Straight Singapore goes for the `buzz'
By Fred de la Rosa The Manila Times | April 24, 2005 http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2005/apr/24/yehey/opinion/20050424opi2.html Get ready to rumble! Stanley Ho, here we come! Reversing decades of anti�gambling policy and shedding off its image as a disciplining taskmaster, strait-laced Singapore will award by year-end licenses to foreign investors to build and operate not one but two casinos. This is almost like the Vatican announcing that priests can marry or women could be ordained priests, or the College of Cardinals electing a pope from Africa or Asia. The announcement is good news for the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., which has been fending off criticisms that the Philippine government is actively promoting gambling among Filipinos and eyeing to make Manila the Las Vegas of the East. Why would Singapore want to add casino economics to its agenda for prosperity? "We want Singapore to have the X-factor�the buzz that you get in London, Paris or New York," said Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong when he made the announcement in Parliament on Monday. "If we become a backwater, just one of many ordinary cities in Asia, instead of being a cosmopolitan hub in the region, then many good jobs will be lost and all Singaporeans will suffer. We cannot afford that," Lee said. The casino developers are expected to invest US$3 billion to build the resorts, likely to open in 2009. The casinos should raise Singapore's annual GDP by S$1.5 billion and create about 35,000 jobs, including those in the spin-off industries. The decision should delight Singaporeans who are chafing at the autocratic government's policies and character-improvement programs. Singaporeans already gamble about S$2 billion, but they do their betting abroad. Many citizens and Cabinet members, however, worry that the casinos will spawn crime, vice and splintered families. Not to worry. To minimize the problem of gambling, the government will require Singaporeans to pay an entrance fee of S$100. People living on social welfare will be excluded. Casinos cannot extend credit to locals. A treatment program is waiting for gambling addicts. Singapore is ready even for organized crime. The casinos are a startling breakthrough, a major social change in the law-and-order city. Singapore has built a reputation not only for being tough on corruption but for being preoccupied with social reengineering to improve collective discipline and personal character. Behavior-improvement drives are popular. Between 1968 and 2000, more than 300 campaigns were launched to improve civic consciousness and self-education, from encouraging Singaporeans to plant trees to speaking good English. The government, for example, has launched a "Singapore Kindness Movement" to promote, among other things, punctuality and etiquette. Guests at weddings are a special target. They should come on time, a campaign poster said. Under the "Singapore OK" campaign, spitting is fined S$500. Spitting is a long-banned offense that received new attention when SARS threatened the island. The "Happy Toilet" program rates about 29,000 public toilets and awards stars to first-class restrooms. Failure to flush a toilet properly gets a fine or imprisonment. Following the "Speak Good English" campaign, Singaporeans were told to give up Singlish, a native version of English that ignores the rules of grammar and that uses words from the Chinese, Malay and Tamil languages. In addition, petty criminals face public humiliation, their faces splashed on the front page of the leading newspaper. An American teenager was caned a decade ago for a public offense. Sometimes called "the nanny state," Singapore has been run by the government-ruled People's Action Party since 1965. A draconian Internal Security Act mutes debate. Drug smugglers face death. Political dissent is met by a swarm of libel cases. In his memoir, From Third World to First World, founding father Lee Kuan Yew recalls that one of his priorities after Singapore got its independence from Malaysia in 1967 was to transform it into a clean city, making cleanliness and public health a national priority after defense and economic growth. In recent years the state has eased up on social controls. It has ended a 20-year ban on Cosmopolitan magazine and eased rules on the sale of chewing gum. Video films for home viewing run uncensored under a new ratings system. The government has loosened rules on bar-top dancing. Under new rules last year, Singaporeans may now wave their national flag whenever they want, instead of only when they're given permission. Citizens were encouraged to sing the national anthem with gusto. Last year the new Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged Singaporean youths to "rebel" and to think for themselves. He challenged them to join government and provide public service fresh blood. There is room for debate and dissent in his government, he said. The government has created a "Remaking Singapore Committee" to revive the economy, restore prosperity and inject more vitality into the country's social, cultural and economic life. Officials call their system a "social contract" under which the government delivers wealth, good governance, honest elections and a corruption-free regime. Singaporeans generally support the tough-love approach as part of the contract. Both sides win, according to observers. Marikina, by the way, wants to become a new Singapore. It's a system Filipinos may want to tr ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? 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