From "This Republican mayor has an incredibly simple idea to help the homeless. And it seems to be working", Colby Itkowitz reported that The Republican Mayor Richard Berry, came up with a great idea to hires panhandlers for day jobs after his poor residents told him that they didn’t want to beg for money, but they didn’t have anywhere else to go. “Now the program has given out 932 jobs and more than 100 people have been connected to permanent employment.”(2016)
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My Yes/No question is:
Can Thailand rectify beggar problems since The New Control of Beggars Act has just enforced?
My answer is:
Yes, but in order to decrease the number of panhandlers and maintain in long run everyone shouldn’t support them.
Support
Recently, the new Control of Beggars Act enforced in Thailand and it’s intended to control begging activities while busking will not be considered as begging anymore. According to the Control of Beggars Act in 1941 busking considered as begging activities.
As Ministry of Social Development and Human Security Permanent Secretary, Maitri Inthusut claimed that “they will literally be led off the footpaths, under the new law people will be given what they need without having to beg, under the act those who cannot be trained to work, such as children, the elderly, and the disabled will be sent to shelter homes and provided with welfare, they also collaborating with agencies to assure that beggars will be able to find employment and acceptance in their communities.”
Everything seem to be perfect but it might not as easy as it seem. We need to address the causes behind them because there are so many types of bagger in Thailand; for instance, the disabled, alien workers, the elderly, the women with babies, children, human trafficking and even people who pretend to be disabled. These types of beggars, some are really get through hardship, some are scammers, even under gangs or organized crime, some are victims from human trafficking and some are just too lazy to work and looking for an easy handout which makes a lot of money.
Yesterday, I saw an interesting comment on the BBC Thai Facebook, it said “Baggers around Union Mall and Central Ladprao area usually come to exchange coins with banknotes at my home. I assumed that her home is a convenience shop. In one week a beggar got more than ten thousand baht, especially the one with dark skin and big scar on his face. I’m certainly support that it’s a true story because my friend saw him smoking before. Frequently, these people sit on the streets with a cup filled with coins from pedestrians and bagging for money.
As an example above, panhandlers in Thailand generally lucrative, whilst in the UK it totally different because for some people it’s seem like the only option to do. They earned small amounts of money so given them the opportunities to work and even pay them higher than the minimum wage solved more problems than in Thailand.
However, I admitted that the government tried hard to rectify beggar problems, which they provided everything for them and even after comparing the two versions you can see that it has improved, the previous Beggar Control Act of 1941 lacked provisions to punish whoever responsible for trafficking human into begging, which the new one already added. I think it will help reducing victims from human trafficking activities.
In my opinion if the Act strictly enforced; it will rectify in the short run but in a long term after this government the Act will never effectively implement since policies will change. In order to decrease the number of panhandlers in long run, everyone shouldn’t support or give them money if you want to give them, give food to eat is enough.
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Reference
Itkowitz, C. 2016: This Republican mayor has an incredibly simple idea to help the homeless. And it seems to be working. (2016, August 11). The Washington Post. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/08/11/this-republican-mayor-has-an-incredibly-simple-idea-to-help-the-homeless-and-it-seems-to-be-working/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_mayor-homeless-8a-stream%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Krairiksh, N. 2016: No more beggars on the footpath? The new Beggar Control Act. (2016, May 30).Prachatai. Retrieved from http://prachatai.org/english/node/6168
Beggar in Thailand is the same as magician. We pay them because we expect something from them. In the case of a magician, we pay to watch the show. We pay to watch the hand skills and the tricks. The magicians put a lot of effort to train and perfect the act. They deserve the money.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of a beggar, we are expecting something out of them as well. Imagine a poor-looking, starving, limping woman holding her newborn baby wearing torn up clothes. We would pay them so that they'd have a better life. We feel pity. We feel empathy. But when we paid them we feel relieve. Most people would think they do something good that day. At least they improve living quality of the poor family. What we get from paying the beggar is comfort, the feeling of superiority like a wealthy magnanimous, satisfaction, or even complacency. When we think about it, they are the same as magicians. They lie to us to get our money. We are practically buying their service. They put in a lot of effort to look beat-up, to look poor. They put up a good acting and they convince us. Why don't they deserve the money. And it's ridiculous to think that the one supporting them is us, people who pay them out of pity.
I know that it's not correct to say that all beggar is like this. Some of them were forced to become beggars and I think that the issues should be addressed more seriously. I agree with your last sentence. To deal with this problem, we should start with stop supporting them.
According to your post,the beggars got 10000 Baht a week which means 40000 Baht per months. This is considerably higher salary than an inexperienced bachelor degree graduate can get from their first jobs. Therefore, even the laws say that those begging will be provided with homes, state's welfare or even jobs, I am not sure that this can reduce the number of beggars. It might be better to still do this as a "job" as they can make more money than job that state provides.
ReplyDeleteThe only way that I can think of in order to reduce beggars is to stop supporting them like you said. When they get less money, they might tend to change their way to make money. This time "maybe" they will do something good.
But that's only one person. What would be very useful here are some statistics on the average amount made by beggars. My suspicion is that those who do it professionally are making a decent living, although 40,000 Baht/month seems to me an extreme made by very, very few. And I suspect that most who are reduced to begging are desperate and make very little.
