A recent controversy involving an unauthorised running event on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali has led to permanent entry bans for two Dutch organisers, reigniting long-simmering tensions between foreign expatriates and local communities on the island popular with digital nomads.
Indonesian immigration authorities confirmed the ban Friday, noting the two men — aged 35 and 37 — had already departed Bali for Singapore before the announcement was made public. The bans bar them from ever re-entering Indonesian territory. The event in question was organised by Entourage Bali, a community group catering primarily to foreign digital nomads that has come under fire after widespread online allegations of systemic discrimination against local Indonesian applicants.
The controversy erupted after Entourage Bali opened registration for a 5-kilometre run scheduled for July 22. Multiple social media users shared testimonies claiming the organisation rejected Indonesian applicants while approving foreign registrations without issue. One Indonesian woman shared a viral post stating her application was held up indefinitely due to her local name and Indonesian phone number, while her husband, who uses a Western name and foreign phone number, was accepted within minutes.
In response to the backlash, Entourage Bali released an official statement pushing back on the discrimination claims, arguing that any rejections of local applicants were the result of an accidental technical glitch. The group said its automated chat group approval system incorrectly blocked numbers registered in Indonesia, and that Indonesians actually made up nearly 25 percent of participants for its past events — the largest single national contingent in the community. It also emphasised that its membership is open to all people regardless of nationality, founded to help new arrivals to the island connect through shared activities, and that digital nomad status is not tied to citizenship.
To address the ongoing controversy, the group announced it would pause all scheduled events indefinitely while it implements internal reforms. The organisation had previously held a popular “disco run” in May that drew a large crowd of mostly foreign participants.
Indonesian officials have defended the ban, saying the organisers violated two key national rules: first, the event was planned and publicised without obtaining the required government permits, and second, the alleged discrimination ran counter to local laws and social norms. Indonesia’s immigration chief Hendarsam Marantoko framed the incident as part of a broader crackdown on foreign operators acting outside the law on Bali, saying the unregulated, exclusionary community amounted to an unacceptable “state within a state.”
Bali Governor I Wayan Koster also publicly vowed Sunday that local authorities would take strict enforcement action to prevent similar exclusionary, unpermitted events from being organised in the future. The case comes as Bali has seen steady growth as a top global hub for digital nomads over the past decade, a boom that has also brought growing friction between foreign transplants and local residents over issues of access, entitlement, and exclusionary practices by some expatriate communities.
Authorities have made clear they intend to step up oversight of foreign-led activities on the island to ensure all events comply with local regulations and respect equal treatment for Indonesian residents.