TR EMERITUS

A monkey throwing darts at the share pages of the Financial Times could have made bucket loads of cash over the last year. But Singapore's super-smart sovereign wealth funds, which lost billions of dollars by investing in Western banks at the height of the bubble, seem to be having renewed difficulties even while every other Joe is lining their pockets. The estimated $675 million that the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) appears to have lost on a bad property investment in New York is arguably the least of Singapore's overseas investment problems. Any investor can make a bad individual call and you have to take the rough with the smooth. What's more worrying is the emerging governance crisis at Malaysia's Alliance Bank, in which Temasek is a key shareholder, having bought a 29 percent stake in 2005 and parachuted in a new chief executive and several directors. (For those of you who don't know, Temasek is an "Asia investment house headquartered in Singapore" - a Singapore government euphemism for a sovereign wealth fund.) The exact details of the problems at Alliance Bank remain unclear but the company has confirmed that it is conducting an internal investigation into a corporate governance related issue. Chief executive Bridget Lai, who was headhunted by Temasek from her previous job Standard Chartered, is currently on leave (and will be for another two weeks) while this investigation is carried out. Chief operating officer Shim Kon Tek is also on leave. But Lai remains chief executive and stated earlier this month that rumours that she had resigned were "wholly untrue" and "highly defamatory". An analyst who attended an investor briefing by the company on Friday hinted that the investigation "was purely a disciplinary one related to branch refurbishment contracts whereby due procedures were not followed in relation to filing of paperwork and checks over external renovators’ qualifications," according to a Malaysian press report. While the details are sketchy, companies do not normally send their chief executive and number two on leave pending an internal investigation for no reason. Unsurprisingly given the lack of information, investment banks have rushed to downgrade their recommendations on Alliance. Temasek, like other sovereign wealth funds, is under more pressure than ordinary fund managers to uphold high standards of corporate governance. Yet something seems to have gone wrong on Temasek's watch at Alliance. And make no mistake. Although Temasek only owns 29 percent of the shares, it is a key driver behind Alliance. Not only is the CEO a Temasek appointee but four of the nine other board members are current or former Temasek employees. Singaporean government officials love to lecture their Malaysian counterparts on issues of transparency and governance. On this occasion, it appears the Singaporeans will have little to brag about. Ben Bland Jakarta, Indonesia  Read More →

OPINION PAP strongman Lee Kuan Yew may not be the "Dear Leader" of Singapore like North Korea's Kim Jong-IL or its "eternal" President like Kazakhstan's Nursultan Nazarbayev, but he continues to make his presence felt in Singapore even though by his own admission, he is not doing much work lately except doing "forecasting". One of the founding fathers of Singapore, Lee was its first Prime Minister from 1965 to 1990 before he "stepped down" to become Senior Minister. He is now holding the unique position of "Minister Mentor" in his son's cabinet. Though he is technically no longer the Prime Minister of Singapore, the elder Lee has appeared in the news on an almost daily basis for the last two weeks, more frequently than the younger Lee. It is hard for anybody to ignore his overwhelming presence. No wonder some elderly Singaporeans continue to think that he is still the Prime Minister of Singapore. His latest overseas trips to China and Japan were given extensive coverage by the Singapore media. Even a private dinner hosted for him by China's former President Jiang Zemin made the headlnies which was not even reported by China's Xinhua Daily. He then jetted over to Japan where he gave his beleaguered hosts a lecture on following Singapore's example in opening its doors to immigrants before returning to Singapore to attend his former comrade Goh Keng Swee's funeral. In his eulogy to Goh, Lee took extra pains to remind young Singaporeans who is the real boss of Singapore: "He (Goh) was my trouble-shooter. I settled the political conditions so that his tough policies we together formulated could be executed. I gave him the toughest jobs in government - the Ministry of Finance from 1959 to 1965 when economic survival was crucial; Ministry of Defence in 1965 when all we had were two battalions of the Singapore Infantry Regiment, which then had more Malaysians than Singaporean soldiers," he was quoted as saying in Channel News Asia. The message is unmistakable: Lee was the one who called the shots in Singapore - the rest, including his henchmen were simply following his orders. The latest news: A book on Lee titled "Conversations with Lee Kuan Yew" was launched by American columnists Tom Plate a few days ago. Though decried by his detractors as an authoritarian with the late New York Times columnist William Safire calling him a "dictator", Lee's stature as an international statesman continues to grow. While Kim Jong-IL is vilified by the international community and Nursultan Nazarbayev criticized by the West for his authoritarian ways, Lee is welcomed as respected leader of Singapore by countries all over the world. Not many people are aware that he is no less merciless than Kim or Nazarbayev in dealing with his political opponents, critics and detractors. A massive security operation was launched in 1962 which saw the arrest of several key leaders of the opposition Barisan Sosialist and their subsequent detention without trial under the repressive Internal Security Act which remains to this very day. One of them, Chia Thye Poh, was detained for 32 years without trial, making him the longest prisoner of conscience in the world after Nelson Mandela, yet his name is now almost unheard of in the world. Despite his obvious shortcomings, Lee is still a widely revered leader in Singapore, no thanks to the endless propaganda being churned out by the sycophantic media day after day. If the generous tributes given to Goh is any yardstick to go by, one should expect a national day of mourning to be declared when the day finally arrives for Lee who continues to cast a long shadow over Singapore.   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 →

In yet another sign that the elections will be called anytime soon in the latter half of the year, Singapore civil servants will see their mid-year bonus restored which will see them getting an Annual Variable Bonus of half a month's salary, plus a one-off payment of S$300. As expected, the PAP is quick to claim credit for it. PAP MP and deputy secretary-general of NTUC claimed that the bonus was decided after "close consultation and negotiations" between the government and unions as if Singapore civil servants owe them a "debt of gratitude". "As we continue to ride the economic upturn, the labour movement will continue to work closely with our tripartite partners to focus on enhancing workers' capabilities and improving productivity in the public sector so that productivity gains can be shared with our workers," she was quoted as saying in Channel News Asia. What she forgot to mention is that PAP ministers and senior civil servants are expected to receive a 8.8 percent or more pay hike this year thanks to the growing economy. An unknown percentage of their pay is pegged to GDP growth - the higher the growth, the more money they bring home. The restoration of mid-year bonus and cash handouts for the civil servants may be timed precisely now to "sweeten" the ground ahead of the next election and to prepare for their own impending pay hike. The government is the largest employer of Singaporeans. Given the short memories of Singaporeans and the "good" news being churned out daily by the state media in the days ahead, it appears that the PAP will be guaranteed another "overwhelming mandate" again at the next general election.   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 →