DeleteBut I really don't know, and guesses are never a sound basis on which to make government policy. Does anyone have any reliable statistics for us here?
And if you criminalize begging as a source of income, does that put the state under an obligation to support those who are thereby made that much worse off? Must the Thai government give at least 10,000 Baht/month to everyone who cannot get a legally permitted job when it uses the law to stop some income earning activities?
And what about prostitution? If people are not allowed to chose that career, don't the people who prevent it have an obligation to support those stopped with an income equal to the income denied by law?
The average income of beggar in Thailand is in between 300-1500 baht per day. Especially, disabled and children tend to get more than that. The research found out that the child beggar could get maximum to 3,000 baht a day.
Deletethe research was done by The Mirror Foundation but I can't find any source in english so I'm sorry
https://www.facebook.com/ThairathFan/photos/pcb.10152853026987439/10152853022592439/?type=3&theater
Thank you Namwan.
DeleteThat's a start. I didn't check the ThaiRath source to find out more details, but it clearly supports the idea that begging is a profitable business.
I really agree with Pun and Oil answer. People with talent should be supported. I really admire disable people who are singing or playing musics on street because they need to have some talent to do it. However, I won't support beggar who are not disable. I finds them to be lazy people who don't want to do the real job. What they do is just wait for money for people that feel bad for them. Everyone at least have an opportunity in their life. This is when they weren't grab that opportunity. I believe in consequence. It is not the situation that make them like this but themselves like what Bill Gates said : "If you are born poor its not your mistake, But if you die poor its your mistake." I believe that if everyone working hard enough they will have good live. The world is not dark or light.
ReplyDeleteBill sounds wrong on this. I think a lot of fortunes people make are through good luck as much as other things. Hard work certainly helps, but Gates would never have become so rich were it not for a series of lucky accidents for him: he was born from parents who passed on genes for intelligence, perhaps more important, his genes made him hard working, and he was born into a wealthy family that could support his goals. And he was born in the late 20th century to enjoy the rise of computers.
DeleteDo all of these lucky accidents make him deserve the vast wealth?
In case you are worried, I do realise that my ideas here seem to contradict what I suggested in an earlier blog post. is there a problem here?
Not only Bill Gates who were born in 20th century and not only Bill Gates who were graduated from Harvard. And he is not the smartest in his class look at this quote, he said “I failed in some subjects in exam, but my friend passed in all. Now he is an engineer in Microsoft and I am the owner of Microsoft.”(This evidence maybe not solid enough because grades don't reflect the intelligence. However, I will talk about this in blog later). What makes Bill Gates stand out of his friend is because he grabs opportunity. Also, there is people who way smarter and richer an him. Genes does not matter but action because it speaks louder than words.
DeleteI agree that what has made Gates successful is that he grabs opportunity, and works really hard. But I think both of those characteristics are largely determined by genes.
DeleteDog breeders select for breeding both for physical and personality traits, and I think the mounting evidence is that our own personality, how happy we generally, our sociability, and all the rest, is to a large extent determined by genes. The environment, such as family, is also important, but a lot is probably already set at birth.
I think Gates has created great value for me and billions of other people for which we happily pay him, but does he deserve the accidents that made him the sort of person who could create that success?
Can we really predict the future using all the information we know(maybe theory everything)? I don't think so. When we consider the Chaos theory aka the butterfly effect: "It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world".
DeleteOr even quantum mechanics, we can not predict where the particle is. What we know is what is the probability of finding the particle in this area. Unless we measure the location of it.
I agree with you that it is a problem await to be solved. And one good way to help solve the problem is to call the concerning authority to take care of the case besides stopping giving money to the beggars. I heard there were panhandlers caught and referred to the assisting agency like house of emergency. Food and shelter are provided for free, but they sneaked out to do the panhandling again. Many people are puzzled that if they are really in need why they ran out from the helping hand from the assisting corps. Many years ago my friend saw a female beggar bought and drank two cans of beer before start her routine. I think the problem should be seriously brought to the attention of public again. Some beggars are trafficked from our neighboring countries. It's illegal and inhumane. The problem awaits to be solved.
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ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic which I would like to read and I believe that the new act can decreases the number of beggars in Thailand. This is a problem with many countries still have and can't easily solve. When I found beggars in some areas, I never give money or any things for them. Because this makes the problem still remains. So I think we shouldn't support money for them and I hope that Thailand will not have any beggars, human trafficking, poverty, or other things which lead for begging soon.
ReplyDeleteYes, your suggestion is right. But when I saw some of them that look very pitiful, I feel really bad if I just walk away. Actually, I give my money to them often than buying something from those who selling candies, flowers, or little dolls on the street. I should have supported people who try to work not the one that selling nothing but they poor look. But I don't know what to do with all the stuffs if I help them by buying things I don't want. Anyway, I don't give money to them anymore because I don't have enough money either. I eat too much, most of my money is spent on food.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that everyone shouldn’t support or give them money but just giving food to eat is enough. I think that decrease the number of panhandlers in long run is very hard for practical situation. The law for human trafficking isn't stick enough in Thailand, so many people trend to be panhandler because it is easiest way to gain a lot of money by doing nothing. To solve this problem, government should launch the law and abide by the law. Moreover, don't give money to them, just only provide food is enough.
ReplyDelete