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- Confrontation in popular tourist spot caught on camera
- Tensions flared over a faulty item and a $25 refund
A 'distressed' Australian great-grandmother was allegedly forced to beg for a refund for a faulty plug adaptor bought from a market stall in Bali's busiest tourist area.
Emjay James, 47, filmed an altercation between his mother Lorraine and two female stall operators in Legian, in which the 66-year-old was seen dropping to her knees with her arms raised as she pleaded for 250,000 Indonesian Rupiah ($25AUD).
Lorraine had earlier purchased the plug adaptor to charge her phone to take photos ahead of her son's beach wedding later that day, but after trying multiple plug sockets at the Jayakarta Hotel, where she was staying, discovered it did not work.
When she and Brisbane-born Mr James returned to the stall - across the street from the Jayakarta - looking for a refund, things took a nasty turn.
'All I said was, "Hi, I'd like to get a refund for this plug, please, because my mum bought it from you, and she's tried to use it in her hotel room, hotel reception, and the Coffee Club, and it doesn't work, it's faulty",' he said.
Mr James said two stallholders took immediate offense to his suggestion that they had sold him a faulty product, and began talking angrily to each other in Bahasa Indonesia, the local language.
The start of their confrontation was not caught on camera.
'As soon as I said it was faulty, they started going off at me. I said, "Hey, slow down, calm down". And that we didn't want any problems we were just here to try to get a refund for a faulty product that didn't work.
'As soon as I said faulty product again, that was it.'
He claims he was called a 'bule bangsat', a highly offensive Indonesian phrase for foreigners that translates to 'foreign b***tard'.
Mr James, who has lived in Bali for nine years and is married to an Indonesian woman, told them, 'Hey, I understand exactly what you're saying. I'm local.'
He alleges she responded by saying: 'You're not local, you're from Australia, go back home to your own country, don't cause problems here in my shop.'
In response, he admits to raising his voice and calling the women 'anjing', which translates to 'dog'.
He then announced he was going to get security from his nearby hotel, leaving Lorraine at the stall.
When Mr James returned, he began filming the confrontation, which had escalated. He alleged the shop owners had forced his mother to beg for the refund.
At the start of footage, Lorraine, flanked by a security guard, could be heard saying, 'OK. Can I please have my money back', as she dropped briefly to her knees.
'You're making my mum, who is an old lady who's just had a stroke, beg for her money back, mate,' Mr James said.
One stallholder could be heard asking Lorraine where she was from.
'It doesn't matter where you're from, Mum,' Mr James interjected.
Lorraine turned back to the camera and waved her son away, then asked him to tell the women he was sorry.
'I've apologised three times, and I said I'm sorry if I offended you,' Mr James said.
'You talk about karma... I've apologised, just please give my mum the refund. It's not hard.'
He could be heard telling the women the situation was 'tidak bagus', not good, as Lorraine tried again to usher him away.
Toward the end of the video, Lorraine could be seen speaking to the women. She then accepted a wad of cash.
'I guess you could say they finally refunded it. They had the money in their hand, mum just snatched the money and walked off,' Mr James told the Daily Mail on Tuesday.
When asked why Lorraine had dropped to her knees at the start of the video, Mr James said she had been told to 'beg' for her refund because the stallholders did not like her son.
Mr James is a newlywed who works as a DJ on the island and also runs a clothing boutique with his wife.
His professional Instagram bio reads, 'Bali is home. Indonesia is life.'
He married his Indonesian partner Aysha hours after the altercation. He said his mother was subdued throughout the celebration as a result of the confrontation.
'You can imagine the stress of dealing with this on our wedding day,' he said.
'She wasn't the same the whole day but didn't want me to mention it to the family until after the wedding.'
'My wife found out after the wedding and was furious. She wanted to go to the stall to confront the women, but I told her it wasn't worth it.'
Lorraine has now returned to Australia. Her son described her as 'very distressed' by the whole affair.
Mr James posted his video of the incident to the Facebook page Bali Bogans, an online community for Australians living in or visiting Bali to trade information and recommendations. It has almost 200,000 members.
But he soon deleted it after many declared in the comments that he and his mother were in the wrong.
'I removed the post due to some nasty comments that were directed towards Mum, as I didn't post it for any reason other than to share our experience,' he said.
'I've been attacked over the post - people saying I was aggressive and used a negative tone and abused them.
'In fact, in this video you can clearly hear I was calm, considerate and firm while speaking.'
Other comments expressed surprise that a confrontation like this occurred in Bali, where stallholders who rely on tourism are generally courteous and friendly.
'I've lived here for nine years and it's the first time I've encountered anything like this. Usually people are kind and lovely here,' he said.
Mr James said he has reported the incident to the local Banjar, a Bali community council which organises religious and cultural affairs and community aid, and also assists in security and dispute resolution.
He has also sent the video to Niluh Djelantik, an independent Indonesian senator in Bali.
In 2023, CNN reported Djelantik was the 'go-to person foreign tourists and travellers call upon when they run into trouble with the authorities'.
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