Bali's Rabies Emergency Requires Joint Responsibility: House

RRI.CO.ID, Denpasar – Bali is currently under a rabies emergency status following a significant rise in cases throughout 2025 and 2026, Indonesia’s House of Representatives (DPR) said during a working visit to the Denpasar Veterinary Center (BBVet Denpasar) in Bali on Saturday, September 19, 2026. It has drawn the attention of the House, including its member Firman Soebagyo.

"After receiving a report from the head of the local health agency, we learned that Bali is already facing a rabies emergency. According to the data, there were 66,760 cases in 2025. This is no trivial matter. It is very serious," Firman said after the meeting, as quoted by dpr.go.id on Monday, September 21.

Firman also said 16 people in Bali had died from rabies among those cases. In Denpasar alone, eight positive rabies cases had been recorded since early September 2026. He said the figures showed that rabies in Bali was no longer merely a technical issue for the Ministry of Agriculture, but a serious problem requiring a coordinated, cross-sector response.

Firman stressed that Bali’s status as a global tourist destination makes the rabies issue a major concern for visitor safety, both because of the risk of being bitten by rabid dogs and the potential for rabies-carrying animals to enter the country from abroad. "Therefore, we propose that the government collaborate and work together to address this issue," he said.

Firman said the working visit had highlighted that Bali was facing a rabies emergency, while the Bali provincial government was considered unable to resolve the problem on its own due to budget constraints. He therefore called for shared responsibility among ministries and government agencies.

"We want to see shared responsibility, not only from the Ministry of Agriculture, but also the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Indonesia Quarantine Authority, and other relevant ministries and agencies, so that we can resolve this together," Firman said.

The lawmaker from Central Java added that the meeting findings would be followed up, including by being presented directly to the President. He said efforts to promote Bali as a global tourist destination would be undermined if the rabies emergency did not receive serious attention, particularly from the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Health.

"We will tell the President that there is no point in promoting Bali as a global and international tourist destination if this very serious problem does not receive attention, particularly from the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Health," he said.