JAKARTA (dpa-AFX) – Very cute and scary: In Indonesia, the authorities are now using ghosts to enforce the health protocols of the corona pandemic. Several white-hooded employees wearing ghost masks, among other things, provided information about mask requirements and distance rules at a market in the metropolis of Tangerang, as local media reported on Wednesday. The ghosts known as “Pocong” in the Southeast Asian island nation are said to represent the victims of Covid-19. Signs read “My mask protects you, your mask protects me” and “Wear a mask, wash your hands, keep your distance”.
According to legend, pocong are corpses whose bodies are covered in white fabric except for the face. This is tied over her head and at the feet. The face of the Pocong is marked by decay, the eyes are nothing but empty hollows. It should be about the dead whose soul has not yet found rest.
Indonesia, which has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, has long been making headlines with strange deterrent and punitive actions. For example, people who were caught without a mask had to “try it out” in a wooden coffin. Belief in supernatural powers is also used again and again to bring people into line: rule breakers had to persevere in abandoned houses, which were said to be haunted ./cfn/DP/eas
