This is my story and civil and human rights abuse case against former Balinese police chief Irjen. Budi Setyawan. Details can also be found on my Bali Police warning page.

In December 2002 Bali’s then police chief Budi Setyawan took an unlawful complaint against me directly from an aggrieved competitor, Jack Daniels of PT Bali Discovery Tours whom I earlier caught offering unauthorized hotel rates on his web site, and then deliberately conducted an unlawful investigation against me.

I can state the complaint Budi Setyawan acted upon was unlawful because Indonesian police investigations can only be held if;
a) They receive instructions from a senior police officer or authority to do so.
b) They receive a signed complaint from someone alleging a crime has been committed by some else, or
c) They actually witness a crime being committed themselves.
The Balinese police chief actually took an unsigned complaint from Daniels. Legally it was a complaint as Chief Setyawan never witnessed a possible crime, it was reported to him. As it was reported to him by someone other than a police officer, he had a legal duty to only take the complaint if it was signed.

This happened I believe at the so called “Bali Security Workshop” on December 16th 2002 which Jack Daniels administrated and sold tickets for; PT Bali Discovery Tours’ very nasty “President Director” sought vengeance against me for my earlier disgracing him and his company’s questionable "professional" ethics. As the guest speaker at this Bali Security Workshop (held at the Bali International Conference Center) was Police Chief Budi Setyawan himself, Jack Daniels seized his chance and reported that I had been calling all Balinese police officers “corrupt”. He passed Budi Setyawan a copy of an email (see email here) I had sent as a company director of an English travel company in confidence to a business associate in Bali describing the appalling lack of security at Bali’s airport, etc. after the October 2002 terrorist bombing in spite of the Indonesian Government’s public claims that security was now tighter than anywhere else in the world; the email came in Daniels hands only because the recipient asked in good faith if he could make others aware of the problem. Many people in Bali came to know about my email and it was very well received as they were keen to protect Bali from future attacks.

However one person, Jack Daniels, turned my email around and informed Bali’s police chief Budi Setyawan I had described ALL Balinese police officers as corrupt and that my email could be used by terrorists to stage another attack (because I had recounted how security police were ignoring what was going on around them). My email was mistranslated, I believe by Jack Daniels into Indonesian to substantiate his false claims, plus Daniels had written down when I was next due into Bali and on which flights I would be likely to arrive; Daniels knew this because I quite openly discussed my next visit on a travel forum he closely watches. It is more than coincidental that I and others who asked for tickets to the December 2002 Bali Security Workshop (but who Jack Daniels did not want there) were denied tickets by PT Bali Discovery Tours; as a consequence only friends and allies of Daniels attended and the event was massively under-subscribed. It should also be noted that the keynote speaker was none other than head of the police terrorist attack investigation and next inline for the police chief’s job, Irgen. Made Mangku Pastika.

I know the above facts because the police showed me the contents of their investigation file which included a copy of my email in English bearing the header “John M. Daniels” which showed Daniels had printed it up for them, plus the handwritten note from Daniels speculating as to which flight I would be on. In addition, the police officers who investigated me actually told me (and others) it was Daniels who made the complaint. I also have a copy of the official police investigation file memo which clearly shows it was police chief Budi Setyawan himself who ordered the investigation as a result of an unnamed person appearing in front of him; this confirms Setyawan took a complaint, not personally witnessed a suspected crime.

After the security workshop, instead of dealing with the security problem, Bali’s police chief then decided to deal with me, unlawfully. He instructed his subordinates to unlawfully detain me and seize my passport while they conducted an equally unlawful investigation against me (not under any criminal code as they are legally bound). I know this from the copy of the same police memo I mentioned before as it cited the “Bali Recovery Program” as legal cause for the investigation. The Bali Recovery Program was nothing more than a set of economic measures conducted by the Indonesian Government to help restore Bali’s decimated tourism industry; no extra police powers were given in it.

The investigation against me was also unlawful because;
a) The police officers unlawfully seized my passport under the direct instructions of police chief Budi Setyawan; Indonesian police are not allowed to seize foreigner’s passports unless they have been charged with a crime. They actually tricked me into giving them my passport by telling me they only wanted to make a photocopy and then would return it immediately, but did not.
b) I was detained over a period of 5 days, which was in excess of the amount of time allowed for Indonesian police to question someone they have not charged.
c) The police officers informed me I was being investigated in reality for spying, which carries the death penalty. This was clearly a breach of my human rights to be threatened with state sponsored murder.
d) The police officers involved asked me questions totally unrelated to their purported investigation about my financial interests and demanded I sign a typed statement in Indonesian on the basis it was nothing, reflected what was said and I would be released along with my passport once I had signed it. After they had seized my passport I was very wary of them and refused to sign the statement on the basis I did not understand what it said; this made them very, very angry. In the end they bought in a registered translator and said I would have to be interviewed again. When I asked why they did not simply have the translator translate the original statement they replied the original statement had been lost, and then said it had been destroyed. During the second series of questioning, which seemed a farce answering the same questions again, the police officers did not ask the unrelated questions about my financial interests. It is clear to me the original statement did not contain an accurate version of what I said and that I would have been signing something which the police would have used to put me in jail.

It was only after the British Embassy in Jakarta through the British Consul in Bali intervened (they confirmed the police had no right to seize my passport or question me that long) did I get my passport back and was allowed to leave Indonesia. I remember that moment well as the police officer in charge said he had to go and get my passport back from the police chief, Budi Setyawan himself. This same officer also informed me one of the reasons why I was being released was that I had put my religion down as “Buddhist” on the police form and that Budi Setyawan was Buddhist too. I am really an atheist but most closely identify with Buddhism and knew that Indonesia requires people to have one of 5 religions. The police officer also warned me that although they were not going to press any charges right them, they were going to keep a close eye on me and also my wife's Balinese family; this is amazingly confirmed in the official file memo and shows further unlawful acts of harassment (human rights abuse) by the police as they had no cause or right to keep my wife's family under surveillance as they were not a part of the "investigation".

Of course the Bali police's unlawful acts did not stop there, please read Made Pastika and Soenarko Ardanto.

I demand compensation and an apology from the Indonesian Government for these breaches of my civil and human rights, I demand that Budi Setyawan is disciplined to the maximum extent as allowed by Indonesian and International law, that John M. Daniels face criminal charges for perjury and his other criminal roles in this matter, and for PT Bali Discovery Tours to have their trading licenses revoked for filing false and unlawful police complaints through collusion / corruption against me as provided for under Indonesian law.