“Perhaps ultra-sensitive, pious Muslims should refrain from visiting Hindu idol worshipping Bali”

“Perhaps ultra-sensitive, pious Muslims should refrain from visiting Hindu idol worshipping Bali”

SUCH is the insinuation from an open-minded Muslim to her brethren who recently stepped foot in Bali only to badmouth or to make unpleasant remarks about the “Island of the Gods” which draws millions of visitors each year for its unique culture, volcanic landscapes, beaches and spiritual retreats.

In fact, many fellow Muslins concurred with Threader @eirenesultan for ticking off a purported Muslim woman tourist in a long thread for feeling spooky, eerie or creepy passing by Balinese temples in her quest to conclude that visiting Indonesia’s most popular island attraction is her worst travel experience.

“Bali is a Hindu island. You go on a holiday to Bali and then you want to write a long thread that you feel is scary, you pass by their temple and you get goosebumps, you see things staring at you and you can’t sleep and it was your worst experience,” ridiculed the presumably travel bug poster.

“Sis, you just go to Pulau Tioman. Don’t plan to go on a holiday to Sri Lanka either because you see others going there happily, you get itchy to go there and then come back and write a long thread that you didn’t hear the azan (Muslim call to prayer).”

Interestingly, a commenter value-added the poster’s account of the seemingly ultra-sensitive or pious tourist by revealing that her family even had the audacity “to ask the villa owner to remove any Balinese sculptures and decorations before they check in”.

“The entitlement is disgusting. I would have just cancelled their reservation,” chastised the commenter.

This was when one Muslim netizen remarked that “it’s pitiful to see travellers instead of having opened eyes and minds become even more stick-in-the-mud”.

“In Islam, traveling to seek knowledge has many rewards. But that will be difficult to achieve for people with narrow mindset.”

As more Muslims spoke up against that feeling entitled traveller, one woman commenter wondered “how hard could it be to respect other people’s cultures”.

“Don’t they check things or do some reading before they travel? ” asserted the self-proclaimed “full-time baker-turned-weekend baker”.

The crux of the confusion could be she thought that Bali is a Muslim-majority island when 90% of its populace are Hindus by faith.

Even if Bali boasts an abundance of Hindu influence, Muslims can still appreciate beauty and charm of the scenic island rather than be overwhelmed by its religious elements, attested one Muslim commenter who recalled visiting the Uluwatu Temple with his other half.

This is when one commenter took a pot shot at the pious female traveller by revealing her hypocrisy in that she had no qualms “snapping photos in front of the Duomo and cathedral” when she visited Italy.

“There are also many idols, etc at the Duomo but she made no mention of her hair suddenly stood up,” she mocked.

At the end of the day, what the so-called pious traveller did has tarnished the image of Malaysians in the eyes of their Indonesian neighbours.

Hi i am Balinese Hindu. Indeed, the island is Hindu-majority with thick Balinese culture. But there’ll be a lot of halal food you can find everywhere.

We do have a lot of mosques that you can use together with our Indonesian Muslim family who live here.

The azan you can watch in all national tv channel, too. As I live in Dubai now, I , too, have to respect and follow their culture and rule.

I believe Malaysians are more open minded than us (but now) I can see how well your country has developed.  – Nov 6, 2026