This post is to do with a very strong suspician of attempted paedophilia on my son whilst we were holidaying in Bali in Sept/Oct 2004.
If you will bear with me for a moment I would like to start by explaining myself for not mentioning this earlier or reporting this to the police at the time.
Reasons being:
1. The first time I ever posted on this forum I had the best of intentions and was shot down in flames.
2. Although I had thought about posting this as a warning to others I have no real evidence and it was not until this morning when I saw a post titled "safe for children to walk around" further below that really brought back the memory of what luckily didn't happen to my son. I then emailed someone who I think of as a travel guru for advice.
It was only then that I learned that someone else in Bali reported a similar incident on this forum that I thought to do a search. Through searching the archives in May 04 I found a post titled "The tennis player" written by TnT. This has made my blood boil as our experience was almost identical. My heart is pumping and I just have to say this story just in case.
Have just quizzed my son to refresh my memory and what I thought was only one approach from "The tennis player" was in fact three.
3. At the time we did not go to the police (apart from not having much faith in the police system there) thankfully nothing actually happened and we had no hard evidence.
4. There is so much good in Bali and I want to stress that what I am about to say was instigated not by a Balinese but a Westener.
5. I am sure there are some legit tennis coaches and don't want to scare people off them but I can't for the life of me imagine the one I am about to write about is.
We spent 17 lovely nights at the Jayakarta Hotel. Our group of 4 adults and my 12 year old son (who has long blond hair) went for dinner at a nearby resturant. (not on the beach front).
Though we were having a good time from where I was sitting could not but help notice a Westerner sitting in the corner alone as he kept looking at my son. Apart from the way he was looking at my son he also drew my attention for the way he looked. Just didn't seem to fit in somehow. My best description of him is this: Was in his 50's, fat, pale skinned, glasses, thinning silvery/grey/blonde hair, very sweaty and also disturbed looking. He was reading a newspaper and not drinking alcohol I noticed.
Later in the evening an Indonesian man sat down with him for little while. When the Indo got up to leave he went directly to my son, without introducing himself or saying anything to our small group of adults he spoke to my son. My boy who is usually very confident looked very uncomfortable and this Indo man left. We asked my son what this man had said and was something to the effect that he was a tennis coach and would my boy like a game of tennis the next day to which my son replied "no".
Thought that a bit odd but then later in the evening a young angelic looking Indonesian came and sat down with the fat Westerner for a few minutes. The Westerner started sweating even more and was gloating and almost drooling over the young Indo guy as he seductively blew smoke at him and looked him up and down. A bell rang in my head as I told my friends not to look over at him whilst I told them about what was going on.
Suddenly the Westerner put his newspaper up covering his face for a second and then he and the young angelic looking Indonesian abruptly got up and left.
My son burst out laughing and said some obscenity about them and when I asked him why he told me that when he heard what I was suggesting to my friends about this 'couple' he saw the Westerner man again look over at him and my boy then had glared at the Westerner and gave him the rude finger signal under the table and that the Westerner had seen this.
One of my friends tried to say something to the staff but they did not speak much English and only said that their boss was away and that the man was a friend of their boss.
Next morning at the beachside cafes near the Jayakarta Hotel I saw the same Indonesian man who spoke to my son, darting in and out of all the cafes as if he was looking for someone.
Later that day I saw him sitting at the side of an Australian family on the beach talking to their young boy who was about 10 and also blond. I watched like a hawk and after he had left I waited till the mother of the family went for a swim and then discreetly approached her with my concerns. She said to me her family come to Bali often and he is just a beach seller as he wore the same coloured shirt(something I was unaware of). She said she would speak with her son and the massage ladies she knew, about this man.
Later I met up with this woman again and she said indeed he was not a beach seller but dressed to look very similar to one. He had also been asking her son to come and play tennis but funnily enough never mentioned it to the parents or her young daughter who certainly looked the more athletic of her children. Her husband had apparantly yelled at this Indo man to go away and leave them alone later in the day when he tried to approach their son again.
On quizzing my boy today I have since found out that he was approached not one as I previously thought but 3 times to play tennis. Another time at a cafe whilst I was in the bathroom and once on the beach. Twice by the same man I mentioned in the resturant.
I wish now we had the foresight to ask which tennis court would they play at. In my mind I see a private court, a shower after tennis with maybe cameras installed. Perhaps a hotel court where this Westerner can watch from his 'by the tennis court room'. Perhaps worse, maybe there was no tennis court, I can't bear to think further. Perhaps he just really wanted a game of tennis. Somehow I don't think so and neither did my friends who were there.
The best description I can give of the Indo is that he was about 30, not bad looking, quiet athletic though with a bit of a sleezy air to him that one senses for example in junkies. At the resturant he wore a black and white T-Shirt that said "Jiggy-jig" or similar on it but then also do a lot of other people in Bali.
Know the name of the resturant but don't ask me to post it as that would be deemed as slanderous and as far as the Westerners nationality most countries have sickos and I don't see it as relevant except to cause division so why point the finger.
Decided to post this here where I hope it gets lots of exposure as I would like to warn as many as possible to try and protect our beautiful children.