No cash, no problem; beggars now have QR code

 

AS HUMAN beings, we are naturally touched by suffering. Seeing someone hungry, elderly, disabled, or simply worn down by life awakens something deep within us.

It reminds us that beneath our different clothes, jobs, and lifestyles, we all share the same basic need for dignity, comfort, and hope.

Helping beggars is often less about money and more about humanity. A small act of kindness can restore a sense of worth to someone who may feel invisible to the world.

But on the flipside, we also wonder if we are helping someone who is more privileged than us with all the reports coming in that some beggars are actually making more money than the average office worker.

This is especially true where migrant beggars are concerned. Not to forget that some of these people are placed here by syndicates to generate income.

And what is our excuse to avoid making payments to such individuals?

For some people, it could simply be a polite statement stating that he or she did not bring cash. That excuse could have worked a long time ago, but not now as can be seen in a post on X by netizen @kamaghul.

Forget the bowl on the floor or the begging cup. Beggars too are embracing the digital age.

A good number of netizens in the comment section too said that these beggars are nowadays more advanced.

The jokes continue with @arfabdim who told people to just donate five sen to her. Then there was achrfhkm_jf suggesting an effective excuse for the current times.

Also, the beggar with the QR code prompted @leo175leo to share about the frightening rose sellers at Bukit Bintang who knocked on people’s car windows.

But perhaps there is another story to this photo. Take it from netizen @FrugalFliza who wondered if the photo was AI generated since the writing on the QR code was unintelligible. “This is surely not a Touch N Go,” he said.

Finally, @aswadi_didi came forth to clarify that the word UPI atop the QR stands for Unified Payments Interface, a payment system available in India.

It appears beggars in foreign countries are also more advanced than our local beggars. If this statement does not challenge us to upskill, what else would? — Focus Malaysia