A cripple moving around soliciting for money at a food outlet in Miri recently.
MIRI: Are those individuals, who looked despondent and poor, moving around eateries soliciting for donations bona fide beggars or tricksters?
It is quite a common sight here, and most of the people they approached for money obliged as Sarawakians are known for their generosity.
A concerned member of the public from Kuching, who wished to be identified as Ujang, said he had met such `beggars’ on numerous occasions while having meals, and each time his heart strings got the better of him.
Recently, he bumped into a crippled man here, and he donated RM10.
But each time he dig deep into his pocket, he would later wonder whether he had helped that person or whether he had been swindled.
They all act poor and spot sympathetic looks, he told The Borneo Post recently.
“I suppose it is their strategy to melt people’s hearts so that they will get what they are after. But then again they could be genuinely in need of help.”
Most people, believing that these individuals are indeed beggars, would have no qualms in helping to fill up their bowl or palms with their hard-earned money.
“These beggars would then make their exit hastily, with a radiant look on their face. I sometimes wondered whether they are happy because they could put food on the table or because they have just fleeced the gullible.”
Ujang said some of these characters even explain the reasons why they had to take to the streets to beg.
“But are their reasons genuine, I often wondered?”