In Reply to: No Angela posted by Tuberose on Wednesday, 12. September 2007 at 15:52 Bali Time:
you think that if you don't give a few rupiah to a beggar in Bali it will solve the Indonesian poverty problem?
You speak Indonesian, talk to them and find out why they are begging and what the alternative is.
If you spent time in Sanur you may have seen the hill people who are desperately poor, they come down to Sanur and beg from the restaurants and stalls.... the Balinese always give to them.
Many of the women that you say are doing the rent a baby begging are hill people. These people also take their children to the orphanages when they no longer can support the children.
So there are a few rorting the begging system, they are probably just as poor.
These people are despised for being beggars, looked down upon and scorned, cleared from the streets like vermin... and worse.