LETTER | Scalper culture reaffirms graft is endemic in M’sia

LETTER | Tickets for the British rock band’s concert, Coldplay, at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium on Nov 22 have been sold out.

Indeed, it is a great marketing success story.

But beneath this good sales lurks an ugly truth. Scalpers are said to have hoarded tickets and reselling them at heart-stopping, exorbitant prices ranging, raking in 300 to 500 percent profit margins.

This is not something new. It has always been so and yet we are unable to purge this profiteering, sinful culture from our midst.

Not only do we see this happening for high-demand concerts but we also see this hoarding, scalping, profiteering culture rears its ugly head when it comes to a whole lot of other goods and services.

Government-subsidised essential goods are hoarded and resold at higher prices.

Even genuine “fire sales” of goods are bought in bulk, stored away and later distributed in smaller townships to be sold at ridiculously higher prices.

At the end of the day, the citizenry suffers while traders and business circles laugh all the way to the bank.

This seemingly regarded as a “smart business strategy” is plain robbery. It must stop.

And we do not need rocket science to end this dirty culture. Stringent enforcement and speedy punishment should be applied.

Such scalper and profiteering cultures have also become a way of doing business for mega-buck projects. The rent-seeking political system has only helped this robbery culture to flourish.

Despite overdosed preaching and ever-increasing emphasis with huge, national budget allocations for the promotion of religion in the country - the scalper culture continues to grow.

The truth is profiteering at all costs has become the Malaysian way of doing business. Period.

Can govt curb scalper culture?

From the sole trader to the mega business operators, we see this ugly phenomenon at work.

Will the unity government armed with its Malaysia Madani “armour” be able to clean up and free the nation of this scalper culture?

Will Malaysians as discerning consumers ever be able to harness and use the power of consumerism to deal a “death blow” to all these unhealthy trends of profiteering that have become our norm?

Do we realise that we certainly cannot rebuild this nation's future for as long as we remain deeply entrenched in this culture of scalping, profiteering, hoarding and rent-seeking?

Or shall we as a nation remain resigned into believing (as was once told by a politician) that corruption is everywhere and so we might as well live with it?

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.