“You go down New York, Broadway. You will see the beggars; people of the streets…Where are the beggars in Singapore? Show me.” Lee Kuan Yew.
Is it true that there are really no beggars in Singapore? I beg to differ.
How do we react when a beggar approaches us for money? The most common reaction would be to shun these people and carry on with our daily life. I think this is because Singaporeans have become more sceptical of such beggars and the genuine need for money for survival. Over the past month while travelling to school on a particular public bus, occasionally I would encounter an old woman begging from passengers to give her $2 for food. A typical unkempt old woman in rugged clothes and uncombed hair, you would think that at least one of the passengers would give her the money. Instead most of the passengers were eager to shun from this woman, motioning their hand in negative response of refusal to give any money. I must admit, I was guilty of turning her down too. One of the aunties on the bus commented, “You give her money now, later she’ll ask again. Don’t even know where she’s gonna spend that money.” Even these aunties knew that giving her money would not have solved her problem but only serve to encourage her to continue asking from more people for money. Living under a government that does not believe in a welfare state, such characteristics are reflected in the citizens.
To society, such beggars have become a form of social problem, a nuisance to the public. Especially in a country that places emphasis on the importance of self independence, Singaporeans tend to be more careful with their money. We have been socially constructed by the government that these poor and homeless are considered as socially offensive and we should not encourage such behaviour by giving them money. While most Singaporeans associate themselves as the middle class, such beggars are seen as the lower class and there would be a tendency to segregate these people. With an increasing number of reports of organised beggars on the street, more Singaporeans are becoming more wary of donating to these people. With references to an article from Asian One “China amputees beg to get quick money”, it states how these “professional” beggars “work” only during the morning and evening peak periods and would return to their hotels at the end of the day. Most of them earning as much as $50 within an hour and own a mobile phone to contact their “minders” at the end of the day.
While the Ministry of Community Development (MCYS) emphasize that the ‘significant’ increase of beggars were mainly foreigners from China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, accounting for 74 of the 181 people picked up. In actual fact, the bulk of these beggars were mainly Singaporeans. Thus conflicting his statement that “There is no reason for any needy Singaporean to beg or be a vagrant”. Such begging at hawker centres, temples and MRT stations have been a common sight that it is surprising that Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore’s permanent representative to the UN are ignorant of the situation. “There are no homeless, destitute or starving people [in Singapore]…Poverty has been eradicated.” Thus one starts questioning, what has the government been doing to solve this problem? If begging is an offense in Singapore and those who have at least two previous begging records can be fined up to $3,000 and jailed for up to two years, why is it that the numbers of beggars have increased?
References:
Money No Enough (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_lzrGUGAWM)
Begging, Razor TV (http://www.razor.tv/site/servlet/segment/main/)
Asian One News, “China amputees beg to get quick money”
(http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20080204-48203.html)
Tan Theresa “Rise in number of beggars”, Straits Times 30 September 2008
