Nightmare on vacation: Tourist boasted of violating the "Day of Silence" in Bali – and was sent to a year in prison
On the Indonesian resort island, which is particularly popular among Western tourists, they celebrate "Nyepi" every year, a holy day when beaches are emptied, the internet is disconnected, and everyone is required to stay indoors, keep quiet, and meditate. 26-year-old Lucian Andrin Zgraggen from Switzerland chose to go to the beach, take pictures, and mock the locals on Instagram.
A court on the Indonesian resort island of Bali sentenced a Swiss tourist on Thursday to a year in prison for violating the "Day of Silence," a holy date for the island's Hindus. The tourist, 26-year-old Lucian Andrin Zgraggen, was convicted of violating Indonesia's new penal code after posting on social media about the special day, during which residents are required to stay in their homes, keep quiet, and meditate, and documented himself spending time on the beaches.
The Day of Silence is called "Nyepi" by the residents of Bali and usually falls in March. On this date, for 24 hours, the famous beaches and streets of the popular resort island are empty of people, except for special patrols intended to ensure the maintenance of silence. The airport in Bali — an island that is mostly Hindu within Muslim-majority Indonesia — is completely shut down on this day, and the internet network is disconnected. The restrictions apply to everyone regardless of religion or nationality.
On the Day of Silence this year, Zgraggen published posts on Instagram in which he boasted about violating the restrictions, which prohibit residents and visitors from leaving their homes or places of accommodation except in emergencies. In the videos he shared, he is seen smiling at the camera and telling how he went to the beach during the holy date. In one of them, he even called the tradition of the Day of Silence "crazy" and used a curse word. The posts received wide distribution on social media and sparked condemnation from the residents of Bali, who saw them as a lack of respect. Following public complaints, the authorities located the tourist, and he was arrested at a villa in Legian, a popular tourist hub near Kuta Beach.
During his trial, which began in June, Zgraggen claimed to the court that he never intended to offend the Hindu holiday or the people of Bali. According to him, he published the posts when he was hungry and frustrated that he could not get food during the shutdown, and added that he did not fully understand the scope of the restrictions. "I deeply regret what I did, and I apologize to the people of Bali," he said in his defense arguments.
The District Court of Denpasar, however, determined that the Swiss tourist published the posts even though the staff of the villa where he was staying informed him of the restrictions, and ruled: "The defendant's actions offended the people of Bali, hurt their faith, and sparked public outrage. The defendant must bear responsibility for his actions."
Sending Zgraggen to prison is an exceptional move by Bali's standards. Although authorities have previously detained foreign and local tourists who walked outside during Nyepi, these cases usually ended without prosecution.
The island of Bali is a unique Hindu enclave within the world's largest Muslim country. For decades, the island has been considered one of the most exotic and popular vacation destinations in the world, attracting millions of Western tourists. Alongside its image as a peaceful tropical paradise, the island's name was etched in international memory also following the deadly attacks carried out there by the Islamist terrorist organization "Jemaah Islamiyah" in nightclubs in Kuta in October 2002. In these attacks, 202 people were murdered, including 151 foreign tourists.
