Modern Slave Masters

For the past decade or so, we have been sucked in by a catch phrase “Share Economy” – first with Uber in more affluent West, followed by Grab in Singapore and Malaysia, and what have you in China and Indonesia, then we have on-line food delivery start=ups like Food Panda, Roo, etc existence of which are now being threatened by Grab Food and Uber Food, etc. We also had bike sharing providers in Singapore, China and many other countries. I was living in Singapore when the bike sharing rushed in. It is nice to ride a bike in Amsterdam. But in Singapore where the weather is so humid. They soon folded up. You don’t need to be a top analyst to see that the concept was not going to work in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta or Bangkok!

I don’t believe the promoters had suffered much. Where did their money came from? OPM, or other people’s money. I am sure most of them had helped themselves with huge salaries and benefits. There is a great deal of musical-chair mentality and gambling appetite in venture capitalists’ mind with their deep war chests, money in the first place is also not theirs. If you erased the halo from a saint’s picture, would he look very different from his compatriots of his era? Recently a senior analyst in an international investment bank was caught not knowing the ABCs of Economics and another wannabe from one of our local stock broking firms was literally was uttering rubbish in The Sun. Ah, the world is full of emperors who do not know they are going around without clothes!

The world is an unfair place to live in. However, I see that people in Grab Food or Uber Food are becoming the modern-day slave masters. My heart sank each time I saw one of their drivers weaving in and out of the chaotic traffic we have in the Klang Valley. They had to work their butts out, not to mention having to endure high humidity or thunderstorms and the high chances of meeting accidents; yet a big percentage of their fees go to the company. They only have two fairly short windows during a day to earn their living.

Uber and Grab et al are talking about raking in (or hundreds of) billions when they go public. They should spare a thought to these motorcyclists who help me to create the mirage.

I couldn’t help admiring the nobility of Sunway Group’s Jeffrey Cheah. Sure, he wants his businesses to make him good money. There is one exception: His education arm. He could have it floated and enjoy the hundreds of millions (or even billions) from the market value this business of his can command in the local bourse. But he is steadfastly sticking to his principle. He is a man with a strong sense of social responsibility.