Tragedy
And the casino debate
Looks a done deal; April 18 will turn a new page in Singapore's history despite the Tampines deaths. By Seah Chiang Nee.
Mar 13, 2005

A FAMILY tragedy over gambling debts that took four lives has shocked Singaporeans and given strength to arguments not to build a casino here.

A decision on the billion-dollar casino resort, which has attracted plans from 19 world players, will be announced on April 18.

In recent months, Singaporeans had been divided almost equally on whether or not to allow casino gambling. The Cabinet itself is also split on it.

Then came the apparent murder-and-suicide last week, which became the talk of the town.
Weighed under a load of gambling debts, Simon Lee, a 40-year-old family man who earned S$2,000 a month, jumped to his death from a Tampines flat.

Hours later, police found his wife, Jeslyn Wee, 39, and their two children - son Jonathan, 11, and daughter Sheena, 4 - dead in their home. The wife had a bruise around her neck but the children's cause of death has yet to be ascertained.

Their deaths, among the most heartbreaking in Singapore for years, have become an unwelcome contribution to the casino debate.

Approval is believed to be a foregone conclusion and this disaster is unlikely to stop it.
The pull factors are equally compelling. After years of stagnation, Singapore's economy - a little tired and jagged - is in need of new ideas and diversity.

The manufacturing base has declined to about 20% of the economy as investors continue pulling out to "cheaper" countries.

It took another serious blow last week when California-based Maxtor Corp, which makes hard-disk drives for personal computers, announced it would retrench 5,500 workers here by 2006.

It will close one of two plants in Singapore and move its manufacturing of desktop products to China. Some smaller companies doing contract work for Maxtor will also be hit.

The casino debate comes as Singapore is struggling to replace the industrial decline by moving into the services sector, especially tourism, to create quality jobs.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warns that job losses may continue into the future.

Most critics tend to ignore or bypass the broad scale of the casino project and its overall contribution to tourism and the general economy, spotlighting only on gambling and its social impact.

The government wants a holiday resort that is modelled after Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. It will go towards making a vibrant Singapore that is attractive to Singaporeans and draw skilled foreigners to settle here.

"We frequently complain that we're always doing the same old tired things. When the conservative, nanny government is prepared to try out exciting ideas, we should encourage it," said a finance executive.

Nineteen resort operators, including some of the world's most successful, have submitted plans to build it. "But the casino is the centrepiece without which few would be interested," he said.

For restructuring to succeed, tourism has to contribute with a quantum leap. The aim is to double the number of foreign visitors from the current 8.3 million, what tiny Macao is currently attracting.

Analysts describe the project as a catalyst for change rather than a battle for survival.
Apart from an expected S$1.5bil in annual revenue, it could also stem some of the S$1bil Singaporeans spend in casinos overseas.
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What about the social damage? Last week's tragedy reveals the serious damage caused by the gambling bug even without a casino.

A volunteer group that advises people on the run from loan sharks has been flooded with appeals for help since its work was featured in a newspaper report. One Hope Centre's president, Rev Edward Job, said eight out of every 10 cases involved gambling debts.

Another social body, the Credit Counselling Singapore (CCS), which helps debtors restructure their loans with financial institutions, say some 20% of the 400 cases so far were trouble caused by share speculation and betting.

Realistically, all gambling societies have their share of human frailty and misery, the degree depending on their upbringing and safeguards.

Simon Lee is an exceptional example of a betting addiction reaching dysfunctional proportions.

Among the debt-ridden gamblers, it will not be easy to find another like him. Most end up in a financial quagmire or in a divorce court. Cases of family killing and suicide are extremely rare.

Simon Lee's dark secret emerged when reporters talked to his pastor after his tragedy. It had dated back 10 years when he approached the church to ask for help to repay gambling debts amounting to S$100,000 and save his marriage.

The community church helped him raise the money and it took Simon three years of saving and hard work to clear his debts.

The final blow came last December when the family went on a holiday in Genting Highlands. One night, he sneaked into a casino and lost S$6,000.

That unveiled a long trail of other losses and mounting debts. He had been gambling almost ceaselessly on horses, numbers, soccer and share speculation.

The public commiserated with his long-suffering wife and children. The four-year-old girl was in kindergarten while Jonathan had wanted to study to be a scientist.

Their tale has swung a few neutrals and raised calls for more safeguards.

The government has proposed a daily fee of S$100 (US$61) or an annual fee of S$2,000 (US$1,225) for Singapore residents to enter the casino. There is also a ban on advertising the casino in local media and the extension of credit to Singaporeans who want to gamble.

The casino's aim is to attract high fliers, hoping to cash in on the wildfire expansion of gambling around Asia and not aimed at lower-income Singaporeans.

It represents a cultural sea-change here. As its own economic fundamentals weakened and the regional casinos grew rapidly, along with their social acceptability, Singapore wants to have a piece of the action.

One analyst says that in terms of geographical position, wedged between East and West, the republic is in the right place.

Although Las Vegas numbers keep rising and UK moves to expand, it is the Far East that is the biggest casino growth area of all, driven in the main by booming China.

Gambling remains illegal in China, forcing risk-hungry punters overseas, but it is unlikely to stay this way for long. Moving in now could give Singapore at least a few years' headstart.

(This is an updated version of article which appeared in The Sunday Star.)