DEPOK, Indonesia – Indonesian single mother Puryanti stiffens like a robot, while she and her five-year-old son, with their shiny bodies in silver paint, call on passers-by for an occasional coin at a crowded intersection outside the capital Jakarta .
He is among a group of people called “silver gloves” or “silver men” who use the strategy to attract attention, while struggling to meet after the coronavirus pushed Southeast Asia’s largest economy into recession last year.
“Some give, others don’t,” said Puryanti, 29, after three months of such daily performances, accompanied by her nephew Raffi, 15. “Sometimes someone gives enough.”
On good days, the Javanese, who was a housewife before the divorce, can earn about 70,000 rupees ($ 5) to save and pay the rent.
Puryanti uses a homemade paint, a mixture of screen printing powder and cooking oil to cover their bodies and add a dramatic effect to the robot’s action. She says that silver paint does not cause negative effects.
“I’m not ashamed to work like that,” she added. “The important thing is that all this is for my children.”
The pandemic, which brought Indonesia’s first recession in more than two decades, with a shrinking economy of nearly 2.2% in the fourth quarter, has been harsh on millions in the informal sector who have to leave their homes to and earn a living.
Poor people in Indonesia represent 26.42 million out of a population of over 270 million, according to government statistics, a number that increased by 1.63 million between September 2019 and the beginning of March 2020 of the pandemic.
Puryanti has checked with police that he can continue to work as a “silver person” for the time being, as long as he follows coronavirus measures, such as wearing a mask, but has greater ambitions.
“I want to have my own business,” she added. “I want to open a small store, but I don’t have the money for that.”