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  Today Online 7 Dec 06
How about an undersea tower instead?
Wouldn't it be nice? Just one problem ...
Nothing original about an oceanarium, and it doesn't showcase our local waters
Letter from Mohammad Fahmi Ahmad Abu Bakar

I REFER to Mr Howard Lee's and Mr Chia Hern Keng's commentaries, "Voices of common sense" (Dec 4) and "Country's survival comes first" (Dec 6), respectively.

Both their insightful views leant toward two causes: Environmentalism and economic development.

Based on their articles, I can safely deduce the following: That Mr Lee (like other concerned groups) is not in favour of having an oceanarium as part of the integrated resort (IR) for environmental reasons, and that Mr Chia believes that "only by making Singapore very attractive to travellers can this tourism business be assured".

Something is definitely missing here. What about a compromise? Is it possible to bring these two together somehow? Can a win-win solution be achieved?

I have minimal knowledge on environmentalism and economic development, but perhaps the relevant parties/authorities could consider studying the feasibility of these propositions: Instead of having an oceanarium (which I personally do not think as unique or one of a kind, especially if two out of three bidders are proposing it at once), replace it with:

1) An underwater exploration of marine life, where visitors will travel in a subsea transporter surrounding Sentosa or even around Singapore. You could even adopt the concept of an underwater cruise liner to capture a larger market. I might be wrong, but as far as I know, no one's ever done this.

2) A vertical, progressive moving underwater observatory with a 360° view all around. Basically, it's very much like the Carlsberg Sky Tower except that it is underwater. This idea might not be original but there are so few of them in the world and I'm sure there's still space for further enhancements to this idea.

If you noticed, the above propositions have one thing in common: No animal needs to be captured, or exploited. The idea here is to allow visitors to experience, appreciate and possibly educate them on the marine eco-system surrounding Sentosa and within Singapore waters in its natural glory.

At the same time, these ideas have the potential to generate substantial revenue for the developers and inevitably, for Singapore.

Has a balance been struck here? I'd like to think so, but I'll leave it to the executives who call the shots to decide.

Obviously, there are going to be major challenges developing them, but let's think of it this way: If man can travel to the moon and back, I don't see why we can't make an underwater observatory or cruise.

THE idea of an underwater tower or viewing point in Singapore waters makes a welcome change from the faux-environmentally-concerned notion of building oceanariums on Sentosa.

There's just one problem: Unlike typical towers built on land, where you can see for miles and miles around on a clear day, with an observatory (or cruise liner) in the sea we are held entirely at the mercy of underwater visibility.

And as any diver worth his salt will tell you, the visibility in Singapore's waters isn't much to speak of. You could go scuba diving and be lucky to see your dive buddy not a metre away, on a bad day.

This all goes back to environmentalism. Why are Singapore's waters so murky? Why are the corals covered with a not-so-fine layer of silt? Why doesn't the Republic attract visitors here to scuba dive, unlike nearby islands such as Malaysia's Tioman or Sipadan?

The answer, in its simplest form, is: Development. Too much construction near the seas, with erosion and run-off turning our waters the shade of teh peng (iced milk tea).

Too much shipping traffic--good for the economy, a burden on our underwater ecosystem.

Neither would building a tower or similar construct help the situation. I would love the chance to introduce my non-diving friends to Singapore's waters without their having to strap on a full set of dive gear. It definitely would be a more realistic experience than oceanariums, with their imported denizens.

But until the waters are a more inviting, crystalline shade of blue--and this won't happen without decades of environmental policing to bring about the regrowth of the island's undersea wealth--the idea of an observation tower off Sentosa's shore ... well, it just doesn't hold water.

Edric Sng
The writer is a divemaster and a sub-editor for Today.
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Related articles on Southern Islands Development Plans including the Sentosa IR
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