KAZAKHSTAN: Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev Woos Singapore’s Tourism Investors

In developing tourism in Astana, Kazakhstan is studying the experience of Singapore, said Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev during a recent meeting with the founder and Managing Director of Hotel Properties Ong Beng Sen in Astana.

Hotel Properties is a Singapore-based corporation that owns hotels, resorts and shopping centres in 13 countries, including shares in Hilton International, Four Seasons, InterContinental Hotels Group and Six Senses Hotels.

The Kazakh President and his guest discussed tourism cooperation and investment in joint projects.

Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan seeks to develop its tourism sector and briefed the Singaporean businessman on efforts to boost tourism in Astana.

You are a well-known person in hospitality sector, working in many countries around the world.

Astana is a new capital and we intend to make it a tourist destination.

We are studying the experience of Singapore in this area, said Nazarbayev, noting the friendly relations between Kazakhstan and Singapore generally.

Our relations with Singapore are time-tested and good. I have been a good friend to Lee Kuan Yew, and we maintain close cooperation with the current prime minister.

We always meet at all international meetings and discuss how we can further strengthen our relations, said Nazarbayev.

Ong said Lee Kuan Yew insisted the company “to open something here,” but then the company was suffering losses.

You know, I think we are 25 years late, because when Mr Leek Kuan Yew asked me to look at two-three designer projects of hotels in Almaty, we considered the opportunities to turn hotels into modern hotels.

Of course, there were certain difficulties, because we did not know the country as we know it now.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew asked me to open something here, but then we were making hardly any profit.

You understand the difference between my experience then and now.

During these 25 years, he has been constantly telling me about Kazakhstan and its bigger potential compared to other countries, said Ong.


Tourism Observer

SINGAPORE: Lee Kuan Yew Family Confusion Soars Further

A family feud being played out in public between Singapore's prime minister and his siblings took an acrimonious turn Friday, with accusations their late father's will had been tampered with.

Tightly-ruled Singapore has been transfixed for days by the bitter row raging among the offspring of revered founding leader Lee Kuan Yew, a family that is the closest the city state has to royalty.

The war of words has mostly unfolded on Facebook, with allegations of cheating, lying and dynasty-building that escalated Friday with claims that Lee's will had been altered without his knowledge 15 months before he died.

"I continue to have grave concerns about the events surrounding the making of the Last Will," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a Facebook post on Thursday night.

I am not aware of any facts which suggest that (the elder Lee) was informed or advised about all the changes that were made when he signed the Final Will.

The premier's sister, Lee Wei Ling, shot back, releasing a trove of private family emails early Friday disputing the claims.

The row centres on a clause in the will that says Lee senior's house should be "demolished immediately after my death".

According to the prime minister, the clause had been taken out of previous versions of his father's will, but reappeared the final version.

Located off the upscale Orchard Road shopping district, the pre-World War II bungalow is worth millions despite its deteriorating condition.

But the elder Lee, who is credited with transforming Singapore from a backwater entrepot into one of Asia's richest countries, feared the house could turn into a monument.

He is said to have wanted to avoid the kind of personality cult that can develop around strongman leaders.

His two younger children, Wei Ling and Hsien Yang, say their prime minister brother is attempting to block that demolition, and is looking to exploit their father's legacy to bolster his own prestige and to establish his son as a future leader.

On Friday, Hsien Yang also said on Facebook that their father, a Cambridge-trained lawyer, signed his initials under the demolition clause and posted a picture to prove it.

Played out unfettered on social media, the drama has gripped the city-state, where citizens are unaccustomed to picking through salacious morsels of the private lives of its leaders.