Anti-gambling activists blast gov't plan for 'republic of casino'
來源：The China Post
日期：2011年9月27日
Members of the Anti-Gambling Legislation Alliance stage a rally outside the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) to protest the government's plan to push the legislation of a new set of rules allowing establishment of casinos on Taiwan's outlying islands in Taipei,
(Akie Ang, The China Post )
news staff --Anti-gambling groups have mounted a new campaign to oppose legalizing casinos in Taiwan or on any of the offshore islands, blasting the government for taking a one-sided position with a plan to turn the Republic of China into something like the “republic of casino.”
Leaders of the Anti-Gambling Legislation Alliance and its member groups held a press conference and staged a protest at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday morning to push their cause.
They said the MOTC is planning to forward the draft gaming law to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation and ratification during the current legislative session.
Various agencies under the ministry, including the Tourism Bureau, have already held public presentations on the proposed act in Taipei and to residents living on the offshore islands of Kinmen, Matsu, and Penghu to stress the government's pro-casinos stance, they charged.
Further, the government had also consigned a Macau-based enterprise, which also operates training courses for staff working at casinos, to help draft the regulations and criteria on the establishment of international resorts, they said.
They said such a move is like “requesting prescriptions from devils” with the alleged intention of benefiting the company.
When the MOTC has been playing up the casino experience of Singapore, there is still a serious doubt that running same gambling operations can help accelerate the economic development of Taiwan's outlying islands, they said.
The anti-gambling activists expressed concern that people working on Matsu, one of Taiwan's frontline islands facing China, is set to hold a referendum late this year on whether to allow investments in building and operating casino on the islet.
Chang Hung-lin, chief executive office of the Citizen Congress Watch Alliance, criticized the government for pushing the casino project with a pretense of giving the people “a false hope” with gambling operations.
The biased emphasis on the benefits of casinos to the people will twist the concepts of social value in Taiwan and mislead the residents to believe that gambling can make them rich overnight, Chang said.
Lee Jui-ming, director of the Taipei Office of the Taiwan Teachers Alliance, said all teachers throughout Taiwan should oppose the casino act because the ratification of the rules will send the wrong message to students that gambling is acceptable.
The protesters listed several demands, asking the MOTC to allocate the same amount of funds used for presenting the casino-related rules to let experts and groups to conduct appraisal on the negative sides of gambling operations so that people can get balanced views on the controversial issue.
They said both the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should hold public hearings on the issue on the islands of Kinmen, Matsu, and Penghu to gather the full spectrum of public opinions.
In addition, there should be at least three public debates held in Matsu before residents on the island cast their ballots in the forthcoming referendum, they added.
Chang Shi-tsung, chief secretary at the Tourism Bureau under the MOTC received the alliance's protest statement and its list of demands.
Law of the Land
He explained that relevant government authorities and bodies are simply performing their duties in accordance with the law of the land.
The drafted casino act and rules for building recreational resorts are all based on the new amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Act ratified by the legislators to allow outlying islands to construct casino resorts if a majority of residents in an area support casinos in a referendum.
But whether an area plans to hold a referendum on the issue will entirely be decided by all people in the selected area rather than by any government agencies, he said.
Even if the proposal of allowing investment in casinos is approved in the referendum, there should still be a set of sound regulations and criteria used to screen the projects submitted by interested investors, Chang added.
Pushed mainly by the Penghu County Chamber of Commerce, residents in Penghu held a referendum on opening investment to operators of hotel resorts and casinos two years ago.
But the proposal was nixed by a majority of residents after anti-gambling activists stepped up a campaign to oppose the casino referendum.
Evaluate casino impact: anti-gambling group
來源：Taipei Times
日期：2011年9月27日
Representatives from an anti-gambling organization yesterday stage a protest with their self-made national flags in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, criticizing the ministry for supporting a draft gaming bill.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Members of the Anti-Gambling Legislation Alliance (AGLA) yesterday called on the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to allocate the same amount of money it has spent hiring private firms to draft the gambling act and regulations for integrated resorts to anti-gambling experts to evaluate the negative impact of the gambling industry on the nation.
The ministry has entrusted Macao-based Ocean Technology Group with the task of formulating regulations governing the review of the international resort investment projects. The law firm Lin and Partners is in charge of drafting the gambling act.
Calling the ministry the “Ministry of Gambling,” alliance members held a small presentation comparing Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) to a king who rules the country by gambling. Mao’s given name “Chi-kuo” means “to rule the country” in Chinese.
AGLA spokesperson Ho Tsung-hsuen (何宗勳) said asking Ocean Technology to stipulate regulations related to integrated resorts was like asking a fox to guard the hen house, because the company’s core business is to plan and consult on the development of integrated casinos.
Ho said most of the experts who attended seminars on the matter supported the development of the gambling industry and tended to discuss the issue from the perspective of investors.
“Though the ministry emphasized that it held seminars on the outlying islands to hear from residents and explain the gambling act to them, the seminars focused on introductions of gambling tourism and only presented the general ideas of the gambling act,” Ho said. “One really has to question the true purpose of those seminars.”
While the ministry said Taiwan would follow the experiences of Singapore, Ho said no comprehensive evaluation of the environment, infrastructure and cultures of offshore islands had been conducted before it was decided that integrated resorts would be built there.
There was also no mention was made of any negative impact on Singapore after it allowed integrated resorts to be built on Sentosa Island and Marina Bay, he said.
“The real question is: Can gambling really boost the economy of the offshore islands?” Ho asked, adding that whether the ministry had sufficient authority to regulate the gambling industry was also questionable.
Ho said the evaluation of the feasibility of building integrated resorts on the outlying islands should be carried by anti-gambling experts, who are entitled to the same amount of funds used for the research done by two private firms.
Public hearings should also be held in Kinmen, Penghu and Matsu, he said.
Because Matsu is scheduled to hold a referendum on gambling at the end of this year, Ho said the government should hold at least three public debates on gambling in Matsu before the referendum.
On behalf of the ministry, Tourism Bureau Chief Secretary Chang Hsi-tsung (張錫聰) accepted the petition from the protesters.
He said the gambling act and the regulations on the integrated resorts were drafted based on an amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Act (離島建設條例) passed by the legislature in 2009.
Chang said that any casino had to be built as part of an international resort and could not operate as an independent entity.
“Whether such a resort can be built needs to be decided through referendums,” Chang said, adding that local governments could decide if such referendums were necessary.
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