Ministerial Speeches and Comments for Integrated Resorts

SPEECHES

PM Lee Hsien Loong at Round-Up of Parliamentary Debate, 21 April 2005

Over the last 4 days, Parliament has had a constructive and very fruitful debate. The MPs have offered many insights, have shared their personal experiences on gambling, winning or losing, and stated their positions and concerns. I think they've showed their personal convictions and well thought-out stands, whether they are for or against the IRs, or more specifically the casino component of the IR. It's not the end of our journey but a significant milestone after nearly one year of debate.

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Minister for Home Affairs Mr Wong Kan Seng at Parliament Sitting, 18 April 2005

When the idea of a casino was first raised a year ago, I was not for it. My reason against a casino then and now is not one of personal morality or religious belief. Rather, my concern is over the change in the ethos and tone of our society which a casino may bring about.

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Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs Dr Yaacob Ibrahim at Parliament Sitting, 18 April 2005

I would first like to thank the Prime Minister for his detailed explanation on Government's decision on the integrated resort, and the rationale for having a casino as part of the resort. I have met various groups in the Malay/Muslim community and have heard many views on this issue. Taking into account these views, I would like to respond on what this decision means for our Muslim community, going forward.

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PM Lee Hsien Loong at Parliament Sitting, 18 April 2005

Integrated Resorts (IRs) are a significant proposal to boost our tourism industry. The government has been studying this idea for over a year. The issue has been debated intensely, both among the public and within the government, because the IRs will also include a gaming component, i.e. a casino. Many Singaporeans have spoken up both for and against.

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Minister for Trade & Industry Lim Hng Kiang at Parliament Sitting, 18 April 2005

The Prime Minister has explained clearly why the Government has decided to proceed with two Integrated Resorts, or IRs, after serious deliberation. I wish to elaborate on the tourism and economic considerations.

Tourism has always been an important sector for the Singapore economy and not simply for the tourism receipts that visitors generate. The more attractive we are as a tourism destination, the easier it is for us to develop our convention and exhibition industry, and grow as an aviation hub.

However, our tourism sector has faced major challenges over the past decade. Our total arrivals and tourism receipts have declined. Between 1993 and 2002, visitor arrivals stayed relatively stagnant at about 6.5 to 7.5 million visitors. Over the same period, tourism receipts fell by 17%, from S$11.3 billion to S$9.4 billion. The tourism sector has not been keeping up with the growth in the rest of the economy and consequently tourism's contribution to our GDP was reduced by half, from 6.1% in 1993 to 3% in 2002.

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Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, at Parliament Sitting, 18 April 2005

Over the past one year, the Integrated Project (IR) has weighed very heavily on my mind and conscience. I share all of the anxieties and discomfort that many Singaporeans have expressed so candidly and sincerely. The intense passionate debate shows that Singaporeans care for this country, care for our families and care for each other.

All forms of gambling have the potential to destroy the lives of those who become addicted. This is a clear and present danger. The MCYS study showed that 2.1% of our population may be at risk of addiction. However, for those individuals trapped by addiction, that statistic is meaningless. For them and their families, it may as well be 100%. Every Singaporean destroyed by gambling is one too many. It is not possible to put a dollar value on one life or one family's happiness.

At the end of the day, I had to be sure that, on balance, our society, as a whole, could withstand the social impact, and that we were not going to make things worse overall.

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PM Lee Hsien Loong's Budget Debate Roundup Speech, 2 March 2005

Besides ensuring a conducive overall environment for businesses, we will continue to promote in a more focused way certain key and promising sectors of our economy. Tourism is one such sector, and the proposed integrated resort, including possibly a casino, is part of our overall set of initiatives to promote tourism.

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PM Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally Speech, 22 August 2004

Let me give a controversial example. It's quite a controversial one, some people told me don't raise it, your first rally speech, very dangerous, but I'm going to do it anyway. It's to do with the casino.

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Senior Minister of State Vivian Balakrishnan at Parliament Sitting, 19 April 2004

For a long time, the Government has been averse to having a casino in Singapore because of its potentially negative social impact on our local population. This concern remains valid. Should we decide to have a casino, access to it by Singaporeans will have to be controlled. The reason we are now prepared to consider having a casino is because of the rapidly changing tourism landscape in the region.

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Comments

Minister for Trade & Industry Lim Hng Kiang, at a Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy luncheon, 7 April 2005

"Tourism is booming in Asia-Pacific and either Singapore stands still and doesn't take full advantage of this growth, or we join everybody else and compete for part of this growth ... if you want to compete for part of this growth, then Singapore must offer new attractions, new ways to attract people to Singapore. ... Singapore, which is considering a casino as part of a resort that will include hotels, convention centers and an entertainment complex, is aiming to double annual tourist arrivals to 17 million and triple tourism revenue to S$30 billion ($18 billion) by 2015. The decision to lift a ban on casinos will be announced on April 18, and the Cabinet is in the final stages of making up its mind."

Minister for Community Development, Youth & Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, at launch of PAssion community club membership card, 3 April 2005

"We aim to improve the community addiction program already in place and open up counselling facilities at community centres in order to reach everyone who needs help. ... Not everyone is going to need specialised treatment for gambling but more may need counselling best done at a local level. ...

