TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent For the second time in two days, another PAP leader has stepped forward to espouse the "virtues" of the ruling party's pro-foreigner policy. Two days ago, Mayor of South East CDC and PAP MP was quoted by Channel News Asia as saying that "Singaporeans must welcome everybody, just as Singapore welcomed our own forefathers." This time, it was Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong who boasted that "Singapore has established a strong reputation as a great place to do business due to its successful strategy on talent." "Besides local talent, overseas investors are attracted to Singapore as they know we have a strong pool of global talent which further enhances Singapore's competitive edge," he added. Mr Gan also pointed out that "there are now about 100,000 foreign professionals working and living in Singapore". However he did not elaborate more on his definition of "talent". Due to the ruling party's liberal immigration policy, large numbers of foreigners have flocked to Singapore to study, work and live in recent years. Foreigners now make up 36 per cent of Singapore's population, up from 14 per cent in 1990. According to the Home Affairs Ministry, there were over 90,000 PRs and 20,000 new citizens in 2008. Two out of every three PR applicants are successful, a astonishingly high success rate for a developed country. Even cleaners, masseurs and construction workers are able to obtain Singapore PR and citizenship relatively easily. It is not sure if Mr Gan considers them as "global talent" as well. Speaking at the official opening of the Employment Pass Services Centre, Mr Gan noted that more overseas Singaporeans are also returning to work in Singapore, attracted by the opportunities back home without providing any figures. "The global downturn has further accentuated the attractiveness of Asia. We should capitalise on this to make Singapore an even more attractive Home for Talent - both local and global," he said. Singapore has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world at only 18 per cent, but what makes Singapore really attractive to MNCs and foreigners is the staunchly pro-business ruling party, an educated workforce and the absence of "troublesome" trade unions. The bottomline of all businesses is to keep the profit margin as high as possible and this will necessitate them to keep labor costs to a minimum. In any other countries, the trade unions are responsible for fighting for higher wages and better working conditions for their workers. Some of them, like those in France and Germany are powerful enough to even shut down entire industries through strikes. In Singapore, there is only one recognized trade union, or rather an amalgamation of various government-approved unions under a umbrella organization - NTUC which is always headed by a PAP minister. The wages of Singapore workers are adjusted by the National Wages Council which has American, German and Japanese business representatives sitting on it, an unique phenomenon not seen in any other countries in the world. The monthly median wage of an average Singapore worker is only $2,600 compared to over $180,000 for Minister Gan which is further depressed by the relentless influx of cheap foreign workers, or "global talents". Though Singapore is the second richest country in Asia after Japan, there are few social welfare benefits for its citizens. Its income gap between the rich and the poor is the highest among developed countries after Hong Kong. A UBS report last year ranked Singaporeans as having a purchasing power similar to that of Russia. Despite the increased competition faced by Singaporeans from foreigners in every sphere of life, the ruling party does not appear to care much as long as Singapore's economy continues to grow. (A substantial portion of the PAP ministers' multi-million pay package is pegged to Singapore's GDP growth). In a recent interview with National Geographic magazine, Singapore’s paramount leader Lee Kuan Yew said it is a “good idea” that Singapore has welcomed so many Chinese immigrants as they are more “hard-driving” and “hard-striving” than the locals. “If native Singaporeans are falling behind because “the spurs are not stuck into the hide,” that is their problem,” he was quoted as saying in the article “The Singapore Solution.” [Source: National Geographic]  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Singapore's largest sovereign wealth fund Government Investment Corporation (GIC) may have lost more than SGD$30 billion dollars of the country's reserves in risky overseas investments last year. GIC was established in 1981 as a "private" company to manage the reserves of Singapore which is accumulated from years of budget surpluses due to Singapore's high national saving rates, especially in the 1970s. The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation does not own the funds it manages but manages them on behalf of their clients: the Government of Singapore, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. According to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, GIC has an estimated reserve of USD$247.5 billion dollars or SGD$346.5 billion dollars. (taking USD$1 = SGD$1.40) Due to the global financial crisis in 2008, GIC's portfolio slumped more than 20 per cent in Singapore-dollar terms for that financial year. The gigantic losses suffered by GIC and another Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings has caused some disquiet among Singaporeans, especially netizens who have been speculating on the real extent of their losses. GIC is headed by Singapore's geriatrician leader Lee Kuan Yew since its inception in 1981. Temasek Holdings is led by his daughter-in-law Ho Ching since 2002. The latest investment loss suffered by GIC in a New York property project has cast the spotlight once again on its track record. Though the exact figures were not revealed, GIC is said to have invested a total of US$675 million (S$925 million) in Manhattan's Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. News of its possible losses surfaced as early as September last year in an article on the Wall Street Journal, but GIC had declined to comment on the matter. Neither did the Singapore media report on it. On 8 January 2010, Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Inc