JULY 26 — Sometimes you read a headline and believe you’ve found a perspective perfectly in line with yours only to read the article and be left bewildered. 

For me, in times like this, I turn to the comments but so far I have yet to find a kindred spirit to help me answer this question: Why are we torturing the dolphins?

What am I raving about now, you ask? In short, a Singapore registered property developer is going to install villas next to a lagoon filled with captive dolphins in order to increase the value and marketing appeal of their development. 

One look at their advertisements, which appeared in various publication in Singapore, shows some rather dubious renditions of futuristic holiday-type villas populated by crudely photo-shopped families feeding dolphins.

Now, in good news, the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) took issue with the advertisements in questions. ASAS pointed out that the villas did not did not have a view of Singapore’s iconic Marina Bay Sands as promised and also took issue with the guaranteed seven per cent a year rental yield promised by the developer.

Of course it is good that the authority has taken measures to point out the false promises being made — but surely we should be doing a bit more than just telling the company in question to tweak their investment value claims. 

It is one thing to see dolphins like these at Underwater World Singapore... but to have them be part of a private housing development? — AFP pic

Are dozens of highly intelligent and fundamentally wild animals being used as bait for Singaporeans looking to splash their cash on overseas real estate? If you’re interested, and I hope you aren’t — a villa starts from around S$700,000 (about RM1.9 million) 

A purported (anonymous) buyer quote on the advertisement ASAS took issue with states: Where else can I find a home where dolphins saying “hello” to my children at my doorstep? It is absolutely thrilling.

I would probably spend S$X m for a property in Singapore and yet there is nothing to rave about. But here, I get the Privacy of a Home in a Private Island where my family is absolutely thrilled about.

And I can invite my friends to enjoy this RARE luxury.

A statement that seems to have been carefully designed to play on the pathological need of people in today’s society to own and exhibit wealth and enjoy exclusivity. 

While obviously seeking luxury isn’t a modern phenomenon, just taking a quick look around Singapore is enough to indicate that the world’s obsession with luxury seems to be hitting new and ludicrous heights. 

These dolphins join their counterparts in Resorts World Sentosa as captives to a market that seems fixated on entertainment at all costs — and it is sad.

Isn’t it this same obsession with wealth, success and all things shiny that allows gloating headlines about Singapore’s endless wealth to trump the less appealing stories that speak about the difficulties faced by our elderly as they resort to picking up cardboard to make a couple of dollars? 

Maybe I am alone in my quirky observations but I think as we look set to head into another election — we, as a nation, need to decide who we are as a people and who we want to be. Are we a population satisfied with this amazing level of avarice and greed that is being packaged as “progress” or do we want something else — something less? 

Or am I just a hopeless and naive hippie who wants to free the dolphins?

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.