Hypocrites

A few months ago I participated in a focus group for a research conducted by a friend's daughter for her university project. The focus group which I was in comprised of 5 people above 50 years and the feedback required of us at the tea session was our thoughts when the government first announced the intention to build the international resort and our thoughts now that they are in operation. Amongst the other participants there was a businessman and people working in finance, purchasing and journalism field. Surprisingly, it turned out that I was the one most worried about the negative social impact when the announcement was made and more so now. The others participants were more positive because of the economic benefits and the buzz the IRs brought about and believed that government measures would be sufficient to curb additction amongst the citizens. So I walked away thinking these people are not really very caring socially ( noble self image ).

When Genting Shares were publicly listed at 35cts I subscribed and got 9 lots. I sold 5 lots at just below a dollar and now the share is traded at above $2, more than 5 times IPO price. Everytime the share price rockets I would lament to my husband that I should not have sold and that I should have bought more from the market etc, etc. At the AGM when they ran out of lunch packs for the shareholders they gave out $50 vouchers that can be spent at the restaurants. I walked away feeling so happy. When I read news about businessmen losing millions at the IRs, I remarked jestfully to my husband that Genting makes money by bankrupting people. Now it dawns on me that I do have that "I love mankind but I hate people" mentality. This is a bit like Eliot Spitzer, former NY governor who was found to patronise prostitutes and who at the same time had prosecuted several prostitution rings in his career. He had risen in politics advocating ethics and integrity as cornerstones of his administration. So it goes to show that hypocrisy is in us (or at least some of us).

However the latest reports of foreign workers squandering their hard earned money at the casinos, office workers crossing over from Shenton Way to destress at MBS and busloads of housewives from Msia making a beeline for the gambling tables, I have been feeling less comfortable being a Genting shareholder (albeit a minor minor shareholder whose wish is for the company to make huge profits). No wonder the Muslims have guidelines for holding investments which must be Shariah compliant. Gambling and money lending businesses are amongst the forbidden investments. Seems like they understand human weaknesses and help people to avoid such dilemma or becoming hypocrites.