Bali Governor: There is no corruption in the Wisman case

DENPASAR - Bali Governor Wayan Koster has confirmed that there has been no corruption by the Bali Provincial Government in the collection of foreign tourists.

"We are grateful to those who provide critical thoughts or even have suspicions of irregularities, I ensure that this PWA (foreign tourist collection) is carried out through a digital transaction process and directly goes into the regional treasury," said Koster as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, March 25.

With the entire transaction process being digital without going through people or conventional ways, it is ensured that no one can take money as much as Rp. 150 thousand per visit of foreign tourists, including the use of which is already regulated in laws and regional regulations.

"So, in order for the PWA to be optimal, let's all chase it, communicate with the central government, not by questioning because there is no problem, let alone accusing there is embezzlement and so on, it is impossible to have it," he said.

During the first year of his leadership in the second period, Governor Koster reminded that he had perfected the Regulation on Wisman Collection into Bali Regional Regulation Number 2 of 2025.

The regulation regulates the provision of incentives for tourism business actors who can help collect direct levies digitally on the Love Balidan website starting mid-2025.

The impact, PWA increased. From 2024, it received around Rp318 billion from 2.12 million foreign tourist visits, to Rp369 billion or from 2.46 million visits in 2025.

According to the Governor, this value is still far from optimal because only 35.4 percent of the total of approximately seven million foreign tourists entering Bali pay, so it needs to be optimized for collection.

Koster invited all parties to help, such as the Bali Provincial Government, which is currently still trying to invite the Immigration Ministry to participate in the collection of taxes.

"Now it can't be optimal because the Bali Provincial Law Article 8 Paragraph 3 states that the Provincial Government is given the authority for PWA only in Bali, the determination or power of compulsion is not strong. In addition, there is also no cooperation arrangement with the Ministry of Immigration," he said.

However, this is not easy because there is no law that regulates Immigration to be involved in the process of repatriation so that currently other facilitation assistance is being sought.

Therefore, Koster emphasized that it was very inappropriate for the Bali Provincial Government to be accused of corruption considering it was not easy to increase PWA revenue.

"With all the weaknesses that exist, we must make improvements and we cannot blame each other. We have to work together to advance regional development because our fiscal capacity is very limited," he said.