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Do you need an International Driving Permit in Bali?

Verified · by The editorial desk · Read Pasal 77(1), 85(4), 85(5), 281, 288 and 291 in the official UU 22/2009 PDF, and checked Indonesia against the UN Treaty Collection parties tables for the 1949 and 1968 conventions
A cream Honda Scoopy parked on the verge beside a flooded rice paddy at golden hour, helmet resting on the handlebar, palms along the far edge
A cream Honda Scoopy parked on the verge beside a flooded rice paddy at golden hour, helmet resting on the handlebar, palms along the far edgePhotograph by Polina Kuzovkova on Unsplash. Illustration only, not a document of record.

Do I need an international driving permit to ride a scooter in Bali?

Carry your national licence and an IDP. Indonesian law imposes no IDP duty on foreign drivers by name. It requires a licence valid here, and that validity depends on a treaty. Two articles apply, with two different maximum fines.

In force since

Every guide on this subject says the same thing: Indonesian law requires an International Driving Permit, under the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic.

Indonesia is not a party to that convention. And the law's actual requirement is not about the permit at all. It is about holding a licence that is valid here.

The practical advice does not change. Carry your national licence and an IDP. What changes is that you now know what the law says, which matters the moment an officer names a figure.

What the law requires

Pasal 77 ayat (1) sets the obligation, and it is about the licence.

Setiap orang yang mengemudikan Kendaraan Bermotor di Jalan wajib memiliki Surat Izin Mengemudi sesuai dengan jenis Kendaraan Bermotor yang dikemudikan.

Anyone driving a motor vehicle on the road must hold a driving licence matching the class of vehicle. A 150cc scooter is a motor vehicle. A car licence is not a licence for it, and that is the trap that catches most IDP holders.

The statute does name an international permit, but not for you

Pasal 85 ayat (5) uses the words Surat Izin Mengemudi internasional. It is about Indonesian licence holders obtaining one from the Indonesian police, for use abroad:

Pemegang Surat Izin Mengemudi sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (4) dapat memperoleh Surat Izin Mengemudi internasional yang diterbitkan oleh Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia.

Nowhere does the law place a duty on a foreign driver to carry an IDP. The duty is Pasal 77 ayat (1): hold a valid licence.

When a foreign licence is valid

Pasal 85 ayat (4) is the article that decides it, and it is conditional.

Dalam hal terdapat perjanjian bilateral atau multilateral antara Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia dan negara lain ... Surat Izin Mengemudi yang diterbitkan oleh negara lain berlaku di Indonesia.

A licence issued by another country is valid in Indonesia where a bilateral or multilateral agreement exists. Not automatically.

The agreement the market cites is the 1949 Geneva Convention. We checked the parties table in the UN Treaty Collection status document. Indonesia is not in it. It appears once in the whole file, in the Annex 4 list of distinguishing signs as RI, a list that also carries non-parties, which is what makes that appearance meaningless here.

The other candidate is the 1968 Vienna Convention. Indonesia signed it on 8 November 1968 and the ratification column is empty. A signatory is not a party.

Which agreement makes a European, Australian or American licence valid in Indonesia, we have not been able to establish. No source we found identifies one. We are saying so rather than repeating a convention Indonesia never joined.

Two offences, not one contradiction

Guides quote fines from Rp 250,000 to Rp 1,000,000 and appear to contradict each other. They are describing two different articles.

Pasal 281, not holding a licence: pidana kurungan paling lama 4 (empat) bulan atau denda paling banyak Rp1.000.000,00 Pasal 288 ayat (2), unable to produce a valid one: pidana kurungan paling lama 1 (satu) bulan dan/atau denda paling banyak Rp250.000,00

Note the connectors. Pasal 281 is atau: custody or fine. Pasal 288 ayat (2) is dan/atau: custody and/or fine, which can be cumulative.

Which article applies, and what each one caps the penalty at. Drawn from the text of UU 22/2009.
Which article applies, and what each one caps the penalty at. Drawn from the text of UU 22/2009.

Which one covers a foreign licence without a valid treaty behind it is not settled by the text. Pasal 288 ayat (2) says tidak dapat menunjukkan Surat Izin Mengemudi yang sah, meaning cannot produce a valid licence, which on its face could cover producing one that is not valid here. Pasal 281 says tidak memiliki, meaning does not hold. No official source resolves which an officer applies, and we are not going to guess at a four-fold difference in the ceiling.

These are ceilings, not price tags

The phrase running through all of these is paling banyak, meaning at most. These are maxima a court may impose, not tariffs handed over at the roadside. No page we checked says this, and it changes how you should read every number published on the subject.

Two articles nobody mentions

Pasal 288 ayat (1) covers the vehicle's papers. Riding without the STNK carries up to two months or up to Rp 500,000. The document belongs to the rental company, but the offence is committed by the person riding: the article punishes setiap orang yang mengemudikan. Ask for it before you ride away.

Pasal 291 covers the helmet. Pasal 106 ayat (8) requires an SNI-standard helmet for rider and passenger; the penalty is up to one month or up to Rp 250,000, the same ceiling as the licence you left at the hotel. It is the most routinely enforced roadside offence against visitors.

What a roadblock can ask for, and the ceiling attached to each item. Every figure is drawn from UU 22/2009.
What a roadblock can ask for, and the ceiling attached to each item. Every figure is drawn from UU 22/2009.

What we could not establish

  • Which treaty, if any, makes a non-ASEAN licence valid under Pasal 85 ayat (4).
  • Whether an officer treats a missing or invalid IDP under Pasal 281 or under
  • Pasal 288 ayat (2). No official source documents roadside practice.

Both stay open until we can source them.

Also asked

Can I rent a scooter in Bali without an international permit?
Rental shops rarely ask for one, so in practice yes. That has no bearing on the law. What the rental company checks and what Pasal 77 ayat (1) requires are different questions, and only the second matters at a police stop or to an insurer.
Is a car licence enough for a scooter in Bali?
No. Pasal 77 ayat (1) requires a licence matching the class of vehicle driven. A scooter is a motor vehicle in its own class, and a car entitlement does not cover it. This is the most common gap among travellers who do hold an IDP.
What does a police stop actually cost?
The statute sets ceilings, not tariffs: up to Rp 1,000,000 under Pasal 281 and up to Rp 250,000 under Pasal 288 ayat (2). Those are maxima a court may impose. No official source documents what is asked for at the roadside, and we will not invent one.
Do I need the scooter's registration papers too?
Yes. Pasal 288 ayat (1) penalises riding without the STNK at up to two months or Rp 500,000, and it punishes the rider, not the rental company that holds the document. Ask for it before you leave the shop.
Does my travel insurance still cover me without a valid licence?
Insurers commonly exclude accidents where the rider held no valid licence for the vehicle class. The exclusion sits in each policy's wording rather than in Indonesian law, so read your own certificate. We have not yet surveyed insurer terms and will not generalise from a handful.

How we verified this

What changed

  1. First draft claimed the statute never names the international permit. Corrected before publication: Pasal 85(5) does name it. The obligation on foreign drivers is the point, not the name

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