Singapore: The Casino City – Internet Community
Thu, 8 Mar [Online Casino] Is it time to revamp the Casino Act? Read the position paper from the Round Table and cast your vote.
What is urgently needed now is a review of the casino legislation and a return to the default position which casino groups enjoyed during the colonial era where registration is not refused without good ground. This would mean that the Register will automatically register any casino provided it does not offend one of the provisions under the act or violate the Constitution. If registration is refused, the onus should then be on the Registrar to give reasons why such a casino cannot be refused, and under which limb of Article 14 of the Constitution or the Act such registration may rightfully be refused.
Uudet Nettikasinot Forum: A reject letter by Siew Kum Hong, Are casinos elitist and entrenching the widening income gap?
Why is an economy with 10% annual growth that only a few benefit from, better than an economy with 5% growth that everybody shares in? I for one think the latter economy is better and fairer. I also think that helping everybody fulfill their potential, as opposed to concentrating all resources on a selected few to the point of overkill, would help us achieve that.
A new interview from our Speaker’s Platform section. News radio 93.8 interviewed a NUS student, Kai En, who once tried to change his sexuality through a church programme. He is now appealing to a local church not to display a prominent banner proclaiming that “Homosexuals can change”.
Initially the programme was very useful because after years of pent up emotions it was the first time that I found myself before other gay people and could talk about my experiences and for me that was a very liberating coming of age kind of experience.Eventually I came to a point where I felt I had been “healed” sufficiently and decided to get a girlfriend. I had three girlfriends. My last relationship was for a year and a half. In a very real sense I really loved this lady. I told her upfront that I was from a homosexual background but after a year and a half, both of us felt that we weren’t bonding or connecting at that deep emotional level that a heterosexual couple should be bonding at and we called it quits. Both of us cried buckets and eventually I came out of it feeling very lousy.
Apologies to people who couldn’t access our site recently. We were changing IP and DNS configuration. Things should all be in order now.
We have implemented a new search site feature using Google’s search engine. It is permanently available from the left column under “Archives, Search Site.
The Censorship Archive: Transcript of a forum on art censorship held in the Substation in Dec 1999
In this information future, more effort should be stressed instead on taking responsibility for what we see, read and hear. Efforts to control information will merely work against Singapore’s desire to encourage youthful creativity or its desire to be an intelligent (IT) island.
Not the Straits Times Forum:Ho Weng Hin & Tan Kar Lin’s letter on National Library: It is not too late top reserve options:
Contrary to the authorities latest claim that “there was general support for removing the library”(ST,7 March) at a 1988 URA public dialogue, a press report revealed that there was “a consensus that touched the speakers hearts like not pulling down the National Library”, and “sentiment prevailed in an argument for the preservation of the building” (ST, 29 May 1988)…Thus, we strongly support the recommendations of the Identity vs. Intensity Focus group to constitute a permanent Heritage Conservation Trust.
An exciting new book by Cherian George titled, Singapore: The Air-conditioned Nation — Essays on the politics of comfort and control has just been published. Sintercom brings you a series of previews of selected chapters in his book, starting with the introductory chapter:
The Air-conditioned Nation is designed, first and foremost, for the comfort of its inhabitants. Lee and the PAP have always believed that what people want most from their government is an environment in which they can pursue prosaic material comforts, rather than live up to high-minded political principles for their own sake. Democracy is a means to an end, and the end is a high level of material security for Singaporeans.It is worth pointing out that comfort, Singapore style, is not seen in egalitarian terms.Air-conditioning is a selfish technology: one of its paradoxes is that its net effect is an increase in heat…Central control is the other hallmark of an Air-conditioned Nation. Managing the temperature of a habitat through air-conditioning requires covering up openings, providing adequate power supply, and ensuring regular servicing. Singapore’s development model, similarly, is a total systems approach to economic management.