My Own Opinion on legalization of gambling in Singapore

Singapore has put in much planning, and public debates as to the pros and cons of legalizing gambling and casinos. There were many opponents with regards to possible social ills and stigmas, but overall, these integrated resorts (IR) is considered an important component of the government's long term strategy to increase the tourism and services sector.


Gambling has become very popular in the modern times. In case of legalized gambling government of the country has made gambling legal for the people. The gamblers need to follow many rules and regulations to get involved in the legalized gambling. Through legalized gambling government can earn lots of revenue. Gambling is popular in every age group from college students to people of old age. Gamblers have the feeling that they have the ability to take risk and control their destiny. In my opinion, legalized gambling has many pros and cons to the society.

Let me start with the pros of legalizing gambling. Firstly, gambling is an entertaining process for the gamblers. The people in the society can enjoy gambling more freely when it is legalized. Legalized gambling provides more employment opportunities in the society which can help to reduce the unemployment in the society. The government can earn more revenues from the legalized gambling which can be diverted towards the well being of the society. Legalized gambling open an option of revenue for the family. It can be temporary and long lasting in some cases.


Now, let me talk about the cons of legalizing gambling. Legalized gambling will lead the economy towards a down turn. It leads to the decline in the local business as people are more interested in gambling instead of other entertainment activities. The person will get habituated to the gabling and will spend more time and money on gambling instead of other useful and productive activities. Gambling creates tension among the family members as the money that should have been used for family is now diverted towards gambling. Children that belong to family affected by gambling are most badly affected. Children will become lonely and loose all their confidence. Pressure is created on the family which ruined the family life and consequently the family stop taking part in the social gatherings. Gambling increases crime in the society as can go to any extend to fulfill the desire of gambling. The society with more crime will grow at a slow pace. Legalized gambling pushes the gambling at a faster rate as there is no fear of government and they can play more freely.

To conclude, I think that the gambling impulse is one of our greatest strengths. But that impulse comes with a great potential danger. The gambling impulse is like hunger – we need to feel hunger, or we'd starve. But when the hunger impulse gets divorced from the need for food, it's a huge problem.

Casino in Singapore

Singapore's plan to build the country's first casino underscores its strategy to create a new economy amid stiff competition from China and other Southeast Asian countries.

The plan to allow a casino has sparked a controversial public debate, with Singaporeans divided on the issue. Proponents say it will benefit Singapore economically, especially the city-state's tourism sector, while those opposed, including some religious groups, worry about social ills such as problem gambling and bankruptcy.

Some legislators have called for a referendum to allow Singaporeans to decide on the issue, or even a free vote by legislators in parliament, which is dominated by the ruling party.

The government has received 19 proposals from bidders all over the world since inviting companies in December to submit their concept plans to build an integrated resort that could include a casino.

Even though many forms of gambling, such as lotteries, are legalized here, casinos have been banned in the past and the government had strongly opposed in recent years any proposal to allow one here. However, it eventually agreed last year (2004) to consider allowing the setting up of a casino.

Singapore-based economists say the government is likely to go ahead with the plan to allow a casino here because it is anxious to diversify the economy, which has been largely based on high-tech manufacturing and financial services, by promoting new areas of growth or expanding those with more potential for growth such as tourism.

''We will continue to promote in a more focused way certain key and promising sectors of the 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,'' Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told parliament.

But he also added that ''the casino will neither be the panacea to the challenges facing us -- boosting growth, creating jobs or raising revenues.'' While brushing aside calls for a referendum or free vote in parliament, he said the government will make a careful decision after weighing all the pros and cons within the next six weeks.

In recent years China's emergence as an economic powerhouse combined with higher business cost in Singapore has seen a hollowing out of labor-intensive and low-technology industries in Singapore, with many factories relocating to China or other Southeast Asian countries. Singapore has also been facing fierce competition from neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Thailand in trying to maintain its position as a transport hub in the region.

In the past year, talk of remaking the Singapore economy has accelerated with plans to venture into new areas such as promoting the city-state as an educational hub and medical hub, and most recently it has even begun to step into Islamic finance and banking. In many of these areas, it is clashing with neighboring countries that have similar ambitions.

''As other countries begin to catch up, Singapore needs to move ahead constantly to sustain its competitiveness,'' said Mukul Asher, professor at the new Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

''The casino will allow diversification of the economy. Singapore is just trying to have as many pillars for the economy as they can and they see casinos as one of the pillars that will sustain future growth,'' he said.

Chan Kok Peng, chief economist at BNP Paribas Peregrine's Singapore office, said: ''The competition is very intensive, in the past Singapore had benefited from the inefficiencies of other countries in the region but now these countries have run up the efficiency ladder. One of the easiest ways is to move into an area where competition is not so crowded.''

And the attraction of casinos is that unlike factories, which are more vulnerable to restructuring and relocation, casinos tend to be more entrenched investments. ''You don't move a casino from here to China the way you would move your factory,'' Chan said.

