A pair of Dutch expats have been barred from returning to Bali after they were accused of starting a run club on the Indonesian island that excluded nationals.
Entourage Bali says it is a run club that started to foster a community of “digital nomads in Bali” to connect with others during their stay who are new to the island.
The Bali-based run club has faced scrutiny regarding its inclusivity. entourage.runclub
However, viral posts about the exclusivity of the club have been doing the rounds on social media, with some labelling the group as racist for their alleged lack of acceptance of locals.
One Indonesian woman, Annisa Rahmadani Maclean, took to social media to call out the “racist community” after she claimed that her application was postponed because of her Indonesian name and number.
“Yet you accepted my husband’s application right away because he has a western name and number!” she said on Threads.
Locals have taken to social media to call out the run club. Threads / @channisaraa
The brewing controversy prompted Bali’s Director General of Immigration, Hendarsam Marantoko, to make a statement condemning the event, adding that an entry ban would be imposed on the Dutch pair involved.
“The Bali Silent Disco running event organised by foreign nationals [is] suspected of violating regulations and being fraught with discrimination against local residents,” Marantoko said.
“I have instructed the Bali immigration team to inspect the event organiser [and] if any foreign nationals are involved, arrest them immediately.”
“Foreign nationals cannot create their own rules or exclusivity within Indonesia’s jurisdiction,” he said.
Immigration officials later said that the two Dutch men, identified as JAS, 35, and HQV, 37, left the nation and headed to Singapore earlier this week after being slapped with an entry ban and placed on the ban list.
Entourage Bali responded to the claims in a social media post, maintaining that they are an inclusive group and that they “never meant to be disrespectful or discriminating to anyone”.
“Entourage was created as a community for digital nomads in Bali, to help people who are new to the island connect with others and do fun activities together during their stay.
“Our community includes members from many countries, including Indonesia,” they said in an Instagram post.
They stated that errors were made in their automated approval process within WhatsApp groups and running events that automatically rejected some Indonesian numbers.
The group added that Indonesians represented almost 25 per cent of ticket holders at one of its recent silent disco runs held on Wednesday.
They announced they were pausing all events while taking full accountability.
Balinese-based Indonesian Senator Niluh Djelantik responded to the incident on social media, stating that locals’ “hospitality should never be mistaken for a license to disrespect”.
“Utilising public spaces while rejecting local residents is unacceptable,” she said.
MorpheusOneiri on July 26th, 2026 at 09:13 UTC »
Funniest reason to be barred from a country.
Ok_Razzmatazz_8589 on July 26th, 2026 at 07:54 UTC »
Go to another country, then set up a club excluding people from the country.
Tall-and-Dutch on July 26th, 2026 at 07:48 UTC »
From their post on Instagram:
"While we were trying to create a place where digital nomads could meet, a bias was created that some (and not all) +62 numbers / Indonesians were incorrectly rejected."
What a bunch of horseshit. How does such a thing happen without the explicit business approval that someone has implemented a system that rejects persons with a certain nationality in the first place?
They bloody well knew what they were doing and now they are trying to salvage their business with some lame excuse. Pretending that this was a slip up and that they are fixing it.
Edit: also checkout https://www.reddit.com/r/indonesia/s/NOCGLJr2Xp, this confirms my thoughts