TR EMERITUS

From our Correspondent In a letter to the Straits Times, a Ministry of Finance official, Chin Sau Ho wrote that the government "does not manage succession planning for Temasek staff, including the CEO. That is, and has been, the responsibility of Temasek and its board." (read full letter here) He added: "The Government is, however, satisfied that Temasek has in place a disciplined system of succession planning and selection process for its senior management, and an open and meritocratic approach to recruiting the best talent for the organisation. The appointment of its CEO is not a political decision, but a decision based on merit." Formed in 1974 to invest Singapore's reserves accumulated from years of budget surpluses, Temasek Holdings have grown to become one of the biggest sovereign wealth funds in the world with a portfolio worth an estimated $185 billion dollars (Source: Wikipedia) It is an active shareholder and investor in such sectors as banking & financial services, real estate, transportation & logistics, infrastructure, telecommunications & media, bioscience & healthcare, education, consumer & lifestyle, engineering & technology, as well as energy & resources. Though Temasek is owned fully by the Ministry of Finance and is considered a public institution in a way, the selection process of its senior management has been mostly opaque and unknown to the public. In January 2002, Ho Ching joined Temasek as a Director; subsequently she was appointed Executive Director in May 2002, and Executive Director & CEO in January 2004. She is the second wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and daughter in law of Lee Kuan Yew. Ho Ching is an engineer by training. She began her career with the Ministry of Defence before joining Singapore Technologies. Little was known about her work experience in the field of finance and investment. Neither did the Temasek Board helmed by its Chairman, S Dhanabalan (an ex-PAP minister) explained the decision behind the choice of Ho Ching as CEO. Under Ho Ching's watch, Temasek made a series of disastrous investment decisions including the Shin Corp fiasco, collapse of Australia's ABC learning and multi-billion dollar losses suffered from the ill-timed purchase and sale of Merrill Lynch and Barclays. Temasek's investment portfolio value fell by 31%, or about $39 billion, from March to November last year as a result of the global financial crisis. The calculations did not include the latter sale of Merrill Lynch and Barclays. On 6 February 2009, Temasek announced the appointment of  Charles W. "Chip" Goodyearas a Member of its Board and CEO-Designate, to commence on 1 March, succeeding Ho Ching, who will step down on 1 October 2009. Goodyear has all the necessary pedigree, qualifications and experience to lead Temasek. Being a former Wall Street veteran and CEO of mining giant BHP-Bilton, Goodyear does appear to be appointed based on "merit". Even MM Lee lavished praise on him as being the "best talent" Singapore could find for Temasek. Less than half a year later, Temasek board and Mr Goodyear mutually agreed that he would not be taking over as CEO, and Ho Ching will instead continue in the position. Again, no clear explanation was given for the sudden change in the appointments. In spite of official insistence that the selection process for Temasek's senior management is open and meritocratic, it remains enshrouded under a cloak of mystery in the eyes of the public. Perhaps we should just stop questioning and accept the government's unique brand of "meritocracy". After all, Singapore is a system built on "trust".  Read More →

By Simpson Cheung from South China Morning Post The performance of the Legislative Council in the 2008-2009 year did not satisfy 90 per cent of Hong Kong people, according to a survey released on Wednesday. The latest survey results were released by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. They showed that among 815 respondents, only 10.9 per cent were satisfied with the overall performance of lawmakers. About 54.5 per cent said their performance was “normal” but 32.3 per cent found it “unsatisfactory”. Some 42.1 per cent of respondents thought lawmakers were not doing enough to tell the government about Hong Kong people’s concerns. “In other words, people rated the overall performance of Legco over the past year as ‘normal-to-negative’,” a spokesman for the institute said. Some 39.5 per cent of those interviewed found lawmakers too “radical”. Only 14.4 per cent thought they are too “conservative”. “This is worth some introspection by the lawmakers,” the spokesman said. Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) received the highest satisfactory rate, which was 13.7 per cent. This was followed by Democratic Party (10.8 per cent), Civic Party (8.7 per cent) and League of Social Democrats (5.4 per cent). Responding to the low satisfaction rate of his party, League of Social Democrats lawmaker Chan Wai-yip told SCMP.com: “I am not interested in these figures. They are meaningless.” “If they think we are too radical, do not vote for us next time,” he added Some 40.9 per cent of those interviewed said they were not satisfied with any party. Only 23.9 per cent were satisfied with the performance of new Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing. Mr Tsang was not available for comment as he is overseas. Professor Ma Ngok, associate professor of the Department of Government and Public Administration at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said people might not realise how many hearings Legco had been having. An examples included recent hearings on the minibonds saga. “People tend to focus on incidents – like the performance of lawmakers from League of Social Democrats,” he told SCMP.com. Source: SCMP  Read More →

备注：陈钦亮先生正在举办一个请愿(Petition)，要求李首相协助本地投资者获取类似香港投资者的赔偿。 请告知因信用债券受影响的人去签署网上请愿书。他的博客是如下地址： www.tankinlian.blogspot.com Original Blog Written by Tan Kin Lian HERE 我们的社会以诚实和公平的原则去运作是很重要的。微型债券危机引起了许多令我和很多新加坡人民都深切关注的问题。 当我去年九月举办请愿(Petition)时，金融机构并没有遵守《证券及期货法》 及《财务顾问法 》 的规定办事的情况己经十分清楚易见。由一千多的人签署的请愿书要求当局进行调查和根据这些法例采取适当的制裁。 调查报告书经过冗长的时间之后才发表，许多投资者都等待得深陷在痛苦之中。判处给金融机构的惩罚是很轻微的，而且许多失去了大笔金钱的投资者并没有获得赔偿。 这结果令人对社会的公平和公正这问题引起严重的疑虑。似乎一般市民受到了有权势的人和机构的随意摆布。 香港采取了不同的处理方法。当局行使其权力与影响力，致使金融机构向投资者作出60%或者更多的赔偿。香港赔偿的金额是新加坡赔偿金额的数倍，然而金融机构过失的情况在这二地是类似的。 虽然香港的解决方案，不仅对本地投资者与其家人，也对未受影响的其他人，都是一件重大的新闻，但我们本地的媒体甚少报导此事。这显示了在同一类似的问题上，两个国家采取两种不同的处理方法。 这传媒情况引起了另外一个关于诚实和透明度的严重问题。 为何这样一个重要的问题被掩盖了和主流媒体不去报导它呢？ 人民并不盲目。 他们可以从互联网及博客(blog) 中读取新闻消息。 他们也有耳朵，可以在咖啡店和其它地方听取议论。 我希望当局会反思这事件，并且以公平和诚实的原则去再次处理它。这是与我们的国家、人民和我们子孙的未来息息相关的问题 陈钦亮  Read More →