TR EMERITUS

OPINION In the last few years, the Singapore government has increased its investments in the three northeastern provinces of China - Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang with the latest project in the pipeline being a food farm twice the size of Singapore in Jilin. Major cities in the region such as Shenyang and Dalian have received substantial amounts of Singapore investments too including nearby Tianjin where Singapore is currently building an eco-city in. Northeast China is touted as the next frontier in China's economic miracle as it had been neglected largely during its boom years in the 1980s and 1990s which focused on the Special Economic Zone (SEZs) and coastal cities in the Pearl and Whampoa Deltas. On paper, Northeast China is an attractive investment destination due to its relatively low cost of doing business, high educational level of the people and its proximity to South Korea and Japan. Unfortunately, the rise in tensions between the two Koreas present a potential threat to stability in the region which will retard its growth should an armed conflict breaks out. Relationship between North and South Korea has reached a nadir under the South's current President Lee Myung-Bak who has eschewed the "sunshine policy" of his predecessor and adopted a tough stance against the North. The sinking of the South Korean corvette "Cheonan" purportedly by a North Korean torpedo may spark a wider conflagration engulfing the entire region. While the South has shown restrain in its response so far, the North has struck a belligerent note so far, threatening "all-out war" if South Korea were to take any punitive actions against it. In retaliation, South Korea has resumed its psychological warfare against the North and pull out of the joint inter-Korea industrial complex in Kaesong. Though hawish voices within the South Korean government are calling for a putative strike against the North, Seoul's immediate reaction is likely to focus on more economic sanctions which will hardly have any effect on the regime in Pyongyang. North Korea's attack on the South may have stemmed from internal turmoil looming ahead of its expected transfer of power from the ailing Kim Jong-Il to his third son Kim Jong-Un which is not going well as expected. A botched economic reform earlier this year supposedly spear-headed by the younger Kim sparked massive public protests across the country prompting the North's Prime Minister to apologize and the Finance Minister executed by the firing squad. Kim Jong-Il reportedly suffers from end-stage kidney failure and may not have more than three years to live, according to North Korean defectors. A succession plan gone awry in the Stalinist state may trigger a much-feared internal implosion and collapse with refugees spilling across the border into China, thereby destabilizing the entire region. There is a sizeable Korean minority in Jilin province in the cities of Yanji, Ji'an and Tumen which were previously part of the "Gando" region ceded to Japan when Korea was annexed in 1910. An uncontrollable influx of North Korean refugees across the Yalu and Tumen rivers into China's Northeast will radically alter the demographics of its border cities, a situation which Beijing will not want to find itself stuck in. In the worst-case scenario, the North may launch its nuclear warheads on the South, reigniting a second Korean War which will surely end all economic prospects in Northeast China. In the light of fast escalating tensions in the Korean Peninsula, it may be prudent for Singapore to review its future investments in the region till the political situation has stabilized. An inter-Korea conflict which will have widespread repercussions in the Asia-Pacific is not that far-fetched judging from the recent turn of events and the impending demise of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.  Read More →

Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government investment arm, has lost a final appeal in a price fixing case involving cellcos Telkomsel and Indosat in Indonesia’s Surpreme Court. Competition regulator KPPU alleged that Temasek had breached the country’s anti-monopoly laws by using its indirect stakes in rival operators Telkomsel and Indosat to fix mobile tariffs. The Supreme Court yesterday sided with the KPPU overturning Temasek’s appeal for a second time. “The judicial review panel basically strengthened the previous Supreme Court ruling against the appeal,” KPPU spokesman Junaidi Masjhud told Bloomberg. He called the ruling “a valuable push for [the] KPPU to continue creating healthy business competition in the telecommunications industry.” Temasek-controlled Singapore Telecom owns a 35% stake in Indonesia’s largest cellco Telkomsel, while another Temasek company, Singapore Technologies Telemedia, sold its 40.8% stake in Indosat to Qatar Telecom in June 2008 after the KPPU filed its case. A District Court in Central Java first ruled against Temasek in May 2008. Temasek has previously said it would seek international arbitration if it lost its court battle in Indonesia, said Bloomberg. Source: Bloomberg  Read More →

An irate Singaporean by the name of Linda Zhang has written in to the Straits Times Forum to complain about the living habits of her foreign neighbors. It was not mentioned if they are PRs or new citizens. "My neighbors hail from a different country and bring with them different cultural and social habits. One of these habits is to barbecue their food every evening on their balcony. The smoky, oily vapour pollutes the air. Smoke can be seen wafting up into the living areas of those living on the upper floors." Miss Zhang did not state explicitly the country her new-found "friends" are from. Due to the PAP's liberal immigration and pro-foreigner policies, foreigners now make up 36 percent of Singapore's population, up from 14 percent in 1990. Of the remaining 64 percent who are citizens, an increasing number are born overseas. As a result, there is an increasing number of foreigners living in the HDB heartlands, leading to the formation of ethnic enclaves in some estates such as Burmese in Sembawang/Jurong, Indians in Punggol and Filipinos in Tampines. Miss Zhang's complaint is nothing new. A Straits Times report a few months ago quoted some PAP MPs as saying that they have been receiving complaints from residents about the living habits of the new citizens and PRs. Despite rising disgruntlement from the ground, the PAP continues to insist that foreigners are "essential" for Singapore. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on the "understanding" of Singaporeans during his recent May Day Rally to accept an "increase" in the inflow of foreigners. A mega $10-million dollar Community Integration Fund was unveiled by the PAP last year to make the immigrants feel welcomed and accepted in Singapore. Miss Zhang ended her letter by asking the NEA for assistance: "It gets really annoying when laundry has to be re-washed and we have to put up with the lingering smell of food and oil in the curtains and rooms for days. I wonder if the National Environment Agency has any guidelines regarding the barbecuing of food on open balconies of flats." Her pleas are likely to fall on deaf ears given the pro-foreigner stance of the administration. Perhaps she should learn to barbecue her food on the balcony too to "integrate" with her foreign neighbors. After all, the PAP has even splurged taxpayers' monies to organize "Water Festival" for the foreigners to show their "respect" for them, according to PAP Minister Grace Fu.   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →