Disguised As Street Vendor, 51-year-old Indonesian Official Taught Locals Social Distancing

Indonesia is a creative country with many innovative ideas to fulfill their missions. Recently, an Indonesian official has disguised himself as a vegetable seller while some of his colleagues acted as buyers to role play the right way of social distancing.

In April, authorities of this country also went viral for enforcing people to stay home during the pandemic with fake ghosts at night. You may find it ridiculous but it works. This time, they have an even more practical strategy to encourage their people to maintain social distancing properly. Here’s how the story goes!

On the floor of a local market, a vendor is trying to sell his vegetables. He is seen wearing mask as well as a transparent plastic face shield to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

After a while, two women approach his stall to buy beans, lime and lemongrass. They are bargaining while a nearby seller jumps in the middle of their conversation.

The seller persuades two women to buy vegetables from his side as they are cheaper. However, this man doesn’t wear mask nor face shield as recommended by the national health officials.

Two women immediately turned him away, saying they won’t buy from those not sticking to health protocols during the pandemic. Having contact with those people means risking their lives.

When the play occurred, many local people were witnessing and got the message.

Though many of them realized the official who had disguised as the seller there for 6 hours, they found it useful and fun at the same time. This is clearly how to ‘rule’ people without any force.

In a phone interview, Mr. Gusnan, the official in story, told that he wanted to show locals the right way of maintaining social distancing in the market where thousand people may come and go each day. Sellers and buyers must keep physical distance as well as wear mask and face shield to protect themselves.

He just wanted to do it all by himself as “a leader must be able to lead by example.” Not just giving order, but administrators should illustrate what’s good or what’s bad for their residents to see, and follow.

Other than this initiative, the authority in Mr. Gusnan’s district has also launched various ways to educate local people on proper unlocking. Social media advertisements, posters on the street and public places or even door-to-door visits are what they are adopting to help people get through this pandemic.

Indonesian number of confirmed cases till date is over 33,000 while more than 1,900 people have died.

Previously, the Indonesia Health Minister went viral for his saying in February that the country was not affected by coronavirus thanks to praying.

Netizens worldwide has slammed this politician for this claim. He didn’t react further after this country recorded the first case of coronavirus.

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