Two Influencers are facing deportation from Bali following a Youtube prank video that depicted one of them breaking the local mask laws
Both Josh Paler Lin and Leia Se have reportedly had their passports seized by the local Bali government and are at risk of being forced to leave Indonesia as a result of the prank video.
In the clip, Se attempts to enter a supermarket, only to be turned away because she isn’t wearing the required face mask. Lin then uses makeup to paint a fake mask on her face and is then able to go into the shop.
The video, that had been posted on April the 22nd, went viral. Lin has 3.4 million subscribers on his YouTube channel.
Indonesia has been enforcing strict mask mandates. The nation’s police force are allowed to issue fines on the first offence and to report foreigners for deportation on the second offence.
This comes after Oxygen cylinders and ventilators landed in Delhi from the UK, but far more will be required, with India recording 320,000 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, with total deaths rising close to 200,000.
Though this was both Lin’s and Se’s first known offense in the country, the hubbub surrounding the prank video has drawn so much attention that Balinese authorities have seized both of their passports. according to a police statement, Lin is reportedly from Taiwan but resides in the United States, while Se (who goes by the name Lisha online) is originally from Russia.
“They will be examined together with Immigration to take the decision on whether or not to deport them,” spokesman from the regional office for the Ministry of Law and Human Rights in Bali, I Putu Surya Dharma, confirmed to the local media.
Lin has since removed the controversial video from his YouTube channel. On April the 24th, he uploaded a video on his Instagram page where he, Se and their attorney then went on to apologize for their stunt. The video is subtitled in both English and Indonesian.
“The intention to make this video was not at all to disrespect or invite everyone to not wear mask,” Lin says. “I make this video to entertain people because I am a content creator and it is my job to entertain people.” Later, he adds: “we promise not to do it again.”
This time, they are both fully masked.
Meanwhile, some police officers seem to have taken a more creative approach to punishing those who are caught breaking the law: an Australian news channel had reported that two tourists were ordered to do push-ups as punishment for not abiding by mask rules.
This comes after the British public will find out which nations they will be able to enjoy quarantine-free travel abroad to over the summer “in the next couple of weeks”, as the UK transport secretary confirmed that an NHS app will be used as a COVID-19 travel passport in order for some to visit abroad.
Authorities had confirmed to the new channel that they had issued a total of 8,864 fines or tickets, for the offense of mask non-compliance in Bali, within a single week. The island is hugely popular amongst foreign tourists and many have chosen to ride out the coronavirus pandemic there instead of returning to their native countries.
Indonesia has had a total of 1,651,794 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 and around 45,000 total deaths from the disease. Bali, which relies heavily on tourism, had originally hoped to begin to allow foreign visitors back into the country by September of 2020, but the ongoing coronavirus situation has so far left the island without a firm reopening plan.
