If the novel coronavirus doesn’t get you in Malaysia, the ghost will. A Malaysian man is moonlighting as a ghost during the COVID-19 lockdown in Terengganu in an effort to scare superstitious citizens into obeying government orders to stay indoors.
Muhammad Urabil Alias, 38, says the whole thing started as a prank to keep teenagers from breaking the lockdown, but it’s taken on a life of its own since a photo of him in costume went viral.
The image shows Urabil dressed in a long, flowing white robe with fake white hair and a long white beard. The costume is meant to make him look like a Malaysian ghost known as a “pontianak,” although he also resembles pop-culture representations of God.