One might say that maskless foreigners are a common sight in Canggu throughout the pandemic, and local authorities backed that up with some data this week as they revealed that Bali’s mask rule violators have mostly comprised foreign nationals in Badung regency.
The province began enforcing a mandatory mask rule in September to curb the spread of the coronavirus, where individuals are subject to a fine of IDR100,000 (US$7.19) if they are caught without masks in public places.
Yesterday, the chief of Badung’s Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), I Gusti Agung Ketut Suryanegara, said that 80 percent of the people who violated the regulation had been foreign nationals.
“Out of 150 violators since we started [enforcement] in September 2020, 80 percent of violators had been foreign nationals,” Suryanegara said.
It’s worth noting that the number likely only accounted for those who actually paid a fine for not having masks at all, as more have been subject to lighter punishments such as sweeping the street or doing push-ups if they had masks on their person but did not wear them properly.
“There are also those who only wore underwear and did not have their helmets on, riding with three or four others,” Suryanegara told reporters.
Most of the mask rule violators were caught in the North Kuta area, such as Canggu, Tibubeneng, and Pererenan. According to Suryanegara, most of them were either Russian nationals or from other European countries.
Suryanegara also said that the foreigners often claimed not to speak English, and appeared to belittle existing health protocols because they can afford to pay the relatively small fine.
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