The World As I See It

The Integrated Resort proposal with a casino component has raised strong opposition voice from the community, especially from the religious groups. But as Mr Lee Kuan Yew noted, when addressing university students in a Ministerial Forum, "it is not because they are more organised and have a larger scale, therefore they should prevail. We have to analyse the issues rationally". In Mr Goh Chok Tong’s speech, "These Singaporeans give Singapore its moral ballast. If there were little objection to the casino, I would be even more worried. For it would mean that we have become so blase about life and have lost our moral bearing." PM Lee, "bring all Singaporeans together, so that even though we may not all agree on this issue, we understand and respect each other’s reasons and concerns, and can close ranks and move ahead."

The reasons and the key considerations that caused the Government to change their longstanding policy of casino ban for 40 years were given in the ministerial statements, of which I think they are sound and valid. I won’t go through them here. For those uninformed, the Government has approved 2 integrated resorts with casino. One at Marina Bayfront, which is right at the Central Business District. The other is at Sentosa Island, a leisure and holiday spot. They target different markets, with one complements each other.

As for my stand, I am 100% for casino in Singapore, provided the Government delivers what it promised - the precautionary measures for pathological gambling and organised crimes. As Deng Xiaoping said, we have to "open the windows, breathe in the fresh air, and at the same time fight the flies and insects." Anyway, we should not lose sight of the bigger picture. The 2 casinos are not more than 5% of the gross floor area allowed. They are only a fascinating component of 2 huge-scale Integrated Resort projects involving US$ 3 - 5 billion each. What we should focus on is the role of the entire concept of integrated resorts, with the casinos included, in the process of Remaking Singapore. I can feel the vibrancy of the business buzz, artistes’ performances as well as the jobs created in the hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, convention space, theatres, museums, and theme parks. I believe the Marina Bayfront IR, especially, will hold the limelight in this region. I am confident with the Government’s promises, in the light of its multi-pronged aproach and its track record of extremely cautious manner in every aspect.

Being aware of IR’s potential damage on Singapore’s brand name, the Government has been looking for best practices to adopt. It has explicitly made clear to model after London, Sydney and Geneva, 3 cities with casinos that have maintained their reputations. "All three are financial centres which depend on their reputations for integrity and rule of law, just like Singapore. We can learn from them how to stay abreast of the times, be exciting and cosmopolitan, and still be a safe and well-managed city".

I attach a report by the Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore on the Casino Proposal published on 10 January 2005.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 25th, 2005 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.