Cempaka Culture and Tourism: Singapore Bets on Indonesian Influx as First Casino Finally Opens

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Singapore Bets on Indonesian Influx as First Casino Finally Opens

Jakarta Globe, February 13, 2010

Visitors walk through a lobby at the Resorts World Sentosa casino. (Bloomberg Photo/Charles Pertwee)

Singapore. Don’t be surprised if Jakarta seems a little quiet this weekend. Everyone will be in Singapore, rattling the dice and praying for that elusive ace of spades.

At least, that’s the hope of the bosses at Singapore’s first-ever casino, which has rushed to be ready to open its doors on Sunday — in time for the lucrative Chinese New Year holidaymakers — and is crossing its fingers for a stampede of Indonesian gamblers.

Resorts World Sentosa, owned by Malaysian gaming giant Genting, is the first of two casinos to open as part of a campaign to attract millions of new tourists. The second casino complex, Marina Bay Sands, is being completed by US-based Las Vegas Sands and is due to open in April.

“Singapore’s new casinos open up Southeast Asia as an entirely new market for multiple-billion dollar integrated entertainment,” said Jonathan Galaviz, a gaming industry analyst in Las Vegas.

Many Indonesians planning a visit to ply the green baize tables will have a wrestle with their conscience first, however. Amidhan, the head of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), warned on Friday evening that any Muslim wishing to stake it all on red or black would be unambiguously sinning.

“Casinos are definitely haram, there is no compromise. But when Muslims are playing in casinos outside Indonesia, it’s not our business any more. We can’t ban them from going to a casino abroad.”

As if sensing this dilemma for would-be gamblers, Singapore is eager to stress it is not touting itself as a rival to glitzy Macau or Las Vegas. The two casino resorts are marketed as family and business destinations. Resorts World has a theme park, while Marina Bay Sands has convention facilities big enough for 45,000 delegates.

Tourism chiefs will take what they can get, though, acknowledging that tourist numbers need a little more sparkle. Visitor arrivals fell to 9.7 million in 2009, down 4.3 percent from 2008, though a surge in the last quarter boosted hopes that this year will be better.

Officials hope the casinos will help Singapore achieve its target of 17 million visitors a year generating more than $21 billion by 2015.

Thomas Arasi, chief executive of the Marina Bay Sands, is certainly looking to Indonesia to get much of the way to that target. He points out that the largest proportion of tourists in Singapore already comes from Indonesia, while the Singapore Tourism Board confirms that each year an average of 1.7 million Indonesians visit, about 17 percent of the total.

Resorts World Sentosa opened its doors on Jan. 20 — embarrassingly, with the casino shut as its license had been delayed — and aims to welcome at least 12 million visitors during its first year in business. About 60 percent of this figure is expected to be overseas visitors, so it’s no surprise that both resorts have been promoting their attractions aggressively in foreign markets over the past year.

Singapore gave the nod to casinos in 2005, but is playing catch-up with neighboring Malaysia, which opened its first casino in the 1990s at Genting Highlands.

JG, AFP

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