TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent 2 days after MM Lee gave a speech exhorting Singaporeans to "bear" with the overcrowding caused by foreigners, he is in the news again. The Straits Times carried a report about MM Lee calling on Sultan Ibrahim Ismail of Johor at the Istana Besar to express his condolences at the death of the latter's father, the late Sultan Iskandar Ismail, last month. Such news are usually not reported in other countries. What's more MM Lee is not the Prime Minister of Singapore, but he is making the headlines more frequently than his son. By his own admission, he is not doing "much work" except "forecasting". Why then is the state media giving so much publicity to him? As of this week, MM Lee has appeared in the papers at least three times while PM Lee only once which begs the question on who is really the leader of Singapore. A former Prime Minister of Singapore, the elder Lee has remained in the cabinet since relinquishing his position in 1990. While the exact role of a "Minister Mentor" remains unclear as it is the only position of its kind in the world, many believe Lee continues to wield a lot of influence behind the scene. Over the last few weeks, he has been busy defending the ruling party's misguided policies ranging from immigration, public housing, foreign affairs to even tourism, completely overshadowing the ministers in charge. Though he will be 87 years of age this year, he still show no intention of retiring when all his comrades such as Goh Keng Swee and Toh Chin Chye had already done so many years back. Singaporeans should not be surprised to see MM Lee contesting in the next general election. After all, he once said that he would "rise from his grave" should he find that something is not right about Singapore.  Read More →

OPINION There is much speculation about the number of foreigners working at the recently opened Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) casino which does not seem to correlate with the reality on the ground. Only a few days ago, Singapore's octogenarian leader Lee Kuan Yew claimed that the two Integrated Resorts (IRs) help to create job opportunities for Singaporeans, but till today, the exact number of Singapore citizens being employed by them remain a mystery. According to an official statement from RWS, 70 per cent of the staff are Singapore citizens and PRs. However, based on anecdotal accounts from visitors to RWS, it appears that a majority of its staff are non-Singaporeans, especially the card dealers at the casino. As early as 2008, Filipino President Gloria Arroyo revealed that 5,000 jobs in RWS will be "reserved" for Filipinos. She even led a delegation to Singapore to hold talks with the senior management of RWS. The Straits Times reported a few weeks ago that RWS has been putting up job ads to recruit fresh graduates from Taiwan. A reader who worked in RWS told us that the lessons for the new staff had to be conducted in Mandarin due to the large number of non-English speaking workers from China. The "70 per cent" figure quoted by RWS is meaningless as it does not tell us the percentage of citizens on its payroll. Furthermore, it can be artifically inflated by getting earlier arrivals to take up Singapore PR since PRs are lumped together with citizens. For the purpose of clarification, RWS should reveal the following statistics without delay: 1. The number of Singapore citizens, PRs and foreigners on S-passes and work permits currently employed by RWS. 2. A breakdown of the various positions held by Singapore citizens, e.g. dealers, cleaners, service staff, managers. 3. The number of PRs who were employed by RWS initially as foreigners. 4. The length of time for their PRs to be approved. To give a hypothetical scenario: X company can employ 5,000 foreigners before it is officially opened. 2,000 of them are able to obtain their PRs within a year. It proceeds to employ another 2,000 Singapore citizens and 3,000 PRs and so of out the total staff of 10,000 people, 7,000 or 70 per cent are "Singaporeans and PRs", but in reality, only 20 per cent are Singapore citizens. As RWS is making money in Singapore, it has a social responsibility to reveal the truth to the public - the longer it drags on, the more it appears that it has something to hide. Why can't it simply tell us straight in the face the number of Singapore citizens on its payroll and pussyfoot here and there to obfuscate the matter with obscure figures? Are the IRs really benefiting ordinary Singaporeans or the ruling elite whose salaries depend on the GDP growth figures generated partly by the IRs?  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent According to a Bloomberg report on 18 February 2010, Singapore may incur a budget deficit of as much as S$8.1 billion dollars or 3 per cent of its gross domestic product this year. It will be the third consecutive budget deficit after a predicted deficit of S$8.7 billion dollars in 2009 when the reserves were tapped to give cash to companies and citizens to shower the reccession. While economists say that there are unlikely to be changes to corporate and personal income taxes, GST may be raised to boost government revenue. “Given the likelihood of a sizeable deficit by Singapore standards, we doubt that the fiscally conservative government will judge it timely to further deplete a major source of government revenue,” said Kit Wei Zheng from Citigroup. Alvin Liew from Standard Chartered made a bold prediction: “We forecast that the GST will be raised to 10 percent by 2012 as an expected increase in tourism broadens the domestic consumption base, making indirect taxes a more significant contributor to government revenue.” GST was raised from 5 to 7 per cent in 2006 just after the election amidst much public displeasure. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong claimed that the GST hike was necessary to "help the poor", but till now he had not explained how it had helped the lower income group in Singapore. The budget deficit incurred pales in comparison to the billions of dollars lost in failed overseas investments by Singapore's two sovereign wealth funds Temasek Holdings and GIC. The Chairman of GIC is Singapore's octogenarian leader Lee Kuan Yew while Temasek Holdings is led by his daughter-in-law Ho Ching. None of them have prior experience in the finance industry. GIC is expected to lose more than S$10 billion dollars when its stake in Swiss bank UBS is converted entirely to shares on 5 March. Till today, nobody knows exactly how much GIC has lost though its Deputy Chairman Dr Tony Tan revealed that it has since "recouped" half its losses due to a stock rally last year. As for Temasek Holdings, it is an "Asian investment firm" owned entirely by the Ministry of Finance and therefore is not "accountable" to the people of Singapore. With the next election looming around the corner, Singaporeans can expect a bag of "carrots" to be dangled in front of their eyes after which GST and other taxes will be increased when the ruling party gets voted into office again with another "overwhelming mandate." PM Lee unveiled a "progress package" for Singaporeans before the 2006 elections. After he won another 5-year term, one of the first things he did was to raise the salaries of himself and his ministers. Singaporeans should not be too concerned if GST will be raised to 10 per cent. Even if it's raised to 20 per cent, there is nothing they can do about it.  Read More →