Villa Security in Bali

Nick has mentioned in previous articles about some of the hassles of being an expat as far as getting robbed and having odd persons hassling them at their houses.

Expats are a target for unscrupulous characters. They are seen as being rich, flush with money and possessions but in a lot of cases this is not true. There are a lot of people living in Bali whose bank accounts are not in the six figure bracket.

A majority of expats do have some kind of security and I'm not talking about having a gun or a dog the size of a Irish Wolfhound with gigantic fangs. But at the best of times these security people are not up to scratch and are inefficient in carrying out their duties.

There was an excellent article in the Bali Discovery about a survey done in South Kuta and according to the survey coordinator of the Villa Survey Team, Drs I Nyoman Adi, of the 110 villas surveyed to date only 36 villas or 33% employ security staff. Moreover, according to Wiratma the security staff employed are ineffectively deployed with many only working in the evening hours.

Then there is the situation of building permits and their legality. Here is what the team found:

Missing Building Permits

In the course of the same survey of South Kuta villas, officials found that only 50.91% of the villas surveyed were able to produce official building permits or IMB, suggesting that nearly half of the villas are illegal structures built without reference to local building and zoning regulations.

Meanwhile, a member of the survey team, I Putu Eka Marthawan, commented that security at South Kuta villas was far below standards and threatening to damage Bali's image should those staying in these accommodation be the victim or the perpetrators of criminal activity.