The Anti-Gambling Legalization Alliance yesterday said it would stage a protest in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications on Monday against what it says is the ministry’s attempt to revive efforts to start up a gambling industry in the country.
Certain politicians and the ministry are trying to bring back plans to build gambling industries in the nation’s outlying islands under a different guise, the alliance said.
According to the group, there has been a growing movement on the outlying islands, especially in Lienchiang County, to attempt bringing a referendum for the development of gambling industries next year.
Photo: CNA
“We hope residents in Penghu and Matsu take a stand and protect the environment, lifestyle and culture of their local surroundings,” the alliance said.
Yeh Chih-kuei (葉智魁), a professor at Dong Hwa University’s Graduate Institute of Tourism and Recreation Management who has studied gambling culture for 17 years, said gambling was like cancer cells in a healthy society.
“Once you legalize it, you can’t stop it from continuously harming society,” he said.
The ministry, politicians and media proposing to build gambling resorts are constantly citing the “Singaporean model” to say that legalizing gambling would bring in great economic profits and job opportunities, Yeh said, adding that no one is addressing the issue of whether the casinos would benefit foreign investors with the money of Taiwanese or if it would benefit Taiwan with economic gains from foreign tourists.
Yeh added that Matsu, one of the places clamoring loudest for the building of gambling resorts, would be hard-pressed to attract foreign tourists with its inefficient travel facilities and unstable weather.
The “Singaporean model” refers to Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa complex, a casino-based vacation resort with the casino independent of the hotels, as opposed to the Las Vegas style, where casinos and hotelier businesses are run together.
Green Party Taiwan spokesman Pan Han-sheng (潘翰聲) said the development of gambling industries on the outlying islands was akin to poison, saying that “poison could not be the panacea for regional development.”
Residents of outlying islands should take a stand like those on Penghu did to prevent such plans from making a successful return, he added.
Wu Shuang-tse (吳雙澤), founder of the Penghu Maritime Citizen Foundation, said in the two years since the referendum opposing the legalization of gambling passed, there have been more tourists and visitors to Penghu.
“The people of Penghu are aware that the protection of the environment would also bring in tourists,” Wu said.
In a related development, the Tourism Bureau yesterday said it would hold seminars next week in Kinmen, Penghu, Matsu, Green Island (綠島), Orchid Island (蘭嶼) and Liouciou (琉球) on building international resorts in the nation’s outlying islands.
Hong Dung-tau (洪東濤), director of the bureau’s technical division, has entrusted Macau-based Ocean Technology Group with the task of studying the viability of having international hotels and resorts built on those islands, as well as drafting the scale of developments and qualifications of the investors.
Based on the contract, the company must hold seminars on the outlying islands and gather opinions for the bureau’s reference, he said.
Hong said the seminars would inform attendees about the capital needed to invest in the international resorts, estimated profits at the initial stage and different business models, adding that they will not address the environmental impact of the international resorts.
Aside from prospective investors, local residents are also welcome to attend.
In its introduction on 104 Job Bank, the company says its core business was to consult and plan for the development of casino-based integrated resorts. It says one of its successful cases was in Singapore.
The bureau said it intended to use the seminars to gauge public opinion.
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