If you’ve been to Bandung, you may have noticed the ‘manusia silver’ (silver men) – people spray painted with metallic paint from head to toe – wandering around and begging for money on one of the city’s busiest streets, Jalan Pasteur.
While they have been around for a while, it seems their numbers have multiplied recently, leading the citizens of Bandung to file a complaint to the local government about their presence.
“We’re getting so many complaints from citizens who feel bothered by the presence of manusia silver,” said Bandung Social Agency Secretary Medi Mahendra, as quoted by Merdeka today.
Medi explained that the manusia silver usually beg for money under the pretense that they are collecting money for donations toward orphanages.
“But the fact is, there is no correlation. [The money they collect] is for their own income,” he said.
As their actions are deemed illegal, the Bandung Social Agency is working to round up the manusia silver and place them in social rehab. They are also urging citizens not to give money to them in order to prevent more and more of the monochromatic beggars from popping up in the city.
