In Reply to: Private drivers posted by sassyoz on Thursday, 26. May 2011 at 21:38 Bali Time:
Tourist drivers & tour guides have been required to have the appropriate licences in Bali for quite sometime (years)
Most have never bothered to do so.
From what I was told it's not impossible to obtain one.
Perhaps most drivers just cannot be bothered or do not want to pay whatever the amount is
Police have also often stopped drivers to check
Drivers in the past have got away with it by handing over a bribe.
Yes they are all reacting to the recent crackdown
As reported recently, several were put in gaol & also had to pay hefty fines
At the moment as long as you have a car you can pick up passengers for tours
Some of these get their driving licence within a couple of days and then off they go
Speaking from experience that can be a frightening one :)
As for the husband & wife scenario, I guess if you are out driving with your Indonesian husband in Bali, better carry something to show your marital status & country of residence (whether you live there or another country)
At the moment there are crackdowns on illegal building, lack of permits & licences for building as well a for drivers
Safety - wise etc not a bad idea in my opinion.