Bali Governor Wayan Koster today emphasized that officials will not tolerate violations of health protocols in the province, as he announced the imminent deportation of the Russian woman whose face paint mask prank drew massive backlash across Indonesia in recent weeks.
The woman, identified as Se Leia AKA Lisha, will be flying to Jakarta later this evening, followed with a journey to Moscow scheduled for 12:40am tomorrow.
Immigration authorities have deemed Lisha guilty of violating a gubernatorial regulation mandating mask use in public. As Indonesia’s immigration laws subject foreign nationals to comply with local regulations, such violations mean they can be deported from the country.
Jamaruli Manihuruk, who heads the Bali office for the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, said at a press conference today that Lisha is the only one being deported over the face paint mask prank. Based on their investigation — which were done in conjunction with officers from the public order agency (Satpol PP) — the other person featured in the viral video, Taiwan-born influencer known as Josh Paler Lin, was not guilty of violating local regulations.
Lin and Lisha sparked outrage across Indonesia for their ignorant prank video, which shows Lisha going into a local grocery store with a painted mask as Lin films her — himself using a proper face mask — while feigning disbelief that their stunt “worked” and that no one noticed. Though the original video has since been taken down, it was initially uploaded on Lin’s social media accounts.
Lin has over 325,000 followers on Instagram and 3.4 million subscribers on YouTube, while Lisha has about 26,000 followers on Instagram at the time of writing. It appears that Lisha has been featured in many of Lin’s recent videos, and it’s worth noting that Lin gained his following over the years from making prank videos. Following the controversy, they uploaded an apology video where they said that they had no intention to disrespect or encourage people not to wear masks, and that the prank video was made “to entertain people.”
Koster said that Lisha has done two similar pranks for content previously, including one where she used socks in lieu of face masks, while another showed her substituting a face mask with a bra, both of which were done this year.
“This deportation is carried out to teach a lesson to all foreigners visiting Indonesian territory — they must comply with laws in the country,” Koster said.
“With this, I want to underline that we will never tolerate anyone, including foreign nationals, who violate health protocols.”
