A Singaporean model deals out chips at a casino and gaming expo in Singapore.

He agreed with the long-awaited green light given to plans to build the city-state's first casinos. "To say 'no' after worldwide publicity for a year, Singapore will be sending out the wrong signal," said Lee, who has the title of minister mentor.

Lee's son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had announced that Singapore would lift a ban on casino gambling and allow construction of two casinos as part of a strategy to boost the economy and liven up the image of a staid, affluent country known for its strict rules.

"If we reject these integrated resort projects, the world's investors and players will mentally scratch us off," Lee Kuan Yew said. He said the casinos project, which will be completed in 2009, will contribute to Singapore's evolution as a "gem of an island" with a population of 6 million to 7 million people by 2030. Singapore's population is currently more than 4 million.

Some of the world's biggest gaming companies have submitted proposals to build a casino complex in Singapore, where many residents had opposed the project for fear it would tempt law-abiding citizens into vice. Lee Senior has said that he disliked gambling, and had opposed plans for a casino in the 1970s, but had recognized that his country's image and economy will benefit from casino gambling on its shores.

The Japan Times Weekly: April 30, 2005
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