The Poor are Liars

Because of a previous attempt at helping out with some “social development” in a village further from town in Kota Belud, I came in contact with the leaders of the village. Almost a week ago, I reached out to them to ask how they are holding up at this time (Covid-19 health emergency, Movement Control Order etc). They replied me, telling me some of the villagers are facing shortage of drinking water and food essentials. They told me some government agency did went to distribute necessities, but some of them did not receive it, even when they need them.

I offered to help out, and asked them for a complete list of the names of people who are in need. The local church leader was put in charge of liaising with me. He told me there are around 135 people who are adversely affected, but 20 of them are in more hardship than the others – they need help the most.

I thus reached out to KB’s MP. She said her people will look into it but cannot guarantee provisions for all twenty of them. I offered to help fund-raise and was told that I will be updated soon.

I then reached out to my family to see if anyone is willing to, despite the Movement Control Order, purchase some things and send them over. My mom offered to ask around, she wanted to forward my message to her work group. But her superior refused her request to forward. He questioned the verity of the message, and believed that there are already sufficient agencies who are to be responsible for assisting these people.

My dad then called a friend, believing that they would be able to help, given their connections and better off financial standing. I was put in touch with her and forwarded the name list (in picture form) from the church leader to them. The picture was alas too blurry and I now have to wait for a clearer one.

One more day carrying on formalities may well be one more day hungry for those in need, but since I am not around to help, this must then be managed by whoever is willing to do so.

Throughout this whole process, from the day I asked for assistance from the first person even, I was warned that the villagers may be scamming me. I was told that despite how bad it may sound like, some villages have the tendency to take advantage of the kind-hearted – telling fiction of how they are so badly off just to get some money or donation. I was told to be wary and to just let those who knows how to handle these, handle it. And that I may not know the actual situation. I was also told that hey some of the villagers are still selling veggies the other day!

It is disheartening. At this time, many have lost their source of income because of the restriction of movement imposed by the Malaysian government. Many have seen a significant reduction in their income. Some goes hungry – having no food, or not enough food to feed all members of the family. It is depressing, it is hard.

Do I believe that some may be trying to take advantage of those who are willing to help? In normal times, maybe. At this time, not really. What I believe in is that many do not have enough. Some may have enough for a few more days, and none after. Some may have to dig out their life savings just to ensure they and/or their family don’t starve. I would therefore say if it seems like they have enough and if they are trying to win some provisions, then they are not adequately prepared for the current situation and thus do need some help.

Everyone is trying to survive. Some of us are luckier than others. Our salaries or allowances paid for even when we merely sit at home to flatten the curve. Others may not be as fortunate. Businesses are forced to shut down and many business-owners – owning multiple properties, driving nice cars, living in comfortable house, having substantial investments and savings – are screaming that they will not have any income anymore these few weeks/months. These are the self-employed with brick-and-mortar businesses are fearing for their finances.

Now imagine those self-employed, whose job is to rubber tap at their inherited rubber “estate”. Those whose source of income was from their newly started “tourist spot” (a river with several huts at its banks, charging RM2 per entry). Those whose source of income was from being undocumented employees of businesses which pay below minimum wage.

Granted, oftentimes, people living in the countryside usually have their own land to farm, so one may ask – are they really that badly off? Are they really going hungry? Does their situation warrant assistance from the public? Why don’t they just plant their own food?

Then comes another question – there are so many others who may be worse off than those who are currently said to be in need, what then gives the latter the privilege over the former, even when the former is still unidentified?

Never ending questions to ask and things to identify. By the time one is approved of being worthy of receiving assistance, how many days have the person went hungry or anxious about being hungry? Do we really want to keep our people anxious about their own survival daily? Does it not then create a society where one is scared of not having enough anymore and so at the next opportunity, try to obtain enough through dishonesty?

Theoretically, people are egocentric. We put our own interest first. But somehow, it seems like the public perception of village-dwellers and the lower-incomes’ is that they like to take advantage of others for their self-interest. That they will use any given chances to scam.

Perhaps it’s time to ask ourselves why.

I have a personal theory. It is that when we think these people are in need more than we are, we thus see the fact that they may be needy as possible motives for them to lie. We see those as “reasonable suspicion” for them to take advantage of others. Perhaps subconsciously, we gave them this label of dishonesty.

Let’s retrace our steps now. We see them as liars – why? Because they have a “Motive” to be dishonest – why? Are we not being distrustful towards village-people or the lower income just because they are after all village-people or the lower income?

I understand the possibility of being scammed. That is always a likely possibility when one wish to act out of kindness. There may be many who may tend to cheat. The consequences of falling for these lies may be, among others, ineffective allocation of resources, breeding dishonest thus ineffective people, and may ultimately affect the development of the society. We say that for the betterment of the society, we will not want to encourage scammers.

I agree that we take certain steps to ensure there is no dishonesty, but these steps must be efficient, they must be those that can be fast enough so as to avoid unnecessary delay.

What I do not agree is the ingrained idea that the poor are liars, are stupid (see Aleeya Zailan’s comments below.), and are advantage-taking bums. Ingrained idea here refers to the automatic thought that first jumps into mind. The first response where we say "Are you sure this is true? These kind of people tend to lie."