Tickets for British rock band Coldplay’s concert at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium on 22 November have been sold out.
Although it might seem like a marketing success story, behind this ‘sold-out’ story lurks an ugly truth.
Ticket ‘scalpers’ are said to have bought and hoarded the tickets and are reselling them at exorbitant prices, with 300-500% profit margins.
Such a practice is not unfamiliar to us; yet we have been unable to purge this profiteering culture from our midst.
This happens not only with high-demand concerts but also with a whole range of other goods and services.
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Government-subsidised essential goods are bought, hoarded and resold at higher prices.
Even genuine ‘fire sales’ of goods may be bought in bulk, stored and later distributed to smaller townships to be sold at ridiculously higher prices.
Ultimately, the ordinary people suffer while unscrupulous traders and business people laugh all the way to the bank.
This seemingly ‘smart business strategy’ is plain robbery. It must stop.
Yet, such a scalping and profiteering culture has become a way of doing business for mega-buck projects. The rent-seeking political system has only helped this culture of robbery to flourish.
We do not need rocket science to end this practice. Stringent enforcement and speedy punishment should be effective.
Will the “unity government” be able to remove this scalping culture? Will the people of Malaysia, as discerning consumers, ever be able to harness and use the power of consumerism to end these unhealthy trends?
To rebuild this nation, we will need to begin somewhere. Ending this deeply entrenched culture of scalping, hoarding and rent-seeking would be a place to start.
Or should we fear that has such illegal profiteering has become the Malaysian way of doing business? Should we be resigned to believing (as was once told by a politician in Parliament) that as corruption is everywhere, we might as well learn to live with it?
I sadly wonder if we will have to learn to live with it.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
