. The whole song and dance is about money and everything will work out as long as he gets some and the transaction is done smoothly and not in public.

2) You are arriving at the airport in Bali off of a long flight. You have 3 liters of wine with you. Walking through the green line you get stopped and they see the wine. They will definitely take the extra 2 liters and maybe ask for money. Let them take the extra, be good vibes, smile and say ’sorry I didn’t know’. If they start posturing like money is needed slip 20,000rp to them. Don’t start handing 100,000rp or large dollar bills otherwise they’ll think you don’t know the score and will hit you up for a lot more. In this scenario getting some goodies to take home usually satisfy them as alcohol and cigarettes are easy to sell / consume.

3) You arrive at the airport with some merchandize they think is worth a lot. In this scenario they want a bribe. They don’t want merchandize as this will mean selling it to someone else, they’d rather you pass them some cash and keep the gear. A friend of mine was returning from Thailand with a sack of some kind of semi precious stone. The receipt he got was 10,500 baht and the customs officers thought it said dollars. They pulled him over and demanded a $1,000 from him as the gear was valuable. He told them they were crazy and that the whole sack was worth $250. “Go ahead keep it then.” he told them. Once they figured out the real price they let him go without even paying a bribe.

4) You arrive in Bali off of a long flight and don’t have a ticket out of the country (which you legally should have). If the officer looks at your ticket ( which he sometimes won’t ) he will ask for your outward ticket. He can do a bunch of things including denying you entry to Indonesia, forcing you to buy an outward ticket there and then at the airline counter or simply ignore the fact. Placing 100,000rp inside the passport will get you in and also a ‘thank you Bapak’ to go with it. Don’t worry that other tourists might see you slipping money in the passport, these guys are so eager for a bribe they’ll often suggest you give them ‘a little something’ with a plane load of people standing there.

5) This kind of bribe I tend to look at as more of a service than anything else. I don’t want to buy a ticket out of the country and getting sent home would be a major inconvenience. For 100,000rp it’s all smiles and no more questions.

When flying out of Bali you might commit some minor infringement like losing your departure card. This can be remedied with a 20,000rp note in the passport. No explaining, no questions. He’ll figure out what is amiss and see the money is to cover it.

When I first came to Bali I used to put up a fight and try to talk my way out of situations. That can work if you can show them you have little money on you but in most situations it’s all leading to the same thing. I think the best strategy is to show you know the score. Remain calm, accept you will have to pay and simply slip a small amount of cash into your document and act like it’s business as usual. Jumping up and down shouting an screaming will show them you don’t know the score and can be hit up for a higher amount.

In many places around the world you can get through uncomfortable moments by asking if you can pay an ‘extra service charge’ to avoid delay.

When dealing with people working for a normal business you can simply ask them ‘I pay you extra to do ‘X’ for me?’ Most people over here are familiar with the ‘middle-man’ idea (if you ask someone if they can rent you a motorbike they will undoubtably know someone who can…for a commission) and will most probably look on your offer as a good opportunity to earn extra cash. I remember one time getting a set of keys made for my house. The young man made the keys then told me the price, which was about 40% higher than the time before. At the same time his boss came in and I questioned the price. “Sorry he’s just trying it on with you.” he said (the young guy grinning from ear to ear and showing not the slightest embarrassment). People are familiar with skimming off the top and a bit bribery is all good.

Don’t feel you need to hand people hundreds of dollars either. I had a friend who was working in Bali and needed to get his driving license renewed. The Department of Motor Vehicles, (or whatever it’s called) told him they must see his passport, his ‘kitas’ visa and get a FAX from his employers whose office was located in Hong Kong. My friend went to work, couldn’t get all the documents together as he was leaving Bali for good in a few months and his ‘kitas’ wasn’t going to be renewed. After a few hours of faxing and phoning he returned to the licensing office and said to the man he had no luck in gathering the required documentation. “Well you could just give me 20,000rp and I’ll do it now.” said the man. “20,000rp!!!” said my friend, “you stupid bastard why didn’t you say so in the first place, I would of given you 50,000rp to save me all this bother!”

Money makes the world go around.