I Gusti Ngurah Tresna, head of the Kuta Beach task force,
says he will continue to round up suspected gigolos unless
they cooperate with police efforts to
prosecute the director of "Kuta Cowboys"
While several beach boys appearing in a documentary on Bali’s “Kuta Cowboys” denied being gigolos and accused the film’s director of having tricked them, the island’s police are preparing charges of immigration and working permit violations against him.
The film, “Cowboys in Paradise,” by Singaporean director Amit Virmani, examines alleged beach gigolos operating on the resort island of Bali. The film has drawn sharp criticism from officials and tourism operators and even prompted a group to raid the beach looking for the so-called male prostitutes.
Bali Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Gede Sugianyar Dwi Putra said summonses would be issued for all those who appeared in the film so they could serve as witnesses in the case being prepared against Virmani.
“The results of the questioning will be used to identify the violations that took place in the making of the film,” Sugianyar said.
He said that Virmani did not have the proper shooting permits and could face up to one year in jail and fines reaching Rp 40 million ($4,440) for violating the country’s 1992 Law on Films.
“We are also coordinating with the immigration office to know what are the immigration violations that were made during the shooting of the film,” Sugianyar said, adding that at the very least, Virmani did not have a proper permit to work in the country.
Meanwhile, Argo, a man seen in the documentary being given a massage by a Caucasian tourist on the beach, vehemently denied that the beach boys in the documentary were prostitutes.
“If we were gigolos, we would have owned many cars,” Argo said. “We are just dating and that is based on mutual affection.”
Orginally from East Java, Argo has lived on the resort island for the past nine years and said he ekes out a living as a surfing instructor. Many of his students happened to be foreign tourists, he said. Close relationship often develop between him and his students, and oftentimes they invite him to accompany them to nightclubs in the evenings.
“The essence is that they are here to enjoy life. And if I am not able to afford paying a visit to a discotheque, she will usually pay for it,” he said.
And although mutual attraction could sometimes develop, it has never been a question of getting money or goods from foreigners, he said.
Arnold, a deeply tanned and long-haired boy filmed in the documentary reciting one of his favorite pickup lines, said he had been misled by the director.
“When they shot it, he claimed that it was only for his own personal documentation, a record of his holiday in Bali,” Arnold said.
He said that he had known Virmani in Bali in 2007, and added that the Singaporean quickly became close to the beach boy community in Kuta Beach, the main resort on the southern part of the island.
Arnold who has lived in Kuta for five years and is married to a foreigner, refused to be called a gigolo.
“We are here only to train those tourists who want to learn surfing,” he said.
Vendi, another surfer featured in the documentary, agreed.
“We feel we have been put at a disadvantage, even more so after we are getting arrested,” Vendi said.
Meanwhile, I Gusti Ngurah Tresna, who heads the Kuta Beach task force responsible for safety and security there, said that if the beach boys objected to being called gigolos and had complaints against Virmani, then they should come to his office to discuss them.
“If there are no talks, then we will continue to conduct our raids,” Tresna said.
