Bali to deport a Canadian for dancing naked on a sacred mountain

Jeffrey Craigne posted a video on Instagram in which he was seen performing a Haka, a ritual Maori dance from New Zealand, completely naked on Mount Batur, a volcano considered sacred by many Bali residents.

The man was arrested and questioned on Monday after a wave of protests from netizens who accused him of disrespecting archaic beliefs.

Mr Craigne is awaiting deportation, but authorities were unable to put him on a plane immediately because he had not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Teddy Riande, head of immigration in Denpasar, the worn-out capital, told AFP on Tuesday that “the airlines did not agree to move him” under the circumstances.

On Monday, Bali immigration officer Jamaruli Manihorok said the Canadian had been in Indonesia since 2019, first as a tourist and then to study alternative treatments for osteoporosis.

He claimed that he did not know that Mount Batur was a sacred site.

“For all foreigners visiting Bali, please act in accordance with our Balinese laws and cultural values,” Jamaruli Manihoruk said.

Bali has seen many incidents with tourists not respecting its laws and beliefs. Last year, nearly 200 people were expelled from the island for violating health rules related to COVID-19.

In 2019, a Czech couple came under fire for a video clip showing the man sprinkling holy water on his girlfriend’s bottom at a Balinese temple.

Then they had to participate in purification rituals led by a Hindu priest, the island’s dominant religion.

The tourism sector in Bali has suffered greatly during the two years of the pandemic due to the closing of borders to foreign tourists.

But the sector has begun to recover since the authorities in March canceled the quarantine of vaccinated travelers and reinstated visas on arrival.