Luhut Asks for Naughty Tourists in Bali to be Deported

Former Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, stated the importance of creating security and order in tourist areas, including Bali. Therefore, according to him, strict action is needed against tourists who could damage the image of tourism.

“If Bali is not good, people will also be reluctant to come to Indonesia. So Bali must be orderly,” said Luhut after the Coordination Meeting on the Expansion of the Digitalisation Pilot Project for Social Assistance Based on Digital Public Infrastructure in Denpasar, Bali on Thursday, February 26, 2026, as quoted by Antara.

He then highlighted that low-quality tourists should be deported. “Those who cause drug problems, fights, and investments that take over SMEs here, we should just deport them,” said Luhut.

Luhut is confident that Bali’s tourism charm will not fade just because it loses 10,000 unruly foreign tourists. In fact, Bali will be even more loved if it becomes more selective, including in terms of its tourists.

To ensure that tourism on the Island of the Gods survives, Luhut highlighted the importance of integrated infrastructure, as well as water and waste management. Specifically to address the waste problem, he ensured that the construction of a waste-to-energy plant will be announced next week. “So we hope that 18 months from April, Bali will start its waste-to-energy process,” he said.

Furthermore, Luhut is confident that the integrated digitalisation that the government is currently developing can resolve problems caused by land-use changes in Bali. “The issue of order and land-use changes will no longer be tolerated with this digitalisation,” said the man who also serves as Chairman of the Government’s Digital Transformation Acceleration Committee.

Currently, Government Technology, or government digitalisation based on AI, which integrates more than 27,000 government applications, is still focused on the digitalisation of social assistance. In the future, the digitalisation of business permits and the integration of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) will also be the main agenda of the committee.

Therefore, according to Luhut, adjustments will also be made to the data on land-use changes so that all development in Bali will be orderly. “And later, we will create a kind of penalty, the solution will be found. So, from now on, the Governor must be reminded that if land-use changes are not correct, there will be adjustments later.”