By Fang Zhi Yuan
At the Singapore Tripartism Forum last Sunday, Prime Minister Lee was asked by a business leader to comment on the performance of Temasek and GIC in the wake of the stunning revelation of its recent losses.
He replied straight in the face that “these are very respectable figures” based on the annual returns quoted by Finance Minister Tharman.
“Some years it will go down, some years it will go up more. But on average it’s not bad. And we have to take a long-term view because this is not money for now, this is money for many years ahead. If you look at a long-term basis, on the overall on the way the government has managed the money, we haven’t done badly“, he said. (read the original report here)
I wondered if the journalist who wrote the report was equally as convinced as Prime Minister Lee. If the article was meant to allay the fears and angst of Singaporeans, it doesn’t sound reassuring at all.
In the first place, we are still kept in the dark over the real extent of GIC’s losses, which a Thai Daily put it at an estimate of over S$200 billion dollars. Then there is the danger of Citi Bank and Bank of America being nationalized by the United States government which will wipe out much of our investment.
Given the dire state the U.S. banks are in now, how long will we have to wait before we recoup our losses and we are talking about a mind-boggling sum in terms of billions. Even if the share prices do rebound in 10 or 20 years time, what is the opportunity cost lost when we could have grown the money by investing it in gold, bonds or fixed deposits.
I am not an economist and yet I am able to point out such glaring deficiencies in the news report. Surely there are financial professionals in the government and the media who being more knowledgable than me, are able to correct the Prime Minister’s mistakes and give the people a more accurate and detailed answer ? Why is there such a deafening silence ?
The culprits responsible for this devastating loss are none other than the wife and father of the Prime Minister. While Madam Ho Ching has stepped down from Temasek, Lee Kuan Yew is still the Chairman of GIC and a minister in the Cabinet. Which minister or MP in Parliament will dare to question the Minister Mentor’s judgement and authority?
The media has long ceased to be a genuine voice for the people and instead it has been deftly manipulated to serve as tinted glasses for us to view a distorted reality from the government’s perspective.
Seeing Singapore through this tunnel vision, we are trained over the years to believe that our leaders can make no mistakes. We are not allowed to question them or to demand for more information from them. Just keep quiet and let them run the country because they are the “best talents” tiny Singapore can offer.
Our leaders are surrounded by cronies and sycophants who dare not speak the truth out of fear of losing their rice-bowls or ruining their careers. The state media exercise stringent self-censorship to spin the news which sound pleasant to their ears. They live in ivory towers erected by their sense of pride, omnipotence and infallibility completely disconnected with the people they are supposed to serve. That is how the Singapore government has been treating us, like kids.
If Prime Minister Lee were to leave his ivory tower for an instance and venture into the “wild wild west” of Singapore’s blogosphere, he would be absolutely flabbergasted at what his citizens are speaking of him. Few were convinced by his lame defence of Temasek and GIC’s performance. Many more were angry and shocked by the loss of our precious reserves.
In an online poll conducted here, 98% of 500 netizens polled want a Commission of Inquiry to be set up to probe into the loss. 73% are “very unhappy” with the way the government had handled the fiasco while 22% are “quite disappointed“. And more embarassingly, 73% wants the Prime Minister to step down.
If our leaders come to know about the poll results, they will probably dismiss it as ”an online poll taken from a website devoted to anti-government invective.” We will be accused of spreading rumors and lies to provoke hatred against the government and soon another minister will threaten to arrest us.
We are in great danger of being fooled, misled and deluded by all these irresponsible and callous “self-spinning”. The citizens are taken in by the spin and remain contented to let their leaders run the show. The leaders believe the spin and continue to ignore underlying concerns and disgruntlement on the ground. What will this country become ?
I sincerely implore our leaders to stop hiding behind the spins of the state media and come forward to face the people; fellow Singaporeans to stand up and give honest feedback to the government, and journalists to be report the truth fearlessly bearing in mind their obligations to society.
An open, accountable and transparent government should not fear its critics and treat them as enemies. In fact, it should be glad that there are Singaporeans who care enough to speak out. It will be a sad day for Singapore if nobody bother to question how the country is being governed for it would mean that it has ceased to become a home in our hearts.
Our country is facing the greatest crisis in its lifetime. There is no space and time for parochial and petty politicking to safeguard one’s vested interests and misplaced pride. Turning a blind eye to the problems and pretending all is well will only plunge us into a greater abyss.
The soul of a nation does not lie in GDP numbers, world class infrastructure or a first world government. It lies in a well-informed, socially active and politically mature citizenry which is able keep the nation together in spite of any internal or external threats.
If I do not love Singapore, I would not waste my time typing this article. As an ordinary citizen, that’s about as much I can do. I may not know enough to teach our esteemed leaders how to run the country, but I am concerned enough to express my misgivings about the direction we are heading now and in the future.
To all government around the world. come clean and report your losses.
Just how much did they lose?
100 billion? 200 billion or 500 billion?
So many rumours, so little facts.
State media completely and totally worthless on this issue, trying to hide and distract.
Show respect for us, PAP regime and state media.
Just how much did you lose?
Originally posted by Poh Ah Pak:Just how much did they lose?
100 billion? 200 billion or 500 billion?
So many rumours, so little facts.
State media completely and totally worthless on this issue, trying to hide and distract.
Show respect for us, PAP regime and state media.
Just how much did you lose?
if they tell u, u will guarantee said, "not true, bullshit", if they dun tell you, you said "no respect".
How much is respect per Kg?
The economy is down, lost is a lost, no question about that, why pursue to question the lost rather than helping singaporeans to find jobs, get trained or reskilled and instead of calming the mass, why advocate to create more havoc on top of the current crisis.
That's why i said that oppositions are stupid, always take the wrong way to fight for their cause, it is time to show your compassion and care for the citizens rather than booing here and there..no wonder cannot win.
Opposition like to take t