Disguised beggar

Disguised beggar

From Media Indonesia

Referring to an article in Gatra No. 17 in the Astaloka
column, titled "A village of beggars", I would like to give the
following comments.

The village mentioned has been typically known as a village of
beggars. They collect alms and charity under the pretext that the
funds will be submitted to a foundation which has a project to be
completed.

The foundation sends its people to big cities like Jakarta,
Bandung, Surabaya, etc. In reality, however, this practice is
fraud, because the money only benefits certain individuals.

I know how the system works through personal experience. A
beggar who had come from faraway and was armed with his
foundation's letter of sponsorship visited me. He showed me a
list of donors with the amount of money contributed. I believed
it was nothing but a false document.

The best thing to do is to refuse to contribute to such
uninvited guests who come from towns distant from yours. I hope
the deviant fund-raiser will be inspired by honest ideas in order
to make an honest living.

SLAMET SURABAN

Tasikmalaya, West Java