Indonesia has detained 28 "beach boys" accused of selling sex to female tourists on Bali after a documentary on the resort's "gigolos" hit the internet. The round-up of Bali's so-called "cowboys" began as tourism officials fretted over the impact of the film on the holiday island's image as a family destination.
"We've rounded up 28 men we suspect might be gigolos. They're young, fit-looking and tanned, mostly surfer beach boys," I Gusti Ngurah Tresna, the chief of security on Bali's main Kuta beach, said. "We're still questioning them. If we have good reason to suspect they may be involved in shady activities we'll hand them over to the police," he said, adding that the raids were ongoing.
The documentary, Cowboys in Paradise by Singapore-based writer and director Amit Virmani, was released at a film festival in South Korea last week. Segments of the film, which contains candid interviews with "beach boys" and the foreign women who fall for them, have appeared on YouTube.
Bali Tourism Board chief Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya said the "cowboys" had been fixtures on Bali's tourist beaches for some time but had not attracted much attention until now. "The film is over the top and only focuses on this group of people on the beach, but that's not what Bali is about. If the film is shown to the world, Bali's image will be tarnished," he said.
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