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Slum tours in Jakarta now operating

by Stephen Greenwood (RSS feed) on Jul 8th 2009 at 1:30PM

An Indonesian tour operator, is now offering tourists the chance to see the 'other' side of Jakarta - a side tucked away from the sprawling shopping malls and 5-star hotels.

Jakarta Hidden Tours is advertising 3 different separate routes through the slums, allowing you to "explore Jakarta with a local and see how the majority of people live, work and raise their kids".

"Poverty tourism" has come into the spotlight since the release of Danny Boyle's Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire.

Robert Finlayson, from Volunteering for International Development from Australia, helps run the tours and believes that the tours help social understanding. "Guilt is like pity, it stops you from seeing people as they actually are," Finlayson was reported as saying. "What we wanted to say is...People are the same all over the world."

Head of the Jakarta Urban Poor Consortium advocacy group, Wardah Hafidz, disagrees. ""It creates more problems for us than it helps," Ms Hafidz said. "If you come with money then it's a complete language of money. It doesn't develop the understanding that they (the slum dwellers) are powerful, that they can help themselves."

What do you think? Should tourists support this type of travel?

[via AFP]

Filed under: Asia, Indonesia, Consumer Activism

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Mike Jul 12th 2009 3:57AM

I think it's fine, if conducted responsibly. A slum tour is an extension of what I already do as a traveler - go somewhere to see what's there and how the people live.

I'd love to go on a tour in Jakarta. I went on one in Rio and was fascinated by the architecture. Life in the Rio slum (Rochina) didn't look too different than other unofficial slums I've seen in parts of Bombay, Bangkok, etc. Life being lived on the street.

If I can go in with the best intentions - to be open, to learn - then hopefully my presence won't be harmful.

That being said, going on a tour anywhere is not going to connect me to a person or a group of people. I can learn a little bit about the people from the street, but no more than I could learn sitting on a bench on the Champs-Elysees. So I don't really buy the argument that it helps one understand that "people are the same all over the world..." or maybe the tour opens a door to that, but it doesn't provide much content besides pictures of children. To really learn what people have to offer it takes speaking the language, spending time, being in their daily lives. Getting to know people, you know?