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Friday, June 01, 2012

Slumming it

"Poverty tourism" is on the rise in Jakarta, Indonesia. Recent years have seen "poverty tourism" mushroom globally, from the favelas of Brazil to the slums of Dharavi in Mumbai, popularised by the film "Slumdog Millionaire"

"Jakarta Hidden Tours" trip, which aims to show visitors the squalid conditions of the nation's poor. The slum dwellers, like half of Indonesia, live on less than two dollars per day. Each tourist pays 500,000 rupiah ($55) to visit, with half of that going to the tour company, and the rest funding doctor visits, microfinance projects or community projects such as school building. Tourists deny voyeurism, instead saying that what they witness inspires them to action.

But that does not reassure some critics.

"I'm against slums being turned into tourist spots," said Wardah Hafidz, an activist with the Urban Poor Consortium. "...People should not be exhibited like monkeys in the zoo. What residents get from these tours, in cash or whatever form, only strips them of their dignity and self respect, turning them into mere beggars. They not only become dependent on handouts, but come to expect them. It doesn't help them to believe they are capable of standing on their own two feet or getting them out of the spiral of poverty," she added.

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