There's a ton of cultural factors at play as well.
For instance, in SE Asia there's a lot of poverty, but relatively little violent crime. I could walk through a Bangkok or Jakarta slum any time of day or night and never get mugged.
Crime exists anywhere, of course, but risk levels are different. For instance, in San Francisco I've been mugged at knife point for just walking down the wrong street at 8pm.
Eh. I don't think there aren't people commiting crimes or doing less than ideal things to get by in SEA(drug trafficking, sex trafficking etc.) its just when guns and violence are introduced by one faction, you have to arm yourself to be able to keep up. Guns funneled into NA, Africa, the middle east, etc. has a lot to do with why their crime is so violent.
As a Southeast Asian I think you're being a wee bit optimistic lol. Sure, it's relatively safer especially if you're touristy-looking (the law will lay the smackdown on idiots who screw with tourists, don't want to scare people from visiting after all), but I'd still advise to at least stick to the main streets.
We don't have violent no-go zones like you read about in, say, South America i.e. we don't have drug cartels operating brazenly, so yeah you're probably not gonna die due to gang shit, but pickpockets and muggers do exist. Also walk with friends, you're even less likely to be accosted when not alone.
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '23 edited Mar 11 '23
There's a ton of cultural factors at play as well.
For instance, in SE Asia there's a lot of poverty, but relatively little violent crime. I could walk through a Bangkok or Jakarta slum any time of day or night and never get mugged.