“Singaporeans are truly amazing.”
Those are the opening words of a one-minute video recently uploaded by Raj Singh on his Facebook, reflecting on the Huawei commotion that transpired last Friday (26 July).
Raj Singh, founder and CEO of occupational safety and health service company Simply Safety, posted his typical confessional-style video on that very day to highlight how “amazing” Singaporeans are for willing to fight for things that don’t really matter, but stand idle for the ones that do matter.
“Singaporeans are willing to argue with the policemen; they are willing to queue for hours. But, they don’t dare ask about their retirement funds; they don’t dare ask about the rising cost of living; they don’t dare ask about the rising cost of HDB houses,” said Raj in the video.
Additionally, Raj questioned the integrity of these “amazing” people for their priorities are all over the place. He noted, “They don’t ask all these questions, but they’re willing to stand up for a S$54 phone. Priorities are all wrong, aren’t they?”
He went on to say that everyone should be “looking at what’s really important, not the superficial stuff.”
Here’s the full video:
Basically, Huawei announced that it will be selling its popular casual smartphone series, the Huawei Y6 Pro 2019, at a discounted price of S$54 (retail price at $198) to commemorate Singapore’s 54th birthday.
The exclusive promotion is only applicable to Singapore citizens and permanent residents aged 50 and above, and is valid from 26th to 28th July 2019 at all Huawei Concept Stores island-wide and selected retailers, while stocks last.
However, it appears the day of reckoning befell on the very first day of the promotion itself, Friday the 26th, when stocks of the phone completely ran out at every Huawei stores as soon as the doors were opened, while some outlets were sold out even before they were officially opened.
Subsequently, Huawei Mobile made an announcement on Facebook at about 10.30am on that morning, stating that all of its Y6 Pro 2019 units have been sold out “due to overwhelming demand”. Huawei also advised everyone not to head over to any of Huawei’s 27 outlets as the promotion was no longer applicable.
Huawei also noted that it was working with the Singapore Police Force on crowd control, as there were still many people queuing outside the stores. Meanwhile, a number of its stores and service centres were set to be closed for the day due to safety and security reasons.
In fact, a 53-year-old woman was apprehended by the police that morning for causing a ruckus at the Huawei store in Jem shopping mall, Jurong East.
According to the police, who were alerted to the incident at 10.25am, the woman kicked up a storm when she was denied purchasing the phone for S$54 because she did not acquire a ticket issued by a Huawei staff earlier.
The police added that the woman refused to leave the store despite multiple requests by the store manager, and continued to behave uncooperatively when the police arrived, resulting to her arrest.
Here’s the video of the incident, which has been making rounds on the Internet over the weekend:
At the end of the day, can we stand up and fight for the things that really matter? Can we get our priorities sorted out? Can we strive to truly become a Smart Nation? Can we stop wearing near-sighted glass in a far-sighted world? Can we do all these so that we can be amazing without having the word sarcastically wrapped with air quotes?
