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I am a Practitioner of 'The 7e Way of Leaders' where a Leader will Envision, Enable (ASK for TOP D), Empower, Execute, Energize, and Evolve grounded on ETHICS!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Daily Lessons from Life 02 July 2013 - Scalping of sought-after goods getting worse

Congratulation to the LionsXII for wining the MSL this season with a game to spare. Great job! "Scalping of sought-after goods getting worse - My Paper Jul 02, 2013 SINGAPORE - First it was N95 masks, then Hello Kitty plush toys. And now, scalpers are turning to highly-sought-after National Day Parade (NDP) tickets to make a quick buck, going by several online auctions and offers. Behavioural experts told My Paper this reflects the kiasu (Hokkien for being afraid to lose out) psyche of Singaporeans, and some noted that such profiteering could be getting worse. A check on eBay.com.sg yesterday showed one online auction for a pair of NDP tickets at $250. On craigslist.com.sg, one seller was selling "limited edition" Hello Kitty toys with NDP tickets. Buying one Kitty for $170 would yield one "free" NDP ticket, while, for $560, four Kitties would come with four "free" NDP tickets. Another seller was offering a hair clip for $300 that came with a pair of "free" NDP tickets, according to a post on citizen-journalism site Stomp. These sales are still happening despite reminders by the NDP organising committee over the years that the tickets are not for sale. As was the case last year, ticket holders caught selling NDP tickets this year will be barred from balloting for the free tickets for three years. National Day falls on Aug 9. Dr Adrian Wang, a consultant psychiatrist at Gleneagles Medical Centre, said the profiteering behaviour showed that "the kiasu mentality is very much part of our local psyche". National University of Singapore sociologist Tan Ern Ser said the propensity for profiteering "has always been present" and is "just waiting for the opportunity to manifest itself"." This is SAD. Lessons for me are: 1. the 'experts' have got it ALL WRONG. This behavior has NOTHING to do with Kiasu. We have to be clear about the people who pay for such things are either loaded with money coming out of their ears or STUPID and lack of self-control over his or her urge to own 'something' or BOTH loaded and STUPID without Self-control!; 2. when we call a spade a spade. when we acknowledge our issue. We can then begin to solve the issue. IF not, there is no need to change. So, the 'experts' have done a great disservice to those Singaporeans who are LOADED or STUPID without Self-Control or BOTH Loaded and Stupid without Self-control by calling them 'kiasu'. Sure you can try to confuse 'I must have what you have' as 'kiasu'. But it is NOT TRUE. It is WRONG! It is a case of people who lacked self-control and must own 'something that he or she did not have but must have'. It is a mental sickness really. Who is say someone with that type of attitude will NOT 'sell and leak our national secrets to the highest bidders' and compromise our nation's security and prosperity? Think about it. Seriously! :-); 3. with such behaviours, it is worrying as they may well 'trade with the devils' come next General Election (GE) and ask for pure pork-barrel politics in exchange for the votes. It will be tragic. Ultimate tragic. Of course someone will say that 'voting in a government' is serious stuff and the voters will be careful. In fact in the past the kiasuism will steer them to vote for stability and the incumbent government. But with this 'new definition of kiasuism (wrongly in my opinion), the voters may vote in ANYONE who promise them a better Hello Kitty or N95 Mask or a strategically located NDP2016 seat! We live in a crazy world indeed. From the very serious matters of the biggest economies in the world printing unlimited money to 'keep the economies' going to the very trivia fight over free Hello Kitty, supposedly out-of-stock N95 masks, and high priced scalp NDP tickets. Am I sane or insane to be questioning? :-):-)

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