released an official statement saying that “they wouldn’t make a full scheduled debt payment to senior lenders on Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.” (read report here) The Temasek Review was the first internet news site to report on the news, well before any of the newspapers owned by SPH and Mediacorp (read our article here) The matter would have been kept under wraps if not for the wild speculations and rumors circulating in cyberspace after we published the news which finally forced Straits Times and Channel News Asia to report on it two days later. According to Straits Times, ”GIC has written off the losses, which reports have estimated to be around US$575 million in debt and US$100 million to US$200 million in equity” which translates to a loss of between SGD$945 million and SGD$1.085 billion dollars, a mindboggling figure. (USD$1 = SGD$1.4) Still, the potential $1 billion loss pales in comparison to the losses it suffered in the fiscal year ended March 2009, – estimated at around $59 billion Singapore dollars by Wall Street Journal. (read article here) GIC said last September that it has since recovered "more than half of those losses". As no figures were provided, we can only warrant a guess that this means it has lost between 7 to 9 per cent of its reserves of SGD$346.5 billion dollars which translates to a loss of between SGD$24.255 and SGD$31.185 billion dollars, more than the entire Gross National Product of some Third World countries. If the amount of money is given to the 3 million or so Singaporean citizens instead, each of us will expect to receive between SGD$8,085 and SGD$10,395. Despite the catastrophic losses, nobody has stepped forward to accept responsibility for the mistakes. Both Lee and Ho remains in charge of GIC and Temasek Holdings respectively. Lee's ruling party has governed Singapore continuously for 50 years since coming to power in 1959. There is no opposition in parliament to hold the ruling party accountable to the people. All institutions of the state are controlled by the ruling party including grassroots organizations. Lee himself admitted lately that "all CCs, CCCs and RCs are part of the PAP". Singapore's Law Minister K Shanmugam wrote a lengthy commentary in the PAP magazine Petir recently that "Singapore, more than most states, needs an excellent, strong leadership, and its political structures and systems must allow for effective and speedy decision-making." The GIC fiasco has shown once again why the PAP needs a political system which allow for "effective and speedy decision-making." In other democracies, a Commission of Inquiry will be called to investigate the losses and the entire board of directors replaced leading to a messy transition period. Mass protests will break out in the streets with the people calling for the government to step down and fresh elections be held. In Singapore, life continues as per normal without much of a hassle. Singapore's "unique" one-party system allows the PAP to make the ultimate "speedy" decision that the best course of action will be to do nothing since doing anything will not be in the "strategic" interest of the country (PAP). EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook here. In the event our site is down again for whatever reasons in the future, we will inform readers on our Facebook.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent While the Singapore media has stopped reporting on the fatal road traffic accident involving a vehicle from the Romanian Embassy which has attracted much public attention from both Singapore and Romania, the Romanian media is still following the case slowly. Romanian online daily Click! reported that Dr Silviu Ionescu will face up to two years of imprisonment if he is found to be the driver responsible for the accident: "Singapore Prosecutors contend that the driver "killer machine" will be accused of many crimes including "incident followed the death of the victim, refusing to stop the car after the accident, the scene moving vehicle without the police. The penalties in these cases are of two years imprisonment and a fine, the first accusation, three months in jail and fine for the second, and all three months plus a fine of $ 1,000 for the third head charges." Nearly a month after the fatal accident which claimed the life of an innocent young man Mr Tong Kok Wai, the Singapore police who had allowed the prime suspect Dr Silviu Ionescu to leave Singapore in the first place had finally "concluded" its investigations yesterday and had submitted a report to the Attorney-General Chambers for further deliberation. As expected, there are no immediate comments from the AGC or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However it is highly doubtful that the AGC can prosecute Dr Silviu Ionescu since he is protected under diplomatic immunity. Furthermore, Dr Silviu has been recalled from his position in Singapore and is unlikely to return again. There is no extradition treaty between Singapore and Romania. Though the case is now in the hands of the Romanian Prosecutor's Office, there are no provisions under Romanian law to charge a citizen for traffic offences committed overseas. The Romanian Jurse Court said recently that investigations are likely to take "several months or years" by the time which the culrpit may have died of natural causes. The widow of Mr Tong, Ms Yenny Young had contacted prominent Singapore criminal lawyer Mr Subhas Anandan to seek some sort of compensation from the Romanian government in the meantime. A staff from the Romanian government in Bucharest had called up Ms Young to offer its condolence and help. The only decent and right thing for them to do now is to provide financial assistance and compensation to the families of the victims to tide them over this difficult period of time. After all, it was a staff from the embassy who caused the accident. Till today, the identity of the driver is still not known. It remains to be seen if either the Romania or Singapore prosecutors have the political will to charge the culprit in court and see that justice is served.   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook here. In the event our site is down again for whatever reasons in the future, we will inform readers on our Facebook.    Read More →