Keeping Bali Safe, One Arrest at a Time

(8/2/2010)

Both Bali Post and Beritabali.com report that the Indonesian National Chief of Police, Bambang Hendarso Danuri, has called on Bali's Chief of Police to solve the murder of Bagus Alit Edit Sastrawan, an employee at the Red Room Bar in Kuta.

In a presentation made by Bali's Chief of Police, General Sutisna to his boss, he said that among the most prominent criminal case in Bali in recent months was the gang attack at the Kuta night spot. According to Sutisna, the case remains under intensive police investigation and security has been intensified at a number of night spots across the southern part of Bali. Enhanced security measures in place involve close cooperation with religious leaders and volunteer civil defense forces (pacalang).

In his call for a quick and final resolution of the murder, Danuri ordered his forces to work closely with all stakeholders in order to detect and handle even the smallest public order problem. Danuri, who previously served as the head of Bali's criminal division, said: "Bali is a tourism area that must guard its security. If Bali is safe, Indonesia is also safe,"

The brutal murder at the Red Room Bar in Kuta's Seminyak area occurred in an incident of a gang attack on the restaurant full of customers. The attackers, whose motive remains unclear, repeatedly stabbed and clubbed the ill-fated employee and stabbed another worker who managed to make good his escape. The gang, widely suspected to be part of a protection racket, also ransacked with substantial damage to furniture and equipment at the nightspot.

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