Indonesian single mother Puryanti bows stiffly like a robot, as she and her five-year-old son, their bodies gleaming in silver paint, appeal to passersby for an occasional coin at a busy intersection outside the capital Jakarta.

They are among a group of people dubbed "manusia silver", or "silver people" who use the strategy to draw attention, while struggling to make ends meet after the coronavirus pushed Southeast Asia's largest economy into recession last year.

"Some give, some 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 her divorce, can earn about 70,000 rupiah ($5), enough to scrape by and pay the rent.

Puryanti uses a homemade paint, a mixture of screen-printing powder and cooking oil, to coat their bodies and add dramatic effect to the robot act. She says the silver paint causes no ill-effects.

- Reuters