SIRAJUDDIN AZIZ
IF the title of this piece has attracted your attention, I am not surprised, for it should invoke the now latent element of the nobility that we as a nation, once prided about. Immoral business is not merely of dealing in what is prohibited. It coextends with any negative motive, any person may harbour, with intent to firstly harm the society, and then ultimately, without knowledge to own self, perish in its confines. Hoarding is immoral. Can there be any dispute on that fundamental principle? In fact let me call it a dictum, to subscribe without an iota of challenge. Now, how many of my countrymen in business resort to hoarding? Only they and Mother Nature knows. Hoarding is to accumulate a commodity or produce, with ill intentions, that, someday, demand for it will outstrip supply, and at that “opportune” moment, the hoarder will decide to sell, on a limited basis, at a price, that he will dictate. To his/her conscience, the businessman will justify by quoting that it is a basic economic principle that price is driven by demand. In a buyers market, the Supplier is entitled to ask for any price. The governments, especially in the developing countries, foolishly believe that they control prices…..An officially printed price list is religiously displayed, in every shop, that in actuality is torn to shreds, by the shop keeper (the hoarder) when actual sale is made. Those officials deployed to monitor adherence to the price list, end up (mostly), as cohorts, being on the regular, “take “from the shopkeeper. If Hoarding is immoral; isn’t taking a bribe to sanction violation of state orders, immoral, too? It sure, is. By this example, I am establishing the proverbial involvement that it always takes,” two to a tango”. Immorality in any society, is possible only through abetment and partnership. An individual per se, cannot be immoral in isolation, he needs a partner in crime. These are, to our collective misfortune, readily available. Sometimes, the hoarders (manufacturers and producers), join hands, though unofficially, to vitiate first the production lines and then the supply chain, to push prices upwards. Such an act is given a slightly better sounding nomenclature than hoarding, by the society and regulators, as “Cartelisation”. Not only do corporates cartelise, this immoral act, is indulged into by countries, too. What is OPEC? A legal charter, for the mostly immoral purpose, of regulating pumping of oil, to ensure price stability, that suits the producers, or to cause havoc and upheaval in world markets by cutting back production. The cement industry’s cartelisation in our country is well known to all. They operate under the watchful (nay closed) eyes of the regulators. It is only occasionally rapped on the knuckles. That’s all. Legalised. If the product hoarded is medicine, and that too, a life saving drug, then isn’t it criminal immorality, at its zenith. As a society, we have reached that summit. A friend of mine is excessively prone to anxiety and panic attacks. Any individual, anyway, who is not filled with anxiety, has to be insane. This friend has been prescribed by a known physician a drug, whose main ingredients are combinations from family of benzodiazepines; this drug is produced by a multi-national company. This drug he mentions is perennially kept in short supply, due to undeclared collaboration between distributors and pharmacies. The objective is obvious, to keep low supply and charge sky high prices. The official price printed is less than Prs.500/-, for a box of three strips; but because of “excellent” relations, my friend enjoys with “unqualified, self styled pharmacist “at shop, he gets it for a “measly”, Prs 3000- 3500/- !!! Now, in our beloved,” Republic “, I have deliberately not chosen any other prefix to our country’s name, who doesn’t suffer from anxiety syndrome. The labourer does. Even some past Presidents suffered; one of them is reported to have then been taking 17 different medications to keep his nerves calm and to hold the misbehaving blood pressure; anxiety wasn’t driven for the well-being of the populace, it was dependent on the changing valuations of his net worth. My friend tried to reach the Chairman of the pharma firm, who obviously did not take the call nor returned it. Isn’t this immoral? The hoarding of grains, vegetable, meat, etc is despicable. Any gains from this must be nauseating to a human with a live soul. But the fact that nobody is throwing up, means, at least, the soul has taken a flight to its noble Origin and End. No gains satiate the greed of hoarders. I am with deep anguish and consternation, restraining myself not to quote here, the many injunctions on hoarding and hoarders, mentioned in the Holy Book or even the prophetic sayings and traditions. Suffice to say, the physical body of the Ummah is alive, the soul has long departed. Is it morally upright, for business houses that take future contracts for making profits, to ask for relief, for the losses, due to price movements? It is anguishing that a wrong business decision should be compensated by taxpayers. Immoral, thoroughly, immoral. Even in the sale of lawns (clothing), there is an element of hoarding for the “in print material”; again this knowledge is derived from the Home Minister. Such exquisite prints are either reserved for the privileged at the stated price or are sold at sky rocketing prices to those who are not connected with the owner/shopkeeper. Isn’t this immoral? Being possessed by the demon of greediness, we have lost the tastefulness of life. Greed is compound of all evils, inclusive of immorality. In this pandemic that we are wading through, some have made, “handsome” profits, by black marketing, the hoarded, sanitisers, tissue paper boxes, toilet rolls, masks, hand gloves, etc. Shockingly, I read that in the small city of Haiel, in Saudi Arabia, a shop was raided and the authorities recovered masks, numbering 1.7m, yes that’s the number! Isn’t this immoral? Interest, without debate is forbidden and by its inherent nature is exploitative. I keep asking religious scholars, can profiteering also be exploitative? They unanimously agree that it can be, but are reticent to indicate what profit margins can be considered reasonable, desirable and above all acceptable! There is also no morality in hoarding by consumers. We have seen riots; women taking to each other’s throats in Melbourne over toilet paper rolls. Isn’t such behaviour immoral? Immoral business is not merely about the sale of the grape nectar or the trade of humans. It is far beyond. Aesop’s fables, have been my compass for checking morals, in every facet of life; in ‘the swallow and the other birds’, the moral is, “destroy the seed of evil or it will grow up to your ruin”. That charity and philanthropy will act as mask to immoral business practices, is a deception of the highest order. At best, one can qualify to be a modern day Robin Hood. The ills of a seed will show in the bitterness of the fruit. John Berry’s words may please be read in conjunction with the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic; “The bird of Paradise alights only upon the hand that does not grasp”. Tail piece: In between writing this piece, I have been browsing the morning newspapers, and I found this, but let me begin by saying I have personal admiration for Chancellor Merkel, for her simple life style. I attended one of her addresses to the financial community in Frankfurt and was impressed by the total absence of protocol. The news says, “The Chancellor has emerged from a 14 day self isolation…during the crises, she has been photographed in a superstore, pushing a trolley containing four bottles of wine, and a pack of toilet paper, something she had criticised some Germans for massively stockpiling “. —The writer is Chief Executive Officer of a financial institution, based in Karachi.
