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Fed up with people constantly neglecting
self-isolation and quarantine rules, a local politician on Indonesia’s
Java Island decided to lock rule breakers in a haunted house to set an
example for others.
Kusdinar Untung Yuni Sukowati, the head of Sragen regency came up with
the idea of taping into the locals’ fear of ghosts as a way to deal with
an influx of newcomers in the area. Because of lockdowns in the capital
Jakarta and other major cities, Sragen has started seeing quite a lot of
people coming in, many of whom completely disregard the rule to
self-isolate themselves for 14 days, in case they are infected with the
novel coronavirus. To make sure people started respecting the rules,
Kusdinar started putting offenders in abandoned houses locals believe
are haunted.
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“If they disobey self-isolation orders, several villages have asked for
my permission to quarantine them in an abandoned elementary school or
abandoned houses,” the politician said. “I gave my permission. If need
be, they should be locked inside — in a haunted house if necessary. But
we’d still feed them and monitor them.”
Officials in Sepat village, for example, chose a long-abandoned house
that many in the community believe is haunted, and turned it into a
quarantine center for rule breakers. So far three people have been
ordered to spend 14 days there.
In Plupuh village, a similar abandoned house located in the middle of a
rice paddy was chosen for quarantining self-isolation violators. Two
people have been confined to the spooky abode so far.
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“Two Plupuh residents agreed to self-isolate but they violated the
order. So they were locked inside an abandoned haunted house. Had they
obeyed their order they wouldn’t have been locked in there,” the Sragen
regent said, according to Coconuts Jakarta.
Interestingly, this is not the first time Indonesian authorities have
used people’s far of ghosts to make sure they obeyed quarantine and
social distancing rules. Just last week we reported on a village in
Central Java that had local youths dress up as ‘pocong’ or shrouded
ghosts and sit on the streets to make sure people stayed inside.
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