The Oklahoman

Indonesia orders mask offenders to dig graves

- Joshua Bote

Eight people in Indonesia who refused to wear masks in public were ordered by a local official to dig graves for COVID-19 victims.

As Indonesia faces an uptick of COVID-19 cases, leaders in Cerme, a district located in East Java, establishe­d stricter enforcemen­t of social distancing and mask-wearing policies.

For the eight people who violated the local mask mandate, that meant digging graves. The district’s leader, identified by Indonesian news site Tribun News as Suyono, proposed the punishment due to a lack of gravedigge­rs in the area.

“There are only three available gravedigge­rs at the moment, so I thought I might as well put these people to work with them,” he told Tribun News. “Hopefully, this can create a deterrent effect against violations,” he said.

Two people are assigned to each grave – one to dig the grave, and another to insert wooden boards in the holes to support the bodies. Cremation and embalming are not permitted in Indonesia, and bodies are traditiona­lly buried without a casket.

The non-mask wearers were not permitted to take part in any traditiona­l ceremonies, reported the Jakarta Post. Per SBS News in Australia, they were also forbidden from touching the corpses. Instead, local officials wearing protective equipment were to bury the bodies.

Indonesia has the highest current coronaviru­s death toll in Southeast Asia, with nearly 8,900 deaths as of Tuesday, per Johns Hopkins University. The country has required people to wear masks since April.

 ??  ?? Workers dig holes at a burial site for victims of the pandemic in Jakarta on Friday. BAY ISMOYO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Workers dig holes at a burial site for victims of the pandemic in Jakarta on Friday. BAY ISMOYO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

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