Beauty & the Begpacker

Since the past few years, there's been a new phenomenon within the tourism industry that's been bubbling in South-East Asia- begpackers. According to Macmillan dictionary, a begpacker is defined as "a western tourist who tries to fund their continuing travel plans by begging for money on the streets of countries that are much poorer than the country they come from".

Oh, the w̶h̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶i̶v̶i̶l̶e̶g̶e̶ irony. 

Just yesterday, I stumbled upon a sad sight whilst walking outside Pavilion, on the streets of Bukit Bintang - a small little beggar with deformed legs with a bowl to collect donations from kind passerbys, was seated on the naked sidewalk, his eyes hollow with hopelessness. And just three feet away, was a tanned Caucasian tourist dolled up in a beachwear jumpsuit, squatting on a mat, with a spread of a dozen pen & crayon sketches laid out, grinning at locals & doing another one of her sketches. Silently pleading them to "support my trip across South-east Asia", while self-absorbed passerbys milled around them. Poverty porn, I call it. 

Her bowl was empty though. But so was the poor beggar's. 

My blood boiled at the unfairness. 

Did she have no shame in "competing" with the beggar? Or did she very strategically choose to sit next to him, to invoke an image of pity & hopelessness to poor innocent passerbys? Was she leeching off his own vulnerable situation & financial insecurity for her own self-interest? Maybe. It breaks my heart to see people in financial distress, such as the little beggar. In all honesty, I avoid giving money to the ones lined up at Bukit Bintang, because of the numerous human-trafficking mafias & syndicates that themselves torture these poor victims, force them to beg, & lap up all the money. A vicious cycle indeed.

I've seen many such begpackers do this - but never before, sitting next to the true homeless, true destitutes themselves. To be able to flaunt, & exploit your privilege in such insensitive & disrespectful ways, is beyond me. To me, this movement simply suggests pure ignorance, a diversion of the true reality & the troubling insensitivity to the plight of the poor.

But personally, it's more of a debate of human emotions vs practicality & ethics. The human mind is pre-conditioned to automatically sympathise with others 'less' than them, or those who are struggling. If so, should we really be pitying & sympathising with begpackers, & help them?

Yet from an ethical standpoint, expecting local residents to fund your remaining journey simply because of your callous attitude to poor financial planning, is white privilege, since it's justifying yourself to do something that you would never do at home. Taking advantage of cultures & people, are not objects for you to exploit your self-interest. But using a country as a prop for turning it into a playground for your own 'adventure', as an excuse for your inability to do simple budgeting for a trip, is not justified. Cultures, laws & people are to be respected, & treated with dignity - at all times. 

In a nutshell, travel is a luxury - & a privilege for many. It does mean having an adventure, but according to your means & budget. But it simply doesn't mean relying on the kindness of strangers to  compensate for your own actions, irresponsibility & lack of awareness.