Indonesian newscast Tribun News reports that local government has imposed a serious punishment on citizens who refuse to wear masks: forcing them to dig graves for others who die from the disease.
“There are only 3 gravediggers available right now, so I think it could also lead those other people to paint with them,” said a local official in Gresik, East Java, according to the translation of The Jakarta Post. this can create a deterrent that opposes violations. “
The macabre correctional strategy stands in stark contrast to that of the United States, where some states have issued regulations requiring citizens to wear face masks to curb the pandemic, but there is no national requirement yet.
Even these limited demands have been controversial, with protesters in the United States and Europe gathered to protest the use of masks.
This is not the case in Indonesia, which instituted a national mandate to wear mask in public in July. It was a reaction to the 3,600 killed at the time, a figure that has now risen to nearly 9,000.
The punishment of digging a grave is excessive. And Indonesia has a poor human rights record.
But there is a sure schadenfreude, as evidenced through the wide dissemination of history in the global media, by seeing other people who forget the fitness of others who are forced to face the mortality of those others in such a direct way.
“We urge the public to wear a face mask in accordance with COVID-19 fitness protocols,” said the east Java police leader, according to the Post.
READ MORE: Gresik residents were forced to dig graves as punishment for dressing up in a face mask [The Jakarta Post]
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