Begging for festive handouts

Adults bringing along children to beg outside a resident’s house in Jalan Pokok Ceri leading to the Jade Emperor Pavilion.

WITH a cigarette in one hand and a smartphone in the other, a ‘beggar’ waited patiently for people to put money in his plastic cup as he sat on the road leading to the famous Thnee Kong Tnuah (Jade Emperor Pavilion) in Ayer Itam, Penang.

The 77-year-old man, who wished to be known only as Ming, said he had been joining the group of ‘festive beggars’ to ask for money and food from devotees over the past five years.