BALI, INDONESIA, September 27, 2018 (Straits Times): The Bali administration is preparing a new regulation that will ban tourists from entering the main and most sacred parts of temples across the island after a series of incidents where boorish tourists desecrated Bali’s holy sites. Balinese Hindus were shocked when a photo of a foreigner sitting on top of a shrine at the Luhur Batukaru temple in Tabanan regency went viral on Instagram and spread to other social media platforms earlier this month. The tourist was identified as 36-year-old Tony Kristian Jarvi from Finland after he went to Sanur police station following a motorcycle accident, and he confessed that it was he in the photo. The Sanur police later took him to the Penebel police station, and he was asked to perform a cleansing ritual at the temple.
In April, a European tourist posted a photo on his Instagram account of him sitting on top of a shrine in the Besakih temple. In July, two foreign tourists posted a similar photo of a temple in Nusa Lembongan. Following Mr. Jarvi’s incident, the Bali administration said it was drafting a regulation to prevent a similar incident from happening, while still ensuring tourists can visit the temples. Bali Tourism Agency head Anak Agung Gede Yuniartha Putra said the local administration was discussing the regulation, saying it would ban tourists from entering the temple’s sacred area but still allow them to enter the outer courtyard of the temples. Hindu temples are divided into three areas – nista mandala (outer courtyard), madya mandala (middle courtyard) and utama mandala (inner sanctum), with the last two considered to be sacred areas, as they are used when Hindus perform their prayers.