Indonesia and India share deep and strong cultural relations build over several centuries of mutual respect and friendship. Indonesians hold Indians in high regard and treat them with utmost respect. However, a recent incident, in which an Indian family was caught stealing in a Bali hotel, could be a big spoiler for Indian tourists.
In an embarrassing incident, an Indian family was caught escaping with accessories they had stolen from a hotel in Indonesia’s Bali. A video of the incident has now gone viral on social media. The video, which is 2:20 minutes long, shows one of the hotel staff scanning the family’s luggage as they were on their way out from the hotel.
The video was originally posted on Twitter by a user named Hemanth, who wrote “this family was caught stealing hotel accessories. Such an embarrassment for India. Each of us carrying an #IndianPassport must remember that we are ambassadors of the nation and behave accordingly. India must start cancelling passports of people who erode our credibility.”
In the video, a woman can be seen arguing with the officials from the hotel who seem to be vigorously going through the suitcases. Apparently, the family had “stolen” whatever they could get their hands on – which included decorative items, toiletries, electronics, towels and so on. The security officials can be seen telling the family that they’d managed to steal ‘everything’ from the hotel room, including hangars.
She repeatedly asks the officials to let them go since they had a flight to catch. She even offers to pay for the stuff they’d stolen. “We are sorry. This is a family tour, we will pay you,” the family members can be heard saying. The staff, however, appeared to be in no mood to accept compensation for the behaviour of the family. “I know you have a lot of money, but this is no respect,” one of them responded to the family’s repeated offers to pay.
The video had Twitterati fuming who called the whole incident disgraceful. One of the user @rumilife0612, wrote, “Why do Indians do this I just can’t understand. One should maintain a certain kind of dignity and class ..What is this,” and also shared the video. The tweet has received over 90 thousand likes. As the incident came to light, many Twitter users demanded that the passports of the family be revoked.
Earlier, industrialist Harsh Goenka took to Twitter to criticise a Swiss hotel for specifically issuing a “code of conduct” for Indian guests, saying he felt “angry” and “humiliated”.
Now, with the video of an Indian family being shamed by staff for allegedly stealing from a hotel going viral, it once again bring into focus why Indians need to follow a ‘code of conduct’ abroad.