Entourage Run Club: Founders of controversial Bali run club flee after ‘discrimination’ against locals

The foreign founders of a controversial running club in Bali have been banned from returning to Indonesia and a warrant has been issued for their arrest after they are accused of preventing locals from attending the group’s events.

The two men, known as ‘JAS’ and ‘HQV’, are believed to be the founders of Entourage Run Club, which hosts events in Balinese public spaces and is marketed towards foreigners and ‘digital nomads’ moving to the Indonesian island.

The running club held a ‘Silent Disco Run’ on Wednesday (July 22) but has since been accused of excluding Indonesian locals from the event.

It is believed that some marketing for the event, which took place on WhatsApp, was sent only to international phone numbers and that overall marketing was inviting to digital nomads, also known as expats.

Leaked messages, including those from influencer Annisa Rahmadani Maclean’s, appear to accuse Entourage of discriminating against people with Indonesian names and phone numbers.

“You delayed my application because I have an Indonesian name and number, but you immediately accepted my husband’s application because he has a Western name and number!”, Ms Rahmadani Maclean’s message said. It was said.

He also accused the running club of being a “racist society”.

Bali Immigration Director General Hendersam Marantoko made a quick statement and ordered the arrest of the foreign nationals involved in the organization of the running club.

“The Bali Silent Disco running event organized by foreign nationals is suspected of violating regulations and discriminating against local residents,” Mr Marantoko said.

“I have instructed the Bali immigration team to investigate the organizer of the event [and] “If there are foreign nationals involved in the incident, arrest them immediately.”

Reports suggest that the two men, who are Dutch, fled Indonesia to Singapore before being arrested.

The men were also banned from re-entering Indonesia and are currently on the country’s travel ban list.

Entourage Run Club has also been accused of operating without official licenses from Indonesian authorities, despite using public spaces for its events.

The club later issued a statement apologizing for the incident, saying it had “paused all our activities for the time being” and that this required “full responsibility”.

“We are extremely sorry for the people who were hurt and hurt, and we never meant to disrespect or discriminate against anyone,” the statement began.

“Entourage was created as a community for digital nomads in Bali to help people new to the island connect with others and do fun activities together during their stay.

“Being a digital nomad is not defined by nationality. Our community includes members from many countries, including Indonesia.”

Entourage’s running club events generally do not require registration, but the silent disco’s equipment required participants to purchase tickets, according to the statement.

“Indonesians constituted the largest group of attendees, representing approximately 25 percent of all tickets sold,” the statement said.

“However, we made errors in the automatic approval process for our WhatsApp groups and events that were not working. . .a bias was created that some (and not att) +62 numbers/Indonesians were rejected by mistake.”