|
I don't mind the idea of us killing off bad KTV bistro outlets who rip us off with their prices through AV reports and subsequent raids on their premises. The thing I worry about is that whacking these black sheep outlets will merely give the government even more justification to permanently hamstring and kill off nightlife entertainment and vice in Singapore for good. It won't be a case of kill one to set an example to the rest. It'll be a case of the government taking a sledgehammer to nightlife KTVs, bars, pubs etc wholesale with no prejudice whatsoever. Its already quite clear this is what they're doing when they're OK with nightlife outlets reopening and pivoting to F&B (as many bars and pubs and KTVs have done), and opening up enough of society and business/public venues to make the shutdown of nightlife entertainment and legal vice in GL totally irrelevant in significance to combat this phony pandemic we live in. Somehow a bar/nightclub/KTV converted to an F&B outlet, serving alcohol alongside food to make it F&B, till 1030pm every night is okay in terms of COVID risk, and yet letting them stay as nightlife drinking/entertainment outlets isn't? Even legit family friendly chains like Teo Heng have not escaped this blanket treatment, and the government doesn't give a shit.
Bottomline is, we are stuck in a lose lose scenario here. We pay through the nose and get ripped off by nightlife and legalised/undertable vice operating in KTVs because the market now is one of increasingly pent up demand faced with limited supply. We boycott those that overcharge and report them in to get them raided and shut down, we risk killing off the entire industry leaving us with blue balls, as if boycotting the majority of KTVs that are ripping us off won't do the same to us too. The way vice and nightlife entertainment is looking like now is increasingly one which only the rich can pay to afford and play. And with the sort of money they've saved up from not being able to travel over the past year and the foreseeable future, they'll have plenty to splash without a care in the world, and they can singlehandedly keep the KTV industry with its insanely inflated prices afloat more than your average Joe Spender can as a whole community. Think of it like a stock bubble, like what we're seeing in tech now.
The rest of us can just pound sand for all the government and society cares. Because God forbid we have fun in this society however we want to as individuals, we just exist to contribute to economic growth statistics and lead squeaky clean lives as dictated by conservative and religious leaders in society. Sure, boycott and don't pay the stupid prices KTVs and vice generally is commanding now in Singapore. But we have to be realistic and recognise that it's not likely to improve the market to become a buyers' market anytime soon.
|