New trend? Begging season at Muslim graves during Raya

 

ONE OF the many beautiful features of the Hari Raya Celebration is the fact that Muslims visit the grave of their loved ones to pay their respects.

It is good practice for the living to respect the dead. After all, are we not here today because of the sacrifices of our ancestors? 

It is also a way to remind our fellow Muslims that life is temporary and it should be used to prepare them when they meet their maker someday.

Sadly, nowadays the tranquility of these burial sites are being destroyed by a worrying trend—migrant beggars.

According to netizen @bckupacc99 who visited his family grave in Penang, the place was filled with migrants begging for money.

In a video post, he highlighted all the beggars, sitting on carpets by the side of the walkway, eating or watching people pass by with their begging cups at their feet.

Anyone could have mistaken this for a picnic at the grave. Netizen @bckupacc99 added that they are here because they knew the Muslims are prone to make donations, which makes them easy victims of scams.

“Just report to immigration,” said netizen @yvyvivy in the comment section while a fiery @unicornsistic suggested that someone should lob fire crackers at them.

“Please drive all of them away. If we don’t do it now, it becomes a habit later,” pointed out @xadnilan, adding that begging at graves is not a local culture.

Then there was netizen @han_asoka stating that they could have taken some pay by cleaning up the graves instead of begging for money.

“Even the dead people cannot be at peace,” said @KyaTapioca who further tagged the police officers in his comment, stating that a Malay graveyard is not a resort in Port Dickson.

Away from the comments section, fellow readers should also be aware that there are beggar syndicates out there preying on people’s sympathy.

Note that the money you donate to a poor, old lady sitting on the streets might actually line the pocket of an evil human trafficker.

This will only encourage more of such deviant behaviour. There is even a time and place for kindness, and a migrant beggar is not one of them.— Focus Malaysia