Gambling addiction is still a problem whether or not we have a casino right now. We need to do more work on our community-building regardless of whether or not a casino is built."

PM Lee Hsien Loong's Budget Statement, 18 February 2005

We have been actively studying the feasibility of an Integrated Resort (IR) in Singapore. The integrated resort will expand our offerings in Singapore and bring in new tourists. We have invited interested investors to submit concept plans for the integrated resort project. The concept plans will give us a better sense of what an integrated resort entails, and what economic benefits it is likely to bring. If the investors intend to include a gaming component in the development, i.e. a casino, they will have to adhere to a set of social safeguards. These will restrict access to the casino by Singaporeans, and help to protect our work ethic and social values.

The signs are that there is serious investor interest in the project. The deadline for submission of concept plans is 28 February. The Government will carefully assess the proposals, and weigh the benefits and consequences of having an integrated resort with a casino. We will consider not only the economic costs and benefits, but also the likely social impact and the intangible consequences of a casino on the ethos of our society. We will also take into account the views that have been expressed in the public debate, for and against. The Cabinet will then make a decision whether to proceed, based on the merits of the issue. This will most likely be within four to six weeks, i.e. by mid-April.

Senior Minister of State Vivian Balakrishnan at Media Conference on 29 December 2004

Over the last nine months, we've had a very frank, sincere and honest exchange of views across the entire spectrum. I think this is a topic which has aroused considerable public interest and many people have written in, have expressed their views candidly and with deep conviction. Let me just say for the record that I deeply appreciate this exchange that we've had.

At a national level, I think Singapore is moving its discussion of national issues up one notch and as we will see later on as we discuss this proposal that it has made an impact on the shape and form on which this would develop.

I also want to emphasise that at this point in time, the government of Singapore has not yet arrived at a decision point on whether or not it will allow gaming facilities or a casino to be present in an integrated resort. This is worth repeating. We have not yet arrived at that decision point. What we will be doing is to formally invite all potential investors to submit their concept plans of what they will do if they intended to develop and run an integrated resort in Singapore and if they wanted to provide gaming facilities, how they would do this within the constraints that we will impose on them.

We'll give them a deadline till the end of February. At that stage we would evaluate their concepts, decide whether it is worth pursuing. It is a request for concept plans, it is a statement of minimum social safeguards, and it is to enable us later on to make decisions on the basis of hard data and specific plans, not to make decisions in vacuum, or on the basis of assumptions and suppositions and sometimes just ill-conceived ideas.

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Senior Minister of State Vivian Balakrishnan interview, 16 Nov 2004

We have been having a very good public debate over the last few months on this proposal to have an integrated entertainment resort with the possibility of gaming facilities. I think the debate has been very good and people on both sides of the debate have been very frank and honest and have given us their heartfelt views.

I want to set this debate in perspective. I think the real question which we need to confront is what type of society we are. Are we now a more mature society than we were, say decades ago? Can we trust the vast majority of Singaporeans to act responsibly, to exercise common sense and to make their own choices as to how they wish to spend their disposable income and how they wish to entertain themselves?

Yes, you can have views on certain things or certain activities you don't wish to participate in, but should these views be imposed on all other segments of our society, in a blanket fashion, and thereby deprive people of exercising free choice in a mature way?

My own sense of it is that Singapore is now a much more mature society and generally the vast majority of Singaporeans can be trusted to make up their own minds, exercise their choices and act responsibly.

So I put this in the public domain for debate, because really it is a question of the maturity of our society and the type of society which we want to have going forward. We all know that we live in a rapidly changing, highly competitive world. One in which we will need all Singaporeans to grow up, to be responsible, to take responsibility for their own actions, including facing the consequences of their choices.

Minister Lim Hng Kiang at a dialogue with Bishan-Toa Payoh North residents, Sunday 24 Oct 2004

"We are still studying the issue, but what we have decided so far is we are not going to dismiss the idea completely and we are prepared to go to the private sector and ask for a request for proposals."

"We can study them and from there, determine the costs and benefits to Singapore in a more sensible manner. Based on that, we will make a decision. So the status is, we are not completely shutting the idea down."

"There is a different group of casinos, what we call the integrated entertainment complex. An example is the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. If you look at the complex, it is really a water theme park. They have hotels, and a casino and the casino revenue is about 40-50% of the complex."

"For the developer, they can make money from the hotel but cannot make much from the other entertainment so they have casinos which bring in 30-50% of the revenue and this more or less subsidises the entertainment. Because of that, the whole complex is profitable and viable? this is the kind of proposal the government is thinking of - where casinos are built simply to make the entire resort viable."

"When we are ready, we will call for a RFP (request for proposal). When we get the proposals and are able to study all these factors (costs and benefits), the government will make a decision."

Minister George Yeo at a dialogue with Bukit Batok constituents, 21 March 2004

"For a long time, the Singapore government has said that it will not have casinos in Singapore. The reasons are very clear to us: Gambling can be addictive. If husbands go there after work, housewives go there and gamble with their family money - the money that is intended for the kitchen and to look after the house and their children - then there will be problems."

"While we want to attract international gamblers, wealthy people to come here, I don't think we want to encourage Singaporeans to go and patronize the casino when they cannot afford it."

"We don't want to be a Las Vegas, we don't want to be a Macau, we don't want to have the crime and the sleaze."