The owner of a grocery store in the Penjaringan sub-district of North Jakarta has become a hero on social media simply for not overreacting in times of panic due to the global coronavirus outbreak, which has officially affected Indonesia.
A short video of 57-year-old Susanna Indrayani has recently gone viral across various social media platforms — particularly on Twitter — showing her urging customers, while speaking in a mix of Hokkien and Indonesian, to refrain from buying goods in bulk.
Di Teluk Gong Jkt — Pedagang grosir kecil sembako kecil ini tdk jual kpd yg mampu walau di byr mahal, dia cuma layani langganan warung kecil dan orang yg kurang mampu dgn harga ttp spt biasa tdk naik harga,👍Sy selalu yakin msh byk orang baik di dunia ini 🙏 pic.twitter.com/3OB2FeOM7S
— Den-Mase-Pupunk-🇲🇨-🇸🇪 (@Purwo_Pawiro) March 4, 2020
A number of Twitter users who speak Hokkien provided a translation of what Susanna said in the video.
Susanna: In a condition like this, I won’t raise the price unless it’s raised from there (factory)
Customer: What about Indomie?
Susanna: I deliberately stocked up so I can sell them to roadside sellers at the normal price
Customer: Now this is the real deal, that’s fair.
According to reports, neither Susanna nor her 60-year-old husband Erwin have ever had dozens of people storming their store at once, which happened on Monday afternoon after President Joko Widodo announced that two residents of Depok, a city in the outskirts of Jakarta, tested positive for the novel coronavirus, making them the first people to be infected on Indonesian soil.
While others have sought to profit from panic buying, Susanna instead tried to calm down her customers and refused to sell to those who wanted to buy goods in bulk.
She also told them that most essential items and supplies, such as rice, instant noodles, and biscuits are still readily available at markets, so excessive panic buying could create scarcity for others who may need them later.
“Well, the reason why I refused [customers who wanted to buy in bulk] was because everything should be shared, so that everyone can get [what they need]. That’s what I had in mind,” Susanna told Tribun yesterday.
Susanna and said she was surprised by her viral fame.
“Maybe people were moved [by the video] … I didn’t know that [what I did] could get this big. I’m just an ordinary person,” Susanna said.
Reports of panic buying began to emerge following official confirmation of domestic COVID-19 cases, as many people flocked to grocery stores across the country to stock up on essential goods. It has unfortunately resulted in jacked up prices for some crucial items, including hand sanitizers and masks.
It was only yesterday that a 19-year-old university student in Jakarta was arrested for allegedly stockpiling masks and selling them at jacked up prices. She admitted that she sold the goods to help pay for college, and she was charged with stockpiling an essential good and driving up its price in times of emergency, which is punishable by up to five years in prison in accordance with Indonesia’s trade laws.
Police have also begun a nationwide crackdown on stockpilers of face masks and other essential goods at the request of President Joko Widodo. This includes police recovering some 11 thousand boxes of face masks at a warehouse in Tangerang on Wednesday, which were also going to be sold at hugely marked up prices. Other stockpiled products that police have recovered include hand sanitizers and groceries.
