In Reply to: Bali Customs - Another tourist disaster! posted by Putu_Les on Tuesday, 9. June 2009 at 08:14 Bali Time:
surely on this occasion it is not the much maligned Customs service that is at fault, but the wholesalers who have evaded the tax and falsified the labels.
Sure, Customs could have picked it up before delivery to the hotels, but the nett result would be the same......a lessening of spirits available for sale.
In a case like this, the customs guys can't win.
If they take a bribe to ignore, they are corrupt.
If they enforce Jalata rules, they are "ruining Balis tourism".
You will be aware that about 12 months ago there was a major clean up of some of the tax evasion and import rorts that were going on, leading to extreme shortages of spirits and huge price increases.
Now some of the larger hotels are claiming that they are unaware of requirements etc.
I find this hard to believe.