•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

Singapore-based writer and director Amit Virmani told the Jakarta Globe in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that he never expected his documentary, “Cowboys in Paradise,” to spark so much controversy and hatred.

He describes it as a compassionate look at the gigolo lifestyles of the “Kuta Cowboys,” but said the outrage was plain to see from the hate mail he had received and negative comments posted on the trailers to the film on YouTube.

“It’s unfortunate that people are making this out to be an anti-Indonesian film by an Indian filmmaker,” Virmani said. “That’s ridiculous and dangerous in today’s climate where harmony is so fragile. Besides, hatred is not what the film is about. And it’s not what Bali is about.”

One of the e-mails sent to Virmani described him as an “irresponsible idiot” and said he had “become the biggest enemy in Bali.”

Another mistook him for an Indian man named Amit who was interviewed as part of the documentary. In the film the man, who speaks positively about the gigolos and says they have a positive economic impact on the resort island, says the beach boys are part of the “national gross product,” which was misunderstood.

Virmani said the man was wrongly attacked for being “anti-Bali” and “jealous” of the beach boys. “But he’s a vocal supporter of the Cowboys. He insists they’re doing nothing wrong, that the world should not judge them, because in their own way they add color to Bali,” he said.

“That’s the problem when you judge a film by a two-minute trailer. Rather than being jealous of the Cowboys, in the film he explains their obvious appeal to women, and the failure of other men, himself included, to connect with women as well as they do.”

A threat was sent to one of Virmani’s Facebook friends who had spoken positively about the film. “I will stitch your a** to your mouth and leave your arms on the street to be crushed by trucks and I will cut out your eyes out with a rusty knife before boiling you alive,” the comment said.

Virmani reiterated that there was no need for hatred. “I cannot emphasize enough that it is not the point of the film. None of the people involved in making the film, or the people interviewed for it, think the beach boys pose any danger to tourists or hurt their holiday experience,” he said.

“We sincerely hope our film is not used as an excuse to victimize the beach boys.”

Virmani said he was concerned about Monday’s raids on Kuta Beach, in which Bali tourism officials and security personnel allegedly targeted 28 men suspected of being gigolos.

“What I find troubling is news of the recent raids, rounding up men with tanned and muscular bodies on the beach,” he said. “It’s not my place to question the motivations behind such actions. I’m sure the government officials have to deal with issues larger than the film.”

The chief of Bali’s tourism board, Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya, said on Monday that the activities portrayed in the documentary had nothing to do with Bali’s reputation as a tourist destination.

“That documentary, I believe, was over the top. It in no way represents what Bali is truly about, which is a world-class cultural destination,” he said.

Virmani said he agreed with Ida. “I just want to go on record saying that I wholeheartedly agree with what the Bali Tourism Board is saying. In fact, I’m not sure why they would think our position is otherwise,” he said.

“The film is about one small aspect of life on a holiday island. It does not suggest that the Cowboys are all that Bali is about. It was never the point we sought to make and the film should not be used as a counterpoint to Bali’s status as a world-class tourist destination, nor call into question the beauty of the island and her people.” 

JG