Singapore PM defends exclusive deal to lure Taylor Swift

MELBOURNE, Australia –  Singapore struck a deal ensuring Taylor Swift played the city-state but nowhere else in Southeast Asia, the country’s prime minister said Tuesday while defending the secretive arrangement.

Pop icon Swift is halfway through a run of six sold-out shows in Singapore, the only city in Southeast Asia to feature in her blockbuster Eras world tour.

The star’s schedule has sparked controversy in the music-mad region, with Singapore accused of throwing cash at Swift to stop her from appearing in other locations.

In the Philippines, Albay congressman Joey Salceda had asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to make the Singaporean Embassy in Manila explain the agreement and register its opposition.

“I give it to them that the policy worked. Regional demand for Singaporean hotels and airlines was up 30% over the period. I estimate that the exclusivity term caused an increase in industry revenues by US$60 million,” Salceda said in a statement last week.

“So, the [alleged US$3-million] grant produced 30 times more in economic activity. But it was at the expense of neighboring countries, which could not attract their own foreign concertgoers, and whose fans had to go to Singapore,” he added.

The issue unexpectedly reared its head at the ASEAN-Australia summit in Melbourne — a sober affair typically more preoccupied with matters of security and economic growth.

“Our agencies negotiated an arrangement with her to come to Singapore and perform, and to make Singapore her only stop in Southeast Asia,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at a joint press conference with his Australian counterpart.

“A deal was reached. And so it has turned out to be a very successful arrangement. I don’t see that as being unfriendly.”

Singapore has repeatedly declined to detail the financial terms of the deal.

After Singapore, Swift’s Eras Tour will head to Europe. —  Agence France-Presse/VBL, GMA Integrated News