THIS ICONIC LANDMARK, IN THE NEW BOOK BY LEE KAH-WEE, IS AN ARTIFACT OF THE SPATIAL HISTORY OF GAMBLING IN SINGAPORE WHICH COULD BE TRACING A PATH FROM THE 1880S COLONIAL SINGAPORE
TEXT: MONGKON PONGANUTREE
PHOTO COURTESY OF NUS PRESS
(For Thai, press here)
Las Vegas in Singapore
Violence, Progress and the Crisis of Nationalist Modernity
Lee Kah-Wee
NUS Press
6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
352 pages
Paperback
ISBN 978-9-81472-290-2
In the time before Coronavirus pandemic this cover image seems to be an everyday scene – pack of tourists crowded on the rooftop of Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. This iconic landmark, in the new book by Lee Kah-Wee, is an artifact of the spatial history of gambling in Singapore, tracing a path from 1880s colonial Singapore—when British administrators revised gambling laws in response to the political threat posed by Chinese-run gambling syndicates to corporate Las Vegas in the 1950s and the emergence of specialist casino design.
An interesting study of gambling’s long history in Singapore, as well as the country’s controversial relationship with the vice of gambling, the book argues that the historical project of the control of vice is also about the control of space and capital. The result is an uneven landscape where the legal and moral status of gambling is contingent on where it is located. According to Lee, these developments should not be seen as liberalization but instead as a continuation of the project of concentrating power by modern states and corporations.