The military have been patrolling the streets in Bali for some time now and fines of 100,000 rupiah are being handed out to people caught without a face mask. Unfortunately this hasn’t slowed down the rate of transmission. Face masks have been mandatory since April and authorities have also been handing out different punishments to those found non compliant. Punishments have included: being forced to buy rice for those heavily affected by the pandemic, doing push ups, or in some circumstances even being made to dance.
Update* Villagers in East Java were caught refusing to wear masks and then made to dig the graves for victims of Covid-19 in the hope it would teach them to wear one.
In a statement last month Mr Koster said: ‘Bali cannot fail because it could adversely impact the image of Indonesia, including Bali, in the eyes of the world, which could prove counter-productive to the recovery of travel.’
