Beggary - Malaysian Regular Kopitiam Scene

i'm an ignorant person. I don't give two hoots about what it's like to be the old lady, and the 3.5-feet tall kid who jingle their almost-empty cups, and look intently into my eyes, in hope that i might give them money out of pity. but i'd shake my head. and they'd move on to the next table at the kopitiam. over a few weeks, this scene repeats. then after seeing me frequently, they'd just skip asking me.

this is but a regular scenario at the hawker centre that sells my favourite ang-jiu-mi-hun-ke. a stall i regularly went to lunch in after Sunday Physics tuitions back in 2006. i still sometimes see the same lady and child, when i eat there.

i don't give money to beggars. because i don't earn my own money. and if i really cared, i should get them somewhere to stay and have enough food so that they never need to beg again. it would be like half-past-six to just give RM1-5. Better than nothing? but what's the point of living when all you do is beg to continue staying alive? They'd be begging the next day, and the day after, and so on.

i wonder, what keeps them alive? a hope for a brighter future?

what should i do about them? should i just ignore because there's nothing i can do?
what if I was in that person's position?

then again, that beggar might be just part of an organized syndicate where they send out people in tattered clothes to get money, and then return to live as 'normal' people.

donating would be like helping them in their criminal activities, right?

so how? just don't bother?

i'm curious to know how the beggar came about to become a beggar.
was she violated and then forced into this? did she just give up on making an honest living because she found begging more productive? was she robbed? did she overspend her money?

but i never spoke to any beggar. i wonder why.
fear of being clinged on? safety? fear of something worse? fear of feeling more obliged to help?

i don't know.

how do you prevent people from becoming beggars? education? some kind of welfare policy? economic policies that reduce inequality? what?
what's the cause of beggarism in the first place?

what can i do? what would you do?

but i guess this is one of the reasons why i choose to study economics.
so that perhaps after studying it further, i might understand the financial world better, while making some money somehow.

---
my mind's still jammed. i randomly thought of this. i think i'm gonna submit my average letter instead of trying to make a new and better one. there goes my chances of heightening my chances of getting in. sigh.

EDIT 28 Jan 2010
Picture gallery on homelessness in Malaysia
http://www.thenutgraph.com/hope-and-homelessness