Economists say it also would make Singapore a more attractive place for tourists, especially tourists from China, which is now one of the fastest growing sources of tourists for Singapore.

Earlier this year, the government announced an ambitious 10-year plan to boost the city-state's attraction as a tourist destination with the aim of doubling the number of visitors to the country to 17 million by 2015, triple tourism earnings to S$30 billion ($18.5 billion) and create 100,000 jobs.

The number of visitors to Singapore last year jumped 36 percent over the same period in 2003 to hit 8.3 million, marking the first time visitors here topped 8 million and generating S$9.6 billion in tourism earnings.

The casino would also be a boost for related sectors such as retail and hospitality and offers the potential to create more jobs than many of the high-tech manufacturing plants in Singapore.

Some say a casino would also provide a lucrative new source of tax revenue for the government, which ran into budget deficits in three of the last four years, and give it greater leeway to reduce corporate taxes further to maintain economic competitiveness.

Note: Copied from the internet to give an understanding.

Language Arts IT Home Learning

Visual/ Spatial : b) design an obituary for Mrs. Dubose

With Deepest Sympathy

and Heartfelt Condolences

to The Family of the late

Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose

Passed away peacefully on
1962 November 26

In her late years, Mrs Dubose lived
with a Negro girl and was very ill.
She was determined and courageous to
fight against the addiction of morphine.
In the end, she was able to die
morphine free.

From: The Finch and
The Community of Maycomb Country

Language Arts IT Home Learning

Intrapersonal - Write a diary entry for a major character on the novel
Jem's Diary Entry

Today, I will be writing a diary on one of the main characters in "To Kill a Mockingbird" - Jem.

The diary entry will be on Tom Robinson's trial.
Mid-morning, Scout, Dill and I went to the courthouse to witness Tom Robinson's trial. As the court was crowded, we could not find a seat. Fortunately, Reverend Sykes gave us a place in the coloured balcony to witness the court proceedings. From the balcony, we got a good view of the entire court.

Firstly, the witnesses gave their accounts of the incident while Atticus and Mr Gilmer questioned them. The two lawyers than gave their respective speeches. Atticus was very calm as well as confident in his speech to defend Tom Robinson. This was as far as I recollect besides the fact I told Scout to take Dill out of the courtroom. My mind was in a haze as I contemplated the court proceedings. I was devastated, confused beyond measure and hurt by the proceedings in the courtroom.

I was furious over the way Mr Gilmer cross- examined Tom Robinson, as if he was dirt. The fact that Mr Gilmer took every opportunity to trap Tom only further incensed me. I was confused over the reason that this court still took place, with not a shred of evidence that prove Tom Robinson guilty except the accounts of the Ewells, who were commonly known to be untrustworthy, cruel and violent people. Atticus's confidence in delivering his convincing speech made me think that Tom Robinson will be cleared of every charges.

However, when one by one, the jury announced "guilty", my heart sank like a stone to the bottom of the ocean. I could scarcely believe that they can find Tom guilty on such grounds. I felt numb, unaware of what was happening around me. The word "guilty" rang loudly in my mind continuously for a few minutes. The outright discrimination against blacks was so outrageous. The marginalization of blacks from society made me feel disgusted at the current judical system. I suddenly felt a blazing hatred towards the jury, each and every one of them for their unfairness and biasness towards Tom Robinson.

After the case, Atticus came to comfort me. He explained to me what is reality, life for us is never fair and I should get over it quickly. Atticus advised me to fight for the right thing despite the obstacles laid out. After listening to him, I realized how foolish and childish was my youthful ideology that everyone is fair and just. I plan to put aside my naivety and face the real world at last.

BGFL Multiple Intelligence Test

For some reasons, I could not post my results of my Multiple Intelligence Test (MIT) up here.
After having the MIT, I realize that I have five categories of highest marks and they are Kinaesthetic (Body Smart) , Visual (Picture Smart), Logical (Number Smart) , Interpersonal (People Smart) and Intrapersonal (Myself Smart). All 17 marks.

Personally, I think that this MIT is a good test as it focuses on multiple intelligence. It is good to not just focus on IQ. One's IQ may not be very high but one can still excel if he has various abilities that can be obtained from multiple intelligence.

From this test, we can know our strength and also our weaknesses. With these, we can have our personal learning method that can maximize our knowledge learned in a short time. I believe that everyone has different learning method and the learning method imposed on different student will be different to achieve the best result.

Although the MIT can bring to us many benefits, we must not be solely focused on merely one area of intelligence and forget about the others as they might also prove to be more useful in some areas of work.

I think that teachers must impose different teaching methods on different students as every student has their strength and weakness. Teacher cannot teach using only one sort of intelligence and neglect the others, as this might affect the learning of students who are specifically weak in that area. Instead, I feel that the MIT should only be used by students to have a brief idea on what type of intelligence they possess and try to maximize its usefulness.